2018 Joy Journal

January 7 Laughter all over the house. Morgan and Brandon at the kitchen table.  Beverly called at suppertime and got to tell Noah, "Happy Birthday." Skyler took the pictures. Angela and Kennedy helped clean up. Vivian said she saved the cards I wrote for her and Zak's ornaments. Andrew re Tori: Is she coming home? She needs to come home.

March 8, 2018 Beverly called yesterday morning and we got to talk for just a minute.  Shawn called and the phone system finally worked, so we got to visit for a minute.  Heard from Tori --- she was having a pop tart for dessert, so I had to ask about supper. She reported having had a healthy supper.  Heard from Evan --- he has to go to a concert Sunday and write a review. Heard from Kennedy --- she is busy, busy, busy in these days leading up to spring break, but she's looking forward to spring break and spending some time in the shop.  Fun text from Brittany --- trying to make sure her mom is at Second Sunday Supper without spilling the secret.  Vivian's RSVP --- "We love you, Grannie, and thank you for all that you do for us." Kim sent me a copy of Noah's schedule. Barry and I went and did a walk through of our new camper yesterday. I think it is going to work perfectly for what we want most of the time.  Angela's Facebook message thi...

March 19, 2018 The weather is nice enough that I am able to leave the writing shack door open, and I'm enjoying the bird sounds. I like to think that Bentley and Bella, who are hanging out with me, are enjoying the fresh air, too.  So I got hugs from Angela this morning. We got to visit with Tori and Josh this weekend --- they came in for Kayla's shower. Tori said her project launch went well, although sales seem to be going more slowly than they'd hoped.  Andrew laughed at the pie-rate joke I shared on his timeline. Beverly called Barry while we were on our way home from dinner so we talked to her on his truck's bluetooth thing. She'd finished up her weekend and is on her schedule so will have this week off.  Heard back from Faith. She was having a busy Saturday, getting ready for her prom. Zak and Vivian went to Houston and are having a good time. Vivian's 21st birthday was Saturday, so there are some fun pictures and greetings in the Facebook J...

April 4, 2018 Angela, laughing, about trying to retrain Bentley and then deciding that it just didn't matter. She's excited this morning about her trip to Tampa to see Tori.  Barry and I had dinner last night with Vivian and Zak and Beth and then went to see the property. Zak and Barry and I went down on to the beach part, and Zak gave me hug. He likes the woods, too. There were things we laughed about at dinner that I wanted to remember for the joy journal, but I've forgotten already. 

June 20, 2018 Beth called last night and we got to have a nice phone visit. She said that Zak and Vivian are going to move into the house in September and that the conversations with Rachel about that were easy. She said Zak won't know until late August how his Chevron interview went, but that he wore the suit they got him, and the watch she got him for graduation. She said he was so cute when he opened it --- put it right on and said, "I can wear this to my interview!"  Angela went to Shrimp Basket for supper with us. (Note to me, she does not like seafood. She had the red beans and rice, but she didn't eat a lot of it, so I'm not sure if she liked it.) Anyway, she told us about the Amazon Fire stick, or something like that, and she and Barry talked about Science Fiction shows, etc.  Heard back from Tori. My July stop in at their place might work, or they might be on their way to California to visit Beverly and JA. Heard from Morgan. We're going to h...

June 25, 2018 Writing shack time is important to my well-being for a lot of reasons that I am only just now beginning to understand, so I am glad that I have it, and that I should soon be able to resume it. It keeps me connected to myself, and reassures me that I am weighing in on how my life and my moments are spent, that I have some control over my days and my destiny. This lightning strike is making it hard, and making me realize what I lost.  Andrew came by to see me this morning, and stayed and visited for a little bit. I was really glad to see him, and glad he had time to talk to me and tell me how things are going. He said that he's an engineer, but that he wasn't raised that way, so he talks to everybody, and the people at Disney like him and like working with him, and like the way he talks. They tell him it has to be better somewhere else and he tells them that it is, that all they have to do is get over those mountains. They did get him a project manager, which s...