Sunday Ramblin' in Day by Day

Another busy week looms. I have to present our non-profit to United Way this week, so I’m focused on that AND finishing up my online profile for the matching funds program. I’m excited but nervous. I’m presenting in front of some powerful movers and shakers. It seems our charity is garnering a lot of attention.

A starfish came home this weekend. I was asked to be part of the welcome-home group. As I stood back and watched the reunion unfold, conflicting emotions arose: joy for the starfish’s new beginning, sorrow for the one I couldn’t save. Keep my starfish in your prayers. Keep me in your prayers. It makes me strong enough to get back up and try again.

Our nephew is headed back to Indiana, so I’m cleaning the bathroom, changing the sheets, etc. It’ll be a few weeks until the next batch come down.

I ordered up a birth certificate WITH A RAISED SEAL, because apparently the original one from 1949 isn’t authentic enough to renew my husband’s driver’s license. I also discovered that I have to gather evidence of my name change when I married FORTY YEARS AGO in order to renew my own license, but that isn’t due for a few years, so to the back burner it goes.

We were supposed to have dinner with my aunt & uncle last Saturday, but she ended up in the hospital (TIA), so it was cancelled. She’s okay, now. Med change. My brother was also in the hospital. He’s been having trouble with his lungs, scans revealed spots, so they scoped his bronchial tube, taking samples. His other lung collapsed, so they kept him two nights. He’s had a tough time of it since coming home, but is coughing up less blood (they said to expect that). We should know results next week. And while we’re in the doom & gloom paragraph, I’ll throw in that my friend Butch passed away. Butch had a hard life in the foster care system (basically, he bounced around as an underage farmhand…one farmer would poke him in the back with a PITCHFORK if he thought the kids weren’t moving fast enough and you DON’T wanna know what I think of HIM!). As a gay man, Butch faced a lot of discrimination. He never let those things eat him up. Instead, he was kind and loving and always laughing. And man, was he an amazing gardener. I’d be so proud of my plant until I’d see his…it was ALWAYS ten times bigger. Rest in peace, Butchie, your chains are gone.

Speaking of gardens, our winter patch is beautiful this year. I’m giving away huge heads of lettuce and red, ripe tomatoes. The carrots are almost ready but the broccoli is going to be a while yet. The cucumbers are trying, they really are, but they’re looking kind of pitiful. Anyway, it is a wonderful feeling to be able to give produce to our neighbors and friends at church, many of whom are still struggling financially. It’s not much, but it helps and I know they’re eating something that hasn’t been laden with chemicals.

The plans for the family trip to New England in the fall are coming together nicely: two nights in Boston, one night (2 days) in Rockport, two nights near Acadia National Park, and one night in Boston before heading home. Eldest and his girlfriend are heading to Iceland after that (youngest just got back from Costa Rica). My kids travel more than I do!

Guess I’d better stop rambling on this Sunday morning and actually get some work done. It’s far more fun to fall into prosebox and read your lives, though. It opens up new worlds. I love reading about your areas of the world and the challenges you face and the commonalities we share. Thanks for your friendship and the time you take to share your world and thanks for reading my rambles!