A Gorgeous Day and Other Good Things

Not only is the weather heavenly, but Melanie is feeling so much better, just having the worry gone, over going into labor too soon has made a huge difference for her. She and I went out for lunch today and she looked radiant to me, now of course I am her mother and mothers are always a slight bit prejudice about their children, but to me she looked beautiful.

The roses bushes are full of blooms, the sun is shining in a cloudless blue sky. The temperature is just about what you would expect paradise to feel like.

There are just blessings all around me. Emery got off work early today and is working on the fencing. It always gives me this feeling of complete peace when my dear gentle-man is working around the place. It seems so right, so good and gives me a feeling that nothing in our little world could go wrong.

This afternoon, Melanie showed me what she has packed for the hospital and I nodded and smiled at how thorough she has been in planning. My girls are both so good at planning for what they need in any given situation. I am missing Melissa lots, wishing she was going to be here for this momentous occasion, when the first of the new generation comes into the world. Melissa and Melanie are so close, it seems strange for them to be apart during this important time. Distance is tough at any time, but harder during special times.

I feel blessed each day of my life. You know in the end its never going to be about how much you have, what you do with your hands for crafts, or how well you cook, how long you stayed young looking, how many shoes you have, how long your dress was, if you just wore dresses, how many days a week you went to church, its going to be about your relationships with your family and those around you. Its going to be about the you that you were to your family behind the 4 walls of your house. Because, it's really all about who we are on the inside and how that translates to our life on the outside. They say the very elderly become more of who they really were in life. If you hid anger and resentment most of your life and just kept it inside or hidden from the public, well when your old, that's what just comes out of you. If you were always kind, compassionate and loving, then you just become more of that. The choice is in how you live now to those closest to you and to the world at large. Road rage ? Impatience in the check-out line at the store ? Anger over something minor that grows and grows until it takes on a life of its own and you no longer would recognize the real story ? Jealousy ? Anger over little things like crumbs left on the counter ? Resentment because someone else got the credit you thought you deserved ? You see, we face these things daily, and our reaction belongs to us alone. These reactions show what our hearts are like. That's whats going to count in the end. Its really all about how we treat others and about the peace we have in our hearts even when no one is watching.

Now for the pictures

Melanie consented to a zillion photos being taken of her, well o.k. that is an exaggeration, it was no more than well, lets just say a lot ! Here are some I especially like.