There’s a New Face in the Neighborhood

 

I found him at

**NOVICA**

in association with National Geographic.

Made by Pedro and Maria, of Mexico.

It’s a really cool place to shop for ART.

I Love him.

**happy smiles every time**

♥♥♥

 

 

 

So I was in the grocery store the other day . . .

And I saw this fabulous apron.

Everyone knows I have a wine theme going on in my kitchen life.

However, I was not thinking apron.

I was thinking

“How can I make kitchen curtains from this

ever so small

piece of stimulating fabric”.

 Get creative, mama!

I like!

**very happy smiles**

 

Happy Birthday Brawny Man!

 

click for music

For you there'll be no crying

       For you the sun will be shining

'Cause I feel that when

I'm with you  It's all right

I know it's right

And the songbirds keep singing
Like they know the score

And I love you I love you I love you

Like never before

To you I would give the world

To you I'd never be cold

'Cause I feel that when I'm with you
It's all right

I know it's right

And the songbirds keep singing
Like they know the score

And I love you I love you I love you

Like never before.

Like never before.

Beloved Husband, thank you for another year, albeit a very tough year.  It’s a miracle that you are still here with me…with our children.  You have already surpassed THREE predicted expiration dates; you are THE Brawny Man.

It’s true, from our very first touch, I felt that when I was with you, it was right.  With you, I have always felt safe.  I never wanted anything in life as much as I wanted you, and I thank God every day that you felt exactly the same way.

You ARE the Love of my Life, and I will never get over you.

Looking back on our 34 years, if you asked me which were my favorite days, I would have to day that

I loved them all.

One Day

Matisyahu

Pretty much says it all.

Light fills darkness.

 

Choosing Joy

Today is a very significant day in my life;

One year ago today we moved into our teeny tiny townhouse.  It has been a year of great change, loss, pain, and sadness, and yet, there has been so much JoY in the marriage of Bad Alice, and The Soldier returning home with his family.

I never even wrote the date down that we moved from our Beloved Home of almost 24 years.  Those who know me well, understand what that house was to me … I think I loved that little patch of earth much too much.  We lived our life as a Family there.  We moved into brand new house with two little babies.  The yards were bare dirt, waiting for us to breathe life into them.    I planted every living thing growing in the yard and gardens and cared for them as one cares for a child.  So much L I F E went on in that house.  So many memories within the walls.  Every childhood milestone, happy times, crying times,

living through things we never thought we would have to live through.

It was getting late into the night when the last piece of furniture was moved out.  I was cleaning floors as the rooms were emptied, and suddenly it was just me standing there with a mop,

sobbing

uncontrollably.

And then my Brawny Man’s arms were around me with whispers of sorrow and comfort, and we locked the door for the very last time

and began a new stage in life;

Terminal cancer.

We had no choice.

For many, many months my Brawny Man has been in unbearable pain, unable to even move, and life became so hard.  I even felt for a time that life for me as I knew it was over and that I would never have joy again.  When The Darkness comes, I go to my corner, lick my wounds, sit with my sorrow.  But even in the darkest of nights, The Light calls to me to remind me that

This is not our Perfect Life.

This is our Human Experience.

It is my privilege to experience even the pain.

But I can only sit with the pain for just so long, and then I must

Choose Life. Chose JoY.

Because I have been given the gift of Faith.

Yesterday was a very important day in

The History of the Kingdom of God.

I believe in The Resurrection and Life Everlasting.

Every time I look into these eyes and see this smile,

I know that life is worth living, even in the painful times,

the times I cannot breathe from fear, I must choose to look for the

JoY

and I am ever thankful for this Human Experience.

Alleluia Alleluia.  He is risen Indeed!

 

 

What’s On My Schedule Today

Some quiet time sewing

for this little beauty.

God is good.

 

 

So Long for Now, Mommy

Helen Nellie Urbanski Luckey

01/06/1923 – 02/21/2013

Dear Mommy, 

It’s taken me a month to be able to open up your photo album. 

A month of sitting with the fact that you now exist in eternity,

no longer within the confines of Time and Space.

There.

I finally said it.

So long for now.

You never would say goodbye.

I sobbed as I flipped through the pages.

I remember this album from when I was a little girl,

the time before me . . .

My first thoughts were

GOOD LORD WOMAN, you are

beautiful.

Smoking hot.

No wonder I have always had such a romantic image of the time

surrounding WW11.

I love this picture, even thought your head is cut off . . .

brilliant shot with the focus on Those Legs.

You should have been a model.

My only wish is that you would not have had to go through the last few years

in so much pain, so far away.

I want to keep my last memories of us as the time you and Daddy

came and lived with me when he was on Hospice.

We had a lot of fun then, Mommy.

Me putting you and Daddy to bed in my living room,

each of us calling out

Good Night John Boy.

Good Night Mary Ellen.

Daddy got better and you both went back to Utah.

Or better yet, This Mommy.

The Mommy that I did not know how I would live without if you never

came home from the hospital from your gallbladder surgery. 

You both look like movie stars.

You were the stars of your own life.

I now know for fact what I always believed to be true;

In the end, only love remains.

Human frailties accepted and forgiven.

You were a faithful Servant of The Lord.

You gave me Great Faith.

Yet, I must say,

I am a little disappointed that you did not stop by

to say

So Long

before you left.

I was always certain that you would;

that I would know before I was told.

Thank you for staying with me the first two weeks

after you left.

I felt you on every walk,

in every breath,

in every tear,

telling me that it was okay,

it’s just like being born.

It’s as if you have been gone forever

and yet, as if you never left,

all in the same moment.

I don’t feel you now.

You’ve got other work to do.

Daddy is lost without you.

I am actually amazed that Daddy was able

to take a breath without you.

I’m sure you are speaking with God as I type,

asking for arrangements for

Your Love

to join you.

I was on the phone listening

while the Priest anointed you.

and the nurse sang

Ava Maria,

your favorite song.

I told Daddy where you were going and that

you would wait for him.

Just like you did when he went to war.

As I pulled this picture from the frame,

I noted the inscription on the back.  You wrote:

Born to be wild. All my love, Mom.

Yep.

You were one

Bad Ass Mother.

I say that with complete respect, love,

and a lot of awe.

Life well lived, Mommy.

So long for now.

What I’ve been up to lately . . .

Getting older . . . chronologically;

I am now an Immature 60.

I LIKE it!

I had planned on making my own video of me dancing to

I’m Bringing Sexy Sixty Back.

I even learned all the moves and practiced often.

However, life became very intense for a bit

and my video took a back seat.

SO,

with that said, enjoy the following instead.

Sixty . . . it’s a good thing.

I’ll Be Back

Soon.

Thank you for all the cards for my Brawny Man

and all the prayers that have carried us

both.

YEP,

There we are . . .

still floating close to Heaven.

**blows kisses**

 

 

Oh Baby Baby

You are the sun and the moon and all of the stars that make up the heavens.

You are my Joy.

You are my heart outside of my body, where I can no longer keep you to myself.

You are Perfection.

Your eyes are the sky for me, blue blue blue as I’ve never seen before.

You were made for me.

You are all things good and beautiful and true.

You are forever my baby baby.

Happy Birthday, Daughter.

It’s been magical being your Mommy.