Happy Heavenly Birthday Son!

Good morning son! And I do mean, good morning! It's 4:00 a.m. Why am I up so early you may ask? Probably because I laid on my hind end all day yesterday and watched the entire 5 episodes of Jeanette Oakes Love Comes Softely series. Well, I did get up and down through out and did some mini projects, but the heavy moving of things and painting eight foot walls has come to an end. Dad and I have put in quite a couple of weeks and it was drippy and cold yesterday so we drank coffee, relaxed, talked, watched the movies and did odds and ends. A perfect Fall day. But, to counter balance that, my body said this morning at actually 1:10 a.m. I'm rested and ready to get up. I managed to fool it off and on and make it until 4:00 but that was it. I couldn't fool it any longer. Just about the time I got stretched out on the couch to check out Facebook, here came dad with Jamison right on his heels. So, I decided to chat with you instead as Jamison goes back to sleep and dad checks out the Ducks score on the Internet.

October 2, 2012

Tuesday, October 2nd will mark your first heavenly birthday. I know you know that! I'm just saying I can't believe it's been a year. What happened to this last year? If I had to actually give a time line for this last year I don't think I could. Oh I know the "main events" but what happened all the time in-between? Those minutes and seconds. I know you've heard me say it before, but time is moving so fast. (Just a side note, Jamison is asleep on the end of the couch and is snoring. Must mean all is well.) He is such a comfort to both dad and I. God is so wise. He even cares about and knows the exact time to add a pet to our lives. How amazing is that!

As dad and I were talking about this last year yesterday it occurred to me that I've been perfectly content these last several weeks to just be at home. I've not cared if I've left the house. As you know, I've been working on all the projects I have backed up and they're getting done one by one. Dad and I are both content. He's right there beside me when I say, "I'd like to do this" and away we go. Yesterday I cleaned up and painted a mirror someone had tossed in the trash when they left. It fits perfectly on the wall behind dad's chair. It took more cleaning than painting. I think the tape and stickers all over it had been "burned" into it by the sun, but I managed to get it all cleaned up, added a coat of my signature blue paint and it worked perfectly. I painted the small, round oak table at the same time. I have it between two chairs in front of one of the windows in my studio. I still have work to do on the chairs but they'll get done. But anyway, dad and I were talking at some point yesterday about how in just a few short weeks since I've been home we've managed to turn the house into a home. I didn't realize how much I hadn't done in the last year. We sit in the living room now with it's blue accent walls and as I add piece by piece we feel more and more like home. As you know, dad's favorite picture is the "Roses" great-grandma painted and gave to dad. I usually hang that first thing but it's been 40 years and "several" moves and that poor frame and picture was showing some real wear and tear. As do we! So I took the picture from the frame, scrubbed the frame really well, added a coat of gold glaze to the entire frame, re-inserted the picture and ta da. It's beautiful. I hung it between the two living room windows and it's perfect. I told dad yesterday, "I think I'm 'nesting'". I'm finally feeling like I have the time to make this a home for dad and I. We've scrubbed and cleaned and vacuumed and washed windows, polished floors (still need to do the studio), painted, hung curtains....today, the Fall decor appears!

Aaron Matthew Jamison - After God's own heart.

You'll be happy to know that as all of this has taken place over the last several weeks, and no, I'm not through. Are you kidding? This is your mom you talking to. Well, actually I'm "talking" to you, but it doesn't really matter. I mean this is our conversation and we just let people share from the sidelines. Just between you and me, I hope they get the fact that I'm not actually having a conversation with you. This is just from my heart to your heart.  Anyway, as I was saying, you'll be happy to know that as I've been making changes one thing I took particular note of was that I am slowly but surely removing items from the "Aaron shrine" I had unwittingly created on the mantel. Oh hush! I know you don't like that. I didn't even realize I had done it. As I was taking things off the mantel so I could paint I realized what I had done. I had several pictures, your first hammer, your baby shoes, your "Choose Joy" bracelet, your teapot, and some some of your books. I caught myself smiling and thinking, "I'd best get some of this stuff off here or Aaron is going to be_ _ _ _ _ _ when he sees it". So, now, those things are dispersed throughout the house and we have your picture in the living room. I think your dad is wearing the Choose Joy bracelet again and he doesn't think I've noticed. We'll just let him have his little secret.

