Seasons of our Life

Just outside my bedroom window here in Atlanta

I was listening to Beth Moore on the way to Atlanta yesterday. I have most of her bible studies and I listen to them on my 3 hour trip back and forth. She is detailed in her study and she really makes me think. I enjoy her southern accent and I really feel like she loves the Lord. I was listening to a study yesterday that made me think. She said, "What season are you in your life?"

I had to really stop and think. I have had seasons where I was a young mother, middle aged and now I'm at a place where I suppose I should be thinking about retirement, but I'm not. I love working and I hope I have quite a few years left in my career. If the Lord has something else for me though, I want to be open.

I have thought about teaching at some point when I move back to South Carolina for good. I'm interested in so many things and I would love to share my love with children. I don't ever want to stop learning and teaching would be a great way to continue learning.

One thing about this season is that I have finally stopped worrying so much about some of the stuff that occupied my mind constantly say twenty or thirty years ago. Things like...what am I going to do with my life? Who am I really? Will I ever see my daughter as an adult?

I want to live out this season enjoying every single day I'm given.

Saturday night at Calvert's

Just returned from a special dinner. It was the celebration of our anniversary and my sister in law and her husband's anniversary. We met at this lovely little restaurant that's been around for years and years. Mark's parents always went there for special occasions and it always reminds us of the two of them when we go.

We brought Avery and she loved getting dressed up and sitting with the adults at the fancy tables. I had a scrumptious seafood crepe and Mark had London broil. Avery, of course, had the noodles and butter. She is a very bland eater but enjoyed all the festivities. They brought us cake with candles for the celebration and Avery had an ice cream sundae.

We used to meet with large tables with lots of family, but now our loved ones have passed away and others have moved away. It's usually just the two of us couples now, but it's still such a treat. The food was delicious and we talked about movies and books. Maybe another time in the future we can get some more of the family and get around a big table at Calvert's for memories of days gone by.

Blue Beauty

This was my view from 22 floors up for nearly a week earlier this month. It was breathtaking. I loved watching the waves roll in. I was blessed to be able to stay here and enjoy the beauty. So many times I don't stop and thank the Lord for all He's given me. I have had such great opportunities and I need to thank Him everyday for all He's brought me through and shown me. I am thankful I have saved this image and all the blue chairs and cabanas look like a wonderful pattern to me. God is so good and He gives us so much!

My Avery

Here's Avery on Saturday afternoon in front of the Japanese Maple.

Monday Monday

As another Monday winds down I look back at how this little day went. I have been sleepy all day long. I think getting up to go to the restroom about 42 times in one night does something to one's sleep patterns. I think this Prednisone does a number on my kidneys and I just want to go go go. So, needless to say, I have been trying to keep my eyes open all day long. At least the poison ivy/crud is much better. What an ordeal! It's been a month of fun with this junk.

Not to change the subject, but....why am I getting these lines on the sides of my mouth? It looks like a puppet of some sort. Not attractive. I guess I need to keep smiling all the time to take the lines away. Then everyone will think I have truly flipped out if I'm smiling constantly. Getting old is a challenge. I like it much better than the alternative, but it just has so many surprises. It's as if my whole body has just shifted. I'm not saying I ever looked like Cindy Crawford or anything, but my goodness, what happened?

I used to throw on a little makeup and away we go. Well, now it takes creativity. I don't want to look like a rodeo clown. I worry that my blush will look like I put it on in the dark. My lips are shrinking and I don't have a clue what that's about either. When did all this happen? I just have to keep reminding myself. Trish, we all get our turn. I suppose as long as my husband loves me and my granddaughter can stand to be in public with me....then I'm okay. I guess I really didn't have any photo shoots this week anyway.

