Road Trip

Taking a short road trip to welcome in the New Year. And I suspect 2009 might be something stunning.

Be safe!

How Do You Say Thank You….

To someone awesome?

Briefly, I had a meltdown on Christmas evening, thanks to the past coming back to haunt me. (Lovely timing, right?) And M…well, he was amazing. Patient and understanding and not all too freaked out (or at least if he was he covered it well).

So this is a thank for the understanding and tolerance and calmness.

I am grateful far more than words can ever begin to express.

(As for the photo – we are considering kayaks. Well, maybe more than considering, more like “in the market for” kayaks. And yes, I know these aren’t kayaks, but they are boats and the colors are beautiful!)

Sometimes It's the Little Things

Commitment. I told my sisters a couple of months back that I hated that word. And I do, because it scares me so much. I feel as if I’ve tried the word on, turned around a couple of times to look in the mirror, and it just doesn’t fit. It’s like it scrunches at the waist or the sleeves are too short or the hem is uneven. Something about that word just makes me uncomfortable.

So I went to thesaurus.com to see if I could find a word similar to commitment (defined as “assurance; obligation”) but that might fit me better. Among the choices:

Engagement (heavens – that is worse that commitment!)

Guarantee (good if you want to return something)

Must (that one makes the stubborn me want to argue that no, really I must not)

Duty (another one worse than commitment)

Promise. This is defined as “one’s word that something will be done.”

Now that is something I believe I can try to live up to. It's a much softer word than commitment, must prettier, and the meaning does fit better.

The beautiful part is, I explained this to M last night and he was in agreement.

Random Sunday

Last night my clothes dryer ran for two hours. This fact dawned on me about an hour into the session, but then I got distracted and forgot for another hour. When I went to check on it, the clothes were dry, but not warmed. Sigh…I dreamed last night of having to purchase a new dryer.

But this morning I went to check on it and realized that it had been moved last night and that it was partially unplugged! I plugged it in, turned it on and heat!

Guess I won’t be needing clothes pins any time all too soon. At least I hope not since it is chilly these days.

Yesterday K and I put up the tree. When we went in I saw one for $45. Too much, said I. We saw several that were less, but of course, the beauty we bought was more. As we put the lights on last night I was reminded that this one little piece of Christmas – a simple tree – is what it takes to get me more and more in the mood for the holiday.

The critter battle may be winding down. M came over last night and put a board in the air gap where it appears they were getting in. And this morning I heard something running ON my roof, not in my walls. Fingers crossed and say a prayer, the doggone things may be outside instead of in for the rest of the winter. (Though I think Jake will be a bit sad. It seems he has taken to listening outside the bathroom door every morning for the rustle of critter feet.)

And finally, last night M and I went to dinner for his birthday. As always, a very pleasant evening. Well, with one minor spot (and trust me, when I say minor I mean minor). I had warned him, several times, that I’m pretty uncoordinated. If he wasn’t convinced before last night, he should be convinced now. We played foosball. Ok, I attempted to play and he is quite good. I’m not sure how much I tried his patience, but let’s just say I’m sure it was a challenge for him. Though when I think about it I think it was actually pretty funny. (And I did find out he’s been playing for 10 years and this was maybe the third time in my life that I’ve played. Maybe I get some slack for that?)

Holiday Hustle and Bustle

This week has been a bit busy, to say the least. I am a slug – have not been able to get in a run all week (pretty soon I’ll be a heavy-weight slug if I don’t get back to the pavement!). Christmas shopping is almost completed, but there is no tree up, though I did manage to find the girls’ Christmas stockings before St. Nick’s day and both girls’ were rewarded nicely by St. Nick for being so cool for an entire year.

Perhaps a tree this weekend, if time allows. Maybe some other house decorations. Oh, perhaps a poinsettia (though I really don’t have a place to set one). Maybe some presents will get wrapped. And maybe I will purchase the last of the gifts. Christmas cards are doubtful this year, to say the least, unless I send them after Christmas.

The nice part is – I am completely calm about all of this! If something doesn’t get done, Christmas will still be fine. I will be able to spend time with my kids, my new guy and his kids, friends at a holiday gathering or two. Gosh, how things have changed.

Oh, and there is still one challenge…Santa always brings me a present (he has for years). And this year I can’t quite figure out what to ask him for. Hmmm…..

My how things change

My dad was, as I said in a previous post, the most amazing man to grace the planet.

Jake, my 80 lb. four-legged male, is, as I’ve written, the best male I’ve ever lived with.

And now everything is slowly but surely changing.

If you were to wake up
And I were beside you
Would you gently smile dear
And whisper my name
And would you remember
The way that I held you
And would you want me
To hold you again

The words are from Lyle Lovett. The rest of the song isn't as positive, but gosh, this first set of lyrics sums things up pretty nicely.

2/22/1918 – 12/2/2003

Five years ago today my dad passed away. He was, in my eyes, the most amazing man to ever grace the planet. Smart, funny, kind, generous, devoted, and so very much more.

There are too many memories to even begin to list here, but among the things I miss the most:

• Calling him weekly just to check in and see how he was doing.
• Checking in regularly during the NCAA basketball tournament. I know today it’s referred to as “March Madness,” but when I started to watch it with him when I was in high school, it was merely the NCAA tourney.
• Playing cribbage. Gosh, I almost never beat him. Even at the end, when he was very sick and I had to peg for him, he still won!
• His laughing at silly comedy segments that he watched with my two girls. Victor Borge and Johnny Carson come to mind immediately.
• Sharing his love of Robert Ludlum novels. I actually read The Bourne Identity when I was in junior high.
• His complete distress when I lost the one baby. It happened not that many years after my mom died and he was so sad and so lost and didn’t quite know what to do. It was just incredibly sweet.

And so, for my dad, I choose these words from W.H. Auden:

…He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest…