Dear Reader:

Blessed longevity ( never thought I’d make it this long) does provide all of us with diversified, timely, life experiences and what I have learned from all of them ( the good, bad, and ugly) is that we need to accept each experience as it is instead of insisting it be as we want it to be. In hindsight there is always a reason that we land at a certain place at a certain time in our lives.

For instance… what I experienced in the early morning hours yesterday, January 3, was truly frightening but more in my imagination, thankfully, when the last wind blew by. We have had such crazy weather-frigid for Thanksgiving, 80’s for Christmas that we should have suspected when the two fronts finally met we were in for one crazy ride!

It is already 30 degrees cooler than it was the day before and this morning will start out below freezing! Sunday night/ early Monday morning we had gusts of wind exceeding 60 mph-It was pitch black which made the gusts and sounds of branches breaking scarier. I just knew one of the oak tree branches would fall on the roof and/ or my car! Needless to say I was wide awake from 4 am on.

Memories of Hugo didn’t help or my imagined scenario that the violent winds had destroyed Big Red or torn shingles off my roof or crushed my car! When it finally got light enough to see out the window none of my fictional plots had happened- just lots of branches, sticks, and leaves, Big Red’s stems a little askew but all the blooms intact!

What is it about January 3 and bizarre weather? Four years ago to the day… the largest snow storm hit the Lowcountry with Walsh and the boys sidetracked at John and Mandy’s for a couple of days before Walsh could safely get Mollie and Eloise home from the hospital! It was fun!

Today I remember this unique snow storm by calling it Eloise’s Snowstorm of 2018! And this fits since our adorable Eloise is still a force to be reckoned with-afraid of no challenge!

Once I knew everything inside and outside the house was not permanently ” injured” my soul got much happier. Think about it-we all understand that we are short term transient tourists on this Earth… so we should be doing things that make us happy by helping others reach their personal goals with satisfaction.

One small decision made me happy Sunday while packing away 2021’s Christmas paraphernalia-my mantle-minus the two large gold Christmas ornaments left only wintry greenery and pine cones-just a lovely wintry mantle for the rest of the season. My angels never come down -I need them looking down on me every day of each New Year!

So until tomorrow… Happy Soul… Grateful ❤️ Heart!

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

P. S. The only way for our soul to be happy is first being useful to everyone around you-fulfillment makes the soul happy!

Sunday afternoon before the ferocious winds appeared… the sky was pouring rain while the sun shone-beautiful dazzling rain drops!