Party of Five

This morning I took my place among other families in the auditorium. We sat waiting anxiously, watching the clock, turning to see when they would come in...The music started and the graduates started their procession down the aisle and up onto the stage. We listened to a handful of special music presentations before these deserving young gentlemen and young ladies were awarded their diplomas (Which I found out later were just blank rolls of paper with a purple ribbon tied around them). I sat through this same program 5 years ago when it was my son's turn. This morning, however, belonged to the princess, and once again I was filled with so much pride while I watched her take her turn and move ahead past this single milestone. To my precious daughter on this, the day of her graduation from Kindergarten...I'm so proud of you for what you have achieved this year, and I love you so much!

If I keep repeating it to myself over and over, does it make it true? In the last few weeks, I have gone from simply looking forward to attending my High School reunion, to being on the planning committee. I'm still not quite sure how that happened. But it's all good. If I'm going to drive 6 hours, I want as many classmates as possible to be there, and I'm going to do my darndest to get 'em there. I made it to my 5 year reunion. That wasn't difficult. Easy in fact. I was still living in Ohio, married and we were all still close and in touch with one another. The 10 year reunion jumped out at me without warning. I had moved to New York and I was getting ready to give birth to my first child when I received the letter informing me that the date of my reunion was going to be 1 week after his birth. No, I didn't make it that year. My 15 year reunion didn't really surprise me, I knew it was coming. But I had actually gotten the opportunity to go on a REAL vac...

I have been looking forward to this coming weekend for some time. Ever since I received an email from my best friend telling me, "It's your turn!" Almost 2 years ago, my dear sweet hubby went into downtown Buffalo and stood in line at 4:00 am just so we could get first shot at some excellent seats for the musical, Wicked. (And he suceeded by the way) The two of us took our oldest son who had grown to love the music for this show as well, and our friends came up from Ohio to spend the weekend with us - they were after all, the ones who first turned me on to this Broadway phenom! Fast forward 1 year later - I received an email simply stating "It's your turn", and we soon found out that Wicked was going to be touring into Ohio in 2010...and it was our turn to head back and spend the weekend with our friends for our next showing of the musical. We waited and watched for tickets to go on sale. We ordered our tickets, and I giggled when they arrived in the m...

Change is good - that's what I've been told, and for the most part, I think I really believe that. (I said, for the most part .) Almost 10 years ago, I was pregnant with our first child. And in preparation for his impending arrival, we worked hard getting that little nursery "just right", including setting up the crib. Big D slept in that crib for his first 3 years before moving into his big-boy bed, and we took apart and stored away the baby crib. A new house, and a year later the crib was once again set up...in a new room, awaiting the arrival of the princess. I remember standing in the doorway of this nursery with my hand on my belly feeling very blessed that I would soon be the mommy of a little girl, and this would be a room for a princess! The princess room was put on hold, because quicker than we knew what had hit, the princess was soon to be sharing her castle with baby #3!! Wanting to keep "the babies" on the 1st floor for the middle of the nigh...

Oh say it isn't so! But my days as a Facebook addict may be numbered. A few days ago, I did my usual morning log-in to Facebook, and was surprised to see the new layout. Odd, a little different, but I'm not one to question change, especially when in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big of a deal - the world will go on whether or not my Farmville application is bookmarked on the left or at the bottom of my screen. Now, a few days later - I'm ready to pull my hair out! As it turns out, I really do like having my applications bookmarked at the bottom of every screen that I can click on no matter where I am. As it stands now, I have to constantly return to my Home page. But again, thinking on a grander level...maybe this is my divine guidance to walk away from Farmville, Cafe World, Farkle, My Town, etc... I can accept that. Begrudgingly...but I can do it! But what about my live feed? The status updates and notifications, etc...right now my FB home page is ...

I'm being challenged today. I awoke this morning in my wonderfully warm bed, in my home, and was able to pull out the box of Fruit Loops and milk and eat breakfast at my dining room table. In a little while, I'll be able to go in and take a shower and put on clean clothes today. My children have done the same, and two of them have left for school. My husband also, and he is blessed to have a job to go to each day. I'm being challenged today because in Haiti, there is devastation after an earthquake hit yesterday. The city of Port-au-Prince is said to have been mostly destroyed, and the number of lives lost will be devastating. There are families hurting because homes were destroyed, and loved ones lost. Why do I care? Other than the fact that I'm a compassionate human being? Because the country of Haiti has always held a special place in my heart for many years. I can't even say when it began - but it was during a week at church camp (yes, THAT church camp!...

I've been slacking off on this blog - I know that all 3 of my followers are certainly suffering from Party of 5 Withdrawal. It's not for lack of trying. I log in at least every other day, sit here staring at my screen and wait for inspiration to hit me. Inspiration seems to be fleeting at the moment. I know better than to make a New Year's resolution to "blog more"...I don't do resolutions. I don't know if it's that I just don't have the commitment level, or if it's too much pressure...I have NEVER been able to keep a resolution. One that always creeps into my head at the beginning of the new year, is to pick up my bible more. Read that book! But after years of failed resolutions, the thought of looking at the book of Genesis...AGAIN...is just not very appealing. I've tried the chronological method too. But the book of Job and I have spent so much time together in past years, quite honestly I have no desire to start there either. A...