Feeling Cozy

 A post before November slips through my fingers and disappears.

Winter is just around the corner. We had a taste of it this week, complete with snow two to three inches thick on my car Tuesday morning. Good thing I keep that snow brush handy year round! On Monday morning my gloves were still hidden away upstairs, but I'd heard more snow was in the forecast and donned both my new Grinch hat and last year's gloves when the snow was deep and formidable. My commute is barely long enough to warm up the car and I am super thankful for my heated seat.

I've recently revisited my felting needles and stabbed out a few fabulous friends. I have six complete, aside from hangers and they're so cute. Unfortunately the arthritis in my left thumb/wrist is not in favor of my creativity. (Either that or I was too enthusiastic about finishing more penguins than my hands could handle.) I'd hoped for five penguins and five snowmen by Saturday but may have to be happy with what I have, which is better than nothing. Ruth and I are doing another craft sale.

Speaking of Ruth, we went out shopping a couple Saturdays ago. I texted her early that morning and said I wanted to go looking at furniture. There is nothing quite like a best friend to encourage us on the adventure. LOL! First we went to Bob's Discount Furniture where we saw some fabulous dining room sets, and then we went to Ashley where I fell in love with a cute little loveseat the perfect size for the end of my living room. So, so cozy. It arrived today and I love it!

The Powers That Be decided to shake things up a bit at work. The manager that hired me a year ago was suddenly moved into a different position outside of our store. (It was a surprise to her as well...) We got a new manager along with three new employees who had formerly worked with her at a different coffee shop. The first week was tough with the entire store being rearranged and few of us sure what was happening. This week was better. We're getting to know each other and falling into a groove. Maybe it's going to be okay after all.

Summer of 2025

It's been a wonderful summer so far. Tomorrow is July 31 at which point our summer will be halfway gone. Thankfully there is another month to savor, and who doesn't love August?

It's been weeks since I last wrote anything, but so much has happened. My childhood best friend and I have spent many hours together since being reunited. I've sat with her at two craft shows and we have several more planned. The crocheted dolls, animals, and video characters she makes are so cute! She's been teaching me to follow patterns and hopefully I'll gather a collection to sell as well.

July 12- Ben, Hannah, and I went to the Brad Paisley concert at CMAC in Canandaigua, NY. It was a warm sunny July evening and my very first CMAC concert. We had a fabulous time.

July 19- We went to the Sterling Renaissance Festival together. It's about an hour away, close to the shore of Lake Ontario. Though I have been to the Ren Fest twice in Minnesota, I had never been to our own. So much fun! 

July 20- We celebrated Hannah turning 30 with a picnic/birthday party at Webster Park. It was a grand success! 

July 26- Ruth, Gail and I met up to wander the Waterfront Festival here in town. On our way through we met my friend Elizabeth who lives up the street. It was a stifling hot day so we decided on an airconditioned lunch following our shopping spree.

July 27- I have two crochet creatures to sell. Ruth helped me put the finishing touches on this sweet little bluebird. I did the face and feet, and she put some fantastic feathers on top of his head. LOL!

Reunited

I spent 5 hours with my long lost pal last night. I went to her house, which is less than 10 minutes away, and then we went to dinner at Jeremiah's. We've spent a lifetime apart but I've never stopped loving her. Her dog isn't entirely sure about me (LOL!) but she licked my hand several times when I wasn't looking at her so I think there's hope that we'll be friends too.
Photo from 1979 maybe?

Bits and Pieces

May 24- Breakfast with my sisters at Busy Bean Cafe in Penfield. We seldom go out as a threesome so it was really nice to meet up and spend some time together. I think we're all hoping this happens more often.

May 25- I took a beautiful, late Sunday afternoon walk at Highland Park with the family. The boys had time and space to run and jump, hide under trees, and climb on rocks. The lilac festival and all its activity is over and done. The park has been left calm and peaceful.

May 29- Hannah bought a family membership to Rochester's Strong Museum of Play and we took a drive there together after I got out of work and Idris was out of school. There is always something fun to see and since it was late afternoon the crowds were thin. Just the way Kili likes it. LOL! I watched the baby while Hannah and Sergio played mini golf with the boys.

May 30- I drove to the White Rabbit Dessert Experience to meet some out of town cousins who, for reasons unknown to me at the time, did not show up that evening. I decided to make the best of the night and, after waiting 45 minutes, ordered myself a dessert. 

