Saturday Miscellany

* In just one week, Dr. H. and I will be away on our anniversary get-away. We have actually never done a weekend away—without the kids—in 16 years. Our original plans, a couple of years ago, was that we and two others couples who are also celebrating their 20th anniversary this year would go on a tropical vacation. We were thinking island, sand, ocean, etc. We were also working on the assumption that we would all magically have thousands of extra dollars. Since that didn't work out, we've put that on hold until our 25th anniversary year (surely we'll have thousands of extra dollars by then, right?), and this year Dr. H. and I are going away all by ourselves to a nice little cabin in the Smokies. Please don't come look for us.

* But you can still help us celebrate! There's still time to get in on my first 20th Anniversary Bash contest, and I'll start another one on Monday! Leave a comment over there or be adventurous and write a whole blog post!

* Thank you to Sarah over at The Forest Room for giving me the Kreativ Blogger award. (Now you all know that it is killing me that the creator of this award—who is probably long-lost in blog world—felt the need to spell this Kreatively, but I'm trying to not be a Spelling Nazi about it.) I have to put a word in here about Sarah in the Forest. I think she has just about the sweetest family I've ever seen, and I want to go to school at her house. AND I also really miss homeschooling with sweet little ones around whenever I read her blog, which is every day. Please visit her. She has fantastic ideas, and you'll feel calm and peaceful after visiting her blog.

* I will have another WordSmithery assignment out tomorrow, really! I haven't forgotten; time just seems to go so quickly.

* My 81-year-old mother fell down a flight of stairs this week. That is difficult for me to write. My father sent us all an email late one night after her afternoon fall, and I went to bed sobbing. Part of my weeping came from the utter gratefulness that she did not break a single bone, nor was she even seriously hurt. She did sustain a nasty bump on her head and bruised shoulders and arms, but she is recovering well. How miraculous is that? She is nearly 82. I know that God put his arms out to cushion her fall and keep her from somersaulting head over heels, which surely would have resulted in broekn bones. Part of my weeping came from fear and from feeling so helpless. My parents have gone back to New York to again put their house on the market, so that they can move down here permanently. (They have a house here less than a mile down the road.) My mother's fall makes the move seem even more urgent. I long for them to be out of that big house with its multitude of stairs and heavy upkeep. And I miss them. In these last years of their lives, I can hardly bear not seeing them every day.

* And so I take a deep breath and go on, thankful that my parents are healthy and active. And for this beautiful life.