Am I, now, an annual blogger?

It's December 1st and I haven't written a thing since last Christmas. I'm wondering if my blogging days are done. We are all still plugging along. Katie, David and kids are doing well. Kids are attending Chief Charlo, David's at the UM and Katie is working full time.

Sarah is still in VA. We visited her in July and it was wonderful. She's dating Edd from the UK and they are wonderful. They are coming home for Christmas and I can not wait for them to get here.

Allison is still at Rhithron and living in her little apartment and doing very well. Her health is fairly good with intermittent flairups.

Brittney had some employment hits but took it in stride and is now the scheduling supervisor at Home Instead. Full time and salaried. She's a big girl now. She and Marcus are still in their crazy apartment downtown but are looking for something bigger. Brittney inherited 5 chickens from a previous tenant and is over the moon for them.

Thom continues at River Wok and I at Home Instead. Winky's a nut. All is as well as can be expected and we miss Alex every minute of every day.

NYE 2013

Another year come and gone. Lots of changes in this year.

Our trip to H.K. in March.
Allison and Brittney both moving out and into their own apartments.
The kids giving me a new little puggy named Winky, for my birthday.
Finally making the decision to move on from the River Wok and take a job with Home Instead Senior Care.
And last but not least, the completion of Alex's headstone.

Lots of changes this year.

This is Winky

The day we got back from Hong Kong the kids came over to help me celebrate my belated birthday. Katie says "hold out your hands" and plops this wiggling little critter into my arms. I immediately named her Winky and she has captured my heart. 

Hong Kong

Winston

There was a family who lost their son, who they loved so much. One day, a little dog came into their lives. He came quickly and a little timidly. But he soon was bounding around the house and curling up next to his people and sleeping in their beds. Every day he led the lady outside to walk in the park. Without him, she might have stayed inside all day, never seeing the sky and stars and the seasons change. He made her laugh and he loved her back to life. He opened the man's heart and that was a hard thing to do. The little dog stayed just a short while. Then he got sick and had to leave this life. He ran quickly to the boy and they now play together and the little dog curls up next to him to sleep. He told the boy that his family is ok and they'll come to be with him when its time. The family miss the boy and the little dog but there is a special comfort in knowing they are together.

I should write something...

It's July. It's been nearly one year. It's hard to believe. Things have been happening. I've been going to the monthly grief support group. It's not a club I ever wanted to join, but it's helpful in it's own way. I've learned how lucky we've been. So many of the ladies have so much baggage in association with their chilren's deaths. Litigation, grandchildren they can no longer see, guilt for a son's suicide...etc. We have only the loss of Alex and ourselves to worry about. That's enough for anyone.

Thom and I have been working with Garden City Monument to design Alex's stone. It will be lovely, when it's done. I'm hoping it will be mounted by his birthday.

On July 3rd I went to Hamilton to the Daly Mansion and saw the oak tree that was dedicated to Alex. How wonderful of them to do that for us.

In March I applied for the Humanities Montana Speakers Bureau. In June I found out that I'd been accepted. Now I have the task of putting together a one hour program of Sarah Woody's life. I'm very excited by this new development. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time.

Alex's garden is coming along nicely. There's a baby twisted locust tree, a sumac, bamboo, poppies and peonies and other sundry plant matter. The ornamental grasses I planted last fall didn't come back so I'll be replacing them soon.

I've decided to get a tattoo. It'll be on my left inner forearam; Alex's signature and a small panda. I have every intention to do that this summer.

That might be all for now. It's hard to concentrate to write but I wanted to catch up a bit. Hopefully I'll feel like writing again soon. Time will tel.

A Different Kind of Holiday Season

My holiday invitations are starting to roll in. They aren't the kind I'm used to. I'm invited to a grieving mother's support group brunch. I'm invited to a candle lighting ceremony at Garden City Funeral Home. I plan to attend them both. But these aren't the festive gatherings I usually go to. We have a tree up, in fact we have two Alex's panda tree is so cute at 4 feet tall with colored lights and filling up with ornaments. Our family tree is a new 7.5 ft artificial tree. It looks very nice and was a snap to put up. It adds a bit of cheer to our house. I've put the Santa collection up too. I don't know if I'll do any more. I have my snowman colleciton and my nativities too. Not sure if I'll get around to putting them out. We'll just wait and see. As with every other day, I'm just taking things as they come. One day at a time.