Christmas in the Mountains
Mood:  special
Topic: Other stuff
Christmas has come and gone in the mountains of West Virginia, and I must say, it's been a great season so far this year. With the new year looming in the not-so-distant future and Christmas morning a warm, happy memory, I think we're doing okay.

Between my parents and my husband and I, my little boy got just about everything on his list. At three years old, he didn't have much of a list, but it's still difficult to get what will make your child most happy on a limited budget. Through the generosity of my parents and grandmother, however, we were able to pull it off. The little one was happy as a clam, and I was just as happy to see his face and hear his reactions as he opened his gifts.

The food we had over the past couple of days was wonderful, as well. Two turkey dinners and a ham dinner later, I think I'm still so stuffed I don't want to move. It was all just so...yummy...I look forward to all the good food every year.

Yes, this is a sappy post. No, there's nothing here you can't find on countless other blogs. That's not what's important, though. What's important is that all of us that are posting our post-Christmas bliss are thankful for what we have. Some of us may not have much (like me), but by golly, we love what we've got. I'm so thankful to be able to share the holidays with family members that I love, to be able to laugh and smile and feel good about being a member of a great couple of families.

The only thing about the Christmas season that I missed this year is the presence of friends that are like family to my husband and I. Over the summer, they moved from "reasonably close" to "a little too far away". For nearly ten years now, my husband and I have done nearly everything with this other couple - we've gotten married together, had children together, spent time in each other's homes and done all the things that families do together. This year, for the first time in a long time, we were unable to be together (due to work schedules and such). I really missed that, and would give the world to be able to see them soon. It doesn't look like we'll be able to get together until the middle of January or February, though.

If that family is reading this, Merry Christmas, ya'll, we love you and miss you very much.

I got my copies - do you have yours?
Mood:  happy
Topic: Other stuff
I got my copies of Stories of Strength today, and I've already read over 60 pages! (Those who know me know that's the exception rather than the rule - I'm an unusually slow reader).

The book is beautiful, and the writing is twice as beautiful. I'm also glad that I got to be a part of something that could help so many more people than I could on my own.

So far, from what I've read, I'd give the antology five stars and two thumbs way up.

I got my copies - now, where's yours?

The search for old friends
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Other stuff
For the past couple of days, I've been doggedly searching for old friends who have scattered, lost in the eddies of time. I ran across one, a Navy man that I graduated from high school with. I *may* have stumbled upon another, a Canadian graphic artist that I corresponded with for many years. I don't know yet - a contact I found to (hopefully) get him a message hasn't responded yet.

It's just too easy to get disconnected these days. One minute, you're chatting along, and then you have to sign off for the night. A day goes by, then another, and before you know it, it's been a month, or even a year and you haven't heard from your friend, and you haven't given them a jingle, either. Friends are so hard to come by, you'd think we would spend our time keeping these relationships going instead of taking them for granted and letting them dissolve into the smoke of memory.

I've just spent the afternoon reading over a five-inch thick pile of correspondence from my Canadian graphic artist friend, remembering how it made me feel to get a new letter in the mail from him. He told me of his troubles, I told him mine; we laughed, cried, and supported one another in our quest to become "an artist" in one form or another. Do we let these things go because they're only temporary by design? I don't want to think that's the case. I'd like to think that life just interferes, and we can't stop it from doing so. "I'll do it tomorrow" is just too easy to say, and too easy to stretch into more than tomorrow.

I hope I get a message back from that contact. I'd really like to reconnect with him, see what he's up to, tell him about myself, become friends again. I miss that.