A Peaceful Weekend

This has been a very good weekend. It was pretty peaceful and I got some rest. That's such a good thing. I usually rush around and dash to and fro. This weekend I just tried to pace myself. There's always the regular stuff with laundry, grocery shopping and cleaning up, but this weekend I guess I just was appreciating not feeling so bad and it made things so much better. Avery and I did some scrap booking and looked at all these sweet pictures of her when she was a baby. We got the cutest paper for the books. It's called Once Upon a Time and it has pretty papers with lots of princess stuff.

Our church service was uplifting and then we met Mark's sister and family for lunch. It was yummy and we had a good time seeing them. This blog sure doesn't sound like it has a lot of substance, but later in the week I'll get more heady I guess. I'm just happy for nice peaceful times and not a bunch of drama. I'll be anxious to hear about your weekend.

A Lost Claim to Fame

Now I'm happy. I had a different background on here for a few hours and it just wasn't me. I am much happier with the water. This is the real Nana Trish. I want to thank Drama Mama for hooking me up with the free blog background. I feel much better about it now.

Here it is Thursday night and I need to clarify something I wrote about in a previous blog. I mentioned that as a little girl I had written a letter to Marilyn Monroe and she wrote me back. Well, my friend LadySlipper suggested I scan it and we could see it. Unfortunately, the letter has been missing for over 45 years. When we moved away from Indiana most of our personal items were destroyed. It's a story for another time, but that was one of my treasures. It was a brief note of only a couple of paragraphs, but it was so special to be able to think she had written back. I told her how pretty I thought she was and told her I would like to be her friend. She said some kind words and also sent an autographed picture. I would have them framed and it would be a happy day. But nooooo I have no clue on this earth where it is. Can we say goofy?

I know it was real and the Lord knows she sent it to me, but I can't prove a thing. She was so fragile. Many have imitated her, but she was the original blond bombshell to me. She made some bad decisions, but haven't we all at one time or another?

Where I'm From

I enjoyed see the poem by George Ella Lyons, "Where I'm From" over at Vee's from A Haven for Vee. She tagged us for the meme and I will give it a whirl:

I'm From

I'm from a big city up north to a big city down south
I'm from adopted parents that took care of me when no one else would
I'm from living down the street from the church and sitting on the pews every time the doors were open
I'm from singing,"Give Me That Ole Time Religion" on the front row
I'm from thinking the bible people had very quiet lives on the flannel board. Then I got old enough to read my bible and realized they were living some very big lives
I'm from watching Bert Parks sing to Miss America every fall
I'm from sitting up late with my mommy to watch and see who would become the president. We always ate popcorn, apples and had candy. We drank Pepsi from the tall glass bottles. We were so excited to be counting right along with the newspeople.
I'm from watching boxing with my daddy
I'm from black and white tv and we thought it was glorious
I'm from taking the streetcar downtown to the Circle
I'm from hiding under our desks at school to keep away the bombs
I'm from standing in line at school to get my polio vaccine wondering what it really was
I'm from sitting in science class hearing the teacher talk about someone landing on the moon
I'm from watching Arthur Godfrey
I'm from thinking Twinkies were the best food ever
I'm from a time when we waited for the postman. There was no instant messaging or texting. We were used to waiting and the words on the paper seemed so special to us.
I'm from being pregnant and not having a clue if it was a boy or girl
I'm from having books as friends. They are still my intimate friends.
I'm from sitting on the screened-in front porch with wicker and plants galore.
I'm from watching my mommy and daddy drink coffee out of fat mugs, thinking we had a very quiet life.
I'm from listening to the radio to see if the snow was going to close our school system
I'm from being called Patty to answering to Trish
I'm from dreams of writing books and painting pictures
I'm from a good place

Now why don't you try it? Consider yourself tagged for this meme. I want to know where you are from.....

Explaining my Whirlwind Romance

After revealing a part of myself in a TAG, I feel compelled to explain my whirlwind romance. I was neighbors with my future husband prior to our relationship. We talked over the fence and waved at each other when entering and leaving our houses. I thought he was a good-looking guy, but looked a little young for me. He had two dogs and a cat at the time and he went to work everyday and took his dogs for walks and listened to music. He was dating someone else and I was dating someone else.

