and a partridge in a pear tree

Here we are, speeding toward Christmas and, while there are no presents, there is lots of room for the spirit to move freely.  BG and I are spending the holidays together as roomies so that we're all closer together as a family in what will most likely be our last with my parents living in the log cabin that we call home.  I could go on and on about how sad it all makes me, but I'm choosing instead to think about possibilities and look ahead.  During the past week our collective emotional sum has just about popped off the charts in multiple categories.  It's what I like to call "hittin' the wall".  Oh, you know.  It's when all of a sudden you realize that you're fighting a war that can't be won, so you  compromise in some respect by going with the flow and transitioning.

We act as a partner with a local cancer clinic and have done so for  years.  Each and every Wednesday lots of people from West Tennessee come there rather than driving to Memphis for chemo and/or radiation.  I was in that rotation for YEARS until I couldn't take any more and had to opt out when the opportunity came up.  Some of the most beautiful yet painful relationships in my life have been forged with cancer patients and their families.  I see them in the offices and hospital and I know who's kin to who and how most of them are doing.  Today I ran into a older woman with whom I became friends during her elderly dad's treatment.  He was in his eighties and she took care of him AND her husband who had been diagnosed as well.  She was there today, gazing out into space and I caught her eye.  Her face lit up when she recognized me and we hugged and chatted about how long it had been since her daddy died.  BG's elementary school teacher was there, one of the "team" that got stuck with a very freaked out fifth grader when her mom and dad split up.  One of them actually cried when I told her.

As expected I didn't win any photography awards because...hey.  I've got a shitty room for improvement camera.  Very automatic, if you know what I mean.  Point and shoot.  There are so many times when my friend and I drive around looking at landscape and I make him stop so I can take a picture.  They never turn out as beautiful as the real deal, ya know?  If the bills work out next year, maybe I can swing a decent one.  I think it would be a very good investment :)

I hope your days are merry bright, your nights cozy and warm and your hearts full of love and peace.

Merry Christmas from the lane ^j^