Water...

seeks its own level. 

Roses in Winter...

Just sharing a couple of photos

 of roses my sweetheart gave me recently:  A bouquet of deep red roses and carnations for our anniversary this past October, of which I am sharing a photo of one particular rose that had just opened up.

And a bouquet of pink roses for my birthday in November.  He also purchased a portable light box for me with lights included for my product photo-taking efforts and dinner at my favorite restaurant, which is also his favorite restaurant.

We have had a very good year together, and I am happy to report that he passed his 3-month follow-up checkup with flying colors.  His physician was all smiles.  A wonderful blessing.

I am very happy to report that I have kept the commitment I made to myself just about 3 years ago in support of my well-being, and every day it proves even more to have been the right decision.  I have been firm and strong in this, and I am proud of myself for it, thankful for it, and for every day that gets better as a result.  

Kickin' It On Saturday

My Darling is Recovering

The Guy is feeling better each day following his surgery.  He gets worn out by afternoon, but the pain has subsided a lot and the incisions are not even scabs any more.  We continue to be very grateful and joyful about his outcome.  Our bond is deeper as well, having gone through the not knowing, then the knowing, then the surgery, and now the great results and the recovery together.  And he has the best attitude of anyone I have ever known.  I am really blessed to be with someone who looks for the best in his experiences.  A lot of people out there act like they have good outlooks, faith, etc, but if you talk to them for 2 minutes, you know they are full of crap and do not practice what they say in any way.  Well, The Guy does practice what he believes, and that is so rare in today's world.

The big outing today was to go to the local Dollar Tree.  I needed onion powder, which they strangely did not have in stock today.  But that is okay, because they had packs of Wyler's Blueberry Lemonade drink mix that I can't wait to try, and I purchased some Wise Cheese Doodles in Jalapeno and Cheddar, my favorite combo.  I realize they probably are not that different from other puffed cheese balls on the market, but they are the original Cheese Doodles, which were made famous by the character Norm on the old television series, Cheers.  And this is the first time I have seen any products from Wise at a Dollar Tree in the Upper Midwest.  

I also splurged and purchased 5 books because they all looked so good.  I mostly find mysteries at Dollar Tree, and I have not been much of a mystery buff before, but I purchased two one day and really enjoyed both of them, so today I splurged.  I will get hours and hours of cheap entertainment, and I won't incur any late fees at the library.  Bonus.

Speaking of books, I am making good progress on my own book that I am writing.  Starting it out was not the most comfortable, but beginnings tend to be tough in most things.  Once I got over the beginning bumps, the process came along more easily.  It has been quite fun at times, and sometimes it is quite a purging experience.  It's a lot to say about many things that have happened.  It's the truth.

Wishing everyone a great remainder of your weekend.

Happy. Grateful. Relieved.

In this world, we are hammered from every side with bad news all day long.  But on Friday, my Sweetheart and I were treated to some:

He is in the clear!  The surgery was successful!  It was so stunning to hear the news that I could not even react at all for about 1/2 hour afterward.  I was silent and dazed like a deer caught in headlights.  Then I cried for a long time, could not seem to stop -- all the emotions came out.  It was a great day, and he is so happy and relieved.  He was so strong through it all, and I knew he was worried deep down, but now he has this great result and grins from ear to ear.

This illustration (not my art) depicts our feelings about this and about each other through this:

We are older than this and look it, but this pretty much conveys the feelings and actions taking place this past Friday.  Feeling very blessed, fortunate, and grateful.

The Rocky Life

There are a couple of proverbs or adages I recall that could definitely apply to this time in my life.  One is that the Chinese word for "crisis" also means "opportunity."  The other is "may you live in interesting times."  I am not sure whether the second one was intended to be positive or threatening, but my times lately have certainly been interesting, and I would love to see crises transform to opportunities (which I believe they will do).

My firm decision during this time is to smile during the storm and thrill to the lightning and thunder.  One aspect of my life that makes it easy to smile and easy to keep going, keep working, keep accomplishing, and keep conquering in life is that of being in love.  I am very fortunate to have a Sweetheart who not only supports me in the rocky moments, but has real experience in so many of the challenges with which I currently deal.  I am grateful for someone who actually knows what he is talking about because he has been there already, and he has a few years of wisdom on me.  I am also grateful that I am able to be a good comfort and support to him as he is going through his own real trial right now.  We both decided that our outlook matters a lot to our lives, and we want to enjoy whatever we go through as long as we are together.

I love the following quote from Chinese philospher Lao Tsu:

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."

That quote on love absolutely defines real love as I have experienced it in my life.  This week my Sweetheart will be facing some huge challenges, and I will be there for him to give him moral support, to aid him, to work with energies on his behalf, to sing to him (he loves when I sing to him).  He has seen me through some very tough times, taught me so many things that have made my life better in so many ways.  I welcome the chance to give back to him in this way.

I am beyond fortunate, beyond blessed.  I wish the same for those of you who strive to be true in your hearts, who strive to love others and treat people with respect, who guard yourselves against people who mean you no good.  Love is open and giving, but Love is also wise and protective.  Real love does not waste its time on allowing a bunch of constant irresponsible messiness to muck up its mission. 

A New Year Is Underway

What will this year mean to you?

I hope it means a time of building for you, building your dreams, making them realities, learning new things, enjoying relationships with good people who care about you.

I hope every day brings you some opportunity, however big or small, to make something better in your life, your home, your work, or your environment.  I hope you take those opportunities.

I have been enjoying a good year so far -- opening to dreams, making productive changes in business and life, and learning -- always learning.

I have continued keeping my resolution that I made at the end of 2015, and it continues to benefit my life daily.  As a result, I deal with far less hassles and am able to be far more productive, more focused, and do better overall.  And I am just happier.  Yes.  I still have health concerns and will be seeing a new specialist soon, but even that is much less a burden now that I don't need to wade through other peoples' muck to take care of my own health and well being.

And I am in love -- Yup!  There was a time following the end of my marriage when I was sure I was done with the whole love thing, just did not want to go through the loss, the pain, and the rebuilding again.  Also, at my age, I pretty much thought love was not going to happen.  But the delightful surprise is that it has.  I have been seeing a wonderful man since October, and we get along very well.  I have been keeping things kind of low key in that I have not told very many people, and I am not sure if I will change that.  Unfortunately, a couple of people were so extremely rude and behaved in such a toxic way over my former marriage and the marriage ending that I know for sure I will never make the mistake of exposing myself to any repeat performance of that.  Their behavior over something that did not affect them and was not their business was frankly bizarre to say the least.

So yes, looks like 2018 will have some great times and some roller coaster times in store.  And I look forward to every day because it is my life and how it unfolds is interesting to me.

Hoping life provides you lots of joy and great learning experiences this year.  Peace.

A Sad Truth

Part of growing, maturing, and overcoming obstacles is recognizing that there are people out there who do NOT wish you well, even if they say they love you, who do damage to you, who kick you when you are down.  Part of reclaiming your own life, part of achieving success, part of getting well, is to be willing to really know what experience has taught you and to move on and move away from these  people.  It is NOT an act of love to allow someone to abuse you over and over, to gossip about you, to do damage to you, and to never apologize or change their behavior toward you.  Allowing that has nothing to do with love.  So move on, care for yourself, and let them handle their own stuff.  If they are lucky, life will be able to get through to them and teach them about being better and doing better.  If not, well then, they still have their stuff to deal with, and none of it is yours to handle.