One Saturday night in April he had asked me over. I told him that I couldn't come over that night because I had dinner plans with some friends from work. He said we could make it another night. His girlfriend was out of town and my boyfriend had gone out of town without mentioning it until after he was gone. I went to meet my girlfriends and they all had dates. I was the only one without a date. Then it hit me...duh...I had this cute guy ask me over and I didn't have to be alone. I told my friends to wait a few minutes and I hopped in the car and went back to pick up Mark. I asked him if he would be interested in going and he said that he would love to.

We arrived back and everyone laughed and had a great time. He was wearing Obsession cologne and looked just adorable. I had some surgery on my foot and was in a cast. I hobbled along and he didn't seem to mind. That night he asked me if he could call me the next morning. He called and asked me to go on a motorcycle ride. I accepted and that next week both of us broke up with our other 'friends'. We fell head over heels in love and decided there was no reason to wait on a huge courtship. I suppose I was very flattered that such a good looking young guy would be so interested in me that I just went temporarily insane. Well, that was over eighteen years ago.

We have had our challenges, but couples that date for years do too. Would I recommend getting married that fast to someone? No, but we both were so determined in our love and we have been through quite a bit. His father passed away from Lou Gehrig's disease and then his step mother died of cancer just 9 months later. Mark comes from a huge family and I come from a very small family. He's very generous and would have all the strays in the world if he could. Our vet bills are unbelieveable and it's at the point that we have a mobile vet come and treat all the animals instead of taking them in. We have an acre, but need about 20 with a huge barn so he could take in more.

He's Papa and I'm Nana to our Avery. She's eight now and so very bright and fun to be around. She's very talented and loves to read. I feel as though God brought us together and we pray to be what He wants us to be. Most of the time it doesn't bother me at all with the age difference. It's just that sometimes he teases me that I was a hippie. No, I was in the era, but maybe I could be considered one since in June of 1967 I went to a Love-In at the beach. People were passing out flowers and painting their faces. I didn't see anyone doing any dope or anything, but they were all very friendly. Bob Dylan was playing on the radio and it was the happening place to be.

So for any of you that read about my six week romance and thought I was probably crazy to get married that fast. Yes, you were right. This needs a big disclaimer like the commercials......Don't Attempt This At Home!

Tagged......you're IT!

Tagged and I didn't even realize for a couple of days. What a treat! My friend, In A Garden, has tagged me. I have seen the tagging going on and I wondered if I would ever get chosen. I hope this helps you to get to know me a little better. I have loved going to visit so many beautiful sites and I hope to get my blog up to speed with the bells and whistles soon.

What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was working in the same field, but close to home. I thought I'd be at that location until I retired, but found out God had other things for me. I was attending some writer's conferences and dabbling in some drawing. I was on-call 24/7 so plans were often scrambled. I was finishing up my degree after twenty five years of going to school off and on and changing majors until I was dizzy. I finally obtained a business degree. That's not where my heart is, but it served its purpose.

My five favorite snacks.
Dates with cream cheese
Popcorn
Cheese on crackers
Carrot cake
Dostios with melted cheese Cheese is a very good thing!

Five things on my to do list today:
Call my husband and daughter
Clean up the kitchen
Plan out what to wear to work tomorrow
Read
Send a thank you note.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Help with some very needy ministries
Put huge amounts in cancer research
Set up programs for inner city kids
Help some physicians I know with their mission trips
Build a community center to teach writing and art to all ages and backgrounds

Five jobs that I've had:
Library worker in high school
Waitress
Social worker
Technical manager

Five bad habits of mine:
If something is good, I usually think a lot is better. It isn't always better, just more.
Trying to do too many projects at once
Not delegating enough
Letting my car get dirty
Waiting until the last minute to do Christmas shopping

Five places I've lived:
Indianapolis, Indiana
Lake Worth, Florida
Germany
Augusta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia

Five random things people wouldn't know about me:

I'm usually very conservative, but married my husband after dating him for 6 weeks.
My husband is thirteen years my junior.
I was adopted.
I wrote a letter to Marilyn Monroe when I was a little girl and she wrote back to me. She absolutely fascinated me and I guess she still does.
I had an imaginary friend and dog until I went to kindergarten. Jimmy and Scruffy.

