2018 Joy Journal

February 23, 2018 Got to hug Angela this morning. The bowling party is coming together. I did get to see Tyler to tell him that I'd heard from his teacher.  Talked to Beverly for five minutes yesterday morning. Zak made Vivian an anniversary dinner. Pics in FB Joy Journal. Texted with Noah a little bit about his soccer game, and his practices, etc. He has practice 3x a week, so he did get to rest up after the game. Kennedy had a great time at her Thursday night dinner. 

January 26 So, I cut my time in here short yesterday and went and walked the mall with Bertice. It was a good walk and talk.  Angela, after I'd told her that I should get to have a CAC afternoon, but found myself thinking I should do other things: "I hope you get to do whatever makes you happy."  Beverly planted a garden yesterday. Saw Kennedy and John for a quick minute.  Beth called to tell me something funny. Zak answered my text, and so did Noah. Noah made the soccer team! Beat out someone for the striker position who has been playing a lot longer than he has. Said he didn't know until he saw his name on the list what it felt like to have that feeling of "is this really real?"

January 12, 2018 Angela and Kennedy came over for a little visit last night, and we looked at some of the old books we've gotten at the estate sale, and had fun talking about them.  Beverly and I got to have a little phone visit. The cable guy visit went just fine, and she has internet now, so that's good. J.A. is doing some of the onboarding things, so he's a little bored but should be back working sometime this week.  Saw Beth on Facebook a little bit --- pictures of Sammy.  Amber texted me back and so did Zak. We talked to Noah to wish him happy birthday.  Tyler and I had a little bit of a rough night, but it ended on a good note, so that's the good part. 

February 7, 2018 Barry came in, all excited, "I think I've found us a piece of property!" And, I think he has.  Jaden is here this morning while Chelsea takes the third part of her G.E.D. He's with Papa. :-) Got to hug Angela. She said she had to spend twenty minutes look for her card, which she had put in the pocket of her other jacket, even though she never does that.  Heard back from Tori. She is going to call me tonight.  Heard from Morgan. She said that she got to have some quality time with Zak this weekend, and she was happy about that. Heard from Kennedy, and got to get hugs from her last night. She was tired --- had spent the whole day on her feet, sanding the pieces for Pensacon. Barry and I went gallavanting yesterday, which was the plan, and had a good day. We went to Shoe Station, and I have some cute new shoes, and we went to the good Asian place for lunch and I had a delicious blueberry martini, and we went to the pet store and stocked up...

March 14 2018 Bella came out with Angela yesterday and then stayed with me for a while. Ange mentioned that Bella liked soft places so I put a pillow on the floor her. She came out with Ange again this morning, and after she'd had her treat and Angela had left for work, just settled in on her pillow.  I got to see Shawn yesterday. He said he was sorry he didn't have any news to tell me, but there wasn't really much to talk about. I had been working in the 2016 Joy Journal and so did have some fun things to talk to him about.  I just got a text from Valerie! She is going to call me tomorrow. :-)  Saw Andrew a little bit on Facebook. He liked my comment about Talk Like a Pirate Day.  Just quick blown kisses exchange with Beverly. Got to see Angela this morning. She's expecting a busy day, since they're on call.  Kennedy may be over today to borrow one of my cameras to help take pictures at a friend's wedding.  Talked to Beth for a little bit....

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. 

May 15, 2016 I am finally getting some real writing time this morning, and I am so happy about it. I just even feel different. I feel a little stressed because I got sidetracked with some tennis emails and have gotten myself off schedule, but I'm going to go ahead and claim my writing time. I can tell by the physical change in my sense of peace that I need the time. Got to visit on the phone with Beverly for a few minutes last night, when I called to thank her for my Mother's Day card. She's waiting to see if she can take a couple of days off so she can come home for a whole week.  Got to see Angela this morning, and get some hugs.  I'd had a little memory about Zak and sent him a text about it. I heard back from him, and he thanked us for his graduation gift and said that he was lucky to have such a supportive family.  Heard back from Shawn.  Heard back from Evan. Faith asked if she and a friend could come night swim, which would have been fun if the ...

