Memories. . .

Today I am dealing with lots of emotions and memories. It all started with a weekend trip to Houston this past weekend.

Our family didn't go on vacation this year due to our daughter's surgery at the end of June. I think it was sometime back before the surgery that my husband discovered a band he used to listen to years ago was doing "one last concert" in Houston. He had missed their "final concert" the last time and really wanted to go. My daughter and I are really not into his kind of music. He assured us that we didn't have to go to the concert with him. We could make the trip with him to keep him company, get reservations at a nice hotel, stay over for an extra day, and make it a mini-vacation. The date was far enough out after the surgery that we figured our daughter would be able to travel comfortably. So, we decided to go for it. My husband found a buddy to go to the concert with him, we made reservations at a nice hotel, and off we went for our mini-vacation.

As the date approached for the trip, I really wasn't looking forward to it. It's been very hot lately in our corner of the world. Five hours away in Houston the temperatures are not that different, but the humidity leaves you feeling like you are breathing water. So, the weather was one part of my not looking forward to the trip. The other part of my dread was the fact that there is no longer any family there.

I have been making the trip to Houston with my husband for 24 years. Yes, we've been married for 23, but I made a couple of trips with him the year we were engaged. Always at the other end there had been my Mother in-law's warm embrace to welcome me to her home or the warm welcome of my bother and sister in-law. This was actually the first trip I was making to Houston since my Mother in-law's passing in September, 2011. A lot has changed since then. My brother and sister in-law have moved away and there is no longer any family to visit in Houston. I knew this trip would be different and strange.

It was different than any trip we have ever been on. We stayed at a hotel on the north side in a man-made urban setting. When we arrived, my husband and daughter went to park the car while I checked in since the reservations were in my name. I was warmly greeted by the hotel staff. They made me feel that they were welcoming us into their home. Our room had a view facing the river that runs through the area. It was a quiet and relaxing place to rest. During our time away we managed to find something that we all enjoyed.

The only time our car left the garage was when my husband used it to travel to the concert he attended. Everything in this urban setting was withing walking distance of the hotel. I was able to spend Saturday morning in a quiet corner of the lobby in Bible study and prayer. While Dad and Daughter spent time exploring the area. Later in the afternoon Mom and Daughter had pedicures in the hotel spa. That evening we took a short walk to a frozen yogurt shop and then to a movie. It was a quiet, restful, relaxing day.

We slept in Sunday morning, got a quick breakfast at Starbucks, and hit the road back to our little corner of the world. We stopped at our usual halfway point for lunch. It was after we got back on the road after lunch that I started crying. I don't know exactly what it was my husband said that got me started.

I miss my in-laws. This month marks the second anniversary of my Mother in-law's passing. November will mark the third anniversary of my Father in-law's passing. They both had various serious health issues and were both in their 80s. I'm thankful for all the years I had with them as their Daughter in-law.. I'm thankful for the parents they were to my wonderful husband. I'm thankful for the grandparents they were to our Daughter. My Mother in-law was one of our Daughter's biggest encouragers and cheerleaders. I'm thankful they are both at home in heaven with their Savior, Jesus Christ, and that I will see them again one day. I would not wish them back here on this earth, but I miss them and the visits we used to have with them in their home on our trips to Houston.

A visit in their home always included at least one special meal that my mother in-law would cook and one meal out. The meal she cooked might be an old family favorite or a new recipe she wanted to share with us. Because they knew that our daughter loves Mexican, our meal out was most often at a neighborhood Mexican restaurant. Evenings always meant games. Our favorite was Golf. My husband seemed to win more often than not. So, we would have fun cheering each other on and trying to beat him. I still remember the big smile and the twinkle in my Mother in-laws eye when she would manage to beat him.

This past weekend's trip to Houston was different, but it was not bad. The three of us made new memories. I don't know how often we will travel to Houston in the future, but I will be able to travel there the next time without dreading it. There may be tears in my eyes as I remember past visits and miss the loved ones we have lost, but I am ready to move forward into the future and make new memories.

Hello World!

