Remembering

It has been an active weekend that has definitely kicked off summertime.  I mentioned to my husband that it just felt like Oklahoma summer but I couldn't put my finger on exactly what was different.  He knew, immediately.  

The dust. 

Not the dust like the Grapes of Wrath or anything unpleasant.  He meant the dust that comes from warm air in a dry spell that kicks up with the wind and makes the air feel like life, itself.  But not like new life, the way it is in the spring.  More like life in your prime, when you are strong and vigorous and learning the joy of not being the youngest, anymore.  But not being the oldest, either.  The kind of day and the time of life that so many of our fallen veterans were when they made the ultimate sacrifice.  Lost forever in their glory days, leaving behind grief stricken parents, shocked siblings and heart broken mates. 

For us.  So that we have the freedom and opportunity to live out our own summers carefree and optimistic about our future and the future of our country.  I could go on and on about the wonderful things our veterans have defended but I don't need to.  The people who read my blog are fully aware of the gifts we have received, the sacrifices that have been made and, importantly, that none of what we have is certain or pre-ordained. 

Thank God for our troops, in the past and in the future.  God bless them and their families. 

We celebrated my father-in-law's 85th birthday on Saturday.  He is a veteran.   He served on submarines in the Pacific during WWII.   He is the one that they said was filled with cancer, two months ago.  But then, it turned out, he wasn't.  After being sent to the cancer center, they discovered no cancer, anywhere - just a really nasty gall bladder that had to come out (can you imagine the stress all that caused??).  He is healing up, nicely, although impatient at what he considers slow progress.  As soon as the doctor gave him the okay to drive, he was out for several hours running the weed eater.

They don't make 'em like that anymore. 

My sister-in-law made a fabulous birthday cake:

It tasted as good as it looked.

And along with the other veterans, thanks for your service, dad.   And Happy Birthday, you handsome thing!

Happy Quilting, Penny, Evelyn and Pearl