Lest I Forget

Yes, I am already worried. Worried that I will forget my beloved's voice, the way he sang In the Garden in his deep, rumbly voice and often while driving. The way he chuckled, the way he laughed, the squeaky little laugh done just to amuse me.

So I am jotting down a few things to help me remember. 

John never left the house without kissing me goodbye and sometimes more than once, especially when we would start chatting all over again with his hand on the handle attempting to get out the door. Then I'd get another kiss because he couldn't remember if he had kissed me the first time. I never told him otherwise. As he was leaving, he'd say, "I'll be back." Sometimes I'd say, "Thanks for the warning!" Then we'd both laugh at the lame joke.  
He never arrived home without an "I'm back" and most often another kiss or a hug depending on how dirty he was. Oh that man could get more dirt on him than a mechanic in a pit. Sometimes I'd grumble about it and he would respond, "Now is that a very nice thing to say to a very nice guy like me?" 

When he finished a project he'd say, "There! Good enough for who it's for." I tried to get him to say it Here, but he just wouldn't cooperate that day. ☺ (Look for the video and the little bow John took.)

If I asked him how his meal was, he would usually say, "I don't know yet." There was never a time that he did not thank me for making his meals or changing his sheets or taking care of his clothes.

If I ever asked him to do anything, he was in agreement. Sometimes we had to set a date and an intention, but he was willing to go and do as I requested. Sometimes I had some unusual requests that "stretched his thinking all out of whack."

Evenings were usually spent companionably watching Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. (I haven't watched since May 20.) He trounced me night after night only requesting my help for literature and grammar questions. ☺ For the final Jeopardy question, we would decide if we were going to "bet the farm." We often won. It is true that two heads are better than one.  After that, he usually wished to watch some show about Alaska; I'll never watch that again either.

~typical grand greeting~ 

When seeing the grandsons, he'd ask, "How's my buddy?!" They always knew that they were his buds, too. This often involved a high-five and sometimes he requested a hug and they willingly gave him one. He sure loved them and I can see the love light in his eyes for them that I often saw for myself. Here's a good example.

He prayed for the boys every day. But then, he prayed for many every single day — his girls, his grands, his greats, his sisters, his friends, my friends, my family, me, and on and on. He really enjoyed praying for people and was happy to have remembered to pray and for what the specific need or concern was.

He had plans to write a book of his favorite tips for contracting/carpentering. He had even sketched out the chapters. He wanted to put in a new driveway, new counter tops in the kitchen, new floors, and probably a few other things; alas, time ran out. My son said the other day that John needed at least another twenty years.

Whenever situations arose that would make me say, "This is something we must pray about," he would say, "Oh dear, it's come to this." That was a joke indicating that it was ridiculous not to think about praying first about anything and everything. 

taken in April 2016, at a Retirement Party for a Dear Friend
You may remember a similar expression worn  Here

Oh there must be more; I can't have forgotten already. Wait! I remember another...one of my favorites. Every now and then I'd catch him looking at me and so I'd smile and he would say, "You're kinda cute (pause for emphasis) for a girl." 
This would have been our 8th anniversary...new beginnings. John began his ultimate new beginnings just six weeks ago. His sister gently chided me recently that there is no marriage in Heaven. Right. I know that. It won't matter there. But here, just for today, Happy Anniversary, Honey. I miss you like crazy.

Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like...

~Edna St. Vincent Millay *** And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Revelation 21:4

Leftover Stew

...of the metaphorical variety that is...
*Edited to Add: Clarity...it is not my strong suit. Edited comments appear in this color and preceded by an asterisk.
I have pretty much decided to be away from Blogdom now that it has slowed to the usual summer crawl. When my footsteps start to echo in the halls, I know it's time. I will be finishing up my Photo Challenge on Friday and, after that, it's hasta la bye bye until... (*things pick up in Blogdom again...usually around September 1 or really whenever I feel like it. ☺)
What is time? Just another thing to get away... ~David Mallett
*Here lies the problem: I failed to say that my blogiversary was this week. So in thanking you for your comments over the past eight years, many have thought I was saying so long for good. I also make a lot of comments, read a lot of blogs. I feel so blessed to have wonderful comments, yet for every comment I receive I have commented many times over. Just sayin.' It would probably be embarrassing to have that figure available.  < insert cheeky grin> 
Before that, though, I want to say thank you to all who have visited and left comments over the past eight years. I was just revisiting former posts and comments this week and what a treasure trove I have. I may have written 2, 148 posts, but you have written 53, 890 comments to date. Wowzer!  Blessed I am.
And I continue to be blessed with packages arriving. Saturday brought an amazing box of goodies from *Abby at Little Birdie Blessings.* Visiting her blog will bless you, too, because she offers beautiful scripture graphics for the taking and a link back. I must shop for a new one myself. ☺

Yes, the box was filled with books, cookbooks, many different fabrics, thread, a sleep mask, headbands, and more if only I could remember it all. Thank you, Abby! Unbelievable generosity!
Yesterday, I was delighted to receive this wonderful collection of essays from *Linda at Linda's Life Journal.* She thought of me when she found this book purchased long ago while on a trip to Vermont. (John and I recently celebrated our seventh anniversary. Many of you may remember that we ran off in a fever to Vermont and married.) They are wonderful essays and I do love good essays. I'm pretty sure it's why I love blogs so well. Thank you, Linda! (Have fun at the ranch!)