Five cds that I'd have to take on a desert island:
Andrea Bocelli
Chris Tomlin
Avalon
Natalie Grant
James Taylor

People that I want to get to know better.........You've been tagged

Sharon at TechnoNana, she's a kindred spirit

Paula at Your Sweet Eyes, we are like sisters

Dustye at Dustye's Kitchen, she's a new blogger I'd like to get to know better

Nicki at Three Girly Girls, she's a young mom with a heart for the Lord

Please come visit again. Life is worth the Living!

Feeling Blessed on Tuesday

The last few weeks have brought some changes in me. That's a big statement for someone of my age. I'm used to a lot of the same patterns and fortunately, not tons of big surprises. I feel like I have lived plenty of drama through the years. Thanks, but I'll pass on the drama. But these last few weeks have given me time to think about things I had been stuffing down for years. Some ways of thinking that have not been very productive. I've been forced to slow down and make some choices. It's not anything like relationships, or employment, or anything like that. It is about me slowing down my thinking and choosing to involve myself with things I really enjoy.

I don't know if it's taking the time to write out some thoughts or maybe going to my high school home that shook me up some. It was truly like being in a scene from Back to the Future. My little part of south Florida looked like another country at times. My beloved, Proctor's Seafood Restaurant, in West Palm, had gone out of business about 5 years ago. Things that had stood for fifty years or more...gone.

I must be naive to have thought it was not going to change that much since my last visit, but I guess I longed for something of my past. Not the whole life, just a few tasty meals, and some scenery that I had viewed in the 60's. Time doesn't freeze and I do feel the effects in my body. When my girlfriends and I walked those streets there was no hint of arthritis. I could read without glasses for hours on end. I was so active; I had no clue plus sizes would be in my future.

All that time brought me here. This is a place I feel God has me. I'm not the same person, but I want Him to use me to bring His beauty to others. I can't look back at what was without being so thankful for being brought through so much.

I guess I need to stay tuned for further reflections. I feel blessed.

Looking Back

Monday has been here and nearly gone. I can't believe we only have 2 more weeks of June. The summer was always such a fun time when I was a little girl. I could go get an ice cream from the ice cream man when we had some extra money. A quarter bought a nice big something special. I was a picky eater back then. I only ate a few things and ice cream made the list. I didn't realize at the time that life was so carefree. I guess I didn't have anything to compare it to. Catching lightning bugs and putting them in a jar with holes poked in it was a wonder. Summers meant my mother would be downstairs in the basement canning fruit and vegetables. I would sit on the stairs and watch her seal the jars with the rubber rings. She would always have her apron on and her printed house dresses would be wet from the process. My mother was always busy.

Mommy ironed sheets and looked for things to wash and iron. I look for things I don't have to iron. Her days were filled with cleaning and cooking. The fifties seemed so exciting at the time. There were cowboys all over the television and it seemed like new toys were coming out constantly. My daddy brought me a Davy Crocket hat home and I felt so important. I had a bright red hula hoop and I would entertain myself for hours with it.

There were no computer games or video games. I just looked for things to use my imagination with and I read a lot of books. I loved books that were about adventures in faraway places. I never dreamed I would ever get to travel to some of those places. I have been blessed and as I look back I am thankful I had parents that loved me.

I pray that my granddaughter will always have sweet memories and feel secure.

