A Day of Note and It's A Small World After All

Happy Anniversary to me! Today marked my eighth anniversary of being a branch office administrator for a national investment brokerage (my how time flies when you are having fun). That makes this the absolutely longest position I’ve ever held other than Wife (24-½ years) and Mother (22 years) .

Today is also the day I can officially hang up my chauffeur’s cap, as our youngest is now a fully licensed driver! Woo Hoo! I now get to replace running here and there to just worrying while he goes here and there! Life is a trade-off.

Another good note on the day….

Tonight, SonMySon dropped me off at the local coffee shop on his way to Tae Kwon Do (as opposed to the usual: me dropping him off and then going to the coffee shop to be comfortable while his daily class was in session). As I made my way to the comfortable leather couch in front of the fireplace at the coffee shop, I spied the same two ladies that I’ve seen the previous two Thursday evenings. We exchanged smiles as the pretty lady with the dark hair teasingly remarked that I was late! While waiting for my hot cocoa to arrive, I had my ‘puter on the fireplace hearth to the side of me, making it visible to others, when this same lady delightedly remarked that she recognized the header on the blog page I was reading: Works For Me Wednesday(www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com). And she challenged me to find her post. As it turns out, I’ve been reading her blog, http://www.adventuresindailyliving.blogspot.com/

for several months now! It was hard to tell who was most pleased, she to find out she has a regular reader, or me to meet a famous blogger! I never would have imagined that one of the writers I enjoy lives in my little corner of the world!

A funny note tonight…

This is what happens when you fall asleep sitting up with your dinner plate on your lap. Do you think 2 PE classes, an hour and a half at Tae Kwon Do working out in anticipation of taking his Instructor’s Belt Test tomorrow night, a full day of school and the stress of taking his driver’s test might have taken a toll today? He didn’t even wake up when Brindle walked all over him, butted him in the face trying to wake him and finally settled on finishing his dinner for him. Sweet dreams, SonMySon.

New Year's Day

Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given;
While angels sing with tender mirth,
A glad new year to all the earth.~Martin Luther


A happy New Year! Grant that I
May bring no tear to any eye
When this New Year in time shall end
Let it be said I've played the friend,
Have lived and loved and labored here,
And made of it a happy year.~Edgar Guest


Another fresh New Year is here...
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest...
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs! ~ William Arthur Ward

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A new year, a new beginning.

A fresh start is supposed to begin January 1. I am finding the new start began the day my mama left us to continue her eternal journey. Just as life is measured mile markers such as “when I was in school”, “before I was married”, “before we had kids”, I am now finding time measured as “it was the week before Mama died’ or “in the six weeks since Mama died”.

We gathered together last night, resolutely determined to keep our bonds of family, to honor Mama’s memory by continuing our traditions. Determined to stay united as friends and we enjoyed each other’s company, shared some laughs, and a few teary moments. Some us came out ahead after a couple of hours of poker, some of us found their pockets lightened of their $5 buy in!

I reveled in the noise and the confusion of having a house full of 18 people, Mama would have loved it. All the activity, all the conversations. Seeing the cousins interact with each other, as well as the sibling dynamics, too.

We sorely missed those not with us, by will or circumstance. We welcomed a new girlfriend into the mix, a sure sign that my youngest has seen the last year of childhood, as he enters the last years of his teenager status. Our family mix is changing, ever growing. We no longer have babes in arms or toddlers under foot. The youngest is in school fulltime and the oldest has graduated college.

One thing I know for sure, this well be a year a change, many ways unwilling change. In other aspects, conscious change as we all cope with the loss of our Mother, learn how to help our Father navigate the waters of “going on”. I hope we will all find our ways, support each other when we stumble, continue to grow and learn and knit closer to each other. Please, let not inertia and the daily routine let us drift apart.