A year ago today I was afraid.
I knew that my marriage was failing.
I knew that my kids were struggling.
I knew that after one year without Mom, Dad seemed to be getting worse, not better.
I had no idea that I was so close to being alone again.
No clue that I was on the verge of grandma-hood.
So many things that I didn't know.
March 11th was a Saturday, and I had to work early, but I couldn't fall asleep the night before.
I remember sitting in the basement, thinking about the nice things that had happened to me that day. The lady at the gas station gave me free coffee... things like that. I felt like writing, but my experience with blogging was limited to the "ducking out" experiment, and I didn't like the setup at the site that I used.
Um... the "ducking out" experiment was actually an office prank that ran amok. It started on a Friday, so I was armed, of course. I shot a sponge dart from a gun into David's office, and then I ran away. A little bit later, he called me into his office. When I got there, I saw his stress-squeezie-duck-thing on his desk with the dart taped to its head, and he accused me of killing it. After he left for the day I had security let me into his office, and I stole the duck, took many incriminating pictures (at the bar... the county jail... the "naughty but nice" shop...) and the duck wrote a blog on why he needed to run away from David, followed up by his adventures. Eventually the duck was returned safely, dart intact, with sixty duck friends to David's desk, and all's well that ends well. Anyway... I lost my train of thought....
Oh. That was my only blogging experience, and so I set out to find a user-friendly blogging site. My search brought me to Blogstream, and I posted my first nonsense early that morning. Since then, my life has been blessed over and over again by your posts, your comments, and your friendship. I'm constantly amazed at the brilliant minds, the outrageous humor, and the soul-bearing honesty in this place. It's true that you never know where life is going to take you, but thank God we're still in control of where we hang out hearts. The Bible says to store up treasures in heaven, because your heart is going to be where your treasure is. Sometimes, though, you hit a pot of gold right here in the middle of the madness, and God knows that I treasure all of you. If a part of my heart's going to wander in this realm for a while it needs to be where it can laugh. You've helped to make the strangest year of my life one of the most fun. Thank you.
The Best Treasure
by John J. Moment
There are veins in the hills where jewels hide,
And gold lies buried deep;
There are harbor-towns where the giant ships ride,
And fame and fortune sleep;
But land and sea though we tireless rove,
And follow each trail to the end,
Whatever the wealth of our treasure-trove,
The best we shall find is a friend.