Thank you Daddy

I realize I'm a little late, but I wanted to talk about my Daddy as so many others have. He adopted me when he was 51 years old and I was a baby. He had two grown children with several grandchildren, but he knew I needed a home and he was willing to open his life up for me. He loved his grandchildren and called them 'the kids'. They probably don't have lots of memories of him, like myself, since he died so early. He was a bald, pudgy man the whole time I knew him, except the end. He was diagnosed with colon cancer when I was 9. He lived two years in and out of the hospital and became a bony shell of a man. He didn't question why he had become so sick. He just prayed for Jesus to take him. I have the memories of him crying out at night and I still can't deal with hearing a grown man cry. I wanted to help my Daddy, but prayer was the only thing I could do. My mother exhausted herself caring for him and having to make sure I was taken care of. I don't have lots of memories of my daddy not being sick, but I do remember him taking us fishing. I would read while they fished. He had a big laugh and for his last years of health he was an elevator operator. He was in a big office building in downtown Indianapolis. He drank coffee all day long and had multitudes of friends that rode his elevator. They would bring him Christmas gifts for me, as he talked of me often to them. I am thankful I had some sweet memories of my Daddy. I wish I hadn't lost him so early, but he is with the Lord and I am thankful daily that He placed me with such sweet loving parents. Those of you that still have your parents are blessed. I would love to hug my Daddy just one more time. I will some day.

Happy Saturday!

I hope everyone has had a terrific Saturday! I had a great day with Avery. We went to her practice for the Vacation Bible School program tomorrow at church and then she slid down the hill on plastic cover soaked in baby shampoo. Our church has a hill in the front and every year on the Saturday after VBS you will see a couple of hundred kids and some adults coming down the hill being sprayed on the way down. They love it. This has been a light fun day next to many I've had lately. I finished the book, The Shack, and I absolutely loved it. It gave me so much to think about and helped put some things in perspective for me. I think it's really a must-read concerning our personal relationship with God. It was well written and I highly recommend it.

I plan on writing about my Daddy tomorrow and I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Thanks to Blogland!

I am feeling so much better. Thanks for your prayers and I believe I am on the road back. I went back to the doctor yesterday and she put me on a different antibiotic thinking the first one was making more of an allergic reaction. She also gave me something to curtail the itching and help me sleep. I still burn, but I can deal with that. Enough of that. No one wants to hear about poison ivy 'gone wild' into a secondary infection.

This has brought me to a place to think about many things that I needed to be focusing on. What am I truly doing with my time? Not during work, I love my job and it is extremely rewarding. But what do I do with the hours I am not working and sleeping? Am I taking the time to do the things that I believe are needed for me? I know that God has a purpose for me and I, sometimes, run myself so ragged that I hurry through my quiet time with Him. I purchase things for convenience, and not necessarily because that is what I 'need'. Reading certain blogs that have been focusing on being more frugal have truly helped me.

I thank the people out in blogland that have never met me but bring joy to my day through their writings, pictures and music. This has been a God-given. Although I know I won't get to see all my blogland friends in person I want it to be known that they have given me so much.

I am returning to the doctor tomorrow and hopefully get back to work. This is a new day and I am blessed. There's much sadness in our country today. Deaths by weather, wars, rising fuel costs and drive-by shootings. God is still in control and for me...I think I needed to slow down and think about where I need to focus.

Not so easy to become more mature...

Just a word about my poison ivy. The doctor had another dr in the practice come in and examine me with her. I have an acute infection in addition to the poison ivy. I would not wish this on any living being. They put me on a broad spectrum antibiotic and steroids.

This is nothing compared to so many afflictions that people have, but when you are burning and itching and the sores are weeping, you start to wonder why this had to happen. I realize that as long as we are on this earth we will encounter pain and suffering. It's just that when it becomes prolonged it starts wearing on your nerves. God is in charge and I want Him to teach me what I need to learn.

