Skip Along....

Well, as I said on my post yesterday, "So much for continuity!" I'm surprised I managed to do 7 days of Thankfulness before time really got the better of me and dragged me down a bit! I did do a Day 10 on Facebook yesterday though -in which I gave thanks for my Mom, who left this earth 34 years ago this past October but yesterday, had she lived, it would have been her 104th birthday. I wish she could have lived long enough to have seen her grandchildren grow into the adults they are today and even more, I wish she could have seen her great-grandchildren -Alex, Maya and Kurtis! How proud she would have been to have known them. But we all know that expression about wishing -in one hand and what have you in the other -I am still very thankful that she did know my children even though the time span there was way to short. She and I had what was often a very confrontational relationship and rarely a day went by that we didn't have a fight or argument over something or other. It was often a very upsetting part of my life with her but you know what it is I miss the most now, even after 34 years without her? Of course! Those damned arguments! Today, I'm thankful for them as in many instances they provide some darned good fodder for stupid things then that are funny as all get out when I think of them today. And Lord knows, more often than not, what I really need is a darned good laugh or at least a chuckle or two now and then. Yesterday -November 10th -was also the birthday of my youngest cousin on my Mom's side -my "little" cousin, Becky and today, November 11th -just so happens to be Becky's older sister's birthday, my cousin Sue! And because of that, I'm thankful today for birthdays and those of all my cousins -way too many to name but they're a great group of people and I love each and every one of them dearly! It's been a very rough week -actually pretty much the whole month thus far for me. I don't know what's wrong exactly but I've been feeling really low and pretty crappy. Not sick, just uncomfortable -knots in my stomach, just having to force myself to do things I have to do, and I hate feeling like that. Last week, a good friend of mine was laid to rest. Tonight, I learned another very good and dear friend of mine has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and that really put me in a tailspin for sure. We've been good friends since first grade -in other words, over 60 years now -and for about the last 14 years, have kept in fairly regular contact every week or two via e-mail. She was one of the biggest supporters -usually first to respond to our class reunion announcements with her check for her and her husband to be there with our classmates. Thinking of this, of her, of the friend who went to his rest last week and so many more people I've known and loved over the years who were friends, I'm extremely thankful then tonight for each of them and how much their friendships meant to me. Add to those numbers -which are many -those people on my friends list today -from Facebook to Blogging, to old school days friends, to those I met from various types of employment I've had over the years and to those who are my good neighbor friends too -there's nothing like having good friends to count on along life's way! And if that isn't something for which to be grateful and give many, many thanks, I just don't know what is! Peace!