June 1- My sister Priscilla and I met for breakfast by the Erie Canal and took a walk. Later that afternoon I drove out to Williamson to drop off a bag of gluten free flour to a friend and decided to get an ice cream cone at Yia Yia's on the way home. I picked Rainbow Sprinkles in honor of Grandmanita.

June 6- This past Friday evening I returned to White Rabbit Dessert Experience (on the proper day) and met my cousin Colleen and her daughter Celia who were in town for a class Celia was taking at Strong Memorial Hospital. (I'll be in big trouble if I keep up this dessert habit...)

June 7- Several weeks ago an acquaintance/Facebook friend and former Williamson Children's Librarian let me know she would be in town the first week of June and wondered if maybe we could get together. It sounded like a fabulous plan, so Saturday morning Nancy and I met at a diner in the Webster Village. Although we have "known" each other for years, it was our first time to sit down and chat. We were in the diner for about four hours. It was a very nice visit indeed.

June 8- Yesterday was the 6th birthday of Grandchild Number 12. Before his party my friend Gail and I met for breakfast (Yes, there seems to be a recurring theme here...) and calling hours for a former classmate. Since there was time in between, and it had been on Gail's mind all week, we stopped at a little craft sale/flea market at the Emporium in Ontario, NY. As we wandered the booths a table full of crocheted animals caught my eye. As I was approaching the table, unknown to me the vendor was approaching me. She called my name and I found myself slightly shocked and almost utterly speechless to find my Once Upon a Time Constant Companion, Ruth, standing there. It has been years since I last saw her and now she lives in the next town. I found myself teary after leaving and am looking forward to spending some time with her in the near future.

That's What Friends Are For

My friend Shelly was in town this past weekend and we spent the day together yesterday. We'd hoped for good weather but the warm breezes we'd imagined were not to be. Instead of a day of sunshine, thick clouds rolled in making the sky dark, dreary, and occasionally dripping. I picked her up at her hotel in time for breakfast. I had two pancakes, two eggs, and two sausage links with coffee. She had an English muffin and a diet Pepsi. (To be fair, she had already eaten something at McDonalds before my arrival.) During our morning meal a mutual friend named Frank showed up in the seat right next to me. I think he was surprised to see her sitting across the table. Ha ha!

Since the sky was dark and drippy, we decided to visit the mall and walk. We checked out some cute clothes, popped into a toy store or two, and each bought a drink. I had water and she had another diet coke. We walked the mall at least twice before heading back toward Webster where we went to Wegmans in search of a Banana Pepper Sauce she'd seen online. We hadn't been in the store long when who should we see but Frank... Twice in one day. In the distance I saw our friend Barry who works at Wegmans. Shelly hadn't seen her in years and had just been asking about her. Of course we had to chase her down and say hello. We'd thought to buy salad fixings in Wegmans and take them home to my house but there was an ailing child at home, so we went to Panera Bread and ordered salads there instead.   

A trip back home isn't entirely complete without a trip to the lake, so I took Shelly down to Webster Park where the wind was blustery and the waves wild. She braved the cold wind just long enough to take a video of the lake which she promptly sent to a friend in Georgia. At this point in time the sky was cloudy but calm, so we took a chance and went for a walk in the woods at Webster Park. We only got lost for a minute or two because that's what always happens on those trails through the trees.

In need of a potty, we headed for Target and a walk through the store, before heading up the sidewalk to Barnes and Noble where we perused the aisles of shelves, chose a few books for purchase and sat in the Starbucks Cafe to talk and share Pink Drinks before the store announced it's impending close and I took Shelly back to the hotel. We haven't spent so many hours together since our photography trip to the Finger Lakes in 2012! It was a wonderful day with a forever friend.

Ocean City 2025

Ocean City, Maryland has been a long awaited destination. I have waited 46 1/2 years to get there.

I was just 14 years old in the fall of 1978 when my father's late-in-the-year, October vacation took us south to Virginia where we went camping near Williamsburg for a week. I'd been asking for months prior, even as far back as summer, "Can we go to Maryland?" I asked over and over and over again, but it wasn't Ocean City on my mind back then... My wish was to find my childhood friend Joey, the boy I'd met in 3rd grade, the one I'd been writing to for five years. I was a young girl in love with a dream.

