My cousin, Angela, told me that it wouldn't hit me for a couple of months.  I didn't know what she meant.  I know now.  I was so surprised at how "well" I was handling the death of my mom, my best friend.  God was carrying me.  He is still carrying me but I feel like little by little he is allowing the shock to wear off.  We've all heard that grief comes in waves.  It does.  It knocks you off of your feet and tosses you around.  It punches you in the gut.  I'm sobbing as I type these words.  I'm bent but I'm not broken.  Mom taught me too well for that.  She introduced me to Jesus and I will never be broken.  

We had a "nice" Mother's Day.  Rana had to work so ironically there were no "mothers" at our dinner.  I picked up chicken alfredo from Olive Garden and the rest of the family celebrated the day.   I didn't try to go to church.  It was just too hard.  

Daniel has been busy designing a new hot water heater.  

Papaw explained to him why his design would not work.  He helped him work on a different design.  

Scott is still in training to be a Lumberjack.  No tree is safe.  

Mask restrictions have been lifted for those vaccinated in our State so Deanna and I enjoyed a lunch date and a much needed hug.  You may remember Deanna from previous entries.  She and I met in the first grade and have been close ever since.  You know - 20 years ago.  (Ok, maybe longer).  

Deanna is now a breast cancer survivor and has reconstructive surgery this week.  I'm so thankful that God has healed her from cancer and we are ready to put this chapter behind.  It has been a tough year for everyone.  

I cleaned the screened porch this weekend.  This is something I dread every year.  I moved all of the furniture outside, swept, vacuumed and mopped up all of the pollen now that "yellow" season is over. Balto loves spending time on the porch.  

Blossom is still busy exploring in her wheels. 

I lost and found my credit card.  Daniel and I went to Target 9 days ago.  After pumping gas, I put my credit card in my back pocket instead of my wallet.  Several days passed and I realized it was not in my wallet.  I checked all of my pants pockets and couldn't for the life of me figure out where it was.  Long story short, I found my credit card today.  You will never, ever guess where....

I kid you not!  If you look close, you will see my credit card in the dryer vent outside!!!  Apparently, I washed it in my blue jeans and it went through the washing machine, dryer and out the dryer vent to the outside of the house.  How is that even possible???  It is even harder to believe that I even saw it this soon.  I just happened to be using the garden hose which is right under the vent.  I was standing there filling something up and looked right at it!  

Onward to a new work week.  Here's my only prediction:

Birthday Birthday Birthday Week

Daniel, Dad and Rana all had birthdays this week.  

Daniel turned 12

Dad turned 86

Rana turned....I better not say.   I'll just say that next year she will have a BIG milestone birthday.  

Scott is busy cutting down all of the cedar trees in our backyard.  It started with ONE tree that he wanted to cut down.  I'm pretty sure he is close to 30 by now.  

When Scott gets something on his mind, he goes all in.  Exhibit A:  He now has the uniform.  

Daniel wanted to help...

I am finding so much joy & comfort in wearing Mom's clothes.  For church today, I wore Mom's sweater, 2 rings, a purse and this pair of socks that I found in her drawer.  

Mom always had good taste in clothes.  It's easy for me to say that as there were many times that we showed up wearing the exact same outfit from the Eddie Bauer catalog.  I used to say that I didn't know what it said about me (or her) that I was wearing the same outfit as my 80 year old Mom.  I told a friend today that while my head knows that Mom isn't coming back, I'm sure that my heart still thinks she will be back soon.  There seems to be a part of me that just doesn't get it.  

Dad is dealing with some confusion.  While eating supper Friday night he asked me, "When we went to Monroe (Hospice), did we visit my mom or my wife?" I was so surprised.  I explained to him that it was his wife, MY mom.  I told him that his mom had died around 25 years ago.  He said, "She did?"  I explained some more and when I told him that we had the funeral at her church he asked, "Did I go?"  Dad seems to be fully aware 98% of the time.  Every now and then he will say something that doesn't make sense.  This time, it really floored me.  Once I filled him in on some more of the details, he remembered.  It was a very emotional thing to see him so confused.  This afternoon, he told me story after story about him and his siblings growing up.  I love hearing the stories so much.  

It's 10:00 on Sunday night and I feel like I didn't accomplish very much this weekend.  I need another day.  I'm almost certain that you feel that way too.  Here's to a productive week for all of us!