Choose Joy in the Journey

  I'm not a federal government employee so I did not receive an email from DOGE with instructions to list five bullet points of what I did last week.  Perhaps Elon Musk or President Trump could care less, but I'm complying.  I'm a middle child and like to follow the rules.  After all, Mr. God has blessed me with good health and ambition, so why not thank Him for each day I can wake up and carry out the responsibilities my simple life requires? Here are my five: 1.  I have three large fenced pens behind my house filled with old straw-like over grown weeds and it's hard to walk back there.  I raked two of the three pens and bagged 12 large garbage bags of weeds.  I'm skittish of burning them; I dislike fire chores.  The bags are heavy!  It looks neater and flatter.  I'm ready for the spring rains to come.  Then I will have nasty fresh green weeds to pull.  We need rain badly, nonetheless. 2.  I hosted an intimate dinner part...

  My dad played the concertina.  Some call it a squeeze box.  Mom and dad were children of Polish immigrants and knew how to party hard.  Growing up, I watched as they hosted many a celebration in our modest home and I loved the joy of seeing my dad play his heart out to old Polish waltzes and polkas.  He came from a family of 12 children so my childhood contained lots of cousins and uncles who took turns at the concertina with their rendition of polkas while my aunties filled our dining room with double-hop polka dancing.  Add a little whiskey to the mix and you've got a loud shindig.  Simple fun.  I loved it. You can imagine my delight finding a concertina display in the Poland Wing at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ.  Memories flooded my mind and I wished my cousin, Joyce, could be with me in that moment.  She and I reminisce like crazy about our childhood--the Polish pierogis, Kolaczki cookies and Christmases in our gran...

I slept right through my birthday last week.  I got hammered with a nasty head cold which kept me bedridden for four days.  It's okay.  We celebrated the week before.   The weekend before, my daughter was off from work but told me she had to work on the weekend of my special day.  I got to pick a place for dinner that night and chose Javelina Cantina in Sedona.  It was wonderful and so was the homemade white cake with coffee we enjoyed back at the house. My immune system is strong so I'm surprised I got hit so hard.  I admit, I've been down in the dumps since my closest friend, Maureen, received the severe cancer diagnosis.  Our friendship is pure gold.  I let myself feel the deep sadness and perhaps, I stayed there too long.  Is that why I got sick?  Was I depressed and vulnerable and open to attack? I want to say a big "Thank You" to all of you who stopped by and offered prayers for us.  It meant so much to me and to Mau...