Just When I Was About To Open These...

Yesterday's gathering at a neighbourhood restaurant was wonderful. Everyone enjoyed the food and the company was superb. I received cards, gifts and a dozen long stemmed yellow roses which smelled divine. They have opened beautifully, too.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera. After brunch, two women friends and I went out to do a few errands. I got home just at seven in the evening, and after a gorgeous day, it rained, so my usual roll through our complex was postponed. After placing my gifts and cards aside to open, I had a feline helper who got in the middle of everything, as you can see. I almost could not take these pictures because I was laughing so hard at his antics!

The roses have been sequestered in the bathroom shower, the only place from which the cats can't retrieve them and tear the flowers from their stems. Today, I am tidying and preparing for a few busy days ahead. I wish you all a great week.

Until Next Time...

A Birthday Story...

Fifty-three years ago tonight, a twenty-year-old woman, soon to be divorced, was packing to leave her sad excuse of a husband. She had been to her OBGYN earlier that day for her seven month prenatal visit and the doctor had cleared her for the drive she planned to make from South Carolina to Florida, where she planned to stay with her grandmother.

Told that her pregnancy was progressing normally, she looked forward to leaving and having time to settle before her late October due date. As evening lengthened, she began to feel something wasn't right, and by the time she had reached a friend who drove her to the hospital on a nearby Air Force base, labour had begun.

Steps were taken to halt its progress, including she would later claim, being given something that knocked her out. Upon reaching consciousness early on the morning of August 4, she learned that a daughter had been born. Doctors were not optimistic about the newborn's chances of survival and her young mother was afraid of the loss of this, her second daughter, in just under a year...

That young woman was my mother and I thought about her throughout the day as I went about routines. She is no longer living and I have cheated death on more than one occasion, so birthdays hold a special significance for me. I have learned to be humbly grateful for friends, time and the myriad other things that fill my life.

As I celebrate tomorrow, I'll also pause to remember some special folks I've met through blogging. Thanks for being out there. Be well.

Until Next Time...