You dad has always said, "the only thing constant in life is change". I think he's right. Life really is about change; some good, some bad. Some good choices, some bad choices. God doesn't promise us a perfect life. God doesn't promise us life...as you well know. But God does promise us that through it all He will be right there beside us. It's funny, all my life I was taught that faith is based on fact, not feeling. During this pas year I can honestly say I didn't feel God close to me. I don't think I felt God at all. But the fact is, God was right there beside me the entire time. I know because He said he would be. What was dad's saying that you used all the time, "faith is believing it's so, when it's not so, so that it can be so".

Life will keep changing, some changes will be good, some...not so good. But through it all, God will be there, whether I feel Him or not; walking beside me, smiling with me and crying with me. Yes, and sometimes crying because He knows I'm headed for a brick wall. As your grandpa said to your dad, "she has a mind of her own". I never figured out if that was a compliment or a warning! All in all dad is here, change is inevitable, good or bad and in the end I'm in God's hands. So is dad. So are you. Right now your life is a little more "sparkly" than mine, but what the heck, we'll all share in it sooner or later. 

Well, Happy 1st Heavenly Birthday son! I'm sure the celebration is going to be all that you ever anticipated and more. We cherish the 38 birthdays we shared with you and thank the Lord for all of those.

Until next week, be Aaron, love mom

Contentment

Good morning son! Enjoying the sunshine this morning? Is there sunshine in heaven? Clouds? Rain? Birds? Lightening? Thunder? Is there "thunder" when I disappoint God? Do you see God get physically angry when I screw up down here? Does God have a physical appearance in heaven like we are here on earth? I wish you could tell me about what you're seeing there. I do have God's word here on earth but like any other curious person, I have a natural wonder about what it will be like. Don't get me wrong. I'm not in any hurry to get there to experience it! 

I can admit now that when you were first gone it hurt so much and there was so much pain I just wanted God to take me home so I could hug you and laugh with you again. I still look at your picture and find it difficult to imagine that I can't call you or that you're not physically here on earth any longer. I mean, how can someone so young and talented be gone in just a whiff? How can that even be possible? As it approaches your first heavenly birthday I think about releasing your ashes last Christmas and watching the wind carry them over and beyond, "Aaron's rock" on the hill and blow through the wind and up into the sky. It's comforting to know that part of you could be in a birds nest helping a mother bird keep her young warm and loved. Or, in "bedding" of a doe as she cares for her fawn. Or, in New York City as the breeze continues to carry them over and beyond to the ocean. I know where your spirit, or the real essence of you, is. Your spirit lives in the home God created for you when you were born. Just like the song we use to sing says, "I have a mansion, just over the hilltop".  I know it's just ashes of the earthly shell from here on earth. But, it's remnants of the shell that were you and I find comfort in these things. All of these things.

I find comfort in the fact that God knows the desires of my heart. I also know that God expects me, unconditionally, to be content with what I have and to appreciate it. He also expects me to be content with where I am, where ever that may be. I hope you're content in heaven because it doesn't get any better than that. I know you are. Your love for the Lord far outreached anything I could have imagined. I don't think I really understood how deep your walk with the Lord was until the last few years of your life. Even as a child you questioned everything. Dad and I spent a lot of time explaining things to you. True, you did hear sometimes, "I don't know why, just do it because I say so".  Your grandma and I have had conversations about this very thing. Being told that use to  drive me absolutely crazy as a kid. I mean there had to be a reason right. Parents don't just tell you to do something without a reason? In our conversations grandma said that sometimes when she told me "no" or to do or not to do something she really didn't have a concrete reason. She called it "the prompting of the Holy Spirit". She sensed that something was not good or safe for me to do, but she couldn't give me a concrete reason. She just knew. I found that to be true while you were here and dad and I guided you through the "streets of life" if you will. We just "knew" it wasn't safe or the right thing to do. Call it what you will, and I'm sure that all parents experience this but  it is called and defined as many different things. 

