Thank You For Being You!!

Wow!! Its June!! Switching those warm mugs to cool lemonade or ice tea and cool evenings by fire pits and star gazing. Kids are getting ansy to finish those last few weeks of 'torture' and be released to ride bikes, swim in pools and enjoy the outdoor freedom that only those warm carefree summer days seem to allow us.

I myself LOVE summer!! I hate schedules! (much to my husband's chagrin...) Lucky for me I guess that its rare I have to be anywhere or do anything for a certain time. This past weekend was a great testament to that. My wonderful Aunt flew in to help celebrate my birthday. My husband was out of town visiting his family, my kids are all self sufficient...so it was just the 2 of us!!

First off, you have to understand, we do not have a 'typical' aunt/niece relationship. I call her Auntie when I want her to feel really OLDDDDDDDD...heeeheee!!!!! She and I have a very special friendship for which I am eternally grateful for. Its a rare jewel indeed to have someone who you can ask advice from, have just stupid fun with, and is also related to you!! 

I remember when I was a kid and asking my mom how come she didn't have lots of friends. I thought geez...as kids we always had a big group of friends, why wouldn't parents also have the same thing?? Mom said its hard to have a family and maintain friendships when you get older. I thought meh...no way...not going to happen to me!!

My Oldest son Alex with a gang of his friends!

Well...now I'm'older' and have a family of my own. I was diagnosed 6 years ago with my rheumatoid arthritis and since then I have noticed a big change in our family and friendships. Its been definitely harder to maintain relationships the way we used to, and many have just fallen to the way side. One sad  truth I've noticed is that many people don't know how to deal with illness, especially when its invisible.

That's one of the greatest thing about my aunt. She has obviously known me all my life, so she knew me before I was sick and since I have been sick. We have been friends through it all. No games, no pretenses. We have laughed and cried together. Been honest when it hurt. Shopped til we dropped, and drank til we should have stopped way earlier...(thanks Bruno...lol)

So to the younger me I say...enjoy the group of teenage friends! Some will keep in touch over the
years, help reminisce and remind you of all the stupid things you did and make you wonder how you made it to adulthood!! And now...as some days I struggle and wonder where all those friends went, I realize what my mom said was true. It is hard to maintain both family and friendships at the best of times.

So thank you  Berta!!! I had such an AWESOME weekend!! No schedules...lots of shopping...lots of laughter...lots of honest talking....and margaritas!!!Weeeeeee!!!! Thank you for letting me just be me. For letting my boys just be themselves and loving us anyways! Thanks for coming for my birthday!

But most of all...thank you for those rocking sandals!! 

Its That Time Of Year!!

Weee! Hi Everyone! So very excited today! And a little harried to, if I'm going to be honest! As you all know my past month has been a little rough between losing my sweetheart at the end of March, and having a real rough patch with my Fibro. But this past weekend things started to look up! So I hope you have your warm mug of something yummy and a few minutes to share your day with me.

This weekend the sun decided to finally shine like it was really Spring in our little corner of the planet! The golden rays felt so wonderful shining in my bedroom window and the breeze smelled like Spring. Ahh...FINALLY!! So I grabbed my proverbial whip, and started snapping my men into action because folks....its 'THAT TIME OF YEAR'

Ok..I guess I should actually clarify a few things in that last paragraph before the next entry in my blog is my obituary. I didn't actually snap my whip.I had been gently nagging on and off for some time (well...one of the jobs that got done had been on the list like 8 years but I don't care, it's done!!) But Ii digress...I didn't snap any whips last weekend because I was pretty much sound asleep most of the weekend. I woke up to all the jobs magically accomplished!!

Wow!! I hear all you wives out there saying that!! I know!! I was saying it too!! And you guys...I hear the grumbling...I know my guy made you all look bad. The man let his sick wife sleep the weekend away, and did chores without nagging!! Things like painting and trim work! (My bathroom looks fabulous!!) Why?! Why would he do such a thing to you guys?

Well..before there is a huge riot at our house and you men come dragging him out and demanding his Man Card, let me finish explaining the rest of that first paragraph...'THAT TIME OF YEAR' .

'THAT TIME OF YEAR' is that super special awesome wonderful time of year that my mom comes to visit. Which also equates to my house getting several much needed small renovations finished and tidied up. (My middle son remarked the other day as things were getting cleaned up and put into place that his Gramma should come visit more often!!) So this time tomorrow I will have picked my mom up from the airport and the fun will have begun!!

Oh...I mentioned I was a bit harried too, didn't I? Well...thats because the room my mom is supposed to sleep in I can barely see the floor! Argh..teenagers! I still have 24hrs...don't worry mom!

One Of My Favourite Things

Good morning everyone and hope you all have your favorite warm beverage of choice and a comfy chair at the table. I'm feeling a little rough around the edges so forgive me but I think I'll be joining you from a comfy spot on my couch. One of the definate perks of Internet visiting. Ha!

Speaking of visiting, I have just returned from my annual trek out East. Normally my yearly visits are a flurry of visiting and site seeing crammed into 6 days, but this year I decided to see if a longer visit might be less harried. I have 2 sisters and thier families and my mom in Ontario and 6 days just never seems to be long enough. So after some pondering an schedule rearranging I was able to extend my visit to 3 weeks.

Ok...I know! 3 weeks sounds crazy. Especially when it's visiting house fulls of young children! Throw in Thanksgiving weekend, couple of birthday parties (even had Batman show up to one of them!) and I wonder just how less harried it was! And yet I treasured each crazy moment and found it very difficult to leave when the trip ended.

One moment that stands out to me was one evening after the kids were all bathed and in pj's and we were all sitting on my bed. My nephew started to make faces and be silly for his little sister. She was watching him and then burst out laughing. Of course that got her brother laughing. What a beautiful sound! When children laugh it is such a genuine pure sound. They laugh from their big toes to the top of their heads. They aren't worried about how they look or sound. It is just the sound of pure happiness and joy.

My wish for everyone is that genuine happy moment where you just bubble up and laugh from every fibre of your being. When the laugh just lights up your heart and puts that special twinkle in your eyes. That contagious laughter that draws everyone in. This is one of my favourite things.

A day without laughter is a day wasted.
Charlie Chaplin