FRIENDS....

Welp, been busy this week...working at Curves more than usual, looking up old friends and making new ones over coffee at the Pecan Porch here in Catoosa. Making sure I keep my BEST friend,Rick,close to my heart, taking care of his needs and being paid back in spades. My boys are often right about so many things these days. Either they are getting smarter or I am getting older. But they have talked about the importance of friends in our lives and theirs. I have been hooking up with Sandy Martin and Jean Ayo...2 people I let fall out of my life...making new ones at Curves who share many trials in common with me.....lifes all about changes, family and friends. If you find good ones, you shouldn't let go...they are priceless. Some may just be there for a season and may play an important role at the time, but then leave for different reasons, but there is always a new one to make if you take the time and are transparent enough for them to feel safe with you. We get too busy, but with what?! Is it really important? Does it make our lives better or just fill up time that we could be using to enjoy life and friends and family? As we ALL know, life is WAY stinking too short to squander on the worthless things this world throws at us....take time to not just smell the coffee, but to drink some slowly with a friend.

Oh death,where is thy sting?

Wow...what a week...full of death and life! Stan passed away on Sunday the 10th in his own home surrounded by the ones he loved and who loved him. Isn't that how both death AND life SHOULD be? I believe that one thing that takes the sting out of death is knowing you have a family that you loved and who loved you in return AND the hope that you will be with them again in heaven. It is that belief in the "hereafter" that enables me to live this life in the "here and now". It was an emotional time, but one full of memories that will never fade for Micah,Emily and Anabelle. I experienced "southern hospitality" at a new level, there is no other like it! I kept Anabelle while they were at the house with Stan and after the funeral, so we had a great time of making memories of our own also that I hope will never fade for her. She is a DELIGHT to my soul as are ALL my children and grands. If I, (started to say "we"), could just keep focused on all that life is truly about...but is it about different things to different people? Is it like the "one mans junk is another mans treasure" thing? Or SHOULD there be universal standards here? Anyway,with each day we grow to experience more of life and more of death,in our bodies,our souls,ours spirits and our minds.
Well amen.

Beautiful British Columbia!

Wow...and I thought Colorado was pretty!! Washington state coast HAS to take the prize!!! Seattle was interesting and different from the other big cities I have been to...NYC,NOLA,CHICAGO,DENVER....it was very hip? Eclectic? I don't know, but some really strange people live there AND in Vancouver!! Vancouver stinkinig looks like what I imagine Tokyo to look like....masses of apartment buildings strangley shaped and ALL OVER!!! Massive. My favorite was the boat rides we took to Victoria and to San Juan Islands! We took one at about 10 p.m. and it was stunning to see that at night. Ricks favorite was of course, the EXPERIENCE place...all the musical memorabilia was overwhelming to him and to Mark! We drank LOTS of coffee from every single different kind of coffee house we could find...mmmmmmmm! I will post some pics on my FLICKER for those who want to see, but pictures, as usual, never do it justice. My grandkids are in school and I wish so badly to be able to see them in all their sports,classes,and other activities, but alas...I will have to satisfy myself with bolg pictures and second hand stories....you boys were very lucky to have BOTH sets of grandparents near...or should I say THEY were lucky to have grown up with you. Its almost fall and we LOVE it! Can't wait for some bike rides in the whirling leaves!! OH!! And if you have not seen "RVing" with Robin Williams, you must. Ciao.

GONE

Yep yep..we are getting ready for our much needed vacation with the Frasers!! We have been best friends with the Frasers for 23 years and NEVER gone on vacation together!! We are STOKED!! Seattle here we come!!!! All 4 of us are ready to just get out of town and put aside our "real lives" for some R & R together...we are going to go to Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle and San Juan Islands...going whale watching, fish catching on the pier at the fish market, going to the ocean shore to get shells, going to eat lots of fresh seafood and drink LOTS of Seattle coffee!! But MOST of all enjoy the company of our very best friends for one long week without ANY interuptions!!! Take care.....

Monkeys

"When we sit down for half and hour - without talking to someone,listening to music, watching television, or reading a book - and try to become very still, we often find ourselves so overwhelmed by our noisy inner voices that we can hardly wait to get busy and distracted again. Our inner life often looks like a banana tree full of jumping monkeys! But when we decide not to run away and stay focused, these monkeys may gradually go away because of lack of attention, and the soft gentle voice calling us the beloved may gradually make itself heard."
Pray for Stan and Debbie Ball, Emily's parents, Stan is not doing well at all and is going to have another operation this week. I cannot IMAGINE living with cancer for this long. They have fought a very brave and good fight. That is what we do when something we need,deisre and love is being threatened by being taken away from us,fight....