Whatever it may be called or recognized as, it is a tool we use in life to protect not just our children, but in many different areas of life. This sense we have, that whatever it may be, at whatever time, we use this tool to help protect those that we love and care about. I see it every day in the deer that cross our yard to their nightly nesting place. Jamison and I watch them through our open living room window.  As the sun is setting and they are grazing their way across the yard all of a sudden the doe stops dead in her tracks,so to speak,  becomes as still as a statue, her head held straight and strong, her eyes fixed; she senses there is danger. She knows there is something not right in her world.  Jamison and I don't move. We're staring right at her but she doesn't see us. Believe it or not, Jamison is transfixed and for a moment she watches. She still cannot detect us in the open window but she "knows" there is perceived danger. She goes from this relaxed mother walking her "children" home for the night to this mother who knows danger is looming and moves to get her children out of the danger. She leaps into action and heads up the hill. The "children"  linger and stroll along continuing to munch on the grass and enjoying the stroll not aware of the "danger".  The doe turns to look their way and all of a sudden the "children" raise their heads, see their mother and obey. As they begin to move Jamison barks. Now the doe's perceived danger has become a reality and her sense of danger is confirmed. The doe lopes up the hill with her "children" close at her heels as they all seek the comfort and safety of their den. A mother's sense, her intuition, her spirit, whatever you want or need to call it has once again proven itself.

Where am I going with all of this you ask? Well, you wouldn't ask. You would know better. Because if you ask, you know I'm going to tell you right? And you're right. I am going to tell you. 

Sometimes we don't know what God is doing and so we try to "encourage" him to tell us or we decide we've waited long enough and it's time for us to take action into our own hands. THAT my friend is when the "hair on the back of your neck" should be standing straight up in the air and waving, saying, danger, danger, danger. Kind of like that robot use to in that series we use to watch together about the family "Lost in Space". 

Trying to out think God is a very dangerous position to put yourself in. As you said during the last few years of your illness, "God has a plan, I may not like it, but I'll do it". No, I'm not saying we're robots and we just sit here waiting for God to give us direction and we make no decisions. This is your mother you're having this conversation with, remember! There are times in our lives when God has given us what we ask for and then we change our minds before we've even given the opportunity a chance. We don't give ourselves the opportunity to be content before we're asking for something else. We're humans and whether we like it or not, we're usually looking for the next best thing. Sometimes, the "next best thing" we already have and we're not even taking the time to enjoy it. Whatever the "it" may be. Sometimes we need to resist the urge to look for directions and "just park it", be content and enjoy who and where we are. Just like I said at the first of our conversation this morning. At first, right after God called you home I hurt so badly I was willing to give everything up and asked God to take me home so I could be with you again. What I wouldn't have given to just have another laugh or hug from you. God knows my heart. He holds it in his hand. He has comforted me over the last year and He is providing peace and contentment and for that I am truly grateful. I will be content and thankful for the life that He has provided. I will remember to thank Him for this life every day. I will be truly grateful for the 38 years He shared you with me and I will do everything in my power to share His joy.

Wickapedia defines "Contentment is 'acknowledgement and satisfaction of reaching capacity.' The level of capacity reached may be sought after, expected, desired, or simply predetermined as the level in which provides contentment."

Your mom's definition: It's not "always greener on the other side of the fence. Relax and enjoy where I am and who I am until my still, small voice says, "okay, it's time".

Jeremiah 29:11

New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Until next week, be Aaron, love mom

Adventures Continue

End of day 2

Porch potential

Good morning son! And how are you this fine day? The sun is is moving slowly over the trees here in the front of the house. It seems brighter these last few days. We have no porch! Can you believe it? We've waited patiently (well, most of the time) all summer for the new porch and it's finally happening. Jamison and I are so excited. We can't wait to add a huge chrysanthemum, bird bath and feeder. It's so cool to sit here in the early morning and watch the birds. We're studying up on Cardinals so we can draw more of them, especially this winter. We have the perfect shrubbery to create a winter haven for them.

