memorial day

I wore my 'We Will Prevail" tee shirt all day long.  I am a very patriotic sort.  There are all kinds of red, white and blue images dotting our interior and exterior scapes.

A crazy storm blew in around 4:30 am, shattering the fragile peony blooms.  Consequently, the house is awash in color and fragrance.  It's just wrong to leave those blossoms strewn on the ground!

My favorite peeps came over for food -

When this child smiles the sun peeks out from any cloud, but there is no competition - she is THAT luminary!  And my mom, a new widow - making her way - simply extraordinary in her 80's -

uh oh!  Caught in the middle of a fruit salad!   Mom, you are gorgeous and a complete power of example to your family.  We are making our way into this strange new land without our patriarch.  


 As Father's Day approaches we steady ourselves and think of better times.  For me, the old nightmares return in a relentless parade - my father, alone in his hospital bed, left for so many days, weeks, months, even years, in a nursing home - slowly freezing into place.  He was a veteran and I think of him today.  And always.  And then I remember that life persists and goes forward and that the proof is in my back yard -

Where girls and dogs congregate and smiles are plenty.  Reasons to be grateful.

Those lost to us are never far from view   -  

 Scott and his brothers are taking turns housing 'dad' - he's already been on a golf trip this year with a fishing excursion to follow.  This is what we have - the memories, the happy thoughts, the backward glimpse of what was.  Scott and I are learning to make our way through this terrible terrain.  We are discovering that it is not only ok to weep, it is cathartic.  So we spend more time sitting together at the end of the day, speaking the quiet truth of a good day, a not-so good day.
May your Memorial Day be memorable.  With the good over-riding the not-so-good!