A week ago I got our new dog..

Well, I thought I was getting a dog. That’s what Nicole told me. She
does eat dog food, but I think she prefers ours. She is positive her
duty in life is to be underfoot or in a lap. I kept thinking she looked
familiar, but I had never seen a dog like her before. Finally, I
figured it out.

I got an Ewok!

Our dog and our Ewok

I go to the chiropractor twice a month because of an old back injury.  I tell my chiropractor that he is my safety net.  Because of those visits, I am willing to take risks that otherwise I would never try.  My husband also goes–40 years of construction work has taken its toll–though not as faithfully as I do.  Over the years we have developed a friendship with our chiropractor, and he jokes with me about Nick and how he waits until he is in pain to come in. 

So yesterday I went for my regular appointment.  He told me that if Nick was a horse, he would be dehydrated.  I said, “What!?!”   His response: “You can take a horses to water, but you can’t make him drink. I think he is one of the most stubborn men I have ever met. Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I think he is a great guy.  Just really stubborn.” 

Don’t I know it!

It is amazing to me how the days roll into weeks.  We had a wonderful time in Seattle, but there was no computer access for that time.  Before we even got back to Texas time, school began.  So now I am consumed with getting the year off to a good start.  In the midst of seating charts and grading books, our son from Germany arrived for the first visit in a year. Today he is visiting friends in Dallas so I have some at home alone time.  I love his visits, but they also remind me of how much I miss him when he is gone.  Germany seems so very far away!  From here he is going to Seattle to see his sister and then return to Germany.  I won’t think about when the next visit will be. 

I am hoping to organize my pictures from Seattle after things settle down.  This year I want to begin to make photo albums.  I have already scanned many of our old slides and negatives in preparation.  I haven’t figured out how to scan old 110 film negatives yet though.  I am sure there is some way. 

To those of you who have been patient with me, thank you so much.  I have been reading most of your posts and tried to keep up although I only read and didn’t comment.  Usually it was late at night after everyone was in bed and I was half-asleep myself. 

We are currently in Seattle visiting our daughter.  We spent the past couple of days out on the islands and in Bellingham.  We took a ferry to Orcas Island.  Then on impulse decided to stay in Bellingham and visit the church there.  What a great sermon!  After a lunch in the cool sun, we drove down the scenic coastal road for an hour before connecting with the interstate.

We are walking miles everyday!!  I will write more later.  I don’t have regular access to a computer for now.  This is a borrowed one that we have for tonight.  Love to you all!

I’ve spent most of the past week at my sister Annette’s going through my mother’s treasures.  Another sister Marilyn had come in from North Carolina to help.  We spent 4 days going through boxes and boxes!  We are still not completely done, but we are done enough for Annette to be able to claim her garage again. Well, she will be probably be able to use half of it. 

Tomorrow I am returning for our day of fun!  No more boxes!!

I grew up in a family that almost never spoke love or demonstrated it actually.  Looking back I realize that love was there, just never pointed out in words or actions: no hugs, snuggles, or kisses, no “I love you”s.  So here I am at sixty determined to change my ways! I’ve been working on it for quite a while, and I have great coaches in my kids and grandkids.  I still feel there is so much to learn.

Xangans, how did your family show love when you were little?  How do you show love now?  What makes you feel loved the most?  What could a parent do now that you are grown to show love?  I guess I am still trying to learn. 

The man worked his magic.  He slipped another plastic bag over the cage, and carried it out to his van.  The last time I talked to him, he was taking a peaceful, not-spraying skunk down the highway heading for a better home.

I added some pictures to the June 12th post.

We have an update on yesterday’s situation.  Good News: The have-a-heart trap is sprung.  Our visitor is captured.

Bad News:  He is on our back porch beside the door, and he shredded the plastic bag around the trap.

Enter the skunk whisperer.  I sure hope it works!

Last night we had a back porch visitor.  He kept right on eating even with the flash going off.  So Nick decided to slide the glass door open and slam it closed to make him go away.  No, he didn’t leave, but I did! 

Thankfully, he didn’t spray even then.  After his dinner, he ambled off into the darkness.

Time happens! How it flies by and moves on.  Sometimes I feel like I am standing on a bridge and watching it go by, almost like I am standing still and time is moving on.  Other times I am caught up in the current and swept away.  Suddenly I find myself in a new place, and I have lost something back there in time.

These past couple of weeks I had the unique opportunity to be lifted out of today and reconnected to a past that I was sure was lost forever.  I shed many tears that I had not had the freedom to release in my tumultuous youth. I looked back and saw the pattern of  pain and self-destruction I followed after that loss. 

I just thank God for giving me a son who gave me the courage to get out of the current that was heading me towards destruction.  And for the husband who made me want to live again and to be a better person. 

The trigger was the death for a dear friend from high school whom I had not seen in nearly forty years.  Coupled with it was finding his sister and beginning to rebuilt the sweet friendship we once had.  As she put it.”time and space are irrelevant when love is present.”   I also found the mother of a very close friend during those years.  I looked for my friend for probably twenty years or more.  I finally found a mutual friend, only to learn that the one I was looking for had died the year before in a car accident.  I didn’t know her mother was only an hour’s drive away until last week.  I am sure we will go visit her some day soon.

Every year I tell my junior high students, “Treasure your friendships.  Work at them.  They are more precious than you realize.”   I hope that my advice will help them avoid the regrets for lost relationships that I have had. It just gets harder when you get older to establish that closeness that grows so easily when you are young.  Too many other things pull at you. 

So I am blessed to have been through this.  I feel like I found a part of myself that was left back there.