The big 7 birthday cake ...cool effects compliments of Swayze the cockapoo, who insisted on helping me.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whew! It was a long and wonderful day...I left the house around 11, stopped to get the oil changed in the car and by the store to get a birthday present, and then headed off on an adventure to Southern Illinois, for my niece's 7th birthday. It's about 2 1/2 hours from here to there, so it's a commitment to go there for me. lol But I wouldn't have missed it for the world. This baby girl was a long time coming...her folks (my baby brother) were trying to conceive for years and couldn't, even with all the help modern medicine could offer. Then suddenly one day (after they'd thrown in the towel) bada bing, bada boom! Our little darling appeared. It was a rough and scary pregnancy, and she was born way too early. She had breathing problems (lungs weren't developed quite enough) and she had leg and foot problems, and she had to stay at the hospital way too long for our liking. But she finally came home and she was beautiful (all of our babies are beautiful!!) and she had to endure a lot of surgeries and casts and things little tiny baby girls should NEVER have to endure (so says her bestest aunt). And today (and for a few years now) she is healthy and happy and runs and hops and jumps and skips and marches to her own beat. And I adore her. She is funny and sweet and cries easily and throws fits. She draws and she writes me poems and songs. She is smart as a whip, and I am teaching her to grow up and be a wild woman. lol
So, I got home around 10 PM and am recuperating from the drive.
I finally found a car wash that was open for business today (most have been closed because their water supplies were frozen). I got my little red car cleaned up (it was practically white from salt and road goo) and you can even see out the windshield. lol We had absolutely balmy temps of 20 degrees today. 20!!!!!!!! It felt like the tropics.
My surgeon appointment is tomorrow afternoon, so I am heading to bed soon to get a good nights sleep. I just got off chat with a girl from NC who stayed with us for a few months after getting kicked out of a halfway house. Her granny is preparing to leave this world, so if you have an extra little prayer of condolence and comfort for J--, I would appreciate it. Her granny was more of a mother to her than her own mother ever was, and this is a terribly sad time for her.
Life is a beautiful mystery that unravels for us moment to moment.... don't forget that today is a gift...that's why they call it the present.
Namaste.
