Every Day Matters

Lynn Devine Smith

.....my sister Lynn died yesterday morning of kidney failure. She was 64 and had been ill for a long time. She lived near Las Vegas. Our "good sister", Debbie, was there for a week before Lynn died and I am sure she was a great comfort to everyone.

Some photos:

Lynn and I in our Uncle John's garden at Easter - she was 3, I was 7. I still remember us complaining about how itchy those dresses were!

All the Devine siblings at Lisa's wedding in 1986. Left to right: Lynn, John, me, David, and Debbie. Lisa is Lynn's oldest child.

 

Lynn (right) and I in 2007 when she came to visit me at the beach.

Rest in peace.

 

Charlie is 5 today!

These five years have gone so fast and I have so many wonderful memories. I often look at my photos of Charlie and get such pleasure from all of the time I have spent with him over these years. Each picture holds a precious memory.

Charlie is the sweetest, kindest little boy, always with a smile on his face. I love him beyond measure.

Then:

 

And now:

13 years ago

 What a great day! Happy Anniversary....

Christmas 2013.....

....was definitely an improvement over last year. It has come and gone so fast. The kids were delightful, especially Charlie, who was soooo excited. Clara loved the Disney Band and danced with such verve! We laughed a LOT.

We were at Laura and Ken's on Christmas Eve and all of us were back in PA the next day to celebrate at Debbie's.

Panorama shot at Debbie's house

Bob and I at Longwood Gardens the week before Christmas

One very happy child, one very unhappy!

Now I can concentrate on worrying about my CT scan next week. I am a wreck.

 

this and that, unrelated musings

Gee, it has been almost three weeks since I posted here. Hope my hundreds (yeah, right) of followers were not checking the obits!

Summer is over....sigh....and my babies have made their last visit of the season. I enjoyed every moment they were here. I cannot see enough of them. They are, without a doubt, my best medicine.

I am still at the beach, for another few weeks, and have been working hard every day doing cleanup/cleanout/catch-up/housekeeping projects. A lot of boring and tiring jobs, to be sure everything is in order....it's my "control freak" persona. I know  that the reason I am doing these chores is because I am afraid I will never be back here - or feeling well enough to do much of anything.

After Hurricane Sandy last fall, I am concerned, like everyone else in South Bethany, about our ground-level areas, which were under 14 inches of water. So I have been working in our storage area, putting everything up above that level. Lots of stuff hanging from hooks on the walls or perched atop other things.

Another cleanout project is iPhoto...I have over 2400 photos and videos on my computer, many of which are precious to me. So I am weeding them out, slowly but surely. There were 3500 photos when I started, so I am making progress! This is what I do at night when I am totally exhusted from working so hard all day....and I watch the new shows on TV...thank goodness the fall season has started!

Speaking of TV, I absolutely LOVED The Blacklist with James Spader. What a great new show!  And he is perfect for the part.

I am going to PA next week for three days. While there I will see my dear friend Grace, who lives in France and is visiting her daughter in Wilmington.  And I will probably be buying a new car.....same as the one I have now, which is 6 years old. I have put off even thinking about a new car because I wonder if I will be around long enough to make it worthwhile. Same with a new computer.....It is so hard not to think like this, about anything that is long term. I cannot think about making plans or getting my hopes up, because I do not want these hopes to be dashed if I am not well enough to carry out my plans. As my friend Lisa said, being alive is not always enough. So I get through my days by just trying to take everything in, every day, because the future is so uncertain.

Charlie thought this was a pirate ship.....he loves pirates

Here's our curly girl

catching up via photos

These last three weeks have been so busy that I have had no energy to sit down at night and compose a blog post. So here are a few photos of what's been going on.

Laura, Ken, and the children were with us for ten days at the beach (more or less, minus the 5 days Ken was not there!). A week after they left, I visited them and am still here...returning to the beach tomorrow.

on the boardwalk:

Clara posing. She is usually a blur because she rarely stops moving!

We went to the National Zoo on Monday for Clara's birthday. Charlie loved the map and thought he was our guide.

Charlie got his first library card this week. He loves to carry it around and last night he slept with it!

Yesterday Bob and I took Clara out for lunch in Centreville. She was very well-behaved.

Charlie and I went to Starbucks today (his suggestion!):

Charlie asked me to take their picture - they are my two sources of unending joy:

 

Happy times at the beach

We have been so busy....I was at Laura and Ken's for several days, then they were all here for the holiday weekend.

3 generations again

beach "grands"

Clara the movie star

Charlie loves flying his kite

They love to go to the nearby park

Sharing my iPhone...they never tire of looking at my photos and videos.

June 14!!!

How could it already be June 14th?

I have no excuses for not posting except that I have been really busy getting settled in at the beach, and going back and forth to Wilmington for a doctor's appointment and an eye procedure.

My doctor visit was routine...it is at the end of the month that I have a CT scan and get the results of that. I am already anxious.

My eye procedure was to correct a problem with "narrow angles", a kind of pre-glaucoma. The glaucoma specialist actually pokes a hole in the iris, using a laser, which allows the aqueous fluid (not tears) to drain so that one's eye does not "explode" and cause loss of vision. The procedure took ten seconds!

The "kids" were here last weekend. It was mostly rainy but we did manage a couple of hours on the beach. Charlie is coming on Sunday and the rest of the family will join him here at the end of the week. We are going to do a "handover" halfway between our houses.

Below: Charlie looking for shells and Clara checking her stash of stones

 

 

 

 

catching up

I have been working hard at the beach house, especially cleaning the exterior which seems to be a never-ending job. I took a break and just spent a few days with these wonderful kids:

 

Lots of outdoor fun...Charlie loves to ride his new bike and Clara loves to ride on Ken's bike or in the red wagon. Laura and Ken had their lot sprayed for mosquitoes and it makes a huge difference. All of their neighbors do the same thing. We did not see one mosquito, anywhere!

While I was gone, we lost our sweet Logan, my sister Debbie's Golden. Very sad. She joins a long line of our family's Goldens who have gone on to doggie heaven. Laura's blog has photos (You will have to copy and paste): http://laurakurz.typepad.com/on/2013/05/today-is-one-of-those-days-when-you-hope-theres-a-heaven.html

I go to PA next week for a few days to see my oncologist and have my eye procedure done (a hole punched in the iris in order to allow the aqueous humor/fluid to drain, otherwise my eye could literally burst from the built-up pressure and I would lose my vision).

It's always something!

Weekend Celebrating

          Happy Mothers' Day and Happy (college) Graduation for Devin

The years have flown much too fast....our little girl is finished with college!

and here is our new "3 generations" photo from Mothers' Day