The B**** is Back

Well, dear readers -- if there are any of you left, it has definitely been awhile since I’ve been here, hasn’t it? So what’s happened in the three or four or so years since we last visited?

Let’s take a little stroll down memory lane…

First, just let me say that I have not been hospitalized. That’s an achievement! What I am saying is that my health has been fairly stable, and that’s always a good thing.

Now, here are a few of the big things that have happened.

Jonathan made me a grandmother, and the little guy will be two this summer. He’s incredibly bright, he’s talking in both words and sign language, and he makes me so happy. I flew out to Oregon to meet him when he was 5 months old, and I was fortunate to be there for his first Hanukkah.

Jordan got married, gave me a granddaughter, and moved an hour south of Nashville. She just turned a year old, and she’s a bright one as well. She’ll be walking soon, and she knows quite a few words. She’s just very selective about when she says them, which reminds me so much of her daddy, who was never one to perform on command. She’s also famous for her “model face.” This little girl smiles and laughs all the time, but you point a camera at her, and she will not smile. Instead, she gives you the most serious, deadpan stare, just like a model on a runway. She nails it every time.

I've asked the grandbabies to call me Marmee. That goes back to my love of Louisa May Alcott.

Dad gave us a scare and required open heart surgery. Thankfully, he’s bounced back and is right back to working full time in his business.

Yvonne’s son gave her a grandson as well. He was born just three weeks after my little granddaughter, and he’s just about to turn one. He’s a pistol, whose favorite pastime is chasing his best friend, his dog Roxie.

I did some writing and had a couple of pieces published in some of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books: “A Cousin’s Love” is #85 in Messages from Heaven and Other Miracles and “Mama’s Little Doll” is in Life Lessons from the Cat. They’ve accepted a couple of others as well, but they won’t be published until later this year or next. Corona has screwed up a lot more than the toilet paper supply.

I was doing some occasional dog sitting for friends, so I thought I’d sign up for Rover.com. Yep, that turned into a job. Last September I was home all of about 4 days. The rest of it was spent in different homes sitting with different dogs. It’s no way to get rich, but it’s some nice extra cash every now and then. Plus, I get paid to play with dogs. How bad is that?

Just this year:

• My dad turned 80, and we surprised him with a nice little party and mini family reunion. Only one grandchild couldn’t make it -- he was on the road, but all of the great-grandchildren were there, as well other family and friends.
• A tornado just missed us here in Nashville, while it did a great deal of damage in other parts of the city. We heard it roar by. Then it went along I40 until it ran headlong into Cookeville. That’s where it became an EF4 and really did a number on my hometown. It tore up the area I grew up in and where I had my first apartment. In fact, the woman who lived in the apartment that we brought my older son home to after he was born was killed.
• And now I’m sheltering at home thanks to COVID-19. Yvonne won’t let me leave the house, so I sit here, watch movies, read, and try not to be so thoroughly bored that I start crocheting clothes for the dogs again. I have rediscovered my genealogy work, and I’ve found that fascinating for quite a few years, so that’s been a nice little thing..

Okay, that’s enough of an update for now. I know I’ve left out a ton of stuff, so I’ll address that in later posts. I’m guessing it may not have been too interesting, or I would have recalled it.

Either I lead a very quiet life, or I’m getting really forgetful in my old age.