Reflections of 2015

As 2015 comes to an end, I can't help but reflect back. It's been a good year, nothing exceptional. It started out with a bitterly cold winter. The snow turned to ice on our drive and even though my nephew plowed, it remained ice.

 We have a gravel drive, and I swear the ice was several inches thick. I could hardly walk on it. Needless to say, we stayed inside for the most part, only going out when necessary. I even missed church several Sundays because of the ice. If I couldn't walk on it, I surely wasn't going to drive on it.
My nephew even slid off the drive with his truck and got stuck. I'm sure he wasn't anxious to plow our driveway, but he did it every time it snowed. I don't usually mind the cold or the snow, but this winter was brutally cold. The poor dogs ran out and didn't take long to do their business. I felt bad about having to let them out.





I became a great grandmother for the third time in May. My granddaughter had a beautiful baby girl, Michaela. Precious little beauty, but of course I'm prejudiced. Pictured here with her proud mama, (Allison) great grandpa, and a proud auntie (Alexandra). God has blessed us abundantly.


Spring took forever to get here. At least it seemed to and summer - well I'm still waiting for it to arrive. Not that I'm complaining about that. I dislike the hot, humid summer days as much as I disliked the cold. Only difference is, I was able to stay inside and keep warm in the winter. I hate staying inside in the summer. I like my doors and windows open. I'm not crazy about air conditioning and keeping the house closed up. It's closed up enough in the winter. This past summer was much more to my liking. We only had to run the air a couple of days.

 In fact, we only put one of our window air conditioners in. No, we don't have central air.
We did, however, buy a motor-home - an old one was all we could afford. 1989. But in fairly good condition. Doesn't look like much, all faded and such, but I love it. So we did quite a bit of camping this year. Our state parks offer half price during the week to seniors and we took full advantage of it. Although we still camped with the kids on weekends when they went. It's always fun

to camp with the kids and I even went tubing with them. Loved every minute of it. Granted it took a bit to get me in and out of the tube, but once in, we floated down the river and it was so relaxing. Something about being on the water is calming.

Fall was beautiful and lasted well into December. It was 60 Christmas Day. However, the temperatures have now dropped and returned to normal. I guess winter has finally arrived. We've seen a few snow flakes but so far no accumulation. It's supposed to be a milder than normal winter with less than normal snow. Doesn't bother me a bit.
Two of my grandchildren got engaged recently so weddings will be forthcoming, probably in 2017. We are also expecting a great grandson in June so it looks like 2016 is going to be a good year.


Funny, I hadn't meant to talk about the weather, but I guess it gives you a general idea of how uneventful my life has been this year.
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But I did publish a new book, All's Well that Ends Well, book 2 in the Family Affair Series. You can find it at Amazon.


Wishing everyone a healthy, Happy New Year.

A Mother's Day Tribute

Things My Mother Never Taught Me

My mother never taught me about the thrill of a first kiss or the hurt of that first breakup. She never told me about the love between a man and a woman and the joy of standing at the altar, vowing before God, family and friends to love him forever.

My mother never taught me about the emotions of holding my newborn in my arms for the first time, or the feeling of responsibility for the new life. She never told me about the overwhelming awe and love I would feel, knowing that this child came from within me. That I created this life, nourished it for nine long months, and now had to nourish and care for it in the real world.

My mother never taught me the feeling of swelled pride at watching my child take their first step or hearing their first words.

She never taught me about the combination of pain and pride I would feel as I watched my children waltz off to school, looking so grown up and yet so young. So independent. She never told me how I’d feel when they came home and said “But Miss so and so said it was better to do it this way.” and the realization that I was no longer the sole influence in their life.
My mother never taught me about the fear of having a child in the hospital undergoing tests by a neurologist after a normal eye exam discovered a problem or sitting in an emergency room while your child undergoes an emergency appendectomy. She never told me how difficult it was to watch your child suffer through typical childhood illnesses, stitches or broken bones.
She never taught me about the fear of letting your child go down the street to play or crossing the street for the first time by themselves.

My mother never taught me about dealing with my daughter’s first crush and heartbreak and lost love. She never told me how hard it would be to watch my children struggle to get good grades or make the team or try to fit in.
She never taught me about the pride of watching my children march down the auditorium to receive their diploma or hearing about their first job. My mother never told me of the deep fear I’d experience when they learned to drive or getting that phone call that told you they had an accident.
My mother never taught me of the excitement of their engagement and the trials of planning a wedding. She never told me of the happiness and pride I’d feel watching them walk down the aisle to stand beside the one they vowed to spend their life with or the worry that this child was now totally independent of you.