Part of our vacation took us to the Manassas Battlefield, the Battle of Bull Run, and one day we took a ride to Washington DC where we visited the National Mall, Lincoln Memorial and Smithsonian Institution. It was on that day that my parents drove to the little town of Clinton, Maryland and found the home of my special friend. He wasn't home but his step dad told us where to find him at a little pizza parlor down the road... 

Back at Joey's house our parents visited over coffee while we played board games in the living room and laughed at the antics of our sisters and his dog. We visited twice (I think) and on one of those visits Joey said he wanted to take me to Ocean City. It was one of his favorite places. I'm honestly not sure if he wanted us to come back another time during that trip, or if he was hoping for a whole new visit when the season began anew, but it was not to be. Mom and Dad felt like they had "worn out their welcome" and we headed home with no plan to return.

Joey and I continued to write letters. A few letters one year and a few the next, until James came into my life and my dreams of one day (possibly) being with Joey again faded away forever. It was an impossibly difficult dream to release. My dreams today are obviously no longer the same, but the hope of one day reaching Ocean City never went away. This was one of two pieces to finally completing the process of bringing closure to my childhood love story.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

It feels as if our world is falling apart around us... but in the midst of our governmental chaos, I went out and forgot about all our troubles for a few hours. My friend and neighbor, Beth, invited me to attend a fused glass class with her. She'd been eager to try it and asked me about it when we were out together in December. It sounded like fun and so I agreed.

I went into the class with no expectation at all. On the table were sheets and shards of colored glass, all kinds of glass beads, and glass straws. I picked up pieces of green and red glass, fingered rainbow colored beads, and stared at straws of orange, blue and yellow... 

Years back I dreamed of broken glass mosaics... I have a Pinterest board dedicated to brokenness... I even bought a nipper and a pair of goggles, but I although my own broken pieces are coming back together, I hadn't yet put it into a picture. Not until yesterday. It's a fabulous beginning.

Crossing Over

It was an entirely emotional weekend. Unexpected tears flowed randomly throughout. Mostly I am sad, both for my friend and her family, and for the brokenness that always comes with the passing of someone dear. I've heard in the past that if our loved one is in heaven, then we are sad for ourselves, but I believe there is a deeper pain. As another preacher said, "We weren't created with a file folder for death." When our people die, a piece of us goes along with them; all our conversations, our memories together, our sense of connection... Tears are the healing balm.

As I sat in the funeral home waiting for the service to begin, I was touched on the shoulder. I turned to see a man standing next to me. "Hi, Lady," he said. I had to stand up to recognize the pastor of my previous church fellowship, the one I left when I moved off the farm and away from The Cabinetmaker. As neighbor of my friend, he had been asked to lead the service. The presence of both him and his wife, as well as our conversation following, opened a whole other torrent of emotion.

My ex husband and our separation came up in conversation. "Would you consider reconciliation? (with the Cabinetmaker)," they asked me, to which I answered, "What exactly does 'reconciliation' mean?" I have not been the one hiding these past two years. I have absolutely nothing from which to hide. There is no shame in my leaving, no shame in filing for a divorce. I have never sat down and talked with these people about our situation and it has been nearly 8 years since I moved. "I'm always available to talk," said the pastor's wife... except she's about 10 years too late. She'd have gotten a much reserved conversation years back. Today she'd get an earful and I'm not sure either one of us is ready for that.

I've learned a lot of things about church and organized religion these past ten years. I've also learned a lot about the love of God, His ability to care for me and my family, a lot about protecting women and children, and a lot about standing my ground and guarding my heart. I am sickened by the atrocities hidden behind church doors, the secrets kept, and the fingers pointed. I haven't lost my faith, instead it has deepened in a way I never thought possible. Gone are the trite sayings and flippant responses. Gone are judgement and condemnation (if I ever held that to start) and in their place is more love, more acceptance, and more room for those whose choices I don't understand.
  

Cindy. Cindy had a heart of gold. She was far from perfect, but she knew she was loved by her creator and trusted that her cancer and subsequent passing would glorify God. Her prayers were for her friends and family, myself included. Her prayers are being answered. I know that. God isn't finished with her at all. She may not be here in body, but she will remain in spirit for many years to come.

* Pictures from my walk at Webster Park last week.

Bits and Pieces

A myriad of thoughts dance haphazardly through my mind, stumbling, sprawling, colliding, unready (or perhaps unable) to gather into one coherent string of words... 

