Goodbye 2009

One final quick little post for the old year. It's New Years Eve 2009 at 3:06 pm in the afternoon. It's time to let the year going out know that I'm thankful for it because it brought me many good things and experiences but at the same time, I'm really not sad to see it go because I'm ready to move on to the new year and a new decade.

Today it is very cold here. I usually go to the Sinclair gas station around the corner for a drink. I usually walk in and fix it and pay for it myself but today I went to the drive-up window and asked for a large hot chocolate just so I could stand to be in the car long enough to run my errands. It's 7 degrees here and everything is frosty white with frozen ice crystals.

Our Christmas was great. So much family fun and it went so fast that it's hard to realize that it even happened. Clay came on Dec. 20 and left on the 27th. Rachel, Howard and Ashlynn arrived on the 23rd and left on the 30th. Each of them stayed in our new/old house in Delta and loved it there. It was like a vacation cottage on the beach but without the beach. When Rachel left, she clung to us and cried - - partly because she loved being "home" again. "Home" is wherever mom and dad are. . . and partly because she was very much plagued with morning/noon/night sickness and was dreading the two-day drive back to Washington. Once she was out of our house and into the car however, she did fine.

Clay left on Sunday morning two days after Christmas. As we dropped him at the airport to return to Pensacola he grabbed me tight and said, "I love you mama!" Tears stang (not a word but oh well) my eyes. He and I had a great time the three days we were in Delta. As we were leaving Delta on the 23rd to go to Salt Lake for the remainder of the week's celebrations we said, "That was a nice week!" Even though we still had 4 days to go we knew our private together time was over and that the rest of the week would fly. It did! It seemed like it was only 10 minutes from that moment until he left us 4 days later.

There were lots of mom joys for me in that week like watching two little grandaughters get reacquainted and play together sometimes not so well but most of the time great. Seeing Avatar with Dean and Clay, spending Christmas Eve with my extended family and Christmas Day at Eric and Jen's house. Jen is the most amazing Christmas Hostess. I don't know how she did all she did for us and just 6 weeks after having a baby/c-section. Amazing! Rachel and Clay sang a song at our Christmas Eve family home evening called "Joseph's Lullabye" for my extended family accompanied by me and Rachel also played the Clarinet for part of it. It was a proud mom moment for me as well. They didn't get to practice it before they sang it and so it wasn't perfect but it was still so pretty. They used to sing together all the time when they were younger. It was fun to hear them do it again as adults. The song they sang is below on my music blog. Click below on the song by "Mercy Me" called "Joseph's Lullabye."

There were lots of pictures taken but they are on Dean's camera so as usual I don't have them for this blog. Oh well. Here are a few pictures I took today of me and of how it looks in Delta on New Years Eve.

My new year holds many unknowns for me. I hope to be thinner some time soon. I hope to walk better by this time next year but the only way that will happen is for me to have a new knee and possibly a new hip. Oh what the hay. I might as well become bionic and put in for new shoulders too since they also hurt. So we'll see. I'm not ready yet but I know the day is coming.

Happy New Year everyone.