I hope this doesn't sound like a woe is me blog. I read that multiple thousands have lost their homes with earthquakes and floods. Dear friends have cancer and brain tumors and I am not trying to say this is like their ailments I think it just is hard at times to understand James 1:2,3,4"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

I suppose that maybe I needed to rethink how mature I am. There are immature areas in my life and perhaps this is what has needed to be brought to my attention.

Please Lord, mold me and make me what you want me to be.

Details to Follow

We are getting ready to wind up the day. We have had the best time. Laughing and crying. Scratching and itching. Shopping and then more shopping. I am too tired to blog right now and I must get sleep to be able to drive back to HotLanta safely. Until I get back on. Love ya Bye

Donny, honey, Where did you go?

Being down here in south Florida has brought back some memories and I just had to share one of them. Back in the summer of 1970 I was still kind of naive and apparently kind of hard of hearing. My husband and I were with some friends from out of town and somehow we heard about a big concert at Key Biscayne at the amphitheater. It sounded so fun. Go to Miami, eat some good food, and see the Osmond Brothers. Wow! I had always thought Donny was so cute. That would be a fun experience. Sitting in the open air listening to good music and watching what might be like a Broadway musical type show. Well, I got some bell bottoms going on and off we headed about an hour south.

We started walking up the bleachers and the proverbial light bulb started to flicker. This didn't seem like the type of folk that would be at an Osmond Brothers concert, but hey, who am I to judge? We got up in our seats and I started smelling this strange odor. I had never been around so many young, cool young people just chillin'. I thought to myself that things had really changed since I had arrived back in the states. I had lived in Germany and was only privy to the Stars and Stripes paper that my husband would get on base.

As the concert proceeded a fellow named Edgar Winters came out and performed. He had the whitest blond hair and he was singing some songs I'd never heard. I remember thinking that this was all very interesting and strange. Then the big moment arrived and the main act walked up on the stage. There was this good looking man with long blond hair. In fact, all of them seemed to be about the same coloring and as the crowd was getting as worked up, as much as you can when you are trying really hard to be cool, smoking a reefer or ten, they began performing.

It took a little while, but I finally came to my senses, after asking some people sitting on the other side of my group.
"Who is that?" They must have thought me quite cool.
"Don't you know ? That's the Allman Brothers!" "Oh sure", I said ,as I looked off into the water and boats behind the stage.
There I was looking at Cher's future husband all the while questioning how I got that confused.
I guess when you are trying hard to appear cool you should also try and listen to who you paying $5.00 to see.
Yes, I was thin and had gotten my outfit just right, but did I realize who I was going to be seeing?

It sure wasn't Donny.

A Dreamy Kind of Friday

Has anyone ever thought about how their life would have turned out if they had just made a few different decisions? I wonder sometimes, not a lot, if the outcome would have been completely different and what road I would have been on instead of this one. This is a special journey, but to me it just seems normal to wonder.

What are five things you would do if money was no object and you had all the time to do it?

For me it would be the following:

I would buy a small bookstore and have a gallery in it.

I would invite new talent to show their work and we would have access to all the art supplies we needed.

I would go to a spa for about a month to get my batteries recharged.

I would build a cottage and decorate it just how I wanted it.

I would pay off all my bills and not have to think about money for a while.

I find it fun to think about dreamy things and hopefully, I will turn some of these into reality sooner than I think.

Don't miss Paula's New Blog

This has been a fantastic day. I was in meetings most of the day, but it was okay. I got to see a lot of people from the meetings every year. It's funny how some of them have aged. I guess that must mean that they are thinking the same thing about me. No problem. I always say, "We all get our turn to be cute". We may run downstairs to sit by the beach and meet some friends a little later. I think I have turned my friend into a blogger. Go visit Paula at her new blogspot.
She has more bells and whistles than mine. She's smart like that. I hope she teaches me some of her tricks. She is a wonderful person that has tons of insight and warmth. I feel like she will be as addicted to these blogs as I am. There are so many wonderful things to read about. Well, I must figure out what I will wear tomorrow. We hope to go do some shopping later in the afternoon and at some point walk on the edge of the ocean. Poison ivy Update: It's still here. It's still itching. I try not to think about it, but it's always lurking in my mind. Itch, scratch, then repeat. It will be a happy day went it leaves. I hope it never finds you.

