Once upon a time there was a Princess. She was very sad and lonely so she did things to try to make herself happy. Her very favorite thing was shopping. She shopped and shopped and shopped till her castle was very full and there was no more room. Yet, she was still sad.

One day a Prince came and they fell in love and got married and the Princess was very happy. But the Prince died. And the Princess was lost without him. She cried and cried till there were no more tears. She didn't know what to do. Shopping wasn't fun anymore. She had to find something else to make herself happy.

I had lunch yesterday with a Facebook friend that I graduated high school with. After four hours talking nonstop, we left as real life friends. We didn't know each other all that well in school which is a shame really. I believe I missed out on a good friend all these years.

I had things to do yesterday but when my lunch hour turned into the unexpected joy of four hours of heartfelt conversation, I felt it was much more important to eat ice cream and get my toes done than to drive to the farm for another load of stuff. I seldom have conversations with the pedicurist but she asked where I live and what I do. So, I set my phone aside and engaged in a beautiful moment of sharing with a woman from the other side of the world with a vastly different cultural background than mine. Her name is Happy...and aptly so. I told her I live everywhere. She was concerned about how I get my mail. I told her I am a writer. She asked what I write about. I told her about losing Mr. Virgo and how I write to tell people there is life after this terrible pain. She went on to tell me she is Buddhist. We spoke about the importance of living in the moment because this is what we have. We spoke of being happy. In her words, "We can go to bed at night with shoes on our feet and wake up the next morning, never to see those shoes again. You must be happy with what you have." I loved her immensely.

I love a good ol' West Virginia thunderstorm. And when you're on the river, the sound echoes up and down the valley. It's just so much cooler than CO storms. Maybe it's the altitude or the humidity. Whatever it is, I love it!

I spent yesterday going through the stuff I brought from the farm that I had stored in the shed here on the property. It was hotter than blue blazes. My time here is rapidly dwindling. In just over two weeks I head to Nelsonville for the music festival. I leave from there to head to Colorado. January and February crawled. They literally were 12 weeks long…EACH! April and May were an hour…combined! One of my sweetest friends is going to store a few things for me like my winter clothes and tires. And those dishes I can't part with. And one box of mementos. And that's it…I promise!

I conquered a lifelong fear yesterday. I was raised by a woman who saved her baby sister from drowning when she herself could not swim. My mom was deathly afraid of water and kept us away from it at all costs. Therefore, I have feared water since my earliest memory. This fear caused problems for me. Besides the uncomfortable feelings of anxiety, fear kept me from enjoying the social aspect of water activities. When I had children of my own, I made sure they learned how to swim at a very young age.

Aunt Lucy turned 100 years old yesterday. I took my Aunt Peeps (on the left) to the birthday party and caught this darling moment when Aunt Lucy finally realized who she was talking to. As with many elderly people, she is nearly blind and very hard of hearing. She is not my aunt by blood. But, we have a really unusual connection.

I'm beginning to feel the crunch of time a little bit. There's SO much to do before I head back to Colorado. We went from nice, spring temps to sweltering heat overnight so you have to make a mad dash in the mornings to get stuff done before it's too hot. I don't like the extremes of weather. If it was 65-75 degrees year round, I'd be a happy camper.

My word of the year…grace. I revisit it daily. I ponder. Am I living a life filled with grace? Am I exemplifying God's grace in my interactions with people? Am I searching for those moments where I can practice grace?

Life is full right now. I'm extremely busy wrapping things up here in West Virginia yet all I want to do is go out and play and enjoy the weather…the countryside…my friends. However, I've made commitments. To myself…to sort through my belongings and get the last of my things organized and distributed, either stored in my camper, donated, tossed or given to those who will love them as much as I did. To my aunt…as I promised my things would be gone by the first of June. To a friends of mine…that I wouldn't leave my stuff in her storage area in front of the things she needs access to. (Fail! She had to move some of my stuff yesterday and I felt bad I wasn't there to do it.)

I write every day. Sometimes I read what I write and it seems like someone else wrote it because I don't write that well. It's inspired from a higher source, I think. And sometimes I write and think to myself, "This is gosh awful." And, I'll be SO tempted to go back and chuck it all and start over. I've only done that a handful of times. Usually I let it go and it speaks to someone and I remember my prayer. I always pray over every post. I ask God to bring me the words to say and the reader that needs to hear them. It doesn't really matter whether I like the writing or not. It's not FOR me.

This has been my life song for the last couple of years. I have let go of so much since Mr. Virgo died…him being the biggest, baddest let go ever. My big house has been exchanged for a home on wheels. My material possessions are getting fewer and fewer even as we speak. My expectations have totally been changed. Even my faith has changed in that it has become stronger. I do a pretty fair job flying my own kite, yet I have a very real tendency to want to hold onto the tail…to maintain some semblance of control.

One of my favorite West Virginia treasures is Mountain Stage. Held at the West Virginia Cultural Center in Charleston, Mountain Stage is recorded before a live audience then broadcast on NPR the following evening. A lot of great entertainment...a big bang for your buck!