The Circle Game

On this chilly winter morning with a purring cat balanced on my shoulder I perused articles on my Facebook page. I smiled knowingly as I read this article written by a young Mother of boys and my own memories came flooding back. I did a bit of writing when my boys were little and once wrote an essay on what it was like being the Mother of boys. (I wish I could find it...) Of course not having daughters I had no real way of comparing, but I knew little boys were special.

Unlike the woman in the article who has three sons, I only had two but they kept me on my toes. They grew up running with their dog - peanut butter sandwiches in hand - up and down mountain trials with [at least one of them] falling into streams. 

One summer we planted a garden from seed and they ate peas out of pods and green beans standing in the dirt. Winters we learned to ski with [at least one of them] riding the ski patrol sled to the bottom of the hill and visiting the on site doctor...

We swam in lakes and played bat and ball in the front yard. I taught them crafts and watched them draw dinosaurs. They built lofty Lego space stations and flew Millennium Falcons thru the stars. 

They thought I was a super hero when I squished a scorpion with a TV Guide as it was slinking dangerously close to their feet. We loved our cats (there were so many) and we loved our dogs and we loved our mountains.

And soon life will come full circle as my son welcomes his own little boy or little girl into the world. 

"And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game."
[Joni Mitchell]

I Heart Summer Mornings

It was a very early morning walk (with my beloved Lensbaby 2.0 and telephoto adapter) in the park today.

Followed by a Ginger Pineapple Banana Smoothie.

I'm actually cutting up bananas to freeze for future smoothies, too.

It was quite yum but I think I will add more pineapple next time.

And go with vanilla yogurt rather than plain.

And then it was time to do a tour of my little garden (which means my potted flowers on my deck and the lilac bushes in the front yard).

I do love early summer mornings...

Just Go With It.

I promised myself I wouldn't whine about the snow again today.  It started snowing yesterday afternoon, continued thru the night and is still coming down at 9 am. And it's April 23.

That kind of sounded like whining, didn't it?  Ok, so my whining reminds me of a quote I read recently:

"I always wonder why birds stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on Earth. Then I ask myself the same question."
*Harun Yahya*

As much as I yearn to live near the big blue ocean 

and aspire to live that quote ~ and I do in my head ~ in real life it's not practical.  Gah.  I hate being practical. 

The mister and I have jobs, we have a home, we have four-legged people with fur, we have elderly parents ~ all of whom depend on us to be there when they need us.  We have responsibilities.

I'm the lucky one who can do what I do from anywhere in the country.  And although the mister can access clients from anywhere in the country, he also needs to be available to be on site physically when needed.

I am realizing that at almost 60 some of my dreams may have to remain just that ~ dreams.  My days of changing things in my life every three or four years are gone.  We know now that - providing we are fortunate to stay in good health - we have about 15+ years to work like hell and bank it.  We are the type of people who will never "retire" because we love what we do.  But someday it will be nice to slow the pace a bit; take a little more time off to spend near my beloved oceans.

So I had a bit of an epiphany this morning. The quote "Bloom where you are planted" is so cliche and a bit saccharin for my taste but it's kind of where I'm at.  

And I could be in worse places. Denver is a cool city

We are a short drive from the gorgeous mountains I moved here for 39 years ago

And at the end of my street I have space to wander 

I'm a two hour flight from the Pacific I love

So for the next few years we will feather our nest and make our home completely ours, exactly how we want it.  (Finally)

We will make a concerted effort to balance work and play more

And remember that life can change in a heartbeat.  And when you make plans, God laughs. And everything I just wrote could be irrelevant tomorrow.

See?  I still thrive on change.  Gah.

Big Sky Required.

I remarked to someone the other day that I could never live anywhere that doesn't have big sky.  Unless it has an ocean.  Then I could. But the two typically go hand in hand.  Big sky ~ big ocean. Now there's a combo I could live with. Someday...

But since I've spent the last 38.5 years in landlocked Colorado, I turn to the sky. And it rarely disappoints.

I am extremely claustrophobic, so knowing there is a vast amount of open space above my head is comforting to me. (Ask my husband how many times he has had to take the stairs because I can't step into a crowded elevator...)

So big sky suits me just fine. Sometimes the sky is so blue it hurts my eyes.

And we are approaching one of my favorite times of the year for sky-viewing ~ Thunderstorm Season!!

Sometimes I see things in the sky that others don't.  Like hearts.

And sometimes I surprise myself.

And then there are the crazy, stupid, incredible sunsets.

And don't even get me started on the sunrises...

You know the drill ~~ mornin' peeps. :)