Gotta have my Zote soap

Do you know about Zote soap? I have a bad case of "restless leg syndrome". Supposedly this helps. Yes. You just put the bar between your sheets. (Please, stop laughing. ;-)) I am sleeping better than ever. No more Tylenol PM. Nada... Look for Zote soap where you buy detergent. A physical therapist friend says that any bar of soap will work, but for me... Zote. Who cares if it's only in my mind? I'm sleeping better than ever.

Ramblings and magic

Opportunity! It's all about opportunity. "It 'tis", as my mother-in-law used to say. Today we might quickly want to say it's about making lemonade out of lemons. Well, however, you want to look at it... God has placed a challenge in front of us and we can choose to do with it as we wish. I think it's a game with Him. "Will she or won't she seize the day?" Soon after my parents both passed away (June and October, 2008) I kept seeing opportunities and "magic"... I guess I was on a "high", wanting to be positive about things. I must have worked very, very hard at not feeling sad. It did get me through what could have been devastating times. Both parents gone within a very short period of time. Anchors gone, feeling adrift, being in a dark hole... all feelings that I had experienced before and NEVER wanted to experience again. So I looked for the magic in the day. It was always there. Even dividing my parents' prized possessions (antiques, special purchases from all of the countries they had lived in, books, memoirs...) between allof us kids was like magic. My brothers and I reminisced about our parents. I am the eldest so it was fun recalling old stories to a brother seven years younger and another brother fifteen years younger. So many stories they had never heard. My sister had her own way of dealing with things... she went to work or stayed in her bedroom. (She lived with my parents.) It was fun in a way. My parents were such romantics. Occasionally we would find a note that they had written to each other. Lovers until the end. What a glorious gift they had given us. The magic of sharing, the magic of giving, the magic of love was all around. (How sad my sister missed out on a great deal of this.) I need to get back to unpacking my boxes from my parents' home. Inside is the magic. It's the opportunity to enjoy the magic. Okay... no fussing... here goes....

To my mother

Tomorrow my mother will spend her first Mother's Day in heaven. If I know my mother, she is organizing a delightful dinner for other mothers who have made the ultimate journey. Always thinking about how she could help others or just make someone's day a little better, she has had the dinner organized for some time. We always joked that if we told our mother we were coming for a visit, within a few short minutes she could have menus planned for a full weekend. She always said that the best sound she could hear were the voices of all her children under one roof. I know exactly what she means. That would be a symphony for me, Mother. Like most of us in the family, my children are spread out here and yon. I will miss you tomorrow a little more than other days, but everyday I pray prayers of thanks that you are still my mother that you and Daddy are together. Happy Mother's Day, Mother.

Happy Mother's Day, Mother

Thank you, Laura!