we had a wonderful christmas together on the 28th. it has been 3 years since my whole family has been together at christmas, so it was especially heartwarming for me. mike & jess have appropriated that glow that comes with anticipation of their blessed event; eric & mel are bursting with love & pride of their beautiful daughter. casey & i are so thankful that our kids are happy and healthy and thriving.
mike & jess hit a deer on the way home sunday night–or should we say the deer hit them? no one was hurt except the deer and the car, and that was taken care of this morning. thank the lord.
melissa, eric, and emma left today with a planned stop in indy, then back to nyc. emma kept me entertained with her dancing and singing and general charm.
on saturday, nieces lauren and ali brought their kids over and we had a blast. sister and bro-in-law were also here to share the love.
i feel so overwhelmed with gratitude. i always spend a little time crying after my visits with emma and it’s hard to think of not seeing her again for months. i don’t know if that’s “normal”—-probably not—– it’s just that she brings out so much emotion…oh, i really can’t explain it. and it will happen all over again when our new little one is born in may. love just grows and grows and sometimes it chokes me, i guess.
i played the organ for a new year service tonight and the sermon text included one of my favorites of st. p: forgetting what is behind me, i press on…… leaving our past can be painful, whether it’s bad or good. i miss my kids being little, but they’re not; and now it’s their turn. i can only hope and pray that they have all the joy that i’ve experienced raising them. what a blessing!
thanks to all who helped make this holiday bright! God bless us every one.
33 years ago, 1:21 pm, waah-waah. 8lbs 10oz baby girl with lots of dark hair and chinese eyes. having a little trouble being borned because of having her face to the back, she sustained a black eye when the doctor reached up and turned her. she spent her first day in the critical care unit alongside preemies and when i was wheeled by to look at her, i overheard a fella say, “look at the little half-back”. later, they brought her to me to nurse and i swore to her that i would always take care of her and protect her from all hurts….
now she’s a mom herself and knows that we aren’t magical people who can keep all the hurts away. still, she knows i try and will always try even when she’s 133.
pride and joy is a little cliche’, but when your daughter is spending her birthday taking care of her daughter and later singing the messiah with the nyc philharmonic at lincoln center…well, she’s somebody i really respect and admire. and she’s my little girl.
love is the best word i know for it, but it’s so much more………and it’s forever, kid. always.
i am saddened by the death of dan fogelberg, from prostate cancer at age 56. his songs helped me through some tough times in the 70’s and i can still recite many of the lines that inspired me most. you all know his most famous songs: “run for the roses”, “leader of the band”, “same auld lang syne”. maybe you remember me raving about the album “captured angel” , but the album “souvenirs” is also great, especially “there’s a place in the world for a gambler”, and “netherworld” had a wonderful song called “phoenix” that empowered me. it’s “soft rock”, a little dated and dramatic, but it was just what i needed at the time. rip, df.
last sunday night i started in with the first signs of an impending rhinovirus (a cold, as you laymen call it) that i caught from husband, not the germy kids at work. by monday morning, my head was leaking snot and tears were flowing from my eyes. sans eye-make-up, loaded with kleenex and cough drops, i went on to work and made myself an example of how those kids should shut-up and work through common colds and headaches. the lesson was lost on them, natch. monday evening i started dosing myself heavily with sudafed, and kept it up tuesday and wednesday. by thursday i was off the meds and breathing throughout the night and friday had made nearly-full recovery. the common cold is a self-limiting virus that typically will last from 10-14 days, but its symptoms can be minimized as illustrated. remember this when you are in day 7-10 of your cold, haven’t taken anything for it, and thinking you should call the doctor. if you had treated the symptoms from the beginning, you would be feeling better by then, and, of course, antibiotics do nothing to kick a virus — and it’s a virus no matter what color your snot is. ibuprofen for the headache, sudafed to decongest and dry, cough drops for the scratchy throat, and either nyquil or (my choice) whiskey toddies to help you rest at night. start the treatment as soon as you sniff. blow your nose frequently and don’t sniff the snot back into your ears and sinuses. i made myself a paper bag that i used to throw away the box and a half of kleenex i used. oh, and keep saying, “it’s just a cold”.
the cold did delay my christmas shopping, but i’m not feeling too stressed because it doesn’t have to be ”done” till 12/28. i went out saturday and got a few things, mostly for myself (!). my cards are in the process of being addressed and i’m working on my christmas day music, so i’m rather enjoying the season without a sense of urgency.
i only work 4 days this week, so here we go…..seems like there’s something else, a birthday or something this week. hmmm….
i’ve been frantically manic lately. joined the y and have been treadmilling daily for 2 miles. they gave me a step counter when i joined and i’ve found it quite fascinating. just walking incessantly from my desk to the medicine room to drug or patch up the kids uses up about 4,000 steps a day (about 1,000/hr). the 2 miles is about the same. interesting, huh? my goal is to not gain back any more weight without having to count calories. i’m enjoying my cooking and eating out too much to stop now and this ought to get me through the holidays. plus–added bonus–i feel pretty good when i’m done.
husband and i have nearly completed putting up the christmas decorations — 2 weeks of sorting, hanging, moving. it looks great, really, but the pictures don’t do justice because of the flash. i’m working on them, though.
my church work has deteriorated into “Winter Bible School” wherein i am left out in the cold, excluded from the children’s christmas program. that’s okay, i don’t care.
we’re planning a christmas day get-together with adults — probably my last year for that. we’ll also know the gender of m&j’s baby by christmas. our micro-family will be together 12/28-12/30 so there will be lots to celebrate.
