A lighter day today

Oh, my head feels a little funky yet today after a particularly rough evening last night. I know it would have been better for me to have gone to dinner or had Martie here to pass the time. Unfortunately, the weather last evening was dreadful, heavy fog and general yukkiness, which certainly dampens one’s spirits on a good day! Certainly I did not mind staying in-warm and dry-and Martie appreciated getting home safe and sound.

But, the time was free then to ‘watch’ my radio show and part of the TV show from Monday night. I caught an episode of “Seinfeld”, which made me laugh, where George decided to convert to Latvian Orthodox because he was in love with a woman of this faith. Oh, they are so shallow! Next, I watched “House”, a new episode which is unusual for me, as normally I am a rerun girl. And then the fatal mistake: I watched a Lifetime movie! A gut-wrencher, at that.

(Years ago Justin cautioned me about watching that network, warning it was not good for me to watch the types of shows aired there. Not a problem since I was not a fan of Lifetime to start with, but I found it ‘charming’ that he would be concerned for my well-being and heart already as a teenager!)

This movie last night was about a family whose son was killed in a car accident, with his girlfriend in the car, about whom they did not know. She was injured in the accident, but came to the funeral, and then showed up a few months later at their door, pregnant with their son’s baby. The mother was not handling the death of her beloved teenager well, and the dad was not handling it at all, but they took her in anyway. Without retelling the entire story, the mom found out that her son, living for 17 minutes after the crash, had been concerned for his girlfriend, not calling for his mom. This was eye-opening for her and changed the entire dynamic in their troubled home. The mourning and feelings were quite well acted and seemed very very familiar. Not being a fan of Susan Sarandon, she did a good job pulling off the aggrieved mother, and the dad, played by Pierce Brosnan, was perfect in his role. Wow, it tore me up, that’s for sure!

Besides the movie, I was also in ‘conversation’ with the mom of the little girl who died of cancer, members of Victory, in answer to a posting on CaringBridge recently. I had talked to Pastor H. about this, the upcoming three-month anniversary, especially falling right after Christmas, and sure enough, this was reflected in the mom’s posting. I think the family and I, in particular, Beth, will have a long-lasting relationship in this 'club' we never intended to join.

Today will be different though and has been already. A good night’s sleep, even a dream where I was working in the office at Victory! Today is Brent’s birthday and Sunday was Pastor H's. Only last year did I realize both these guys had birthdays during the ‘funeral week’ in 2001. Later on today, I am going to visit MamMa on my way to play Trivia with Stephanie and Erica at Johnny Angels. I feel like a winner already!!!

There is racket from downstairs today as the neighbors are having their river-facing windows replaced. No, not the result of the Great Flood, but something they had been wishing to do for some time. They might as well since the house is yet torn-asunder. The last report was the family would be able to move back into their condo around the first of February. Yes, say it, “holy cow!”---they have displaced for over four months. As I told my family and friends when in WI, unless they were here to see it, they have no idea the amount of damage which occurred that day…

With Hal and Rosalie coming for a visit, we have decided to have an open house here at my condo so folks can have a gathering place to come for an extended chat with them. Rosalie said Hal’s eyes just lit up in glee at the proposition, which is what I like to hear!

One thing I dread though is him seeing the condition of the property at GS—so much of his blood, sweat, and tears went into that landscaping years ago. At least he would not expect to see grass at this time of the year, because there is little to speak of remaining on the front yard. An errant ‘janitor’ we had a couple years ago took care of the weed situation using the wrong product, thus proceeded to kill the grass as well. I can still picture Hal out on that lawn roto-tilling the ground and laying the pipes for the sprinklers. There has not been working irrigation for several years now…which might be okay to keep the weeds down! The Sunday they are here is Fellowship Sunday where folks will be sticking around at church, so Rosalie and Hal can catch up with some folks there. We made a list of people they want to visit with, several whom had left GS, but I can play detective to track them down. I am on it!!!