McCalls, Butterwick, Simplicity?

The patterns of our lives? Not the ones our mothers used to make, although I would kill for one of those many dresses, different patterns of everyday stuff. Especially when chaos looms, I ache for my schedule, such a creature of habit am I.

June has had me jumping in cars and on planes, with suitcase in hand. The house is also turned upside down, with worker bees buzzing in and out, my rhythm is off!!! No pattern at all, I'm a chicken with my head cut off, and the temperature is HOT!!! Summer time and the living is crazy good.

While in Miami earlier this month, I came home minus my favorite sleep mask. "Not a Biggie" you may think? Not so fast, they feed the engine. Bill said, "Just buy a new one." Good answer??? I could not remember where I purchased it from, what the name of the website was, but I knew I had it written down somewhere!! Remember my kitchen is being redone, and all my stuff is scattered with my brain! So I just started throwing things around, cook books, address books, old photographs, my bag from school,(that I have still not unpacked!). I tired to Google sleep mask, and nothing grabbed my astute attention. Then I opened a red folder with peoples birthdays listed, and there it was a folded piece of paper, with Dream Essentials listed, and the pattern of my mess made me happy. My system of not having a system, always comes through, often with casualties, but hey...watch out when people are throwing things!!!

To my joy, I found another saved e-mail, that I had printed( I do not save trees, I try?? I like paper)
It was dated Thursday evening July 12, 2007, 7:22pm. Addressed to Ward from me, it reads as follows;

Ward, you have such a set pattern, that when you don't eat or I don't see your scrubs on the floor, and we don't know where you are, its a tad off. All you have to say is where you are going. You are living here and its just good manners. Make good choices.
Ward was dead at approximately midnight, as per the coroner, from an accidental overdose .
His pattern was broken, and I knew it was broken, I just did not know it would be completely broken, forever.

I found my sleep mask and ordered a new one.
Loss of my Ward, not so easy to fix.

Life, complicated stitches, worth the wear.

Turn Right At MACHU PICCHU!!

Two GPS contraptions, two sets of map quests, hand written directions, and the fact we had both been to Asheville before, did not stop our endless "lost "looks that we exchanged last week. ( all English teachers can fix the above sentence, I'm too spent! and I don't care, but I am aware!!!!)

My best friend from high school and I went on a road trip to see one of our boys. Not one of our children, our boys of high school!!! Wally turned sixty and is suffering from a wicked disease called ALS, and we wanted to shower him with love. Little did we realize we had not been in a car together, for any distance, in thirty or forty years!! Lord have mercy, the tongues were wagging, and laughter was heard around the deep south for miles. How shall I say this, we failed to pay attention to directions. How can you listen to the GPS or look for road signs, when you are discussing who was the best kisser, and other things?? We had years of memories to discuss, and a few current issues as well. After we had gone through the same tunnel three or four times, and peed in our pants, we stopped and asked strangers for help. Through the tears and laughter, I said, "Susan we are educated and grown people, no wonder people called us special!!" We finally found our destination and it was so worth the trip. How wonderful to celebrate with Wally, and see that he has a host of other friends to watch over him, and continues to hope for a miracle. We do believe in them still, after all these years.

We left before it became dark outside, so we could see our way to Susan's sisters house, like that would help us!!! So after what seemed like an eternity, we called her and said, "We think we are lost?" but we were just one exit away, but by then paranoia had seeped in!! While we were stopped, for the hundredth time, we went to use the bathroom, a lovely place, not really, but....We saw Jesus on the bathroom door, we were doubled over on the nasty floor, laughing like mental patients. I told her it was indeed a sign, that we were going to find our way home, or at least not hit a deer on the highway!!

We should all take the extra effort and time to reconnect with the people we love. Healing comes in many forms, even when you are lost. I love you Susan. I adore you Wally. Thanks Ham and Wilma for letting me stay and visit.Thanks to Wally's caretakers for doing such a good job. Connor call if you need me, I will fly next time!!!

A Picture Does NOT Always Tell The Story

Mys day are tangled, so my stories may be also. I laugh to myself, like this is a new idea?? I'm always tangled in some fashion, my norm, my story!!

This summer we are redoing the kitchen and the dinning room, so far...my house looks like "Camp I-do-not-want -to be here" A big mess, with awesome rewards, I need my horse blinders on! So far the new fridge (ice-box in my neck of the woods) and dishwasher are installed. Oven and stove-top ordered, and we picked out granite!!! Sounds easy?

While driving, early this Saturday to the granite "farm", I asked Bill, " Why is it in every book I read, no one is having to pick out granite!?" So dread had seeped into my journey, and why I read so many books, became so very clear!!! However our experience with looking at over 125 slabs of granite, became one of my favorite things to do. It was like going to an art museum, each piece with a new story, and vein running through it. The lady, our tour guide, loved the granite as much as I did. We stroked each one, with gentle hands, looking for all the different gems, and imperfections. I nearly licked a few of them! Finally, I asked her if other people, take this granite as personal as I seem to have. She smiled and said yes, but she was trying to sell me the product??

I ended up picking the first one that I liked, I'm very use to not erasing the answers, going with my first choice. I like my style and my taste, and have been this way many years. Bill was in agreement with my decision, he walks with me on all my journeys. He whispered, "I know there is a blog in here somewhere!" when I laid on one slab like Jesus on the cross. It was seeing nature, all polished, beautiful. So we purchased our granite, and await the next phase.

While driving home, I started to cry. I asked him, "Do you think Ward would like it?" He was so much like me, he would hate the mess, but love the process of the "Granite Walk." Bill shook his head, no words. What I wanted to say was, " Do you think he will recognize the new things we have done, when he comes home?" Even though I know that is not possible, my heart felt a tug with getting rid of things, that he had touched, as silly as that seems. It's just objects???or is it???? My granite tells a story.

**The pictures are three views of one slab, trying to show you, its story.

Sixty What??

All my buds, or at least most, are turning sixty this year. It just seems crazy to me, in fact I think we are all soooo....young. Just this week one young man turned sixty and I thought about all of our "make-out" sessions, as if it were yesterday. Another turns sixty next week, and I think he has been sixty a long time, such an old soul. Love,love this person most of my life. I even let him borrow my bra, for a homecoming skit, and to this day, I do not think he returned it!!! I bought Susan and Paula birthday cards and gifts yesterday, for July and August, lifelong friends, and we are grown-ups??? We are all the hero's of our own stories, I hope. In my heart, I believe we are all so special, these sixty year old friends of mine.