The weather is chilling off but it's such great sleeping weather. It's cooler during the days and you can really tell Fall is arriving quickly. Local TV Channel 13 is already giving us the  fall foliage report. It's really cool. It tells us where the leave are beginning to turn and how fast We planned a trip to Lake George last week but dad caught the bug I had earlier and so we've moved it out a couple of weeks. I can't wait. I've really looked forward to see the dramatic change in seasons here in the East. We'll make the most of it this year. We plan to visit a few orchards and pick up some pumpkins. Not for carving. Dad admitted the other day when we were talking about your pumpkin carving contests over the years, "Aaron won". There, you've heard the words from dad, via mom.

Josie 2011

I've seen some beautiful designs in magazines with mod- podge, paint, Sharpies, yes Sharpies. I think I'll leave those for people with good art skills though. I'll stick with other graphics; vinyl, for instance. Oh the things you can do with a Cricuit and vinyl! Oh don't go there! I can just see you laughing. You watched me make those sweatshirts for dad yesterday didn't you? Well, I got two out of three right. The one with the trumpet and joy is pretty dark but I think he's going to have to wear it anyway. The one I really wanted to do right and messed up was the one with Jamison's picture. I mirrored the words "My Pal" under the picture but I guess when I was working with it I didn't notice the words had reversed back. Right, I know, now, the words "My Pal" are backwards. Guess that one is going to get a vinyl design over it. Were you laughing when dad and I tried to close and clamp the heat press? I know you were. It took both of us to hold it down and dad almost standing on his head to get enough pressure to clamp it together. We both laughed when we remembered you use to do it with one hand. It was fun to laugh and work together though. It's times like those we've worked our entire lives to have together. The problem with us is, we enjoy "piddling", as your great-grandma would say, around the house working on projects. 

Dad, the "mouse hunter".

Dad began the transformation on his space yesterday. He'll finish taking the shelves down today in-between setting mouse traps for the field mice that have been invading our home. There must be dozens because they have been eating about 3/4 of a cup of De-Con every night. But they still keep coming. It kinda reminds me of that house we bought next door to us in Springfield. You remember? We didn't know that Gim had previously owned a restaurant and that the entire contents of the restaurant were stored in his house. When he died and we bought the house we couldn't believe it. Remember the day we first opened, what we thought was a bedroom door? It turned out he had stored every noodle and grain of rice that had been grown in the year 1990! And, the mice had found it. We opened that door and it seemed that 10,000 little white mice came running out into the house. I always wondered why we were having trouble with mice in our house next door. It became abundantly clear at that moment. Why they would want to come to our house I never understood though. Unless it was over-crowding where they were. They had enough food in that one room to last five generations. And we let them loose. We finally sold the house to the school district because they wanted the land. I can only imagine where all those mice went when they tore that house down. Seen any little white mice in heaven? Just kidding.

Our new address

I'm enjoying retirement. But I think dad is enjoying my retirement even more. I didn't realize how much he really wanted me home. We're so thankful for the additional income this last year. The Lord was so good to provide such an extraordinary opportunity to enable me to supplement our income and we're both very grateful. I'm enjoying retirement. Dad just laughed when I said yesterday, "I'm ready to be through with big projects so I can start some, 'lap projects' for Fall and Winter". I don't think he believes I'll ever be through with the big projects. But, I am. My studio space is done. I'm anxious to get dad's space finished and all of his things put away, his guitars hung and pictures on his walls. I put off painting the living room walls until Monday because, believe it or not, I want to move the furniture around when I clean. I know, can you believe it? Me, moving furniture?  Oh, stop laughing!

Life is good. We're enjoying every day. It's still difficult sometimes to realize I'm not bound by the "weekend rule". One day does kind of run into the other, but I'm finding there's nothing wrong with that. 

Until next week, be Aaron, love mom

The Armoires of Life

Good morning son! Miss me? I missed you. Having our weekly conversation on Monday morning rather than Sunday is going to throw my entire week off. I'm just sayin'.