I have thought about starting a blog for a long time. Today, in between doing dishes and whatever else this day brings my way, I decided to stop thinking and jump in. I am not ashamed to admit my age. I am 50 years old and have seen and experienced many things on my journey through life.

Thirty Random Facts About Me:

1) I am the daughter of a career military dad and a stay at home mom.

2) I have lived in several places across the state of Texas and overseas. My family moved every two years like clockwork until the year I entered the 4th grade. We moved, for what would be the last time I moved with my parents, the summer before my freshman year in high school.

3) I have had scoliosis from birth and have dealt with back pain all of my life. I was diagnosed at the age of five.

4) I wore a Milwaukee brace twenty-three hours a day from the summer before 4th grade until the spring of my Junior year in high school.

5) I lived at home during my college years and worked various jobs to help with college expenses.

6) I have a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration with a major in Accounting and am a CPA who enjoys doing taxes.

7) I did not date through high school and had only two dates in college.

8) My husband and I met at church shortly after I had moved to Dallas for my job. He was a college student in town for the semester working as part of his work/study program. We did not start dating for almost three years.

9) We dated for two months before our engagement and were engaged for one year before we married. We have been happily married for twenty-three years.

10) I worked for a major oil company for six and a half years before quitting to be a stay at home wife and eventually mother.

11) For a short time, I had my own Accounting practice.

12) We are the proud parents of one amazing and beautiful daughter.

13) I home-schooled our daughter in three different ways.

14) I taught school at a University Model School for three years.

15) I helped get two libraries up and working and served as librarian in both of them for a time.

16) I have taught and worked with children of all ages since my freshman year in high school.

17) My dream up until my Senior year of high school was to be a school teacher. That all changed when I took a Bookkeeping course. I found out I was good at it and really enjoyed the challenge.

18) I struggled with Math in school. Yet, I managed to pass the CPA exam back in the day when calculators were not allowed. During my teaching time at the school I taught Algebra I, which made my dad shake his head and laugh.

19) There was a time I looked around me at the lives of others and thought my life was boring compared to everyone else.

20) My hobbies include reading and knitting.

21) We have lived in our current home for almost 14 years. Passing the 9 year mark made it the place I have lived the longest.

22) We have attended the same church for seventeen years.

23) That boring life I thought I had became a wild ride in March, 2010. Funny how one phone call can change everything! Eight short months later (November, 2010) my father in-law passed away. Then ten months after his death (September, 2011) we lost my mother in-law.

24) The wild ride hasn't ended yet. Our daughter was diagnosed with pectus excavatum in November, 2012. She is now two months post surgery.

25) I will be visiting with a surgeon in November about possible spine surgery.

26) I collect Bibles. I think my husband cringes when he sees me walking toward the Bible section in the bookstore we like to visit. He loves the Word as much as I do, but really how many Bibles does one person need? Some women collect shoes or purses. I collect Bibles.

27) I really enjoy Bible Study. I think I really could spend all day every day studying, if it were not for the dishes and laundry calling my name.

28) Over the last year or so I have dreamed about writing a book or books about my life experiences: Life as a Military Child, My Scoliosis Journey, Our Pectus Excavatum Journey, Stories from My Life and What I Have Learned Along the Way. Don't know that I will ever write those books, but our daughter is a writer. Maybe I will write for her and she can turn it into something someday.

29) At the end of my home-schooling career I thought I would be teaching school by now.

30) Since my home-schooling career ended in 2011 my life has not been anything like what I imagined it would be. Our daughter's life has not been anything like I dreamed or she dreamed it would be.  God has us on a unique path and we are doing our best to follow and trust where He is leading us.

As I look back at my life, it has sometimes taken some strange and unusual twists and turns. I have been a Christian for 36 of my 50 years. I believe that all the ups and downs and twists and turns in my life have not been without reason or purpose. God has taught me and I have grown in my faith as a result of them. Through this blog I want to share with my readers my life experiences and the lessons God has taught me through them. Some of my writing will take a look back at where I have been, some where I am now and where I am going on this journey.