One Part Inspiration...

I read an article this week entitled "What Empty Nesters Wish Parents of Young Kids Knew".  I found it very interesting.  Although I no longer have children at home, it doesn't seem so long ago that I was in the throes of raising the family.  Some of the advice centered around taking the time to get to know your children - to play with them, to find out who their friends were and to pay attention to the chatter in the back seat of the vehicle while you were in the driver's seat. As I look back, I see I did many of the things on the writer's list. Even in the early years, I was very conscious of creating memories, and being a parent who was 'present'.  I didn't want to have regrets when the kids left home for not doing enough to be there for them.  I chose to be involved in my kids' lives in many ways.  For several years, I was known as the "cupcake mom" because I baked cupcakes for each of their birthdays with enough to share with th...

I have waited a long time to sit and write this post.  It has taken all that I could muster, not to jump the gun.  And now, the time has arrived. Time to pop the cork and celebrate! Each piece of gold melds into the next to create a ring. Similarly, the memories of 25 years together have sort of melded together like one solid ring....... Our wedding:  royal blue - handmade invitations which I labored intensively over to get the calligraphy just right - buying a house together before we said I do [still love the front door of that house every time I drive by] - composing a song and recording it [my only professional recording to date] to have sung to my husband before I came down the aisle - a lovely blue-sky day with a light breeze - dry ice for the photos courtesy of some other bride and groom who were in the day before -  Our first house:  brick - corner lot - lots of windows where we looked out as we ate and made up stories about the people who were...