This time of year is always hard for me. The memories of my last days with my soul mate seem to weigh down my heart no matter how long it has been since he passed. The grief I feel with my youngest son so many miles away and not being able to see him this Christmas. The strange car I am driving that is not my wonderful Dragon Soul. My body, which used to be okay with nights, seems to be fighting me tooth and nail this time around. My smaller dog, Pepsi, is having some issues. She is in a lot of pain, especially when trying to climb up. The bonus I should be getting this week is already gone, spread between my car being fixed, my son's car and the future vet bills (which are a complete unknown). And now the loss of a dear friend and the retired minister of my church. He and his family were very important in the me that I have become, and to say goodbye, even though I know he has gone to Heaven, is still so hard.
I really don't mean for this to be such a depressing post. I have a lot to be thankful for. I do have my pets that I love dearly. I just had dinner with my mother and younger sister and it was wonderful. I do have this surprise bonus coming in to help me pay for these unexpected expenses and I actually have a lot of wonderful joy and love in my life. My older sister and her family are supposed to be coming to Athens for Christmas. And, hopefully, I will have a little bit of bonus left over to use for Christmas gifts for family and friends.
I really miss my work family, though I do get to see them when we change shifts and the night crew is also wonderful. I do have my older son and nephew and his wife living right down the road. As for Mr. B (the minister), he was a blessing in my life and I do know that he is in a better place. I actually wrote him a poem last night, after I found out that he was sick and before I found out he had passed. I will share that with you here. Actually, I'm terrible at poems, so it's more like a letter. I put it on top of one of my photos from Grand Tetons.
I also have some recent photos. The first photos are of my dogs and my mother's dog, Sable. Unfortunately, Pepsi is unable to play with Sable right now due to her issues. I took her over to my Mom's house tonight, but we had to keep them separated because he did not seem to understand that he was hurting her. Here are pictures of all three of them from before. Pepsi is the beagle mix, Moose is the black one and my mother's Sable is the collie.
I also took some photos of our Thanksgiving dinner. The table is one that was made by my Dad and brother many years ago for my parent's house. And the homemade rolls (the best part of dinner) were not on the table, so I added a separate picture of them.
Those rolls are making me hungry and I just ate not too long ago.
I know I still need to share the Yellowstone pictures from my trip and a few from other places I visited while on my trip. I also want to share some more of my stories, both fictional and non-fictional. I really should share the story of how I met my husband and other ones from my childhood. In the meantime, though, here are some photos I have taken recently with my phone. I hope you enjoy them.
Goodnight and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.