Reconnecting

It has been an interesting week.

I've been quiet. Well, in some respects. I've noticed that I avoid writing when I am in the throes of deep thought. I suppose because I am trying to sort the thoughts & make some sense of them in the first place.

And because, sometimes, facing those thoughts makes me cry.

The new year, in just its first blush of promise, already holds a number of reunions. Oddly enough, one of my "goals". To reach out & reconnect with "old" friends is so easy now, my aim was to make use of technology & get back up to speed with those that I hold dear.

In a strange juxtaposition, two different "me's" are colliding. The "grade school/high school" me & the "bar band scene/college" me.

Three me's, to be accurate. The current "me" as well gets thrown in the mix.

I have been in touch with some wonderful friends not only from High School, but dating back to at least 3rd grade. I'll tell you about the Pink Panthers some time. Some point when I have LOTS of time!

And for a while now, I have been in contact with friends from my college/bar band years.

And what I love is that the friends I had are still friends. Even though we have gone different routes, started families, lost each other along the way, grown up & apart...we are still friends.

We can commiserate about the wrinkles & occasional aches. We can share the grief of losing a parent. We can laugh about the exploits of the kids & remodelling. We can share our joys, our triumphs, our failures.

You forget that...as you are busy with your life, & growing apart from your friends...it is your shared experiences that bound you tightly together in the first place. It just takes a photo, a song, an inside joke, to spark a memory & bring it all back.

This weekend is going to be tough for me.

I send the abandoned son back to the desert. And on the same day, I have a reunion. A 25+ year reunion. Not in a High School gym, but in the rock bar that I spent so many hours in. The name has changed, but I'm pretty sure the carpet hasn't. There is a reunion/CD release party for a band that I used to hang with during the college years. (I prefer the term "band buddy" to everyone out there thinking "groupie". Thank you very much!) The same band that played my Senior Halloween dance. You know, the one where we were so busy flirting with the guys we didn't even know there was music! (C'mon, I went to a Catholic all girls school...what do you expect!)

Names are popping in my head that I haven't thought of in all these years. Faces. Songs. "Oh my god" moments.

But over this all hangs a cloud.

My best friend from High School, my best friend from those band years, my maid of honor, will not be there. Maureen died when we were 29. Cervical cancer. Caused by the HPV virus.

And as I thought of everyone I was going to see, a few names popped in my head. God, do they know? How many times will I need to answer the question, "Where is Mo?" We were joined at the hip. Hoolie & Moron. The "Little Miss Twisters". The top two names on the guest list. Well, unless we needed to get bumped for the music store owner.

And a little piece of me does not feel like dancing. It won't be the same. And it's not because of a wrinkle, or a stiff knee, or a picture of two kids in the wallet.

It's because a part of me won't be there.

That whole, "She'll be there in spirit" line applies, yes. And in some respects, I know Maureen will be there. In a swirl of smoke in the Leeko, in the last chord of a song...

But to not see her smile, or to share the "secret" hand dance...well, it's gonna be hard.

In a bittersweet way.

I wouldn't miss this weekend for the world.

*sigh*

Link on over to The Inspired Room for more inspiration.

Twinkle, twinkle, little light...

Well, the last of the Christmas baubles are finally packed up & ready to slumber for another year. I always feel a little sad as I "de-deck" the halls. I will miss the sparkle & the twinkle & the "magic".

But, I was thinking, why should I have to miss it? Why not just re-decorate for the new month?

One of my goals for this year is to keep up the "home-making". In my definition, doing those little things that make a house a home: a fresh loaf of bread, a candle (or two, or three), music to match the dinner theme, a bit of seasonal decorating.... Those little touches that bring a smile.

So, it was off to Michaels once again to see if there was any glitter left after the post-holiday frenzy. Things were plenty picked over, with empty aisles & stark bare shelving. They have already begun to move in the Spring flowers. Yep, right there in back of the St. Patrick's Day shamrock garlands & heart shaped Valentine's lights.

All I wanted was some white or silver or blue with a little bit of glitz.

There wasn't much.

I grabbed some "iced" candle rings, but that was about all.

Then, I happened to wander down the Bridal aisle. And a good wander it turned out to be!

I grabbed some "crystal" garland & white wired twinkle lights & perked up a bit. Then some blue caught my eye & I grabbed some turquoise "marbles" to mix in with some left-over "ice" in a hurricane. I figured a little was all I needed.

I'm leaving up a few of the Holiday decorations, including my favorite lit white wreath, the lit "iced" hurricane & the blue, silver & white branch arrangement.

This way, I still get a merry twinkle for these long winter nights.






Join the fun over at The Inspired Room for more great ideas!

20 Things I Love About Christmas

Well, I'm all snowed in with the first real blizzard of the year, enjoying a quiet cup of coffee, waiting for the kids to get up so I can start the mixer & bake all day! Yum!

I figured it's a great time to get my list of 20 things together to join in the fun over at The Inspired Room.

In no particular order:

1. Twinkle lights. Hung merrily on trees, laced through garlands, looped among mantle decorations, gathered in glassware.

2. Harry Connick Jr. All 3 cd's full of Holiday tunes, & even better, live & in person this year! What a treat!

3. Christmas lists. Not so much the shopping, but thinking of wonderful surprises. To tuck in stockings, or wrap in packages, to bring a smile on Christmas morning. It really IS the thought that counts.

4. Hot chocolate. With tiny marshmallows. In the special "only to be used for hot chocolate" mug.

5. Fresh fallen snow that sparkles like diamonds in the moonlight.

6. Cookies. Special Holiday cookies. Made once a year from recipes handed down from a great-grandma whose name I don't even know. That somehow managed to cross the ocean with Grandma (who died before I was born) back at the turn of the century. From a tiny village up in the Trentian Mountains in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.

7. Candy Canes. The chocolate mint ones.

8. Piling everyone in the car to drive around for hours looking at all the gorgeous light displays.

9. Making sure the tree is up for our Christmas baby. Her brother remarked, "It's just not her birthday without the tree!!"

10. Christmas cactus. A new tradition. A "must have" for when the college son returns from the desert.

11. Wassail. Here we come a wassailing. The smell of the spices filling the air.

12. Merry greetings from friends far & away.

13. The Muppet Christmas Carol. At least twice.

14. Sitting in front of the tree on Christmas Eve. All the other house lights off. The kids tucked snuggly with visions of sugar plums. Remembering Christmas past.

15. The Nutcracker, preferably the Baryshnikov version.

16. Taking the time to stop & do something kind for a stranger in all the hustle & bustle. Making someone smile.

17. Tamales. They just taste better this time of year!

18. The Christmas Waltz. My very favorite song.

19. The magic of Christmas morning.

20. Family. All of them. Nuts & all!

A Faerie Crown

Since I had the jewelry stuff out due to the snow day & a little time on my hands, I decided to make a crown for the Christmas Faerie. She looked a little bare with just the berries & ornaments. Especially after her festive Fall array.

So, I set about with wire & rhinestones & a few freshwater pearls. I twisted & twined, baubled & bent; and eventually had a crown fit for a Queen.

A Faerie Queen, that is!







And since we've had nothing but snow for a couple weeks now, I decided to move the Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas/etc tree down to the hearth for the season. Gone are the orange lights, & the red & white fits nicely into the rest of the scheme!