I am in need of some Sister time! I am not scheduled for a single Sister on the Fly camp out this summer and I'm totally bummed! So I reached out to some Sister friends and...voila! Tonight is dinner and a walk afterward then Tuesday we're gathering for dinner and live music. That's the coolest thing about Sisters on the Fly...instant friends, just add fun. Available anywhere, anytime!

So, what do you do when it's your daughter's birthday and she wants you to go to Water World with the crew but you accidentally erased a whole chapter of your book over the weekend and hadn't quite got around to backing it up properly and it was absolutely nowhere to be found and you need to write the whole darned thing over and it was one of the more difficult chapters to write anyway because it's all emotional and you thought you were done with that part but apparently that was just a pipe dream? Well, you go to Water World and plug in your laptop and write and your family love you and support you and make sure you're comfortable and have plenty to eat and drink and then you float down the Lazy River for an hour while you take a break and it was so awesome you didn't want to stop but the sun was hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk and you prayed the sunscreen would do what sunscreen does so you can sleep comfortably after a huge dinner of ribs, beans and coleslaw! That's what you do! And, at the end of the day, you thank God for giving you another chance to get it right. My life is blessed!

She was a little towheaded tomboy but she loved a twirly dress and shiny party shoes with buckles. She loved her Hobby Hobby doll. She said mazagine and cackeltator. She "put on a show" to anyone who would stand still long enough, dragging her step stool out for a stage. She learned to be tough because we didn't have time nor money for foolishness. She never broke a bone on my watch but boy when she did, she was steel. She flew alone from the age of four to go see her Dad across the country. I think about that now and can't believe I let her go. It was a different world back then.

OMGosh, you guys...I'm so excited! I'm so close to having my book proposal done I can almost taste it!!! Last night, I sat down with my son-in-law's parents and read the first nine chapters to them. They loved it. Ok...they love me and that's kinda like your mom telling you you're pretty. She kinda HAS to, ya know? But, I really believe they loved it! And they know my story. They could tell me where to clarify, where to stick this or that story or tidbit of information in. It was the very first time I have ever let any of my family into my book world. Wow!!! It made it REAL!

I read this the other day. A woman's idea of hell is an off white dressing room with a harsh fluorescent light overhead. One whole wall is mirror. No, wait....make that THREE walls so you can get all kinds of good angles! And, the tiny little attendant brings you oh-so-cute outfit after oh-so-cute outfit, each a size...maybe two...too small. And she does this for, like....EVER!

It's Friday already??? Today, it's all about the fresh fruit. OMGosh...I can't get enough watermelon!!! I'm eating it every day, several times a day. I'm a watermelon junkie. And grapes. And blueberries. I've been throwing a handful of blueberries in my salads. Add some walnuts and kale and avocado and you have a superfood-packed bowl of goodness right there!

I miss my girl! I didn't think I would, but I do. I miss my own bed. My little house on wheels. I never dreamed a camper would turn into such a sanctuary. I have been looking at a lot of pictures of my journeys over the last three years. I'm working on my book proposal and the pictures help me keep things in chronological order and remind me of the different legs of the three month trip I took in Little TOW-Wanda. For those of you who are new, I bought my first camper two weeks after Mr. Virgo died. A little 16' camper with bunk beds for my grandkids. She was truly my sanctuary. I felt safe, like a little cocoon. After I sold my house and decided to live full time in my camper, I traded up for the 30' TOW-Wanda Grande. This picture shows the new backsplash I put in her...the first step to glamping her up. I have the paint and I'm going to paint the inside when I get back.

And, just like that, the storm is over. Done. I slept twelve hours straight Sunday night. And woke up yesterday morning feeling like a million bucks! I've gotta tell ya, that was a rough one. I haven't been down like that, for that length of time, since the first year or two after Mr. Virgo died. My great grandfather used to say, "It'll stop hurting when the pain goes away". He wasn't kidding.

I've been thinking a lot about my friend Bill's wife. As a new widow, those of us who have walked this path are so painfully aware of where she is in general. Everyone's grief is different, but I would say there are more similarities than differences in those first few weeks. She did so well at the funeral. She is a strong woman of faith and God's light was all around her as she lovingly tended to the bereaved, putting her own grief aside as best she could. I remember feeling like a hostess at a very macabre family reunion. I was disconnected, numb...my daughters turning me this way and that in the direction I needed to go.

Petrichor: the smell of rain on the dry earth. There is something magical about that scent. I remember living in an old farmhouse back in the early '80s. Even though it was in a highly populated urban area, it was the farmhouse for the original land that was subsequently developed with the housing boom after WW2. The house had huge trees around it and large windows you could fling open wide to let in the fresh summer breeze. It always stayed cool with thick walls of buff-colored brick and heavy, dark wood inside. For some reason, when I smell the scent of rain, my mind conjures up that house.