She never taught me of the sense of wonder I’d feel holding my newborn grandchildren for the first time.
She never explained that these feelings of worry and concern never go away when my children grew up. My mother didn’t tell me the worries would only strengthen as my children married and had children of their own. That I’d have more to love and worry about not only my children but their spouses and my grandchildren.
My mother never told me how it feels to be a mother. She never told me about the joy, pain, and overwhelming awe of being a mother and grandmother. I now know why my mother never taught me these things. Because these thing have to be experienced to understand the wonderful sense of being a mother.

But the biggest thing my mother never taught me was how I’d feel when I no longer had her to talk with, to share my feelings with after she passed from this world. She never taught me how to deal with the loss at losing a loved one or the pain deep within that I would carry through the rest of my days. My mother never told me how very much I’d miss her.

Six more weeks of winter according to the groundhog. Why that suprises anyone, I'll never know. I mean seriously, the first day of Spring isn't until March 20th. That's six weeks away. Besides that, in this part of the US, we seldom see spring until at least April - usually May and even sometimes May is cold. Granted, not as cold as now, but still not what I'd call warm. We often have 40 degree days.
I've discovered weather is a state of mind. If you don't mind it, it doesn't bother you. I guess as we age, other things are more important than the weather. Yes, I prefer warm temperatures, and I'd much rather be outside doing fun things, working in the yard, or even sitting out enjoying it. But then it'll turn hot, and I'll hibernate in the cool of the air-conditioned house (speaking of which, we're going to have to buy an airconditioner this year). I don't like hot weather any more than I do cold. At least cold you can dress appropriately. You can only undress so much in the heat. So , I'm not looking forward to the heat of summer any more than I like the cold of winte

Here it is the middle of January. Where does the time go? After weeks of snow, (almost a foot of accumulation in some places) we now have a warm front and I'm pretty sure by tomorrow, all of it will be melted. Especially since it's going up to 41 tomorrow with rain. Maybe it's because I'm older, but I don't mind the snow as much as I used to. Of course, I don't have to drive in it, and I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. I do worry about my kids having to drive in it. Especially my three sons who are truck drivers. Nothing worse than fighting traffic all day in bad weather.
I do have some good news, though. Not only am I going to be great grandma in June, I'm going to be a grandma again in August or September. My youngest son's wife is expecting their fourth child. And my oldest granddaughter is expecting her first child, a boy. And I'm going to be a great aunt and a great great aunt. Now that's getting scary all those greats. Makes me feel old.
We've started the edits for my next book. It's due out March 11th with Red Rose Publishing. I'm working on revising a couple of others that I wrote a long time ago. Bringing them more up to date and polishing them.

It's hard to believe another year has passed. Here it is 2010. A lot has happened the past year, some good, some not so good. But through it all, I've had my family by my side. The year started out simple enough, nothing spectacular, and that was fine with me. I learned a long time ago not to complain about a boring life. Seems every time I did, something bad happened. So now I go with the flow. February, March, April and May were pretty much the same.
The end of May brought an end to life as we knew it. My husband got laid off, and I was devastated. How were we going to make it on Social Security? Cutbacks were definitely in order and a move was first on the agenda. No way could we stay in my dream apartment. We needed something less expensive. But what and where?
Would we be forced to go back to our old neighborhood? While I have wonderful memories there, I spent most of my teenage years there and much of my married life there. We raised our family there and while I loved it, I had no desire to go back.
And then we found this place. What a mess it was and my husband thought I was nuts. But I saw through the mess and knew we could make a home here. We moved in September and life became busy fixing things up. I was right, it turned into a lovely home.
A scare came in November when middle daughter's mammogram came back irregular. We had to wait until the middle of December for another one and thank God, all was normal.
We recently found out we're going to be great-granparents. What exciting news. We're thrilled, a new life, created in love, will be added to our family. Praise God!
My book, Time to Live Again, will be released March 11th at Red Rose Publishing, more good news.
As I reflect back, I'm thankful and blessed that we all have our health and each other and I look forward to the year ahead.