I’m going to hunker down and hopefully ride out that storm that is coming through. Not really what we need on Xmas eve. I have to get my behind outside and secure the lights better and bring things inside. Might just leave them unplugged with gusts of 50mph expected. That flood watch is a nice treat also. I guess we have to take a little bad with all the good we have in the “Land of Pleasent Living” aka Maryland.
I’m just hoping the power stays on with the temps taking a massive drop on Friday. I may have jinxed us though. I was chatting with a neighbor as we cleared our driveways of snow last week and commented that it’s been a good year in keeping the power on.
I love being at the beach when storms roll in. The view and distances and far greater than I have at home with all the tall trees.
Bethany Beach. Photo by Mike Hartley
Wrapping a few gifts will feel good. Picking up a cherry candy cane feels good. Seeing the kids smile will feel great. But the loss of loved ones might be an equalizer to what should be a joyous time. The chance to process loss is stunted by the busyness of the holiday. The holiday brings thoughts of people walking through the door that won’t be. A favorite dish that will be missing. An encompassing embrace, kiss, and smile that went right to your heart lost. The tight grip on your hand in a certain way for a longer than normal time and warmth it translated isn’t there this year.
Our ranks are diminished. All 2021 will be is a series of birthdays and holidays and anniversaries that are changed. Having lost my parents before my in-laws, more time has passed and allowed me a different perspective. The loss hurts and it always will, it just hurts differently now. I do have more smiles now than I did in the past when I look at their pictures. Christmas, their birthdays, and mine and dates they passed are the most difficult times, but also times I feel happy thinking about them again instead of just the hurt of missing them.
Then your own children step up and their children start to help take the place of the missing pieces and allow you to enjoy life and events again. And now when those waves of emotions hit they sometimes have a chuckle and smile at the end of it instead of a feeling of depression. But this year, we take a few steps back. We learn to miss what was never missing. We learn how to support each other in new ways. We are strong for our children who are also missing grandparents.
We will think, we will love, we will cry, and maybe we will laugh. I think I heard Jim Valvano say that if you think, are brought to tears, and laugh that you have had a full and wonderful day.
Random Thoughts of the Day
- I have one wish for today and tomorrow. That my power stays on.
- The more I get up and move the better I feel at that moment. It’s later I worry about.
- So much to be thankful for, I just have to smile.
- I’m almost at the point where I’m keeping up with my followed posts daily again. Noticed I said almost.
- I’m starting to make a dent in the things I would hate to leave undone or unsaid.
