Merry Christmas

I am blessed to have our daughter Blondie, her boyfriend and his sister, our son Curly, my husband and Spider with me for a festive dinner late on Christmas Eve.

Our daughter Brownie and Airman 1C will be on their own at his duty station. I am excited for them as they have been married almost two years and finally have a place of their own.

I wish you all (well anyone who reads this) love, laughter and peace in this holiday season.

Crows, crows, crows

Every day around 4/dusk, hundreds and hundreds of crows pass my office window. It is something of a joke among my coworkers - there are lots of references to "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock. It is an amazing sight and lasts about 5 minutes. It is kind of spooky, too.

Emptying the nest plus Apples to Apples

Our son Curly left today on the train to a nearby city. Only two hours away. There is a curious feeling in my heart. Hope that things work out and he is able to start college for winter quarter. And already I am missing his smile and his wacky humor. Plus he is my DVR remote operator – now I have to do it for myself. WTH? Who will I watch the food channel with? Who will read me news stories from Fark? Mostly I am happy that he is beginning his adult life at last.

Brownie and Airman are settling into his new duty station. There is no on base housing available so they will be looking for a place to live in the small town nearby. When I spoke to Brownie earlier today she was piling on the layers of clothing to keep warm, such a change from Texas! Only eight hours away – maybe I will rack up some frequent flyer miles.

I may be the last person to hear of the Apples to Apples card game. It is my new game passion. Blondie and her boyfriend introduced it to us after their trip to Reno. We played the game with all the kids at Thanksgiving. So much laughter and conversation arose from the cards played. See the link below for more information from Amazon. If you have the chance to buy it and play at Christmas I promise hours of fun!

http://www.amazon.com/Apples-Party-Crate-Game-Comparisons/dp/B001DXF9ZO/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1259867559&sr=8-11

Friends - One of God's Blessings

I have been sitting here trying to put into words the joy I feel right now. Moving and then the whole breast cancer ordeal made it difficult to make friends or to keep in contact with old friends. I am also skittish – my family and I were burned so badly by a “friend” that keeping to myself seemed to make sense. I felt the lack of friends fiercely though.

God has His own timing and He led me through that lonely time. One by one old friends have been restored to me and I am so grateful. I have also been able to reach out and take the hand of a new friend.

AlaskaWoman was the first. We found each other on line and have kept up a daily sharing of our lives. We began the habit of listing each day what we were grateful for and it makes such a difference. Sitting down to look for the good in our lives improved our lives. I love AlaskaWoman for her self – the girl she was in high school and the woman she is now.

Red is my new friend. She is Caramel’s mother. Red has been so generous to me, gently helping me over my shyness and wary attitude. She is inspiring and fun. We share shopping, movies and musicals. Simply put, Red rocks!

This weekend as I sat cuddling with the Pirate and watching TV, there was a knock at the door. In walked one of my best friends ever! I had not seen Photogal in several years due to issues in her life and mine, with a whole country between us. Our hug was healing. We fell into conversation as if only days had passed. We have seen each other through some of the darkest days of our lives. I am thrilled that Photogal is on this side of the US now. It’s like a part of me has been brought back to life.

I hope that I each of these women know what a blessing they are to me. I hope I am a blessing to them also. Words are not enough to explain how I feel about these women.