How was your week? What have you been up to? I know you do a LOT of singing and praising and laughing and sharing and hugging and all through just amazing eyes of wonder. You've had those eyes your entire life. It just seems fitting that you would have them through all of eternity as well.

"for every thing there is a season"

Well, Fall is truly in the air. Most of the windows in the house are closed. I haven't even opened the living room window yet this morning. Actually, that window doesn't usually even get closed but that's not something I really should post is it, that my window is left wide open all night...every night. Oh well, it's out there now. If you remember, Fall is my very favorite time of year. I'm running a little behind. I usually have all the Fall decorations our in August but I'm a little slow this year. I still have a pink floral wreath on our front door. The only Fall decoration currently in residence is the new issue of Country Living laying on the coffee table. Which I might add, has been there, unread, since Friday. I don't know what happened. Usually when I get that magazine the world stops, I curl up on the couch and stay there until I've read it from cover to cover. I'll get there. After all, I'm officially retired, again, since last Friday. This time, I feel retired. Don't get me wrong. I'm probably going to be busier now than ever. It's not like I'm sitting on the couch with my feet propped up eating bon-bons!  Well, maybe once in awhile when I curl up with my favorite magazines.

Last Friday was my final day as a "temporary" Project Partner at KJCG. The temporary position lasted just shy of two weeks of being a year! It's so funny sometimes how quickly time passes. When I looked at the calendar and realized it has almost been a year I finally woke up. How did that happen? But you know what? It was one of those experiences in life I wouldn't trade for anything. It was fast-paced, stressful, energizing, fun, crazy...all of those things that you need some of in your life to stay young. However, I'm ready to do some of those things that I "retired" from the City of Springfield to do. Number one, spend time together with your dad just being. So much of our life together has been spent around "the weekend". We'll do it this weekend. Let's do it the next free weekend. We can't go because it's not the weekend. It's not offered on a weekend. You know all those things that wrap around the weekend. Now we're finally beginning to realize, everyday is a weekend! We can plan to do anything we want, any day we want. We don't have to wait for the week. I would imagine it's kinda like heaven. Every day's a new day and you don't have to wait for the weekend to enjoy it. We're taking Jamison on Wednesday this week and driving to Lake George and just "knock around" and enjoy the day. I have literally a dozen unfinished projects here at home that I am very anxious to get to. The weather is cooling off and I have tons of painting projects. I have two accent walls to paint in the living room, I want to paint an accent (lower wall) in the bathroom and I want to pain the wall below the chair rail in the kitchen. I am going to repaint the armoire in our bedroom. It's currently yellow and black.

I don't know if you remember the story behind this armoire or not, but I called dad one day from the Springfield OR Saint Vinny's. All I said was, "I'm at St. Vinny's and I need you to bring the trailer." Dad never asks questions when I find something and need help. Now I had wanted an armoire forever it seemed like, but I'm not one to spend a lot of money. I also much prefer to find a piece that's actually called by many, "a piece of junk". I can see tons of possibilities. Well, this armoire was that. A door was falling off, it was leaning to one side because a leg was off, one drawer didn't fit (who knows why) a piece of the trim was missing (actually had been knocked off), and there was a hole in the top edge that a golf ball could rest in. I could just see your dad's eyes roll to the back of his head when he showed up with the trailer. I paid the $25, told the cashier my husband was on the way with the trailer (they actually knew dad on site by now) and headed back to work. I can only imagine the look on your dad's face when he confronted that armoire that day in Saint Vinny's but I have a pretty good idea.

By the time I got home from work that day, the armoire was up on blocks over a piece of corrugated. The hole was patched in the top, the drawer was in place. Obviously, the leg was replaced since it was standing. The molding had been replaced. The door was back on it's hinges. It looked like a weird patchwork quilt...but a very ugly drab one. But dad knew I could and would add the brightness. He just primed the canvas for me. This was on a Monday. So guess what? Right, I had to wait for the weekend. Life use to always be about the weekends. I was working long hours back then and there just wasn't time, or enough light, to paint in the evenings. I really need natural light when I paint. So, with tears in my eyes, (Not because I had to wait for the weekend. Because dad could see the possibility I saw and he believed in me...once again.) I wiped my tears and dad and I pulled the tarp over the armoire until the weekend. 