*A week ago I assembled a small puzzle of our family. It was given to me as a Christmas gift in 2016 by my former daughter in law. All seven of my children, five of their spouses, and eight grandchildren arranged in tight group before Barn 3 back on the farm in Williamson on July 4, 2016. Smiling faces, unaware of (or hiding) the invisible, widening fissures in our family. It was to be our last all together, summer gathering with any semblance of normalcy, no matter how hollow it was for some of us. There would be a tense and nervous Christmas gathering to follow. By the holidays I was breaking into a million pieces while my unknowing children, full of questions, looked on not knowing "what was wrong with Mom." They could only guess... 

* It's January and our work hours have been reduced. It's evidently common for Dunkin to be "slow" this time of year although we still have bouts of utter insanity... I was hired verbally as full time, but the app that details our paychecks lists me as "part time," giving the powers that be the freedom to slash hours without repercussion. My hours have been reduced to 30 from the previous 37 1/2 per week. I have been assured, "It'll pick back up again in February," but the looming tariffs threatened by our current administration would most definitely affect our supply of coffee. Coffee doesn't grow here in the United States... I'm not staying awake thinking about it, but it is there in the back of my mind. I already spent most of the money I'd saved up last summer to fix the brakes on my car. If hours don't pick back up again, I don't know how I'll pay my income taxes...

* I've been in contact with an old friend. Here and there a message. I missed a phone call yesterday because I wasn't at home and therefore away from the WiFi necessary for the app to work. Well, that's disappointing. We have so much to catch up on too.

* We are in the deep freeze, along with the rest of the eastern US. It's nothing out of the ordinary here. Par for the course. Single digit temperatures with frigid wind chills are a normal part of winter. We pile more blankets on the bed, stay inside more (maybe), and drink hot beverages. (Actually, we're still selling a ton of iced and frozen coffees, iced teas, and other iced drinks.) It's the season of soups and stews, and soon 30 degrees will feel like a heat wave. (A picture from yesterday's outdoor adventure, and the reason I missed my friend's phone call...)

Walls and Fortresses

Fear and shame are crippling childhood emotions that often keep us trapped long into adulthood. It can take a lifetime to lay them aside and find healing...

I tried to write about it, but the words are still locked inside. I don't know exactly where the fear and shame came from, but suspect there were multiple cooperating forces, along with a predisposition to being timid... But I do know that the last ten years have stripped away many of the walls I'd built throughout my first 50 years. I'm still the same person I was before, except there are far fewer walls and I can breathe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This past Friday my sweet, forever friend Cindy passed into the world beyond. One of those rare and extremely special friends who I didn't have to see often yet was a part of my heart and soul. One day in 2007 we met up for lunch at Panera Bread and sat for four hours! We ate a lunch, talked and laughed, nibbled some cookies, and then some more cookies (her idea), and caught up on so many lost years... It was like we'd never been apart... and now she's gone. Brave, beautiful Cindy... Cancer takes the best of us. I'll find you on the other side and we can sit for hours and hours again...

Home, Safe, and Overwhelmed

Hurricane Helene sent some rain and a little bit of wind to Sanford, Florida and utterly decimated Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina. As we watched the storm system swirl closer and closer to land on Wednesday I couldn't help but think of those who would lose their lives when she made landfall and moved inland. I never imagined such destruction.

It didn't feel prudent to start for home in the midst of a hurricane so I sat out Thursday and considered leaving Florida on Friday, but the hurricane was drawing enough wind off the Atlantic and over the east coast, that I opted to wait once again. I honestly don't love traveling in a driving rain. My halfway point, where I'd thought to find a hotel, Rocky Mount, North Carolina, was hit by a tornado Friday afternoon. I'd been wise to stay put once again.

The weather in Sanford was beautiful on Friday. Jim suggested I might like to visit Harry P. Leu (Botanical) Gardens. It was a good choice. The gardens were amazing and I enjoyed the tour of the house as well. Being the only individual on the tour was wonderful. I wandered the paths on my own, took pictures, and soaked in the scenery. A few hours later I drove up the road and found some cookies at Gideon's Bakehouse, and stopped at the A&T store on my way back to Jim and Michele's house. What do you know?! I can use the GPS in my phone!!!

