MOTHER'S DAY - 2008 The Count-Down Begins

Great day yesterday! The Sweet girls took over the salon in Grand Rapids that my sisters frequent. Our beautiful daughters Kristen and Colleen are the next generation of Sweet girls so they of course had to be part of the mix and there are "no flies on them" when it comes to having a good time and partying down. Nothing but laughter, jokes, pampering and remembering. A healthy dose of mimosas to get us started and delicious fruit parfaits in case our energy flagged. It started out as a rallying of support for the eldest Sweet girl getting her long hair clipped, but evolved into everyone having something altered, primped, polished or massaged. Hmmmm sounds rather naughty - but seriously it was all women! Then as Kathleen still wasn't done-GEEZ-we adjourned to the Sports Bar next door for some munchies and whatever. Well we were hungry!

Then on to the Davis' new abode in Spring Lake for massive injections of exotic cocktails coupled with barbecue in between booing the Ti-gres as they lost another one. For some reason we got into taking a shot every time someone would use the word, ahh, ahh, "di----hea". Well if you were there, you know. Amazing how many times various members could slide or slither (eww) that word into the conversation. At one point a cocktail was upset which led to the already hyper Jack Russell lapping up the rug - for FIFTEEN MINUTES! We hoped it would slow him down a little. As they were replacing the carpet on Wednesday, we felt no qualms about the various "accidents" that we were encouraged to have. No, no one wet the rug, we were just a little sloppy. Very quiet ride home, but fortunately our designated driver is a pop-aholic so we were good.

Today Burt and I went to church together so when they "blessed" the Mothers, I didn't look unwed - LOL. Offered the moment to my own Mother who we all still see and remember in various ways. Happy Mother's Day Mom- I miss you.

MAY MEANS MOTHERS DAY

Well it is almost Mother's Day when this time last year, our Mother began her last journey. None of us knew it was her last of course. That would have spoiled her surprise. We continued to visit and laugh and push and pull and ask her advice. She gave it. Oh she crabbed a little more, ok a lot more, but the laughter would ring out when we would visit so much the nurses would poke their heads in to see what was going on. Because you see, laughter is not a commodity one finds very often in a hospital or a nursing home.

She came through crisis after crisis. She pushed to be a part of the events of the summer - wedding, birthdays..... She tried but she got tired. We asked her to stay one more month, one more day but she had other plans. She left at the height of Fall's beauty and was buried on a day that rivaled summer's warmth. Each event since she passed has been marked by her presence-one way or another. For me it's butterflies. We daughters keep the torch lit and the procession intact.

But it's Mothers Day again and we remember.

MAYDAY

It has been pointed out to me that I have not posted in a while. Not really lack of adventures. Lack of ambition? Too many gimlets? Lack of the muse? Pick one-we will tabulate the answers and post the results. Anyway.

Spring has sprung-say that cautiously as we never know where Mother Nature could be lurking or the Tooth Fairy or the neighborhood perv I suppose. Let's see-spent some time in Florida in March. Nice thing about fair skin-only takes an hour or two on the beach to produce color- owww! But it's starting to fade-bring me some sun! Did you know they have wineries in Florida? Well neither did we. Yes, flea markets, air boats,horrible drivers, gridlock and palm trees, but wineries? Actually they seem to focus on the fruity side, well duhhhh. Problem was, we had to literally drink a bottle a night as we did not want to take chances on packing fruity, cloying liquids amongst our dirty underwear. Made the evenings much more entertaining though.

Decided to beat the early bird rush/lineup one night by going to dinner at 8:30. Works-no waiting, however they are "out of everything". Did sit there one night amidst a tremendous clatter and table shaking as the latest landing of the Challenger made it's way back to the Cape. Very cool. Though actually I just thought it was the ancient air conditioning kicking in.

Hit the last Tigers exhibition game in Lakeland which they sailed through 14-5 and then they went on to lose 7 in a row. Things have improved since then. At the moment, Pistons are up 3-2, RedWings 3-0 and Tigers are ahead 4-3-COOLLLLL.