The armoir's first home was our dining room and was used for all my candles, linens. I painted it a light yellow with black details.  When we lost our home and moved it transitioned to an arrmoire in the master bedroom and has been used for that purpose since. It's one of the pieces that I insisted on keeping when we moved. It's funny, the two pieces I was determined to move back East when we came was that beat up old armoire I paid $25 for and a the round, beat up old kitchen table that once again, I found at St. Vinny's that was $35 and dad talked them down to $25. I just couldn't leave them behind. If I had to calculate by the pound the cost to move them across the United States MY eyes would probably roll to the back of MY head. The table has been the only piece I've had the time to redo since we arrived last year. Now, it's the armoire's time. It's going to get a coat of high gloss, almost eggplant, color for our bedroom. I can't wait to get started, but I need to finish the living room first. Tomorrow, the living room get's it's two blue walls. Dad just keeps trudging along beside me filling in the blanks as I go with whatever I need. Just like he has always done. Even with his two bad legs he's the most surefooted partner God could have ever given to me.

That's pretty much the way I enjoy life too. I would rather search for something in which I can see potential. Talk with dad and prepare the "canvas", have dad beside me to help fill the holes and and take that piece of life on, hand in hand.  That's the way we're approaching the new "no weekend" rule. We'll seek out new adventures, prepare the canvas and accomplish them together, hand in hand.

until next week, be Aaron, love mom

I'd rather do it this way

Good morning son! How the heck are you? Hellooooooooo! Wake up! Are you there? Oh, there you are! Getting comfortable and sleeping in up there are you? None of that. We have a birthday party to plan. Whose? Are you kidding me? Yours of course! Today marks 11 months. Next month, 2 October 2012 will mark one year in your heavenly home, or, the way I'm looking at it as your first heavenly birthday. I'd rather celebrate "birthdays" than anniversary of death. Sounds to negative to me. Hey, I can live in my own little world if I want to. Yes, I know you're gone. So, if you were going to plan a birthday in heaven, what would it look like to you? Hellooooooo! Stay focused son. I said, if you were planning a birthday party in heaven what would it look like? Are you having problems with ADD this morning? Well, you can try to pass that off as an excuse but I know better. You're in heaven so therefore perfect. Nice try though.

So birthday, in heaven, what would it look like? Me? Guess it would be different depending on who is celebrating; just like here. But for you. I see, karaoke for sure. I see tons and tons of people; more than you can count. I see stars in the sky, millions. Clouds floating through the heavens and angels seated upon them. I hear laughter and see smiles. I see faces of those who you have met and come to know throughout this year. I see familiar faces of your grandpa, great-grandparents, and those brothers and sisters that your dad swears were waiting for your there. (I don't know, you figure it out. You're in heaven with all the answers. All I know is that dad swears that all three babies we lost here through miscarriage and false pregnancy were waiting there for you in heaven.) I see fireworks. Of course I always see fireworks when you were around. Maybe not literally, but I can just see them literally in the heavens around you as the comets explode in the universe in celebration. I'll see if I can't see at least the tail of those comets next month. I'd love to be there with you for this celebration but there will be so much excitement you won't even miss us and that's as it should be. 

I'd love to be there and see you try and get grandpa to sing at karaoke. What a hoot that would be. Grandpa can actually sing. He just hides it really well. Some of my best memories are of sitting in "Coffman" row in church growing up and singing along with mom and dad as they sang all the old, wonderful hymns. What super great memories those are to have. I use to cringe as I got older when we'd go to those time worn hymnals and sing the same songs again and again. Now. It's one of the things I miss the most.

Hopefully we all have memories like those. Dad remembers playing with his grandpa's pocket watch during church and the loud rumble of his dad's "amen" as it rang through the church at every opportunity. He said his dad use to love to say amen to the pastor's preaching. Those are memories he'll always have. I hope you have some of those too.

