Dear Reader:

After several days at Edisto Beach with food, fun, and laughter with the Ya’s, I have slowly but surely come down from all the wedding excitement that kept me in a perpetual state of wonderful craziness.

It is hard to believe it has now been almost two weeks from the wedding…time is such an enigma. Some days it moves so slowly and every thing just pokes along and then bang…the race is on and we are jumping all over the place reacting to it.

So this beach retreat was perfect timing. I had a week between the wedding and the retreat to come down from the dizzying fast-pace of  prior wedding activities and getting packed for the beach. And in between all that was Mother’s Day with family squeezed in with children and grandchildren to remind us that all these events in life are connected…weddings, marriage, children, families, grandchildren….legacies. Such is life.

The retreat and walks on the beach gave me time to assimilate my feelings about all the recent happenings. The first thing that came to mind was simply the gratitude I feel for being here.

When I go back to 2008, there was wedding then too…little did I know it was the catalyst for so much to follow. Mandy and John got married, two weeks later I was diagnosed with an an “aggressive/invasive” breast cancer, immediately surgery followed with chemo treatments in the wake followed by more surgery, more radiation, and more chemo.

My breast cancer roller-coaster ride has definitely had its ups and downs these past several years…but I realize now that there is a reason why I am still here. Every time it appeared that “little c” was gaining momentum faster than the treatments to slow it down…something new hit the market and I was back in the game of life again.

God isn’t finished with me yet…and I am so happy for it! Originally I was just hoping to live long enough to see my first grandchild when she was born (Eva Cate in 2010) then Walsh and Mollie got married (2012) and then they had Rutledge (2013), my second grandchild, who was  followed by Jakie (2014) who arrived on my birthday…followed by Lachlan (2015)….then my last “baby’s”wedding (2017)….Tommy to Kaitlyn. (And who knows what event will follow suit with this… or elsewhere? 🙂 ?)

The same year Eva Cate was born (2010) I discovered St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope (Thanks Mike and Honey) in Trust, NC and this event turned my world upside down with the blog.

We just never know what is around the bend….good or not so good…but the one thing I have learned is that no matter what happens God is already around the bend waiting to help us through whatever appears on the horizon.

The blog has given me anchor, it has opened my eyes to God Winks and shown me a whole new world where there are no coincidences just everyday miracles. And I am still learning.

Thank goodness I am a slow learner because God isn’t finished with me yet…and I thank Him everyday for what He has given me.

So until tomorrow….when I return home bringing with me more tales and stories of the everyday miracles in my life I thank all of you readers for taking the journey of life with me…for holding my hand and pulling me along when I have needed it.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh