A Week of Downs and Ups

Last week felt like a roller coaster ride. Monday started off with the horrible news that a longtime friend had suddenly passed away.  I had know Tim for almost 30 years, and practically everyone around Hilliard knew and adored him as well - all of us "old Hilliard" people certainly did.  Sadly, he leaves behind a wife and 10 year old son.

Kym, Tim and Cameron

One of the sweetest things was during the funeral procession - some of the homes on his mail route had signs on their mailboxes and there were a few little old ladies standing out to say a last farewell.  He was buried on their 16th wedding anniversary.

Another emotional ride was seeing my friend Jenny.  She has cancer and our Senior Choir classmates from school arranged for the current Sr. Choir members to come over and sing The Lord Bless You and Keep You to Jenny.  This was the song we sang anytime a member or alum needed prayer and support.  It was wonderful to see all the choir members and Mr. Brenneman and Mrs. Bundy came also.   The news came too and took some footage!  Please keep Jenny in your prayers!



This, coupled with other things that have made my last couple weeks very emotional, created a lot of stress.
Luckily, we had our annual couples' Hocking Hills trip planned and it was the perfect get away - lots of good food, great drinks and being able to hang and talk with the best of the best of friends.  And we actually had a beautiful, sunny weekend!

My husband picked some flowers for me, we got to go on a (kinda muddy) hike to the waterfalls - it was lovely and very theraputic.
We came home on Sunday to more great weather, a soccer game for Ella and some outside playtime.

Ella plays in the All Star soccer game this week and Friday is Si's last day of preschool!  He's on to Kindergarten next year (sniff, sniff!).

Is the basket half full or half empty?

...it depends on the day, the hour, the moment....the camera angle.
This week has seemingly sucked. Taxes, work stress, taxes....cranky kids...rain, rain, taxes...
But I think back to April 15, 2008 and know that the next day - April 16, 2008 - sh*t would hit the fan. Margie's surgery and cancer diagnosis. And it's still enough to deliver a kick to the gut 364 days later.
But there is still MOST of me that says "yeah, but..." I have had 363 days that have made me realize the total, full blessings of life, the understanding that we are all going to deal with tough stuff eventually and we can do our best or hide under a rock.

I usually don't care for "yeah, but" kind of folks...because being the YEAH BUT Optimist, I have to work hard not to get knocked down by the YEAH BUT Pessimists.

So I know the angle makes the basket look half empty. But I know better.