So, birthday. Yours. First one in the heavenly realm. Cake? Yes, I think if I were there with you I'd make the guitar cake again. The one I made for you in junior high. You talked about that cake often. It was a super project and great fun. A full sized guitar cake with "strings" and all. I think I have a picture of that somewhere. Maybe it's just in my mind though. That's okay as long as I have my mind but then what? Then, who cares. You won't need party hats. Everyone is wearing crowns. Tooters? Not really, you have angels with trumpets. Angels using trumpets kinda out trumps tooters. Candles? Are you kidding me. What could you possibly do with candles. Like you'd even be able to see them with all the gems, diamonds, gold, silver and pearl around you. The light of heaven reflecting in all of those.l don't think you're going to miss a single candle. Besides, you're there with the "light". Remember "This Little Light of Mine"? You've never hid it under a bushel before, I don't expect you started when you arrived in heaven. Gifts? I know you don't want any. I mean considering your environment, what could someone from earth possibly give to you. Well, maybe one thing. Continue to live the life and be the example we taught you? Okay, you got it. One last question. Do you get older in heaven? I mean, do you start out in heaven the age you were when you got there? Do you have any age? Not that it really matters. Just wondering.

On to a couple more things. Dad and I are finding that life is pretty funny as we get older. The other day dad let out a "yikes" type yelp as he was walking through the house. When I asked him if he was okay he said, "Yes. I just looked at my watch and thought it was 6:30 pm until I realized I have my watch on upside down and it's actually 12:30 pm. This getting older is really fun!".

As I told you earlier in the week, I'm in the process of closing down Auntie Jan Creations. I feel so comfortable and relaxed about it. It's the right thing to do. I'll continue to work at KJCG part-time as long as the opportunity is there and then we'll go from there. I can feel Fall in the air and the leaves are beginning to change and I see more on the ground. Dad and I are looking forward to taking some road trips in the next couple of months to see the fall foliage. I bought my airline tickets for the CA trip this winter. Dad has decided to stay in Troy. It's just more of a trip than he felt like he could take right now. I'm trying to let him do what is comfortable for him. In the 42 years we've been married we've never been apart for almost a month. This will be a first. That's been our life though. A life of firsts. Why stop now? LOL

And that's what it feels like!

I continue on my goal of getting fit. I'm down 21.8 pounds since Mother's Day when I started. Now that the heat isn't as great my feet won't swell like they do in the summer and maybe I can find some shoes so I can walk with dad and Jamison. During the heat, nothing but flip-flops and sometimes not even those in the afternoon. I'm still doing stairs at work but I really want to be able to walk with dad and Jamison. Yesterday they walked twice. Dad has something going on with his right leg now that has me concerned but I've not been able to get him to go to the doctor. He finally said this morning, "I think I need to go this week and have this leg checked out".  Our diet any more is very light.

Dad and I spent last Thursday and Friday with Jamo and Josie. What a pair those two are. Jamo is constantly looking for something to take a part and find out what makes it tick; Josie....Josie's a hoot a minute. Friday Jamo went to our house and spent most of the day with dad. Josie and I spent the morning waiting for the housekeeper at their house and laughing, "doing hair and makeup", telling jokes, reading and then watched "Beauty and the Beast". I mean I don't think we've ever seen "Beauty and the Beast"! Except for the last 60 times we've seen it. At about 1:00 went went to our house. Jamo and dad had left to go to have a hamburger and then to Target to pick up Jamo's school supplies, new backpack and peddles for his bike. Josie and I were going to bake cookies but by the time we got to the house it was 90 degrees and to hot. So, we made bookmarks, played dress-up, drew pictures and did Josie things....which means, we watched a movie while we did everything else.  While Jamo was with dad that morning he hooked up Netflicks to the Wii and did away with the Roku. You were right, Netflicks now provides closed captioning with a great many of their movies. But it's not available when using a Roku box; only through the Wii. Luckily I have great friends who gave me a Wii when I retired!

