New Traditions

The Prince and I recently put up our Christmas tree.  We both have decades of Christmases under our belts.  We have wonderful memories of the past - our own childhood and watching our children's excitment throught the years.

It makes sense  that we cannot have traditions when we have no history.  At this stage of our lives, I think it is wise to sit back and watch as our children create the traditions.  We can happily  become participants in their lives as often as we are invited. 

This is our time to make new memories.  This  tree and  ornaments are all new..... they  are representative of our life.  A new beginning after suffering sorrowful losses.   

That tree makes me smile everyday.  I think about how we carefully picked it out - and how we shopped for all the ornaments.  Lots of smiles, giggles and hugs that day....

My Christmas wish - I wish all our childen will realize how precious a good relationship is.... how it is a wonderful gift when two people make a commitment and make that commitment a true priority in their lives.  

Thankful for my prince.  Thankful for our wonderful life.  

Re-writing the script

As the holidays approach, once again I find myself looking back over the years  - with smiles and tears.

I was so young when I married - but I knew it would last forever.  He filled my heart in a moment and I knew there was nothing that would ever tear us apart.  Move the calendar ahead 38 years and I realized there was something that would come between us.  "Til death do us part" was my new reality.  This was not part of my plan.  I wrote the story - this is not how it was supposed to end.  It was MY story - how dare God change the ending....

Time goes by.....

Along comes a man who also fills my heart in a moment.  Could this be real?  This was not in my book.  He is loving and warm.  He has his prioirites in order.  He is widowed after a very long marriage, as well.   He is a package deal (kids, their partners, and grandchildren).  He makes me laugh.  He loves me.

I'm am forever grateful that God has decided to be the editor of my story.  

I wanna be a Teamster!

The Prince and I have worked feverishly in the yard to make things neat and orderly.   We put up 2 new sheds in the pool area - one at either end.  It was so nice to have a place for everything, and everything is it's place.

It was SO nice, in fact, that we just kept going.  Next, we decided we needed a shed behind the existing wood shed on the side of the house.  First step: build a deck to support this shed.  This entailed 2 trips to Home Depot to get the necessary 4x4's and 1x6's.  Happy to say, the deck was built in one afternoon.  Erecting the shed, however, seemed to take days!!  There were a few hiccups - mostly, injuries sustained by me (ceiling joists falling and hitting me, a slip of a mallet to catch my finger....) Eventually, it was completed and it was worth all the work.

Well, like the classic book, "If you give a mouse a cookie"..... our construction continued.  The Prince declared that we needed a proper walkway (read that 8'x40') to get to the newly erected shed.  This consisted of a huge wood delivery from Home Depot.  Who knew building decks would be so much fun (?).  We also  replaced and enlarged a decked area on the other side of the house for our trash cans and BBQs.  

I am proud to say that I now have my own Screw gun and The Prince has promoted me from Apprentice to Foreman!  

I am thinking, with the Winter fast approaching, I'd better come up with some indoor projects before the Prince runs out of steam.  (After all,  I need to perfect my new found skills....)