“West Virginia, here I come!”

I’m going home. I’m taking three weeks and heading for the hills. I’m going to visit family, hang with friends, get away in the woods, feel my roots dig deep in the red clay. This is where I get refreshment for my soul. This is where I find the Fountain of Youth. This is where I find my smile. I want a small piece of it to call my very own. I will look to see what I can find while I am there. I could spend a good chunk of the year there easily enough once I retire. I could find a place to park TOW-Wanda and feel right at home. Yes….I’m feeling energized and looking forward to wonderful changes in my life!

“A Room to Myself”

So, today I head out for my first Sisters on the Fly event of the season! I’m SO excited! This trip I am taking a half day fly fishing lesson, a half day horseback ride, a junkin’ trip to town, and all sorts of fun activities with the girls. It’s like Girl Scouts with martinis!

These trips are fun, but just as necessary are those where I get back in the high country and face Mother Nature on my own. I can breathe. I can slow down. I can listen to the wind in the trees and the songs of the birds. I can see flora and fauna abundant. I can feel the sun on my face and smell the pine on the breeze. It is truly divine!

“Out of the mouths of babes.”

We all adore our grandchildren and each feel ours are the smartest, the kindest, the most beautiful, the best…and they are. That’s our job as grandmothers…to give them everything we wish we would have been smart enough, and wealthy enough, to give our own children. Grandchildren are our gifts from God…our reward for accepting the daunting task of parenting and surviving.

My grandchildren are, of course, the best. My 10 year old is smart and beautiful and athletic. My 6 year old is my loving, tender, deep thinker. I’m spending a few days with them this week and we are all thrilled.

“Ironic, isn’t it?”

Yes, I am ashamed to say it, but that IS an actual photo from my actual “craft” room (aka The Disaster Room). Ok, it’s not in the house where I am currently living, but…like the proverbial bad penny, it always returns. No matter where I live, this room follows me like Pigpen’s little dust cloud.

There HAS to be help for someone like me! Ok, short of calling the producers of Hoarders…I’m not THAT bad. But it’s borderline pathologic the way I hang on to some things. I will formulate a plan. When I get back from my next adventure, I am tackling this house and getting it in order! I am selling stuff. I am organizing a garage sale. I am taking things to a consignment shop. I am donating to charities. I’m done with feeling like Damocles’ sword is hanging over my head. It has finally become unpleasant enough to want to do something about it.

“Farm Fresh Eggs”

Once you have farm fresh eggs, you realize what terrible reproductions you’ve actually been eating. They are rich and the yolks are a deep orange and they stand up in the pan, not like those pale yellow things that just lay there.

I swear I remember my grandma having chickens when I was very little, but my aunt says she has no recollection of that. I know we had extended family with chickens, ducks, geese, guinea hens, and pheasants. I have always wanted chickens but have never lived where I could have them. One of my dearest friends had chickens. They lived in town and city council had just approved a certain number of chickens per household. The only thing was, you couldn’t have roosters. She got a batch of fancy chicks and was assured they had been sexed and there were no roosters. Well, when the time came, there was a great deal of cock-a-doodle-dooing coming from the chicken coop and the town officials were on her. She tried like crazy to find homes but everyone had their quota and we ended up butchering them, thinking we would at least have some chicken meat out of the ordeal. No such luck. They were so scrawny they might as well have been songbirds. And the whole episode was thoroughly traumatic for all involved.

“Out with the Old”

When you are a widow, there isn’t a honey to do the honey-dos. Fortunately, I’m pretty handy with tools and things. I installed a dishwasher when I refinished my mom’s kitchen so I decided to do it myself. Other than 10 hours and several trips to the hardware store, the dishwasher went in without a hitch and no leaks! I feel SO empowered!!!

“Cleaned out the old space.”

“You were born to SPARKLE!”

You were BORN to SPARKLE…even on TAX DAY!!

Really, you were! I know I was. Some days I sparkle so bright, I need sunglasses! Yesterday was just such a day. Well, it ended up that way.

Remember a week or two ago I wrote the post about procrastinating? Well, that was triggered by my reticence to tackle my taxes. It was much more complicated this year because I started a business, and Mr. Virgo died. I was so worried because I have had to pay big bucks the last few years. Fortunately, there are a ton of write offs with a business and I’m actually getting a little sumpin’ sumpin’ back! When I saw that, I burst into tears of relief. Of course, I had been chained to the computer since 8:30am. And I finished at 11:00p so it could be I had just had it with the chore.

“My Family Roots”

It is at this time of year that I begin longing to see my home place. The older I get, the more I miss my roots in West Virginia. I long to hear the peepers up the holler. Those of you who know what that is, know what I’m missing. The dogwood and redbud trees are blooming. Ramp Festivals are in full swing. A short trip up the hill and you can find some sassafras root to brew up your spring tonic tea. Good for what ails ya, my grandma used to say. Rain on the tin roof. Water in the “crick”. Warm days, cool nights. Family. Friends.

“When is he coming home?”

It’s raining. I have a fever and a sore throat. I had things to do today but just…didn’t do them. It turned into a “me” day. I drank tea and read and soaked in the hot tub (compensation for watching Gemma…use of the neighbor’s hot tub!) and then I caught up with a few back episodes of The Voice on Hulu. While “me” days are often restorative, relaxing, and fun…when you’re not feeling well, well….you know. It can give you too much time to think. And thinking isn’t always the best thing when it’s stinkin’ thinkin’, as Dr. Phil calls it.

“Joyfulness”

“Joyfulness keeps the heart and face young. A good laugh makes us better friends with ourselves and everybody around us.” Orison Scott Marden

In the weeks and months following Mr. Virgo’s death, I wasn’t sure I would ever really laugh and feel joy again. True…I bought TOW-Wanda and joined Sisters on the Fly so I would have joyful things to look forward to, but it was truly difficult to look far enough ahead to see long lasting happiness. But, eventually, I did feel joy. I got my sense of humor back. I laughed again. There were times when I had to make the conscious decision to be happy, but those times have become fewer and farther between.