appreciation

1.  Thank you JoJo and Gus for sleeping in until 6:30 yesterday and today.  Good dogs.
2.  Thank you two friends who I met for breakfast and chatter, even though it was at Carl's Jr and there is nothing--nothing--healthy to eat at that place.  The visit was well worth the sacrifice of wolfing down that almost-all-the-day-weightwatchers-points sausage cheese egg biscuit.
3.  Thank you Jr for accompanying me to Home Depot to pick up a new sink, faucet, countertop, and whatever that other stuff was we needed for the laundry room remodel, and for not exploding at the apparently new cashier who might have been possibly a bit lazy or maybe just really new in the customer service business.
4. Thank you Jack's mom for being in such high spirits, for looking so good.  And perhaps the thank you should also go out to Jack's mom's caretakers who are so very, very, very good at what they do.
5. Thank you Melissa for showing up every other week and cleaning all the things--the kitchen, the bathrooms, the floors, the dust--oh, and especially the basement, that manspace I'm so happy I don't have to clean.  Thank you for always showing up, ensuring I keep up with the tidying and daily clutter removal which would overwhelm and bury us if not for your scheduled visits.
6. Thank you Jr for half of the sixth Harry Potter movie in the theater downstairs.  Yes, I am starting to look forward to more Potter.
7. Thank you winter for the beautiful dusting on everything, even with the accompanying slipperyness and countless near falls.  And thank you sense of balance for keeping me upright through all of those near falls.
8. And finally, thank you Jack for the hockey game night with Stu and Shi.  Thank you for the season tickets that get us out of our chairs and out of the house every few nights and sometimes several nights in a row.  Thank you for the entertaining hours, the wacky dancing to now familiar bits of songs, the group cheers and individual yelling that makes me giggle sometimes and laugh out loud other times.  And of course, the hockey--the intensity of movement, effort, exertion, emotion--it is extraordinary.  Thank you Stu for your part in all of this.

the best laid non-plans

It's off Friday.  I woke this morning around 4:00--thank you JoJo for sleeping in that extra hour today after rising every other morning this week at 3:00.

So there I am, awake at 4:00, thinking about my wide open day ahead.  What to do with a day away from work?

Should I tidy up, do some laundry, pay some bills?  Finish reading book 5 of the Harry Potter series?  (I'd successfully avoided reading or watching any Harry Potter related stuff until Jr convinced me I should join him and his friend on a trip to Potter World in March, which required reading all of the books and watching all of the movies.  A kind of training if you will.)

Or wait.  There's the laundry room remodel that we've begun.  Cupboards have been removed, flooring has been ripped out, walls have been patched and painted.  There's probably something in there I could work on today to try to keep the project moving along so it will be done before the super bowl party next Sunday.

Then I remembered I've agreed to watch the darling Meredith on my off afternoons.  That will be a good time, followed by the hockey game tonight.

Then promptly at 7:00, Jack's cell phone rang, which is usually either a call from work or a call from his mom's care center.  Care center this time.  They found her on the floor by her bed, with the bedding torn from the bed and a new skin tear on her arm.  Sigh.  Skin tear sounds so minor, so simple, so this-is-no-big-deal.  But the last one took over a month to heal.  She is so fragile.

Then around 8:00 my phone rang.  It was my mom looking for someone to go to Sam's to pick up a prescription and 'three of those jugs of orange juice with the green lids'. 

So there you go.  It's time to shower, dress, do a bit of quick tidying, hit the Sam's, stop by the care center, go play with Meredith, and drop in for a hockey game.  I'll take the potter book just in case there's a few empty minutes at some point.

Sigh.  I probably didn't need to lounge around all day in my jammies today.

You know how some days you wake up and you have to get up and go to work?  And how other days you wake up and you don't want to get out of bed at all?  And some days you wake up and get up and sit in your jammies in your chair by the fireplace, lazily fooling around on the internet or watching meaningless DIY shows, in what could accurately be called wasting a perfectly good morning?

Today was not one of any of those days. 

Today thought it might be an internet/DIY wasted morning, but I had other plans for it.  A quick text to Jr and 20 minutes later we were on our way up the mountain, to the best-ever crunchy snow on the ground and the crystal sparkly flakes flittering and swirling around and the brightest, blue-sky sunshine I've seen this year.

It was a soul-restoring start to today.

 these are views from the lift

 this is how we look after skiing

 this is stick-rock.  so glad to see the stick is still holding up the rock.

one of these days, Jr and I are going to place a snowman built of quilt batting under stick-rock.

because we're funny like that.

reflection and resolution

re·flec·tion (rəˈflekSH(ə)n) noun

1.  the throwing back by a body or surface of light, heat, or sound without absorbing it.

2.  serious thought or consideration.

 

res·o·lu·tion (rezəˈlo͞oSH(ə)n) noun

1.  a firm decision to do or not to do something.

2.  the action of solving a problem, dispute, or contentious matter.

Reflecting back on 2015 confirms my belief that the only constant in life is change.  It was the year when we changed our living arrangements--remodeled the basement in order to move in Jack's brother, and moved his mother to new living arrangements, three times.  It was the year when people we love changed further, both Jack's mom and my dad, and to some extent, my own mother.  It was the year when our family changed again with the wonderful addition of two more incredible granddaughters.  It was the year when my daily work world changed when I stopped talking every day to my best friend at work.

Some of the changes were very hard.  Some were very good.  Some are still evolving.

A few days ago, I heard someone say that the reason why people don't keep their new year's resolutions is because we always make resolutions about things we don't really want to do.   I also saw a post on Facebook that suggested my 'word' for 2016 should be honesty (based on what, I don't know, but it seems like a worthy word for a new year, right?)

In 2016, I resolve (make a firm decision) to live honestly.  To recognize, acknowledge, listen to my inner feelings and emotions.  To communicate more clearly.  To be present with those I love.  To continue to take good care of the gift that is my physical body.  To see, appreciate, and glory in the beauty in nature.  To find peace and joy, while understanding there will be conflict and sorrow, and also, inevitably, change.