May 24, 2018 I don't know. Maybe that's one way to look at it. We'll see. Anyway. Got to spend some time with Annette yesterday, helping her get set up in her new version of Quick Books. And some vist-y time. She said that Skyler was already done with school. Sky was on AB honor roll for the last two quarters and had done well enough in her classes that she didn't have to take her EQTs. Andrew will be home this weekend but on for about 48 hours. He told her he could stay out there through the weekend so his per diem would kick in, but she told him to forget that. They're both ready for him to be home. Got to have a nice relaxed visit with Angela last night after she got home from work. Someone left their office, went to McDonald's and called to relay some troubling symptoms. Should they come back? "No," Angela told them. "Call an ambulance." The man was having a stroke. Dr. Elliot was going to go up after work to check on him. Heard ...

June 15, 2018 Barry's check up with Dr. Jacobs went well yesterday. We learned that clogged arteries can be reduced with exercise that gets your HDL up to 45.  There are things in the office that need to be done, and I'll probably start my 12:30 session out there, but it isn't too bad.  Andrew called Annette while she was here yesterday morning, and he said that he loves me.  She said, re: her Quickbooks, "I just need my Vickie to come home." I think I'll start signing my cards to her "your Vickie." She's really getting the hang of figuring Quickbooks out herself, and it was fun to see her happy about that. She said Brittany is in a really good place, and that she went to talk to her professors to tell them she was burnt out and find out what she could do to accelerate her graduation date. She'll present in January and get her Master's in May.  Beverly sent me a text that she misses me. Maybe she'll call this morning. A...

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...

July 11, 2018 Well, I'm home. Barry was really happy to see me yesterday, and still happy this morning. Morning hug, when I asked him how he was doing, he said, "I'm good now. My girlfriend's home." I said, "We were meant to be together, weren't we?" And he said, "Yes, we were."  I thought I heard a stirring the driveway and immediately thought that maybe it was Angela's car, but of course it is not. She had sent me text messages every morning, or had tried, her phone didn't send them, but she told me about them when we talked last night. "I didn't want you to think I had forgotten about our morning hugs," she said.  She said that she sent in one resume just because it would be so much fun.... diving with manatees. And another one at a zoo. She sounded really excited.  The Vero visits were nice, although I really only spent time with Kim and Johnny and with Milt and Sandy. I did get to make three trips to down...

October 19, 2018 Had a most excellent day yesterday, with exercise, and work for the Melton Center and the CAC.  Heard from Angela this morning. Texted with Morgan some. She's glad I'm coming over Tuesday, so that we'll still get our once a week visit.  Heard back from Zak. In my text to him, I mentioned a picture I'd seen on Facebook and asked if that's like what he was working on in Foley. He said that it wasn't, and sent me a picture of what he had been working on.  Heard from Vivian. She put up the tile backsplash in their kitchen yesterday. Heard from Noah. I'd asked him if the cooler weather made it even more fun to play soccer. He said, "Yes! In fact, about an hour ago my club team played a friendly match against one of the younger teams and it felt so much better with the cool air out." Heard from Annette. They don't have Skyler's test results back yet. Got to talk to Beverly for just a quick minute. Little Facebo...

September 17, 2018 Tori and Angela called last night so we got to talk to them. They had spent most of Sunday working and studying, but seemed to be happy. Angela has her work badge and everything and is just waiting for an official start date.  Beth called just to visit, and that made me happy. Linda is settled in her new apartment and she and Beth were going to go grocery shopping.  Beverly and I talked last night. She will be doing her first solo cases this morning. Vivian and Zak started moving into Monteil Court on Sunday.  Chris came over and worked on Phew! and tore out most of the kitchen. We decided to pull up the floor and came to some newspaper that had been put down .... in 1937! Tyler came with him on Saturday and was a big help. We saw Evan at Waffle House, but didn't see Jaden. 

August 20, 2018 Second Sunday Supper ---- the house was filled with the love and laughter of those who could be with us.  My cookies made me so sad. Brittany had asked if we were going to have some, and so I sent her a text and told her how badly they'd turned out, that they might be o.k. for crumbles on Vanilla ice cream, but not good as cookies. She offered to pick some ice cream up for me which she did, and I tried to reimburse her, but she wouldn't let me.  Andrew called while Annette was still here, so I got to hear his voice, anyway. He sounded really tired, and I remembered her saying that their phone calls are always short, so I didn't keep him on the phone long.  She said that he'd had a good lunch with Granddad and Nana, and that after he'd paid for lunch, Granddad joked that if he'd known Andrew was going to do that, he might would have ordered something more expensive.  Annette took care of the rolls for me.  John had to work,...