Dear Reader:

In spite of increasing health issues…I really like getting older because it doesn’t take much to make me happy…actually clap my hands in glee. This aged, old tree (outside my “office” window) with the azalea bud opening upon it…like a romantic gift from nature…startled me at first and then made me happy…just simply happy that beauty and love can be found in the most mundane places… if we keep our eyes open.

I find so much beauty in the simple conversations from the Mitford and Father Tim book series. Remarks that just make you chuckle to yourself. One such conversation took place in the local book store between Father Tim (helping out manning the book store twice a week) and a local who comes in and gets a book…not necessarily to ever read or finish…but who makes the comment:

“Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.”

I always stop with some of these witty one-liners and just laugh out loud…so true… No one wants to be caught with an  intrepid, paperback romance featuring a half-clad viking on the front cover lusting after the peasant girl.

Yesterday I had to ‘lay low’ to keep off my foot and leg…not because anything is hurting but because the gauze used to compress and stabilize my leg and foot has been sticky on the outside for some strange reason and started sticking to my pants legs and my heel was stuck to the bottom of my  “mules” leaving my heel almost completely exposed…going to have to check and see if it is still okay concerning the compression or if it will have to be wrapped again…praying not.

So when I read this quote from Father Tim (in talking to a parishioner) I could easily relate:

” …But I tell you that it’s not too late…no matter how deep the wound.” He was referring to forgiveness…but I know that God has taught me that it is never too late to heal any wound. I have watched week after week for almost six months…the deep infected hole in my foot fill with new (non-cancerous/healthy) skin cells…a miracle each and every week. And now we are down to the last “teeny tip of the top” to have it completely enclosed…vertically and laterally. With God…nothing is ever too late if we believe.

Year after year I  continue to work on my Word of the Year listening… and I have come to realize that listening is the most generous way to give. Think how true this observation is…no amount of money is as important as a friend who listens when you desperately need to talk. (Another gift of getting older)

Haven’t we all gotten comfortable during certain periods in our lives only to have this calm erupt suddenly and eject us back out into cold reality? The stolen car, foot infection, and on-going battle with a critically low white cell count…side effect of cancer medicine…leaving me feeling depleted a lot…definitely was a God interruption I didn’t want…but know now I needed.

We are here on earth to learn and we all stop learning when we get too comfortable within ourselves…becoming too lackadaisical in our attitude and faith. Both attributes demand constant work and attention throughout our lives. As Michelangelo said “Ancora imparo” (“I am still learning”) at age 87.

***I am still learning to be amazed and astounded at the beauty of surprise and yesterday it showed up in full force in the silhouette of Anne Peterson who arrived bringing the matted, framed original ‘Carolina Girl‘ with her. Donations were made to the Race for the Cure voluntarily when purchases were made yesterday. Anne said she re-thought her original idea and decided “Carolina Girl” should go to the “Carolina Girl.”

A gift that will live with me forever. Luke helped me hang it yesterday. And now my creative challenge is paying this amazing gift forward and backward at the same time…I am on it. I love a good challenge! (The sconces at night reflect lights on the painting that reminds me of the effects of beams coming from lighthouses beckoning one to look closer.)

So until tomorrow…”In everything give thanks”…one of the hardest things we have to do on this earth….easy when the going is easy…not so easy when the tough times come…and they will come… as surely as another wave will form.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

In six weeks Tommy and Kaitlyn will be heading back to Dingle, Ireland…for their third time including their honeymoon. This year they will be in a studio apartment not far from town…each year…a new adventure. So glad they continue to make time for a honeymoon to just be...the best kind of living.

And don’t forget…“In Ireland there’s no such thing as bad weather…only the wrong clothes.”  🙂