Green Smiley Sunday
I probably will forget, or be to lazy to write tomorrow. It is snowing and blowing outside so I am not going very far away from the fire. My toes are toasty warm. I was going to attend a Buddhist service with our friends but am wimping out!
I am in a thoughtful mood. Not elated but not in the depths of despair either. I feel sad for those who have to brave the cold. We live near a homeless shelter and we see people, mostly men who don't like to sleep inside. I hope they are in today.
I am thankful that I have a warm, safe home - with a real fireplace. They are quickly becoming a thing of the past.
I am thankful for my friends. Last evening we went out for appies and beer with good friends. We live nearby and in walking distance to a pub that has 10 cent wings on Wednesdays and Saturdays! It was a beautiful wintery evening - no wind and the snow on the branches glistened (it has blown off now). As we were walking home, Leslie said "I know that December 1 is fast approaching (Lisa's 4th Angel Day). I know how hard it is. Last year you came over. I would love to spend it with you again. If you would rather not, I understand. It is up to you. It is your call.". I immediately teared up. I think I will spend it with them. We laugh, we cry and it is just fine. For a woman who has never had children, she is amazingly understanding and empathetic. I think Lisa must have sent her in to our lives. I am sorry that Lisa never got to meet her and her significant other, Jack.
Lisa: Thank you for good friends. I miss you always and love you forever, Mum
I am in a thoughtful mood. Not elated but not in the depths of despair either. I feel sad for those who have to brave the cold. We live near a homeless shelter and we see people, mostly men who don't like to sleep inside. I hope they are in today.
I am thankful that I have a warm, safe home - with a real fireplace. They are quickly becoming a thing of the past.
I am thankful for my friends. Last evening we went out for appies and beer with good friends. We live nearby and in walking distance to a pub that has 10 cent wings on Wednesdays and Saturdays! It was a beautiful wintery evening - no wind and the snow on the branches glistened (it has blown off now). As we were walking home, Leslie said "I know that December 1 is fast approaching (Lisa's 4th Angel Day). I know how hard it is. Last year you came over. I would love to spend it with you again. If you would rather not, I understand. It is up to you. It is your call.". I immediately teared up. I think I will spend it with them. We laugh, we cry and it is just fine. For a woman who has never had children, she is amazingly understanding and empathetic. I think Lisa must have sent her in to our lives. I am sorry that Lisa never got to meet her and her significant other, Jack.
Lisa: Thank you for good friends. I miss you always and love you forever, Mum
Replies
It\'s a huge blessing to have a friend like that so close! Can\'t imagine snow already but sounds beautiful. Hugs and love to you and your beautiful Lisa this morning! Love you Marlene!
How touching to have friend like this! No pressure, there for you if you would like her to be and no hurt feelings if you choose not to be with her.
By the way it\'s 76 here in FLA now but it\'s warming up. Windows open with beautiful sunshine streaming in. I\'d love to see some snow!
Love and hugs Lisa & her sweet mum,
Debbie
I\'m glad that you have such good friends to lighten the load, Marlene. I bet Lisa knows all about Leslie and Jack, as she is with God and they know so much more than us! She\'ll get the chance to meet them \"\'one day\" because they are special to you, they are special to Lisa!
Some people CAN come very close to \"getting it\" without having \"been there\"--like Leslie. She seems like a very kind woman--something even more rare these days...than real fireplaces I think! Love, Donna
You have such wonderful supportive friends because you are such a wonderful person Marlene.
A burning fire in a fireplace is so soothing and homey. We have a fireplace and absolutely love it, though this year we haven\'t had a fire as yet. It hasn\'t been cold in ARkansas yet.
Enjoy the comfy time.
