A Surprise Visit

I woke up last Friday to the most wonderful surprise.  My first born came to see me.  She and a friend arrived at 2:30 in the morning and I did not know they were here until I got up.  We have had a wonderful visit.  We went out and took pictures one of the days she was here.  Here are some of my attempts at this photography thing.

My Photography

I have been taking classes to learn more about using my DSLR.  The instructor is very good.  I am hoping to take more classes.  One I am especially looking forward to is the Milky Way class.  We will go out east where it is very dark and shoot the stars.  Hopefully there will be some good pictures to share.  In the meantime, here are a few of my pictures.

My Sister

My 2 sisters.

As most know I lost my middle sister in May of 2013.  She was exactly 4 years to the day older than me, so she died way too young.  We grew up very close and were close as adults.  She never married so my children were like hers.  Our family stayed close because we wanted to and it was also important to be close so she was not as lonely as she could have been.    She and I have an older sister.  She left home to go to college when I was only 5, then married when I was 6.  I always looked up to her, even had her up on a pedestal.  Over the years it was sometimes hard because I never felt like she cared much for me.  That was obviously not the case at all, but just my own insecurity.  This blog post is to somehow honor the great sister I have and have had for all my life.

As a young girl with Mother.

Adventure Saturday

We have heard about Mount Herman Road since we moved to Colorado.  The mountain closest to Monument is Mount Herman.

The Elephant in the Room

Grief can be such a big elephant in the room.   There is an expiration date on grief, or is there?  I say there should not be.  But society does.  I should be over the death of my beloved sister.  I can not be yet.  I long for more days with her.  I long to tell her I love my big sissy one more time, I want to tell her things or ask her advise which I did often, I want to have another holiday with her...  And that is just my sister.  My mother is gone!  My mother who was always there for me in one way or another.  I want to tell her she was a great mother one more time, celebrate her amazing number of birthdays one more time, hear her sing something one more time, kiss her sweet cheek one more time...  It seems like the days need to get easier and they just have not yet.  So I am embracing this grief over losing my sister , then my mother.  How else will I move on?  So, on this father's day that my own wonderful father must be enjoying, I celebrate those three most important people of my life, gone from my sight, but not from my memory or from me, I know you all are with me, there is still this hole in my heart where you once were.  Enjoy heaven and each other!

I love you!!!

Learning

I am in the midst of learning, right now.  Since moving to Colorado, we have been attending a wonderful church.  Each Sunday I learn something new, about me , about God, and even about my mother.  The pastors are great, but not because they are highly educated and notable speakers, but real men with a real love for God!  The church meets in a basketball gym, so it is not the "church".  The people are just like me.  They all want to be there and it shows!  So, last week I was trying to figure out why I can be unapproachable sometimes.  I am not exactly a lovable cuddly person.  Why???  I could ask God, why and wait for the answer and in the meantime try to figure it out, but the answer I got was why figure it out, embrace life however uncomfortable it is and REJOICE!  What a relief.  I don't want to figure that out.  Has it been easy...NO, but it is a work in progress.  I am a work in progress even at my age.  So many times things seem to be going wrong and that is the time to REJOICE!  There is much to be thankful for and to rejoice over.  I think my mother must have had her version of this.  The love of her life, my dad, died when she was so young.  She had to have a way to survive that grief.  In her grief, she rejoiced.  That is one lesson.

A Great Visit/ Adventure Sunday

We were blessed with a great visit from our youngest daughter and her husband this weekend.  So good just to hug her and get time with her and it was even better because we went up in the mountains together.  We actually waded in some really cold water on the Platte river.