Home is where....

anywhere I find those....

whom I love...

who love me...

who desire my presence..

who enjoy the event as much as I do...

who will eat my food...

who will stay to watch bowl games...

who realize the value of family...

who are willing to share...

who understand that we all have weaknesses....

who desire a better world...

who are willing to work for it...

those who see the glass nearly full...

the many who accept me as I am...

who find that life really is

a bowl of cherries...

and that we are all a barrel of monkeys...

who will laugh at my jokes..

and not make me the butt of one...

Family can come in so many disguises....

it can be the lonely neighbor..

the couple that has no children and

actually enjoy the chaos that accompanies

young adults...

the single guy who has family very far away...

the single girl who has lost her dad this year...

the couple with a toddler, who need a break...

the also, young couple with two beautiful girls that light up the room...

the middle aged man who is beginning to learn to care for himself...

the new grandmother who is learning to set boundaries..

the couple who is so relived that he has a new job...

the man and wife who have lost everything this year and still smile....

the retiree that longs for the company of her children..

the independent woman, who has put everything into her work and her dogs...

All of these people

are my family..

and yet,

I am actually related by blood

to none of them...

I am so grateful to see the miracles that are happening all around me.

My wish is that everyone sees a miracle before year's end...

Go out and look for it...

It is there, I promise...

Really...

smiles.

BA love...

Funny.

I can't remember what I did yesterday,

but I remember a time when I wore

two of these uniforms...

the striped one...

and the beautiful one after it...

I loved every minute.

smiles.

Out of the fog...

My life is so good...

sometimes, when I am very still...

quiet to the point of hearing my breath...

and feeling my heartbeat...

I simply cannot fathom

the immense goodness found in this world.

I know this is not necessarily a popular point of view...

it seems that pessism is a much more accepted outlook.

But

in my life...

I feel so blessed.

As with most impressions,

details are not particularly important.

But, let's just say that

the last couple of days have bought

a revelation...

a release...

and finally,

a renewal.

My experience has been that sometimes

we don't even know how bogged down we are until

we stick our heads out the window and

check out the scenery.

Once we know that there is a

different, freer, more beautiful option...

well,

taying "mucked up" in the

well.....

muck

is just not an option any longer.

So...

like the feeling you have when

 you are on board an aircraft...

ready for takeoff....

waiting for the fog to lift...

just a bit..

and then it happens...

you are speeding down the runway

faster and faster until

the nose of the aircraft lifts...

and soon you are up...

and momentarily...

you break the cloud layer.

Breaking out of the cloud layer

that's it.

That is what has happened to me.

New challenges..

New outlook...

New purpose...

New freedom...

Blessed...

that's what I am.

smiles.

Observations....

So many bloggers inspire me...

So....

when the whole weekend turned into "pea-soup"

Fog like we have not seen around here for some time.....

I decided to embrace it.

I took a clue from the week of lovely photos from

Mary's blog In a Soft Light

She has been embracing the fog for sometime...

I suspect.

So...

as much as I tend to be claustrophobic,

and want to pout on foggy days...

I headed out, into the cold,

and shot lots of images.

It is good for the soul.

On another note...

while I was out,

I happened to notice

this...

He or she was taking a nap on the "electrical box"

way out at the back of the property....

Must have been warm..

humming away...

or maybe

it sounded like a

mother's purr.....

smiles.