I woke up early enough on Saturday morning to catch a shower before heading toward Daytona and Flagler Beach where I found Marty. We sat and talked for a while and he helped me get Siri set up on my new phone and we put in a request that she get me home. I left the beach at about 11:10 am and started up I-95 North. I could have (and should have) stopped in North Carolina to stay with a friend, but I hadn't put her address into my itinerary and drove right past I-40. (Not the washed out part in Tennessee, but the part closest to I-95.) I drove another 3 hours to Chester, Virginia where my sweet daughter and son in law used Marriottt points to book me a room at the Fairfield Inn. A bed never felt so wonderful! I'd have slept like a baby had my entire body not been "buzzing" from the long hours on the highway. After breakfast on Sunday morning, I continued north toward home and pulled into my own driveway at about 5:30 pm., tired but safe. It was a long drive but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. 

Yesterday morning I went to put gasoline in my car and the scrubbing, grinding noise I'd heard in Pennsylvania the day before returned, along with another sound I can't presently identify. I decided to stop at Klem's Garage and leave my car there in the lot. Hopefully they get some time to look at it before next Tuesday's appointment. For now I am home with Killian and we'll be walking if we want to get out.

It's been 5 months now since I've had a regular job and two weeks since I've had any income at all. If I'm honest, I am more than a little terrified on the inside. I have a looming CPS hearing (on January 6, 2025) and should talk to a lawyer because I don't know how to do this alone, a "probably significant" car repair bill coming up, and all my regular expenses as well. No one is going to "take care of me" any more than they already have been. (I am grateful for those who live here with me in my house. They make staying here possible.) I have money in my bank account that would cover my bills, but it's also supposed to cover my taxes come spring. God has always provided for my needs, however I can't help but feel anxious.

Our north east summer has come to an end. Today, for the first time in over two weeks (at least!) I put on a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt. I'm not ready to admit it is autumn, even though I've always said it's my favorite. I haven't yet donned socks and shoes... Maybe I should have gotten a job in Florida... LOL!

PS. It warmed up and I'm back to shorts and a sleeveless top.

What Day Is It?

What can I say about the last week and two days...? So many fragmented thoughts have still to be knitted together in my heart and mind. 

Forty years ago on the sidewalk outside our apartment, a little boy rode a tiny bike and threatened to knock my three year old off his tricycle. "How about I knock you off your bike?" I'd asked him, and he quickly replied, "My mom will call the police." Last night that little boy came home from the store with a half gallon of Rocky Road Ice Cream and said to his mom, "I brought the things you asked for and Martha texted and asked for ice cream, so I brought that too." (I hadn't, but that's beside the point.)

Friendships don't always begin with pleasantries. At our first encounter that little boy had also walked right up to me and declared, "We worship Jehovah." He stood directly in front of me as I sat on the ground watching Jimmy ride his tricycle, and waited for my response. "We worship Jesus," I told him.

While I remember those first moments of interaction, most of what came in the days, months, and years to follow blends together into an afghan of lifetime friendship. I heard her family call her "Ruthie," while the neighbors told me her name was Ann. My mother stepped up when the family needed daycare. On a moment's notice James and I were invited to her wedding in the community center at the apartment complex and learned on our way there that her new husband was the cousin of our friend. In time both of our families moved to the same little town in Wayne County, NY and I babysat on and off while she worked. We each had another baby giving each of us four (Josh, Joel, Charlie, and Drew for her, and Jim, Dave, Beth, and Joe for me). We took our kids on picnics, talked on the phone for hours, and argued religion. Tragedy struck their extended family and they moved a half hour farther out into the country. There was a barn and horses and a continued friendship.

I don't know why some people face trials and tragedies over and over and over, I only know that each one she faced knit us closer together. It's not my place to list them here, but I can tell you I have never stopped loving her and her children. Last Friday morning when she sent a text telling me the doctors at the Pennsylvania hospital had advised her to ask family members to come and say their last goodbyes to her sweet husband, she was a thousand miles from home. My daughters didn't hesitate to encourage me, for the third time in as many weeks, to make the 2 1/2 hour drive to the hospital. I sat with my friend, did everything I could to help her and the staff, met her son at the elevator when he made his 7:30 pm arrival, and made no attempt to hide my own sorrow when her husband David left this world at 12:30 am on Saturday, September 14. We spent the night at a hotel, met with a Pennsylvania funeral home, picked up her camper from a family member, and made the drive north from Watkins Glen, NY to my home in Webster. On Tuesday we headed south and I followed them home. 

