Deuces

I am grateful for these morning minutes to blog and journal and tidy the home I love so much. I am grateful for my healthy family.  I don't come from money or inheritance or even good luck, but I am grateful I come from hard work and hard-learned lessons and good health.  I am grateful that today my mom is well and my husband and daughter have everything they need.  I am grateful for my friends. Oh, Lord, what would I do without the women who make me laugh until I cry, the ladies with whom I talk at length and with brutal honesty with about our kids, our jobs, men and what we dream about, hope for, plan for, what ails us and what fails us? I am grateful for history- 24 years of friendship.  This girl I sat next to in chorus at Imperial Jr. High.  Our teacher, Mr. Beckman, wore a toupee that waved wildly with each baritone crescendo in class as he waved his wand. Is it called a wand when referring to music? ...

Does it count as blogging when you post pictures?  Jessica so cleverly made these collages (she's the collage-queen).  I thought they were sweet.  I've known these ladies for over 20 years...ooph!   Some photos of my beautiful daughter on one of my favorite days of the year (4th of July!)   And celebrating birthdays with my 3 Cancer girls, baseball and celebrating my 35th (again!) with (more!) dear friends These are some of my favorite summer days... so far...

Thank you: to all of you who treat me with such love and kindness and read my mundane blog and shared in the celebration of my life.

I created a new Pandora playlist- It's my Emeli Sandé station.   Love her. It's been a banger station, hit to hit as I transition into this week back from some much-needed time away from my computer- a week away from the noise raging in my head- a week away from the mail I haven't looked at for a while that sits in wait on my desk. The one word to describe my trip to England... Necessary. Though there are so many layers to the trip I couldn't fit it into a blog.  The layer that involves necessary time with extended family and friends, the layer that revolves around the unique time I spent with Sayler in the confines and freedoms away from WiFi and work, a layer involving time with my husband as his passenger- because it's a great feeling to be a passenger, both literally and figuratively.  To rest my head for a short while and let someone take lead.  And there was the layer of focus on creating a great and memorable experience for Ariel...

"Anna Begins" makes me smile. It's one of the songs my brother, Corbin, used to randomly sing with his guitar while we sat around doing nothing.  Frankly, his version was better than the original And there are other songs that remind me of doing nothing other than sitting around when we had time to sit around.   Before we were graced with awesome children, long work days, houses, spouses, DIY projects that take us to Home Depot on the weekends and text conversations that go a little something like.... This isn't a long-winded blog.  It's just a virtual hug to my brother, Corbin, who I love dearly.

I woke up in a great mood.   It must have been the great run I had last night, or the surprise flowers my husband brought home which shocked me so much I had to ask "are these my first ever surprise flowers?" to which he proudly replied "yea!".   And I honestly can't tell you why out of all the current songs I could wake up thinking about I started hearing this song in my head  upon waking at 5 a.m.   My mind thinks it's Friday.  I don't have the heart to tell it the truth... that it is only 6 a.m. Thursday... that we have to get off this couch and get ready for work soon.    My mind isn't quite ready for the shock of the emails that are waiting for us.   But tomorrow... sometime after the work bell tolls (you know... I mean, the pretend one in my head...), I will get a chance to visit with girlfriends for dinner and cocktails.  But before then let's recap some of the week's highlights, shall we?   With...

So it started a few days ago when I reached out to some of my best girls and confessed I needed a pick me up toot suite.   "Please make me laugh or smile...I could really use it". And without asking me why I needed it they came back, in rapid fire, with the following: And the one that might have made me laugh the loudest (because it's quite the inside reference these days): And not long after that I got a text from one of my favorite colleagues who reminded me of a special moment: And finally catching up with Ariel: And the most priceless smile-inducer was this face that I missed so much while I was away (I know your uterus aches just wanting one this cute): These are some of my best girls.  Don't you wish you had best girls as great as my best girls?

2013 has been kind to us. Surrounded by family, good friends, good health, lots of laughter and lots of love.  Few regrets, lots of lessons, some losses.  Tears of joy, tears of disappointment, summer heat, winter warmth, holidays, celebrations, birthdays, memorials, memories.  Lives beginning, relationships forming, luck ending, and coming back 'round, again. Ella Joy: Reagan Kingston Cambria