As I reflect on another day in Paradise.

Well, it another day in Paradise, at least that's what I'm lead to believe living in one of the nicest cities in the Continental United States. But that doesn't preclude me from feeling gloom and doom sometimes. I'm doing much better since my last posting but I'm still very sad.

Soooo, my prescription for me today is to focus on happy times in life, be grateful for the people in my life, and be glad for all I have and all I've been blessed with. (Is that redundant?)

The last week has been kind of a strange week. We were supposed to have lots of company but at the last minute all plans were cancelled. Our friend was flying in from Bahrain and then his wife was going to join him here. We were looking forward to Tommy and Tanya's visit as we haven't seen them in a few years and are disappointed due to Tommy's position and work obligations that this trip had to be cancelled, Bummer.

Ok, but we still have Cindi and Cliff coming in this week from Florida so all my cleaning and shopping wasn't in vain, right? Wrong!

We go back and forth to Florida as many of you know Cindi visits with us fairly often but her husband Cliff has never been to our home or San Diego for that matter. So I was real excited about having a "Virgin to San Diego" visit. We could do the tourist thing with Cliff, introduce in some of the wonders of San Diego. They have two beautiful daughters, the elder daughter is married and lives in New York and the younger daughter is a college student in Florida who owns her own condo, about an hour away from Mom and Dad. Well their youngest daughter purchased a new motor cycle and two days after owning it she crashed, Thank GOD she survived the crash and no one else was involved in it. However, because she lives on her own, she definitely needed the help and love of Momma to care for her, as she sustained a broken collar bone, badly sprained ankle, bruises and lacerations. Also, her condo is a two story, with one bathroom upstairs and the kitchen downstairs, so she definitely needs Momma. I understand but I'm still disappointed that they won't be coming to visit this week.

So was all my cleaning and shopping done in vain? NO! I truly believe that was Gods way of keeping me focused on something rather than dwelling on the loss of our Jackson. It's been a rough 12 days, but each day I'm getting stronger and my tears are controllable. I'm beginning to enjoy thoughts of him and remembering some of the things Jackson would do. He was such a good boy!

I also want to mention we had a visit one day last week from a neighbor, with her delightful children, baring gifts of distraction, Candy Cane Joe-Joe's and a bottle of Red Chuck. What a yummy combo! Their visit was continued to their home where we shared more conversation and lots of goodies with some terrific red wine, grapes, cheese, quiche, etc. Then Judd on his way home stopped and got a pizza and they made a great salad, we then finished the evening off with her home made Oh Henry's. They were to die for, I could have eaten the whole tray myself, they were soooooo good! We stayed way too late, drank to much red but had a wonderful time with them and their kids. Even Zoe-Baby, our little dog, had a wonderful time with the kids. Zoe also has been depressed at the loss of her big brother Jackson, so the kids were the best medicine, for her, they brought her happy side out! Another gift from God, I only wish I had my camera that night.

On the bright side, over the past week, we shared time with good friends,  my house got a double scrubbing, my bedroom curtains got hung (finally thanks to my friend, aka my adopted daughter Carmen) a new picture I’ve had for over a year got hung, and lots of little things that needed to be done around the house got done.  For all this...I Am Grateful!