Amidst Great Joy There is Sorrow...

It's January, 2010. A new year. A fresh start. A new beginning...

On January 23rd we will be leaving for Galveston to take a family cruise. My cousin, Barbara and her husband Benny will be going with us. We are taking my dad and his girlfriend, Lila. We will be heading to the Honduras, Costa Maya and Cozumel/Cancun. Daddy has never been on a cruise before. Neither has Lila. They are both beside themselves with excitement and anticipation. Daddy's travels have been limited to work and military travel. He has been on a ship but it was a military transport when he was 17. Needless to say, this will be quite a different experience. He has been digging out his "cruise clothes" and purchasing things he needs to take (toiletries and such) for weeks. He is...joyful. Or at least he was. His joy has been tempered somewhat.

Tonight when I came home from work I brought pizza for dinner. Daddy was standing in the door of his trailer so I called out to him to get his attention telling him that there was pizza and cinnamon buns for dessert. He said, "Okay" but I could tell it wasn't. I asked the dreaded, "What's wrong?"

Last weekend my Dad spent hours in his trailer calling his brothers and sisters in Oklahoma...just to talk and catch up. He does this every six weeks or so since he got his cell phone with unlimited minutes. He made the comment to me then that Richard, his 89 year old brother, was really the only one he got to talk with for any length of time. One sister was unreachable, one is seriously ill. But Daddy enjoyed his phone visit with Richard.

Today Daddy got word that Richard is not expected to survive the night. Two days ago he got sick, went to the hospital and was diagnosed with double pneumonia. He is lying near death at this point. When Richard is gone Daddy will be the oldest of the surviving children.

I know all the cliches. I know "Richard has lived a long life." I know "God knows what is best." I know that "You don't question God's will or his timing." It's just that Daddy is obviously hurting. I just wish that he had the opportunity to experience the joy of his cruise and travel without the sorrow that comes with losing his brother and without the "in-your-face" realization of his own mortality. My dad has lived a hard life full of poverty and going without. I just want this moment for him.

Fireside Chats...

What a delightful weekend! Laying around a clean house, laundry done, dishwasher loaded, stoking the fire and watching television. Staying in out of the cold. Perhaps some spicy hot cocoa in my very near future while I watch the Cowboys beat the Eagles for the third time this year! Go 'boys!!

Eh??

It's official. I have apparently moved from Texas to Canada. With windchill factors predicted to be between 0 degrees and -10 degrees, I am certain of one thing. It is too danged cold for this to be Texas. Our winters are 60 degrees on a really cold day. We have already seen snow twice this winter...more than in the last DECADE!!

It's okay, though. I can adjust. I will just start drinking pints and saying, "Eh?" all the time. I'm already a hockey fan so...I'm good to go.

Happy 2010...

Last night was the most fun I have had on New Year's Eve in several years. No big "partying." Just good time with friends.

Our usual Thursday night dinner out included the two of us, Glen and Carlene, Tammy and Tony, Daddy and Tony's daughter, Ashley. We went to BJ's at Town East Mall. It's a new restaurant that is a type of microbrewery. It was new and clean and cool. The salsa there is awesome! I would buy it by the bottle if they sold it that way. The food was great and WAY more than we could eat. Jovi, our rotti, was thrilled that we went to eat there. She was the delighted recipient of beer-battered fish and fries. Yum!

After dinner, Tammy and Tony came back to the house. We watched ::shudder:: part of the Three Stooges marathon. I know. Tony and Ronnie. Enough said. After that Tony and Tammy made Mii characters and we started playing Wii. Wow, Tammy, can you spell "competitive?" J/K. It was all in fun and we bowled, played tennis, played shuffleboard, played ski ball, fished and finished the night off with cow races. I love cow races! Laughed my butt off. Tony was frustrated and I suspect that on his way home he stopped off at WalMart to buy a Wii so that he could go home and practice. For my part, I bowled a record high 224 with four strikes in a row and no open frames!

Midnight found us celebrating the new year with mimosas. Tammy had never had one before and was quite impressed. We snacked on cheesecake, apple pie, chocolate chip cookies, chips and queso and popcorn trash accompanied by soft drinks. Daddy called it a night just after 12:30 and at 3:30 Tony decided that it was WAY past his bedtime so he headed out. Tammy was spending the night. I took a quick 5 minutes to clean up the kitchen and put the food away and then off to bed at 4:00 a.m. It has been a long time since I have been up that late on purpose. Needless to say, it wasn't an early morning for us. I got up about 10:15, which I thought was pretty good. By 12:30 I was ready and took a 2 hour nap. Chloe, our kitty...or should I say, MY kitty...thought all this was stuff and nonsense and she tried to sleep her way through all of it.

Not a bad start to the new year. Tomorrow we have a Stars game and then it's back to normal life next week...you know, work and stuff. As for me, not making any resolutions this year. I have grown to think that whole scene is somewhat ridiculous. There's nothing magic about a desire expressed on January 1. Whatever. If I made any resolutions they would be the same ones I had last year that I didn't live up to, so what's the point? No resolutions = no guilt!

I do hope to be more current and informative with my blog posts. That's not a resolution...just a hope.

My other hope, that all will find joy, peace and health in 2010! God bless you all!!