I am thankful for...

I was doing this – listing what I was thankful for as daily status reports – on Facebook through the Thanksgiving season. Think I’ll take it up here …

My haircut. I had been trying an experiment to see if I wanted to grow my hair, but it looked really shaggy and was hard to handle. So I went to my hairdresser and told her I wanted to look like Jamie Lee Curtis. It turned out great. When I got to work my friends embarrassed the heck out of me with compliments. It looks a little more like Josephine Baker right now than Jamie Lee, but that’s okay.

My good friend, Pat the big guy, came to visit. He lives in Chicago and visits every year or 2, and the visit was a total surprise. A total, happy surprise.

1. the monarch chrysalis ripening in the jar on my kitchen windowsill
2. the extra bag of M&Ms that dropped when I bought the first one
3. picking grape tomatoes to eat on my salad today
4. my husband & daughter, who hold things together marvelously when I have to care for my parents

Yesterday could have well been a mixed-bag kind of day. Two things made it great. First of all, a dentist visit that our daughter had been dreading all week went great, & painlessly, thanks to a truly awesome dentist … !

Second for my mom’s 86th birthday we took her to see the Pixar movie “Up”, which was fantastic. She left the theater dancing, lol!

Our branch is situated in the midst of about three or four schools. For some of the kids we are a source of homework material and research help. But for the majority we seem to be a social hangout, a place for them to come after school till their parents pick them up, somewhere to access MySpace & Facebook. It doesn’t always seem like we have much of an impact on them at all.

And then there’s Nicole. My first memory of her was as a quiet, introverted girl, and I assumed she was just another kid interested in us for the Internet access. And then one day, she held the door for me and my child as we were leaving the building. And I thought, this is not a typical kid. Over time we built up a quirky, nerdy, funny relationship. She is very bright and computer-oriented, genuine, and a budding guitarist. I missed her when she left for college last year.

This morning she and her bud dropped by to bid farewell as she headed off to start her sophomore year. She had messaged me several times to find out when I was going to be at work, and it was a pleasant surprise to see her here. It’s a great feeling to know that I’ve somehow had a positive impact on her life

But don’t tell anyone. LOLOL

Barbara had the idea to have Christmas in July one day and it just went from there. All our family was there and we had such a good time, there was tremendous amounts of the best food. We played games and opened presents.

Barbara and Robert even put up their Tree, but the decorations was lottery tickets.

Now you should have seen some eyes light up at that one. We played games for the tickets, it was just such a good time with all of us being together and laughing. We’ve not had a lot to laugh about lately.

It’s easy to pretend, when my dad is fishing or taking the boys to buy tackle. It’s easy to pretend when he is sitting out in the swing in the early morning laughing with me.

It’s getting harder and harder to pretend. He is getting weak and has lost so much weight, He still has his hair by golly.
but he is tired so much all the time and that is starting to get to me. Reality is smacking me and I want to hit back.

LOLOL But for that one day, Barbara and Robert gave us lots of laughter and fun and a day of normalcy…

I soaked it up, I don’t know if we will have another Christmas. I soaked it up.

Here is a shot of our Tree all decked out.

Nuff said.

Back in the old days we used to communicate here (at work) by phone, and I made some really great friends that way. One of them was Marilyn. So when an opening came up at the desk next to mine, I didn’t hesitate to call and ask her to apply, and she got the job. We worked together for about the next 6 years, until she retired and moved to MN.

All of that is seriously simplified. Marilyn and I worked together as more than a team, more than friends or even family. Never have I been so accepted (some might say tolerated, lol!), listened to, cared for. I know we both had our idiosyncrasies and irritating habits, but they were never barriers for us.

When she retired it was really hard. I am only just now seriously adapting and getting on with things.

With all that said, my dear friend is in town for a couple of weeks, and we got together Saturday night. I talked and she listened, and she talked and I listened. We laughed and gossiped, and the time together was all too short. But I left feeling great. Maybe someday I’ll go to visit her ...

My mom used to make this, and a really gifted cook here at work has made it twice this week! I had such a crummy day Monday but after I had a piece of banana split cake, I went home with a big ole smile on my face, lol!!

Today, in the midst of all the mundane normalcy that is my workday, an amazing thing happened.

A retired detective came in looking for a book. He said he’d looked all over for this book for 40 years, since he’d been 15 years old and his copy was lost in an accident. He gave me the title, but had no idea who the author was, and told me it was about airplanes. So I did a simple Google search and found his book – “Sometime – Never,” an obscure book about airplanes and gremlins by Roald Dahl. We located it on Abe Books, so he can purchase it if he wants, and on Interlibrary Loan, so he can actually look it over first.

He was ecstatic!! He was genuinely appreciative, and fulsome with praise for yours truly =D. He even said I’d make a great detective, which totally made my day! He was telling everyone in sight how happy he was, including my boss. I asked him to come back when he gets the book and I’m sure he will.