A Quick Note before the Beach

We are getting ready to head out to the beach and take a short stroll. I have poison ivy so bad that I feel like I could scream. Right when I want to have fun. But I will not let that deter me. We are going to drop into a little shop here at the hotel first and look at purses. There's just something about getting a new purse that perks me up. We have a reception tonight and a raffle. We will be having a raffle and I hope I win even a little something. It was windy last night when we had dinner on the patio. We had hamburger and hot dogs and some salads. Then we had four kinds of ice cream and huge cookies. I needed all that like a hole in the head. Oh well. I am having fun and I am getting to see the most beautiful ocean and old friends. I wish I had all my bloggy friends here and we could sit around and share our memories and laugh. These few days will be passing soon and I need to go have a little fun. I will be back to the working routine next week. I will try to write later.

Looking Back is Bittersweet

The Eagle has Landed. We have arrived in south Florida and what a fun trip. What took us 2 full days would have taken the average bear about 10-12 hours. We had to stop and shop for bargains. Hellooo. We had the greatest time. Now we will settle in for meetings all day long for 4 days. After being away from work for 2 weeks (1st week vacation, 2nd meetings) I will not know how to act once I go back to the regular grind. Thank heaven I love what I do and it is rewarding. If I didn't love it so much I would probably be miserable thinking about having to go back to it all Monday.

We had some great chats all the way down the coast. We saw some beautiful sites and I was able to go by my old neighborhood. It has certainly changed and it made me feel sad at first, I had to remind myself that the memories I have were from 40 years ago and much changes in that amount of time. In fact, I had been craving fish from a favorite restaurant. I kept telling Paula how delicious it was going to be. We rode up and down the street looking for it and when we stopped to ask someone about it...it had closed about 5 years ago. It had been in business for many years, I think since the 50's and it was a shock that it would go out of business.

Another thing that brought me some fond memories was seeing the public library where I worked during high school. My mother would walk downtown to eat lunch with me on Saturdays so I wouldn't have to be alone and I treasure those moments with her. My eyes tear up as I write this. She was the sweetest, loving person and I was so blessed to have her adopt me. I miss her and think of her everyday even though it's been 29 years. We were so close and now I'm thankful I'm so close with my daughter.

We stopped in Delray Beach on the main street downtown and ate at a lovely little restaurant that had Mermaid in the name. We ate outside at a cute little table and had a delicious meal.
The people that were walking around and sitting at the other tables all seemed so relaxed. I needed to get away and see people having fun. I sometimes get caught up in the same old, same old and I feel like it recharges my batteries to be in such a different environment. I hope all my friends and family are having what will be a relaxing and wonderful summer.

Day 2 Road Trip--Be Happy Self

Just waking up and we are in St. Augustine. We had rain on the way down, but it was sure fun. We stopped at an outlet that was calling our name. I got a couple of cute things and we ate at Wendy's. First class all the way. We may run by historic St. Augustine and then off to south Fla. I'll be back in my stomping grounds with the heat and humidity. God is good and He kept us safe. I have poison ivy and it is so much fun. Burn and hurt. Maybe it's a test. Only a test. I think I have never had it in my life and it waits until now when I'm going on a long trip and will be sitting in meetings for days on end. But it will be okay. My little mantra when things start going bad is "I'm not in prison,I'm not in intensive care, I'm not a hostage somewhere." That helps me. I also have a little thing that when something happens I say, "Well, if that's the worst thing that happens to me today I'll be alright." The Lord has been so good to me and I tend to not focus on all the good things so I have to remind myself. Well, we may be off in a little while to visit the great Ponce de Leon and the Fountain of Youth. Later.