REMEMBER ME

 

As I grow older I realize

That to remember someone

Is to have them

Forever in your Heart!

This is what I have for Michael

This is what I have for my parents

This is what I have for my brother

This is what I have for our troops

Both Living and Gone Before...

I Remember

 

This is what I want for my children

This is what I want for my Grandchildren

This is what I want for my Great-grandchildren

For each of us

To remember one another

To Love one another

and to...

Remember!

 

Remember Me

 

 

My Dearest Josh,

I want you to know that I will not forget you each and every day until you and all of the troops there with you come home!

 

 

Like your Grandfather Michael before you ...you are serving your country and you are our Heroes!

 

Veterans and Our Troops

We will not Forget!

We Love you!

 

 

We will not Forget!

 

Angels

 

It has been difficult for me to write my thoughts lately.  Perhaps it is because my thoughts have been so private...so intensely filled with emotion.  I have entered a new stage in my life where the past, the present and the future all merge into one.  I look back and realize that I was a fair mother...too young to understand responsibility, I stumbled...I fell...and somehow through it all, my children survived and grew to be happy, successful adults...they have become the parent that I wish I could have been.  Now I am a Grandmother...I rate myself as a good Grandmother and perhaps a step up from being a fair mother.  I enjoy my grandchildren...and I try to meet them on their own terms...at their level...listening...and still learning...I reach out to them.  Soon I will become a Great-Grandmother to Josh and Megan's newborn scheduled to arrive in December.  My heart leaps...perhaps I shall take a step up in the wisdom realm of Life and become a truly Great Grandmother ...stepping up from the Good Grandmother and Fair Mother.  Is this what life is about I think?  Yes, I believe it is...it is learning and progressing in the Wisdom of Life scale....inching forward until it is time for the Grand Finale...the Departure.....death from this life...to enter on to a step up.....a spiritual Life...Life after Death....Life after our time of Life's lessons learned on this earth. 

 

I believe this is what the Angels have whispered to me in my thoughts....their wings hovering protectively around my shoulders...comforting me as I sit on the Lanai lost in my thoughts....lost in my prayers.  Each morning, I awaken and prepare my coffee and spend a few moments sipping hot coffee laced with creamer as I sit on the Lanai...watching the wildlife around me.  I feel their energy...in the song birds as they sweetly sing in the tree tops....their soul-song of Life.  Daisy Duck ...a beautiful Muscovy Duck has stayed behind from the flock who have moved on to another location.  Daisy visits me each morning awaiting her morning breakfast of seeds, cracked corn and generally a healthy dose of the remainder of the cat food that Sidney (a ferrel cat who has chosen to live in the woods by the side of my condo.)  I feed Sidney a warm mixture of warm water/dry cat food in a bowl that I place outside each morning by the Magnolia Tree which I have dubbed..."The Tree of LIfe". 

Once Sidney is finished he moves on to relax in the warm sun.  Daisy Duck finishes up the remainder of cat food and the morning stirs in contentment.  My Life is content as I love living in Florida.  I sit, on the Lanai...reflecting...and then I begin my morning prayers....prayers for great blessings for my children...my children's spouses and their extended family...I pray for the great blessings for my  grandchildren...and their spouses and family...and for My Great Grandchild to be.  I pray for protection for Josh...praying that the troops will come home soon...praying for an end to War....I pray for peace.  I pray for forgiveness...and I thank God for the blessings He has so richly bestowed upon me...Love....Love of my family...ahhhhh my life would be so senseless without them in it....  I ask for guidance...and I ask for blessings for my friends and their families....for Sterling and Nancy and their family.  And I pray for my loved ones who have gone before me...asking that God shine His love and mercy upon them and receive them into His Heaven.  At last my prayers wind down to an end and I sit back contented in the conversation that I have shared with my God above.  I feel my spirituality strengthened....as I whisper to St. Michael to protect Josh...I feel my body relax.  My morning has begun...sweet and joyful.

 

Yesterday I went over to Don and Lisa's to watch over Alec and Katie.  Katie was with her friends at Universal Studios having a great time.  So Alec and I went out to Yin Yin's for a delightful dinner...I listened as he told me about school...about asking a girl to a school dance in December...ahhh my 12-going-on-13 year old is feeling the first pangs of interest in the opposite sex.....I listen and smile and revel in his wisdom of things.  He is far more mature in his way of thinking than I was at 12-going-on 13.  He tells me his thoughts on Grandpa Tate who he loves dearly....he is pleased that Sterling and I and Sterling's Nancy are friends...ahhh yes...maturity beyond his years as he understands love...lost love...relationships of companionship....relationships of Life and Love.  I listen as he tells me how pleased he is that his parents are in love...that they are together...he tells me that 80% of marriages end in divorce...(I must confess, I am amazed at that percentage that he quotes...and make a mental note to check that out on the internet).  He then tells me how lucky he is to have his parents still married...because he loves them so much and he understands what divorce does to the kids....what it did to his Dad and his Mom.  I nod my head in assent...it is true I whisper in choked emotion.  It is true...and then I tell him how blessed he is to have all of his grandparents active in his life...those of us..even tho divorced...united in our love for our children...our grandchildren.  He smiles...totally understanding.  I look at his face...it is a mirror reflection of my own....he looks very much like me.  His eyes are his mother's...his face...a combination of his father's and mine...and somewhere along the line..this grandchild of mine whose hands and fingers match my hand and fingers perfectly...and his feet size the very same as mine...and he is as tall as me as well....we laugh over the statistics...and continue our meal.  We arrive home in time for Katie to come home from her day with her friends.  She is animated...alive and full of happiness....a delightful bubble of joy.  She cuddles up to me on the couch...wrapped in a blanket...while we chat and then watch a movie together.  It is our time...Alec has gone to his bedroom to play games on his computer.  Micah is talking on the phone to his friends...he is my 17-soon-to-be 18 year old grandson....he is planning a night out with his buddies.  I smile inside..remembering those warm nights crusing up and down the street with my girlfriends...sipping a malt...laughing and flirting with the boys.  Ahhhhh the life of a teen I think to myself.

 

Don and Lisa return home from their day at the football game at the stadium.  I present Don with his birthday gift...a GPS ...somehow I am convinced he will enjoy it.  Lets hope I am right.  His smile is huge...as he opens the box and looks at the screen.  It is a GPS portable car navigation system/MP3 Player that plays music.  I cannot tell whether he is most delighted at having the MP3 player portion of it...or the navigation tool....it doesn't matter...it seems he is pleased...therefore I am thrilled.  The night winds down and I drive home.....my mind satiated with a day of memories made....waiting another day when I can look back and remember this day.

 

Tis Life in Paradise with The Angels.