Eight

Eight years ago today I married my best friend. I don't think I realized how rare that is. How few people that actually happens to. This year, there is just too much to say. I can't seem to summon the words to express how important R and his love for me is.

We have a tradition on our anniversary to get cake from the bakery who made our wedding cake. I have my own tradition of pulling out our wedding program and re-reading it. I do not ever finish it without tears in my eyes. Our program was a book, really. With all the song titles, wedding party details that you typically see. In addition, ours had all the readings, prayers, etc. written out for those in attendance to follow along. I do not often flaunt my faith or religion....but today, because I am struggling for the words....I'm going to copy down the final blessing the Priest read at our wedding. For whatever reason, it is very prophetic this year. How lucky we are, indeed.

May almighty God, with his word of blessing, unite your hearts in the never ending bond of pure love.

May your children bring you happiness, and may your generous love for them be returned to you, many times over.

May the peace of Christ live always in your hearts and in your home. May you have true friends to stand by you, both in joy and in sorrow. May you be ready and willing to help and comfort all who come to you in need. And may the blessings promised to the compassionate be yours in abundance.

May you find happiness and satisfaction in your work. May daily problems never cause you undue anxiety, nor the desire for earthly possessions dominate your lives. But may your hearts' first desire be always the good things waiting for you in the life of heaven.

May the Lord bless you with many happy years together, so that you may enjoy the rewards of a good life. And after you have served him loyally in his kingdom on Earth, may he welcome you to his kingdom in heaven.

May almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Funky town

I have a great post rolling around in my head. I've tried to write it a couple times, but it's just not flowing....

I'm in a bit of a state right now. I'm calling it Funky Town, though I don't hear any disco music.

R has been given a full release from the surgeon and the cardiologist. I am thrilled beyond belief, yet my fear that something else is going to happen is almost paralyzing. I think part of the problem is that he's healed....but I don't think I ever did. Maybe now that he is, I can start. Let's hope, right?

A very good friend is in ICU following surgery to remove the cancer in her colon.

I gotta tell you, I've had my fill of hospitals these last 3 months. Seriously.

I've signed up for NaBloPoMo - if only to try to jump start my way out of the place I'm in.

BOOKS!

I saw this memey thingamabobber on Zoot's site and since I'm completely without blog fodder today....well, I figured I'd post my version. There are some kick ass books on here. Sadly, though, I think there are a hell of a lot of kick ass books not even listed. I would say 75% of those that are "to be read" have already been purchased and are sitting in the office waiting for me to open them.

Enjoy the list....I'd love to hear any thoughts you have on it.

Do any of you ever have books you read many many years ago pop into your head for no reason? Today it was Flowers For Algernon for me. Strange.

Anyway, on with the list.

Bold those you’ve read.
Italicize books you have started but couldn’t finish.
Add an asterisk* to those you have read more than once.
Underline those on your To Be Read list.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi: A Novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

Catching Up

I missed National De-Lurking Day. If you happen to be the lurking, non-comment-leaving type reader, I guess you can wait until next year to comment. Lucky you!

Booger participated in her school's Track-a-Thon yesterday. It's the only all-school fund raiser of the year and I sent in my money pleased beyond belief that we don't have the angst of seventeen fund raisers. I know some children who arrived home from school the first day with fund raising sheets in hand. Magazines I won't read, overpriced little tiny whatevers that look amazing in the catalog. Hell, half the time I order stuff and never get it. I have been meaning to give them a fund raising budget at the beginning of the year. $20 per kid and they pick which fund raiser gets my cash. Or they keep the cash. I don't really care. I simply hate the fact that we make our kids do this crap. It sucks saying no to a kid. But, come on. Most of the stuff they have to peddle is crap. When I was in High School, our band sold 2 things a year. Chocolate bars and citrus. These were tradition and people actually came to you so they could order. The chocolate bars are still a nostalgic favorite for me. We didn't sell wrapping paper, magazines, candles, or other stuff. I would like to propose that schools/organizations only be allowed to sell the following things: chocolate and girl scout cookies. The end. The rest should all simply be cash donations. Don't you think you'd get a better net result if you were able to accept money? People don't want or need the crap you're selling. Besides, the stuff is usually at least fifteen bucks. If you could just take donations, a dollar here and there would add up faster. At least I think so. I could be completely wrong, I guess. Any thoughts?

The reason I started that story was to tell you that the kids run laps around the track. The class with the most laps wins. With each completed lap, they receive a rubber band to wear around their wrist. Booger ended the day with 10 rubber bands. TEN! That's 2.5 miles, can you believe it!

The Journey - Life 2.0 is progressing with a speed I really didn't expect. R went back to work today. 11 weeks ago today our old life ended and this new one began. I thought that old life was good. Great, even. But I've got to tell you....this new life? SO GOOD. We spent the last 11 weeks ago pretty much all together all the time. I thought for sure we'd be driving each other batshit crazy by now. Instead, we have a new sense of purpose. A rejuvenated sense of togetherness that I find so much comfort in. I am still a bit too over-protective and very leery of R doing many everyday things. Cutting the grass, for example. We've had many friends come by to help with it and I'm so grateful. He's playing tennis again, just at a slower pace for right now. With cooler weather coming, I'm anticipating evening walks as a family....I plan to cherish every moment of this gift. Please don't take your spouse or loved one for granted. Love them every minute of every day.

Operation job hunt is still sucking. I'm hoping something, anything comes up soon. I'm planning to meet with some agencies next week. That should help. Depending on what I find will depend on how many classes I enroll in. Regardless, I will be enrolling. I promise! Not sure what degree I'll end up with....one step at a time, right?