It has been so hot, one hundred degrees-which I expected in California, not Colorado. It is the first time EVER that Colorado Springs has had three hundred degree days in a row. It's possible that the fires are contributing to the heat, but between the heat and the smoke, it's not much different from Los Angeles at the moment.
The good news is that the Dollar Tree sells a four pack of Authentic Luigi's Italian Ices for - you guessed it - a dollar. Let's just say I'm living on them and leave it at that.
Tomorrow will be the real test of whether or not I go buy a window air conditioner. You never can tell.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Gee, But It's Great To Be Back Home, except for you
After 24 hours at home, I have accomplished many things, petting the cat, cleaning the bathroom, petting the cat, food shopping, petting the cat, banking, petting the cat, a load of laundry, brushing the cat, and finally, petting the cat.
It may seem like I've done a lot with the cat, but don't ask for her opinion. As for the rest of it, I am happy to be home mostly. My feet hurt less, YEAH, my cat is happy, double Yeah and aside from the unusually hot weather and local fires, it's pretty great except for all of the people that made my trip so wonderful!
Reuniting with the Fagan's after eighteen years, was so heartwarming. I didn't realize that I still missed them all so much. It was endearing how we picked back up without missing a beat, and the new members fit right into my heart.
In addition to those amazing reunions, I also reconnected with some friends, also absent from my life for a number of years for a variety of reasons. Each and every one made my experience that much richer and my departure that much more bittersweet.
Finally, I had little time to spend with some who I really would have enjoyed seeing, and beating in cribbage, but that will have to wait for another time. Suffice it to say that the last thing said to me by many was, "When will you be back?" I don't have an answer for that, but I am certain that it is not soon enough for the Fifth Cousins of the Queen.
It may seem like I've done a lot with the cat, but don't ask for her opinion. As for the rest of it, I am happy to be home mostly. My feet hurt less, YEAH, my cat is happy, double Yeah and aside from the unusually hot weather and local fires, it's pretty great except for all of the people that made my trip so wonderful!
Reuniting with the Fagan's after eighteen years, was so heartwarming. I didn't realize that I still missed them all so much. It was endearing how we picked back up without missing a beat, and the new members fit right into my heart.
In addition to those amazing reunions, I also reconnected with some friends, also absent from my life for a number of years for a variety of reasons. Each and every one made my experience that much richer and my departure that much more bittersweet.
Finally, I had little time to spend with some who I really would have enjoyed seeing, and beating in cribbage, but that will have to wait for another time. Suffice it to say that the last thing said to me by many was, "When will you be back?" I don't have an answer for that, but I am certain that it is not soon enough for the Fifth Cousins of the Queen.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Reunited and It Feels So Good
No, I am not going to sing you some sappy love song but I could think of no other fitting title for my experiences over this past week. As you may know, I have been divorced for 18 years, and when we parted company I lost a family that I had taken to heart. I understood that they were his family, but it was a powerful loss.
When my former passed away a couple of years ago, our niece (okay HIS niece) contacted me, which was very thoughtful and kind. Since then she has reached out to me and we have reestablished our friendship. This week, while in Los Angeles she invited me to dinner and it was more than nice, it was healing in a way I didn't really know I needed.
Since then, she has facilitated a reconnection with her brother, Kyle, who lived with us for a very short while but whom I also loved very much. Today I saw him and met his amazing family. He also brought along his mother, who greeted me as "sister" and filled my heart to overflowing. Lindsay, Lisa's daughter also came and in an instant, we were family once again. The frosting on the cake, three new additions to the family that never skipped a beat.
So many wonderful memories that I had set aside have come to surface and I am hoping that writing this will allow me to settle down for the sleep that I need, and somewhat crave. I think I am so enjoying the emotions filling me up that I don't want this day to be over just yet...it is incredible to recover so much love, though there is certainly gaps in the years, there is no gap in the hearts. Amazing!
When my former passed away a couple of years ago, our niece (okay HIS niece) contacted me, which was very thoughtful and kind. Since then she has reached out to me and we have reestablished our friendship. This week, while in Los Angeles she invited me to dinner and it was more than nice, it was healing in a way I didn't really know I needed.
Since then, she has facilitated a reconnection with her brother, Kyle, who lived with us for a very short while but whom I also loved very much. Today I saw him and met his amazing family. He also brought along his mother, who greeted me as "sister" and filled my heart to overflowing. Lindsay, Lisa's daughter also came and in an instant, we were family once again. The frosting on the cake, three new additions to the family that never skipped a beat.
So many wonderful memories that I had set aside have come to surface and I am hoping that writing this will allow me to settle down for the sleep that I need, and somewhat crave. I think I am so enjoying the emotions filling me up that I don't want this day to be over just yet...it is incredible to recover so much love, though there is certainly gaps in the years, there is no gap in the hearts. Amazing!
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
First Annual Meeting of the Fifth Cousins of the Queen
I'm not really sure how it started, but I was laughing, and that is a good start to anything-so when it was proposed, I readily agreed. We are the Fifth Cousin's of the Queen, a royal order of women who do extraordinary things benevolent, graceful, thoughtful and while flying below the radar of the royalty watchers. We are a varied group, each bringing our own beauty and talents to the group and I am certain that one day we will be found out, who's to know what impact that will have on the world? We do, but we're not telling.
