Saturday, June 8, 2024

Saturday, June 8, 2024

Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2007. Mattie was five years old and that Memorial Day weekend we drove to Pennsylvania to take Mattie to Dutch Wonderland. This amusement park was geared toward younger children. It was at Dutch Wonderland that Mattie rode his first roller coaster and LOVED it. On our drive up, we stopped at a pretzel factory. We learned to roll the dough and shape it it accordingly. Outside the factory was this cow statue. Mattie knew my love of Holstein cows, so we paused for a photo together. Such an innocent and happy moment in time. 

Quote of the day: If love is like driving a car, then I must be the worst driver in the world. I missed all the signs and ended up lost. ~ Brian MacLearn

This morning my friend Carolyn and her husband, Don, came over for a visit. Carolyn never comes empty handed. She brought me these stunning hydrangeas from her garden and her mom's coffee cake. What an amazing combination. It makes you happy just looking at these gifts. A little visit like this makes a difference and helps to break up the LONG weekend. I absolutely hate the weekends, to me they are depressing times. Very reminiscent of when Mattie died. There is less structure to the days and given that I have no social network given my day to day routine, it makes the social isolation much more apparent. 

There are a few exterior issues that I have noticed with the house and will eventually need to get them addressed. I consulted with Carolyn's husband on the issues and lucky I did, because I was going to try to repair one myself with a substance called Bondo. But I learned today is that the issue is too far gone, for this material to work appropriately. So Don just saved me many hours of work! Bothering friends with issues is typically not my style, but I know two things: 1) that I need help, and 2) when I know something is out of my comfort zone, I know enough not to tackle a project myself. 

As the day progressed, I made my parents a snack and then I went next door to my neighbor's house. She had surgery two weeks ago and she wanted to catch up. This couple "adopted" me early on when I moved into the neighborhood. Ironically, I did not go anywhere today, but having Carolyn's visit and then my time with Judi, broke up the day. 

I made an early dinner today and then I told my mom to get on her sneakers because we were going to walk a block. She has been very sedentary since she got sick last week. I think the walk perked her up and her congestion and exhaustion are definitely improving. Thank goodness for antibiotics, which have finally kicked in!

Three things I am a grateful for:

1. Visits with friends!
2. The beauty of hydrangeas and the tastiness of coffee cake!
3. 
   My porch. As I write this blog, I am sitting on the porch. If you want to know why I fell in love with the house I am living in, it is because of the land and the porch! The porch to me has southern charm and with a fountain going in the background, it is my own private therapy.