Terry
What a \'comfy\' update. I have a real fireplace but have not used it since the death of my husband. Central heat is as easy as turning on a light switch but I miss the together times my husband and I enjoyed with the fireplace. Thanks to some careful investments, and seeing the \'faithful\' for the greed centric people they in truth are, I am making needed headway on my retirement savings. It is still scary to have been given eleven years of death from having beliefs which were not able to prove themselves real but I am thankful to be alive with the truth I discovered from the harm inflicted by those people I trusted with my life. I kept wealth protected enough to have a life remaining to hang on to. No more of the fantasy land I once lived in where they \'faithful\' only had their truth to share with me -- and to think I actually thought of them as if blood family. Looking back I shudder at how mentally ill I was in my \'beliefs\' that only had the reality of death to give when I could least survive the harm of it all. A lot of people never survive the painful transition required to arrive at the place of truth that is needed to achieve a life when faced with overwhelming crisis of health related issues -- perhaps many of those homeless people you see near your home may be among the casualties from having been ill when crisis entered their lives causing them to be stripped of what little they had left to them. Countless people have attempted to strip my life of what worth I had when my husband died when I was too ill to even get myself to the final chemotherapy session. That was a wake up call I had no way to prepare for or even survive very well. I faced reality fully just in enough time to save what remains of our assets when death was my reward for holding tight to blind faith.
I\'m resting in bed with my laptop coping alone with illness in my home but I am so, SO much better off than the harm those people I trusted put me through all of those many years. My most recent investment is earning 5.86% APR and it allows me to appreciate my survival along with how amazed I am at what it has taken to force me to face our collective truth. I\'m just glad I was willing to face the horrors before landing in our local homeless shelter or dead from too much crisis to cope with. People still try to grab what assets I have here -- but they just do not realize what I have had to endure to have any life left to me at all and lessons given to me have been very well learned. Coping with severe disability is not easy to manage even under the very best of circumstances but once reality is embraced fully there is at least the opportunity to hold on to what remains of life.
It is a \'cozy\' day of thanksgiving and a time of gentle healing.
((hugs)) shared.
I have learned so much about life and survival from our shared journals -- it has been lifesaving.
So happy you have Leslie to rely on. It is such a blessing to have friends who care. Continued warmth and please keep the snow up in Canada. I don\'t want any in my neck of the woods. HA HA Love, Kathy
we dread the day before it comes, and then to get through it is sooo hard! So I\'m glad you have a good friend to spend this day with. I, too, am coming up to the 4th anniversary in March. I\'m a very different person than I used to be and I need to find more fun in my life, and am hopeful that I\'ll do this. Love you, Abby
I am so touched by this journal Marlene. Thank you for sharing your smile!
Yes, thank goodness for good friends!
Love you!
Love to Lisa!
It sounds like you are experience winter wonderland there in Canada. I can\'t believe the Holiday\'s are here.. So glad you have a friend you can spend time with and talk to about anything. Lisa is with you and taking care of You Marlene. sending you my love and a long heart to heart hugs, XO Kelly
\"people come into our lives for a reason\" from \"Wicked\" I agree.... love ya and stay toasty warm...
Loved this journal!! I can just picture you, snuggled up on the couch, with those toes pointed towards the fire place.
Friends are one of our greatest blessings. So glad you have yours, to share Lisa\'s 4th Angel day.
Enjoy the beautiful snow Marlene. I live in Mississippi and it is still short sleeve weather here :)
((((HUGS))))....Julia
I love you Marlene! I hate hearing the \"S\" word though (snow). It is a pain in the ass for me, LOL, as I have no control over the heat in my basement apartment and it is an even bigger pain to drive to work in it early in the morning or late at night . Brings misery for me, LOL. Maybe some day for me, right? Enjoy your friends, I am so happy you have an understanding one. My 58th b/d is on November 9th and then Michael\'s 5th Angel Date on the 22nd...Hard month for me with Thanksgiving coming up as well and then Christmas. But i have to work and it helps me. Love you so much and hope to make it to Tahoe to see you again!
Peace.
As has already been said, Lisa is definitely with you. I hope you feel her love while cosy in front of the fireplace! XO Sharon
What a sweet friend. If you don\'t have any plans then I think it\'s a great idea to spend the angel day together. She sounds as if she truly feels your pain too. I remember my dear friend calling me one afternoon. She asked me what I was doing and I replied \"just crying\". She then asked if she could come over and cry with me. Often that\'s the best kind of a friend...one who will just be there to cry with us and just be there. I too am thankful for a warm safe home. Thank you for the reminder of being grateful because we do have much. Love to you. Robin
How wonderful to have such a special friend. Sue xo