picture this...

 Yesterday I went back to water aerobics class, and it felt fantastic.  It's been a while, busy with grandkids this past week, Florida the week before.  I did swim in Florida a few times, but it's not the same, even though I do try to get some movement in.  Yesterday turned into a busy day, as Sam and Grace came over with Grant, Ruth ,and baby Maeve.  Then Kathryn came with Achilles, Rhys, and baby Jamison.  Camille got home from her babysitting job, then Jonathan, his Dutch friend Wouter, and Char all got home from work.  I had made chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter keto cookies.  So by the time it was dinner prep, I didn't really feel it.

But as we all know, sometimes you still gotta do it.  So I made nine burger patties, all seasoned with good things, and took the chicken breast out of the Cornell sauce, and got out grilling.  I peeled some corn (Sam and I had a fun little excursion down the road to the local corn stand).  Camille cut up red, yellow, and orange peppers, and some red onion.  I came in with the hot food, and browned up a stack of tortillas, then sliced up all the chicken.  It was a feast!

This fine morning, the kids were all busy doing building/painting/construction projects at church, and Paul had things to do on a house we own in a nearby city...so I went with him...we got home and put a coat of Thompson'sWater Sealer on the deck.  phew. Then he got a message that he had to go BACK to the city we had just came from, to address a hot water heater issue.  Never a dull moment.

I browned up some leftover grilled chicken breast in olive oil, butter, Dinosaur bbq and a dash of Frank's Hot sauce, and had a few fajitas.  Dinner all by myself, but shh, it's LOVELY.  I rarely have alone time.  Years ago, I longed for it, peace and quiet, tranquility...my mother used to tell me it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.  She would get lonely in that house with just my father.  I couldn't imagine, but then the grass is always greener.

Driving by a yard sale today, I experienced such a deep almost jolt of missing my mother.  She was always up for some garage sale-ing.  She would scope it out, determine quickly if it was "nothing but junk", or she would ask how much something was, then say, "meh."  (I stand by this:  she INVENTED meh.)

When someone dies, you think that you'll get used to it, and not miss them so much after a while.  You think you'll be able to do the dinner dishes without thinking about calling them, and you would never believe you could still remember the phone number like you dialed it yesterday.   

Now that I'm the mom/grandma, I understand her more, but I cannot tell her this.  I realize that as a selfish human, my focus during those days was so much on my own life, and she just fit in to it.  Can I just have one day with her, to treat her like a queen?   

My 94 year old mother-in-law just called me.  I told her again about the new grand babies, she liked their names, and wrote them down. She wants to go buy them gifts and mail them, but she cannot do that anymore.  She forgets she doesn't have her wallet.  She has such a giving heart.  I am going to try to go visit her again next month, if possible.

Tomorrow we'll probably put water sealer on the pool deck, maybe wash the front of the house.  It rained a little after we finished sealing the deck, dang.  It was NOT in the forecast.  Hopefully it'll be all right.

Ah well.  It was a good day, a busy day, a quiet day.  I don't mind a down day once in a while, even if it was spent doing laundry, cleaning, sorting, ect.    Have a good evening, and a nice Labor Day weekend...:)