I am so fortunate....

My life is good.

I have friends, angels, blessings....

There is a woman, who I learned about thru an email, who has twin girls. One of them has developed an aggressive form of cancer. I try to pray for her and her family thru out the day. Each time I think of her and the amount of information that is being thrown at her every waking hour.......I feel so sad.

She is young, well at least younger than me..

She and her family believe that prayer will sustain them. I do too.

I am so blessed to have people in my life, today that quietly, constantly believe........really believe.......in universal good, in faith, in trust, in karma, in synchronicity, in love, in truth. No particular religion, only in the power of love and faith.....

How blessed am I?

Old Friends.....

Can sometimes be the the best friends....
and sometimes,
they are like relatives.

Today I am having lunch with my friend, Cheri.
We have known each other for over 45 years.
We have been best friend for most of those years.

Now we are like sisters.
She is older than me, so she thinks she knows what's best.
I have seen more of this world, so I worry about her.

There is a strong bond.....
that sometimes sustains,
and sometimes strains......

We live about 45 minutes from each other now.
When we were growing up, we lived less than 100 yards from each other.
We saw each other, everyday. Now, we see each other about once a month.

We have traveled very different paths, but parallel in many ways.
We love and respect each other.
But we can be each others harshest critics.......

I worry more about her than I do my own child.
Mainly, because I know he has more common sense.
She lacks perspective on reality.

I am always emotionally exhausted when I have spent the day with Cheri,
and in some ways I am also renewed.
I am always grateful.

Two Children....

It is fascinating to me that two children,
brought up in the same family can be so different. My brother and I were brought up by the same college-educated, married conventional, conservative parents.
And we are so different from each other....
We see the world in a totally different way.

Of course,
there is the stuff that happened after we left the nest.
I went out to see the world.
And he went out to see the world.....
I chose an airline, and he chose a branch of the military.
I served people with too much money.....
He served people with many freedoms, and no awareness of them....
I had fun,
he didn't ....
I am the better for my experience.
And he would say that he is too.
Still sometimes...I hear a pessimism in his voice that is difficult for an older sister, that worries, to hear...and to tolerate.
I have been told, by people that love me, that I take things a little too seriously.
I think that they are probably right.
However, I am particularly sensitive to my loved one's mental health. I have seen someone sink into the depths of sickness before. It is not pretty.
I love my brother. He loves me.
He has seen things that I hope to never see.
I wonder if love is always enough?

One Hail of a day....

It hailed yesterday,
started off slow, and then all of a sudden, it let loose.....
It came down so hard, it knocked branches and leaves off all of the trees....
Golf ball sized pellets, and the air became much cooler...
The pellets that sat on the hot pavement out front started to steam..... and the steam filled the air with water vapor.
It was a surreal scene.....
I wish that I had the presence of mind to video the whole episode rather than expecting the photos to do the trick.
The noise was deafening.
The whole atmosphere was back to hot, humid normal within minutes.
Strange weather...