Are you certain that you are royalty? Positive that you were born into the wrong family or switched at birth from your rightful place as a dignitary in her own right? You too may belong. At some point, we will make you aware of how to join us in our adventures, one thing is for sure there will be festivities to come, and I will report all that the Princesses permit. Until then, where have I put that tiara?
Are you certain that you are royalty? Positive that you were born into the wrong family or switched at birth from your rightful place as a dignitary in her own right? You too may belong. At some point, we will make you aware of how to join us in our adventures, one thing is for sure there will be festivities to come, and I will report all that the Princesses permit. Until then, where have I put that tiara?
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Extraordinarily Ordinary
After a wonderful dinner with a dear one, I looked back through my memories, those I haven't examined for a while. So many extraordinary moments filled with extraordinary people...I wondered where they are and where all the time has gone?
Through the filter of an ordinary life, I get up and do all the regular things that make up a life and the days pass without my permission and sometimes without my awareness and I wonder...how could I ever think myself ordinary? My days have been filled with people whom I love and people who have loved me, sometimes-the best times- they are both.
Could it be that I expect everyday to be that amazing day...that day that I can remember with such clarity? What you were wearing, and how we laughed until tears slipped from our eyes. The dog that made me think that I was an amazing dog trainer. The children that looked at me with such love and affection that I thought my heart would melt. Treasured memories of rooms filled with love and expectation.
These were ordinary moments in my life, ones that I took for granted because they occurred with such frequency and regularity that I failed to keep an accurate record of the wheres and the whens. Now I have memories in isolation, moments that float free in passing through my mind.
Once I was a young woman, and I danced through my nights and worked through my days, or loved through my days and worked through my nights or worked, danced, loved, worked, danced, swam and loved and the years slipped away.
I was always so busy. So aware that I didn't want to miss anything, and I didn't pass up on the opportunity to live my life to the fullest. A friend once told me that I did more in day than most people did in a week and I was flattered- though I knew that it was true.
Children comforted on my shoulder, that made my arms ache and finally fall asleep are now adults, and other children take their position. How many children have I held in this way? I cannot remember all of their names and that shames me.
I see now that my life has not been ordinary, no matter what I thought at the time. It is extraordinary that one person could experience so much love from so many sources. I want to tell them how important they are to me, how much they changed my life, how much I wish to know them now. Perhaps I just did?
Through the filter of an ordinary life, I get up and do all the regular things that make up a life and the days pass without my permission and sometimes without my awareness and I wonder...how could I ever think myself ordinary? My days have been filled with people whom I love and people who have loved me, sometimes-the best times- they are both.
Could it be that I expect everyday to be that amazing day...that day that I can remember with such clarity? What you were wearing, and how we laughed until tears slipped from our eyes. The dog that made me think that I was an amazing dog trainer. The children that looked at me with such love and affection that I thought my heart would melt. Treasured memories of rooms filled with love and expectation.
These were ordinary moments in my life, ones that I took for granted because they occurred with such frequency and regularity that I failed to keep an accurate record of the wheres and the whens. Now I have memories in isolation, moments that float free in passing through my mind.
Once I was a young woman, and I danced through my nights and worked through my days, or loved through my days and worked through my nights or worked, danced, loved, worked, danced, swam and loved and the years slipped away.
I was always so busy. So aware that I didn't want to miss anything, and I didn't pass up on the opportunity to live my life to the fullest. A friend once told me that I did more in day than most people did in a week and I was flattered- though I knew that it was true.
Children comforted on my shoulder, that made my arms ache and finally fall asleep are now adults, and other children take their position. How many children have I held in this way? I cannot remember all of their names and that shames me.
I see now that my life has not been ordinary, no matter what I thought at the time. It is extraordinary that one person could experience so much love from so many sources. I want to tell them how important they are to me, how much they changed my life, how much I wish to know them now. Perhaps I just did?
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Just A Little Lost
So, life presents another perfect trifector...returning from a trip that I couldn't afford to begin with, finding that my house sitter was running a crack house or a whore house or a crack whore house and accidentally locking myself out of my blog....which to address first?
Restoring the house to a state of order took practically an entire month. In the old days, when I could clean the house thoroughly in a day or a weekend it still may have taken me a week but as it is, I no longer even attempt such an activity level...in the end, aside from the disappearance of this, that and the other thing, I just consider it another one of life's little challenges.
In the meantime, as you can plainly see, I have re-accessed my blog so I guess you could say that things are back to a more normal situation...and you now have my renewed commitment to post on more usual basis.
Restoring the house to a state of order took practically an entire month. In the old days, when I could clean the house thoroughly in a day or a weekend it still may have taken me a week but as it is, I no longer even attempt such an activity level...in the end, aside from the disappearance of this, that and the other thing, I just consider it another one of life's little challenges.
In the meantime, as you can plainly see, I have re-accessed my blog so I guess you could say that things are back to a more normal situation...and you now have my renewed commitment to post on more usual basis.
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