Over the weekend, I received that gift to the left and a number more like them on my windows. What is it about kids and windows? I remember my mother telling me that she could not wash little fingerprints from her windows after I and my children returned to Arizona. (No, I did not leave my handprints behind and I did try to wash her windows for her before she yelped at me.) I decided to take a photo instead. Ha!

Yes, we had the grands and the grandpuggy over the weekend. You can see the pug lying between them there.  What a life! The grandpuggy gave the grands quite a night from the sounds of things. Oh dear! Something about snoring and scratching???

We do not have adequate sleeping arrangements here so I created the old standby of pushing easy chairs up to the sofa, which we call "ships." I soon realized that they have grown a lot and so had to also include hassocks in between the easy chair and the sofa. Over this, I placed big, comfy comforters and hoped that it would cover a multitude of ups and downs. What do you do in a pinch for overnight guests? I have realized that something has got to change here. I have at 

least one twin bed that could be set up 

somewhere — perhaps the kitchen. 

When my son came to gather everything up, I was gifted with a four-pack of my very *favorite Canadian candy bars.* So glad that the bars are back so that I can smack the Mack!

See you Friday! Have a blessed week until then.

ツ

*My apologies to those I confused. A thank you to those who were not. Some of you just know that I'm an airhead. Total airhead. And some of you instinctively know that clarity is not my strong suit. Oh me.

♫ Why Worry ♫

♥ Why Worry ♥

Sung by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris 

Here we find ourselves four years later. We, John and I, chatted a bit about these past four years and I asked him if they had been the four roughest years of his life. He grinned without responding. Right. Just as I suspected.

~the Grin~

Personally, I don't know how I would have made it through the past four years without him. God sent him just when I needed someone most, just when my grandmother and mother needed someone most. God was so good to us in sending a kind man like John. My grandmother once said to his sisters, whom she had just met, "John is such a kind man." They responded in unison, "We know!"

Soon after my mother died, I was talking with a family friend who told me that my mother had shared this with her: I can leave this world in peace knowing that my girls are happy. 

So, in the words of the song,

...There should be laughter after pain

There should be sunshine after rain

These things have always been the same

So why worry now

Why worry now

Me Fix; You Like

Honey, look up and grin.Up and grin.

That's right!

The windless looks great, but is it crooked?

Gals, I've discovered that one of the secrets to a happy marriage is finding a man whose philosophy is "me fix; you like." Not sure how much longer this'll last so I'm working it. Wish that Blogger had the same philosophy.

Some of you really do pay attention. Yes, we've passed another anniversary, but we've not celebrated yet. Looking forward to it, too.

Catch you later...

*A Year Later and We're Still Here*

At six seconds after 4:05 p.m. yesterday afternoon the numbers in the time and date could be arranged so that it read 04:05:06 07/08/09. This sequence will not be repeated in this manner again this century. (source) Pretty special timing for my first wedding anniversary and Mary's thirtieth, don't you agree?

Yes, that was neat and all, but hardly what I was looking forward to. Our little camping trip was down the tubes because of the torrents of rain and the blast of cold Canadian air (yes, we blame all blasts of cold air on the poor Canadians). We stayed home and I fell into a deep, dark funk while John went off to work as per usual. Hrrrummmphhhfffttt...

So basically he and I spent a quiet, cool, rainy day. A rainy day is nothing unusual this summer. In fact, it is the norm. The flowers are waterlogged and beaten down. The slugs are having a heyday. The basement smells. The spirits sink even as the rivers rise.



It felt all so very

The sun did not shine
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold wet day.

I sat there with John
We sat there, we two.
And I said, "How I wish
We had something to do!"

from The Cat in the Hat with liberties

Besides playing footsies that is...



But to allow an anniversary to float by without taking special note of it? Not to honor nor cherish it? We do not fool ourselves, John and I, having come to this point in our lives and marrying each other well beyond our middle age. We understand a little what it means to number our days. Oh! Did I tell you that the second great-grand was born last week so now John has one of each...a little great-grandson and a little great-granddaughter? They are some kind of cute now let me tell you.

Okay, so we set off for Portland. This was John's choice; my head was empty. (I heard that!) Of course, I'm quite certain that John didn't know the following fact when we left...

"So far this month, every day has been warmer at Fairbanks, Alaska, than at Portland, Maine. Any time that happened in the past, it was colder in both places the following winter." (source)













Were you able to follow that story? We had a very tasty sirloin at Bugaboo Creek of talking moose fame. John had sweet potato fries and I had what I thought were going to be Ree's Crash potatoes, but, noooo, they were "smash" potatoes (just mashed) instead. The tastiest part of the meal was the baby back ribs. The best part was reminiscing about our first meal together at a steak house not so long ago.

We did shop at Borders and The Christmas Tree Shop and the day ended, as all good days do, with an ice cream cone at Giffords. You'll have to take my word for it as I forgot to get a picture.

Now after all this talk of rain, I want to show you the most amazing moon shot taken just two nights ago on the one good day of summer so far...



I still need to work on the composition, but isn't that a beautiful round moon?

Happy Thursday...hope it's sunny wherever you are!