I could look heavenward and ask God all the same "why?" questions I've asked in the past but the trusting Him to be there is much easier than understanding any of the "whys?" He is the one who knit this friendship together. He is the one who takes yarns of contrasting and complimentary colors and fashions the strands into unimaginably beautiful blankets. I don't understand, but I know He does.

Playing Catch-up

 * The long weekend vacation to New Hampshire (we also drove up into Maine) was fabulous. There is nothing quite like like getting away from the everyday and exploring someplace new. On our way to Hampton Falls, Gail and I detoured to Whitinsville, Massachusetts where our friend Beth met us at The West End Creamery. I have been wanting this for years. It was such a wonderful hour of remembering childhood and catching up on the present day.

* Our friend Linda, who was already in Boston, met us in New Hampshire and we spent the next couple of days going to a sea glass festival, a rummage sale, gift shops, restaurants, and exploring the coast. It rained Sunday afternoon and we took a drive up along the coast as far as Kennebunkport, Maine and the Bush Estate. Vacations are always too short and on Monday morning, when it was finally sunny again, we turned west and headed for home.

* I returned to the hair salon on Tuesday evening and saw my new favorite hair stylist, Anna. The appointments weren't double booked this time and we laughed about the mix-up that happened in March. "I'm glad you decided to come back to me," she said. 

* The Webster Museum was doing a little presentation on Wednesday afternoon during my lunch break. My neighbor and I were the keynote speakers... They are highlighting our little neighborhood of National Homes which were built in the early 1950's. It has long been affectionately dubbed "Indian Village" for the street names, Pontiac, Seneca, Mohawk, and Iroquois. I should have asked for more than just the hour as I had to rush back to work as soon as it was over. Before I left, I was approached by a woman who said she had gone to school with me, and there was my old friend Melissa, who not only graduated with me but was also in my kindergarten class, along with Beth who I had just seen in Massachusetts. How fun is that?

* It was a stressful week at work. Something felt off with my present coworker all week but there was nothing I could put my finger on aside from a slight coolness that didn't seem to be there the week before. The children have been crazy, as usual. On Friday afternoon, just after returning from a very late lunch, I sat down to draw with a few of the children, most of whom did not take a nap, and were now running around the classroom. It went well for a very short time and then several decided it was a good idea to eat the crayons. When I stood up to take the crayon from one small child, he took off running, crayon in hand. I chased him down, caught him by the shoulder, and took the chewed on crayon out of his hand. In the process, I accidentally left a large scratch on the side of his neck. (I am as horrified as anyone else. Probably more so.) Everything is on camera and I would never, ever purposely hurt a child, but my boss, who reviewed the footage insists that I pulled him backward by his sweatshirt. This happened at 2:30 pm just 20 minutes after I had returned from my break. At 4:30 pm I was called into a meeting and sent home on "administrative leave." I am absolutely sick.

* In the early hours of Saturday morning my sweet daughter got up and took her best friend, my son in law, to the airport with a one-way ticket to El Paso. He is now in Mexico. On Friday he has an appointment with im mig ration. It is our hope and prayer that he will be looked upon with favor by those in authority and return home by the end of May. Needless to say, stress levels are at an all time high. All your prayers and good thoughts are appreciated.

* Yesterday was Mother's Day. My sweet children all reached out and made the day very special. Six came over with the fixings to make subs, and one called from Florida to let me know he loves me too.

Wildly Wonderful!

 I flew into Orlando on Saturday, March 16.

Sunday, March 17- Jim and I took a walk at Black Bear Wilderness Area in Sanford where I saw my first in the wild alligator.

Monday, March 18- Jim and Michele took me to Disney World! It was fantastically fun! I loved all of it!!!

Tuesday, March 19- We stuck close to home and met up with my long lost brother in law and his wife at Hollerbach's German Restaurant in downtown Sanford. It was Jim's first time meeting Uncle Stan.After lunch Jim got a haircut across the street and we walked the 3 miles back home. 

Wednesday, March 20- Jim and I went to Epcot together. It was fabulous! We ate our way around the world, checked out all the gift shops, and enjoyed a myriad of rides through various countries. Guardians of the Galaxy is the best ride ever. I think I dreamed of it in childhood.

Thursday, March 21 (today)- I got up at 5:15 am, drove to the coast and met my friend Marty for sunrise and breakfast on the beach. 

Back home in Sanford, we were surprised by a visit from Jim's friend Dan and his wife Rachel.

And then we watched a rocket launch from the driveway.

What an amazing week!