Where has the time gone?

It has been a busy month filled with mixed emotions of joy and always shadowed by sadness of the past. This has always been one of my favorite times of the year, and one of deep sadness as well. This year it was wonderful to spend the Christmas holiday with my mother and my younger brother and his wife. It was much more subdued then the Thanksgiving gathering. Good food and wonderful sweet treats were on hand, as well as the love that abounds in this family. My boys were missing this year, no grandkids either and that was hard. What would be the point of putting on my Santa hat without them?


Christmas behind us, along with a couple feet of snow, I am looking forward to toasting in 2011 with friends. The weather has been a deciding factor as to where I will be when I do my toasting. I heard that I-94 has been closed this afternoon and more highways across this state will be closed because of the blizzard conditions. I can't get out of my driveway!! I have been diligently opening a path for Zak to do do his thing outside and it has involved shoveling out from the door each time. I am told we are a hearty folk out here and this will be but a faint memory in May!! I think I lost some of that "hearty" in the years I spent living in other places. I am going to stay inside by the fire on New Years eve and day and ponder the year to come.


Reflecting back over the year 2010:

1. The year started with the buzz at work that we would be facing another reduction in force and all of us were affected by the talks in halls and the rumors that swirl through a corporate campus unchecked. Not until March were our questions answered by headquarters. I was somewhat prepared for what came, but that did not take the sting out of emptying my desk and saying good-by to co-workers, who in so many cases had become friends. That last day at work was so very long and painful. For days I wept, not knowing exactly why! My inner clock is still set to my old work schedule! Some things don't change easily.
2. I had been discussing the possibility of a move with my mother and my siblings for sometime. I would go back home to my roots! Well the layoff from work took my one only reason for not being able to make that move. Some very hard decisions had to be made and I was on my own to make them. Asking for some divine guidance set me on my path back home.
3. A change - shaved my head and took a motorcycle ride!
4. The purging and packing began in earnest. The house on the prairie would not hold all of this furniture and do I really need all of this. (The answer I find is NO)
5. The journey from ER to the prairie in May was wrought with so many mixed emotions! My oldest and my youngest made the trip with me. When we pulled up to the house on the prairie, my sister, my niece and my mother were there to welcome us. The cupboards were stocked and there was a country roast (didn't come from some store chain) in the oven, with the wonderful aroma wafting through the air. The welcome was complete as I watched the beautiful sunset in the west over the prairie grasses.
6. Reality sets in! I moved!! OMG!!! The unpacking never seems to end and finding places for everything was a challenge. First things first, I need my computer set up! I need the internet! It was like learning to walk and talk again! At the end of the day there was the serenity of the prairie and those great walks with my furry kid, Zak!
7. The summer gave way to meeting my neighbors, getting involved in community, spending precious time with my mother and enjoying my new prairie life.
8. Fall came with its message that winter was not far behind. Some chilly nights gave way to a new furnace and the end of the year is upon us!

2011 will be host to reunions, both school and family! I will be happy to keep you posted.

Carpe Diem and most definitely Carpe Vino!

Be safe, be happy and don't forget to pay it forward to those less fortunate than you! Keep it real!

Days End

December 8th, the day the USA declared war on Japan in 1941! And my birthday!

I am listening to Imagine by John Lennon as I write this. This birthday was a day of mixed feelings. Of missing old friends, remembering celebrating with people I value and who value me as well. I miss all those birthday surprises at my desk in the morning when I arrived at work and the social hour with the YaYas at our favorite meeting place on Pineview. I miss my boys and the grand kids popping in to say Happy Birthday! And what's cooking? And I am celebrating making new memories with new friends! I had my birthday dinner with someone else who moved back "home" this summer and someone I value as a new friend. She has been a breath of fresh air when I needed to breathe out here on the prairie. We share the love of furry kids, antiques, and the importance of family. We have talked about a road trip together to the Twin Towns sometime in the not so distant future.

All and all it has been a wondrous day full emotion of the inner kind! ;-)

Stay healthy, be happy and keep it real!

Birthday Week

I read this the day and wanted to share it.

Snow whispers its secrets to those who choose to come this way. It speaks of softness and chills of sky and water in its many forms, of the distinction of each single crystal and of your place of belonging where things are wild and radiant and free.


With the thanksgiving holiday a memory (and what a memory), turkey legs stripped, pies all consumed and not a dollop of whipped cream in sight, we look forward to December with all the Ho-Hos one can possibly take. Fat bearded guys in red suits start appearing everywhere you go and the airways are piping out every Christmas/holiday tune ever written. Homes along the roadways are lighting up like the proverbial Christmas tree and there seems to be merriment among the town folk. Tis the season!

Not to be lost in all the glitz and glitter of the season is a cold bitter truth emerging mid-week. I am going to be 66 on the 8th! There it is now in black and white and I seem to be just fine. Who knew it would be this easy to say those words out loud, much less put them into cyberspace. Not only do I feel older, but lighter somehow, enlightened . . . Anyway for my birthday I am going off to the big city (or what we call the big city out here on the prairie) to spend a wonderful evening with friends and family celebrating. Weather man please hold all snow storms or any other weather events until I arrive safely back to the old homestead.

My birth date is bitter sweet since 1980. John Lennon died on that day and being one of my favorites, I will reflect on his music, art and life. He had just began to live! One of my favorite quotes from John is, "Time wounds all heals!" Too true!

And on that note I will say winter blessings to you all and remember it is the season for sharing what you have with those that have not.

Acts of

Random

Kindness

Stay healthy, be safe, keep it real!