Okay, now for the tale of the week. And the joke is on me. I've been working with Jamison so that I can take him out to go piddle without hooking up his harness and leash. We've been working on it for a couple of months now and he's been doing really well. When I want him to turn around and come back and head for home, all I have to do is hit the side of my leg and here he comes. However, last week I slap my leg soon enough and he discovered a fox hole!  He discovered that right out in front of the parked cars, in the stand of trees on the slope of the hill is where our fox lives. When he discovered that hole there was no getting him to come back. I'd slap my leg, he'd come half-way back and then head up the other side of the hole. I have no choice but to head up the slope. Crap! So I've already told you I'm in my flip-flops. Not great for scaling a slope. I'm not afraid of him running off, I just want his head out of that hole. Naturally, in order to get ahead of him I'd have to climb above him because the entrance to the fox hole is dug from the top of the slope down. And the fox is smart enough to have dug an exit about three feet from the entrance. When I chase Jamison from one hole, he just moves to the next. So here I am, trying to get around him so I can "encourage" him to go home. He's paying absolutely no attention. I can't reach him, so I pick up a switch from the tree that's about four feet long with leaves on the end. I switch it back and forth in front of his face trying to break his concentration. How stupid is that. He's a hunter for crying out loud. The ground is layered along this slope in about three feet of leaves and needles from trees. The saplings are many and grow about a foot apart and are very pliable. I'm trying to hold on to saplings as I maneuver through on this soft ground, in flip-flops while I'm waving this switch around trying to distract Jamison.  All of a sudden I realize that I'm on a 90 degree slope, headed up and I'm loosing my balance because of the soft ground beneath me. Again, crap! Jamison is going deeper and deeper into the hole.  As if in slow motion I begin falling backwards. I grab a sapling with each hand and again in slow motion I begin falling as the saplings bend to the ground until I'm sitting, hanging on for dear life because if I let go I'm going to tumble backwards down the slope. The whole time I'm yelling for Jamison to go home, trying to break his concentration with the switch. Now, because of having no knees to speak of trying to get up from a floor position is almost impossible, let along sitting backward on a slope perched and ready to roll! So, I begin yelling for your dad. I'm on the slope, probably 30 feet from the dining room window. When I left 10 minutes before dad was sitting in the living room about 10 feet away from the window. I check my pocket and did I bring my cell phone? Of course not! Why would I need to do that? I scream again for dad. I look around and everyone that lives in our building is gone. The neighbor that lives in the carriage house is gone. You'd think the way I was yelling it would wake the dead (since the cemetery is above us and at the top of the slope) but no, none of them answered either. I must have sat there and yelled for 10 minutes while Jamison is going further and further down the hole. I can only see about the back third of his butt by now and I'm getting madder and madder by the minute. (Should I tell you the rest later when you've stopped laughing?) It really wasn't as funny then as it sounds now. Anyway, the light finally went on and I realized for whatever reason, dad wasn't hearing and I was loosing my voice. I could either sit there until he realized when hadn't come back or, I could get myself up. Now there's a sight you probably don't want to think about. Trying to get up on my knees is something I avoid at all costs. Bone on bone is a very painful experience. I've had to do it many times in the last year and it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. But, nonetheless, I had no choice. Sitting there waiting to get bit by a tick wasn't a happy thought. I was able to pull myself over between two saplings and twisted over onto my knee. I thought if I could just brace myself I could pull my really bad knee up. Believe it not, I guess because of the many inches of leaves and needles, the pressure didn't hurt my knees at all. I was able to get up the first try without having to drag myself over to something to use as leverage. I'm brushing myself off when I notice Jamison is out of the foxhole checking me out. I gave him the "evil eye", slapped my leg and he took off running for the back door. By then I was so mad I can't even describe it. I hit the back door raising holy heck at your dad. "I guess I know not to call YOU for help". Poor dad. I know him enough to know that after that very brief moment of concern he wanted to laugh so badly it much have been physically painful. However, he was smart enough to know it would have been certain death! Jamison went in, drank some water and looked up as if to say, "what's all the commotion about". I probably ranted and raved about 30 minutes, dad said nothing, Jamison taking it all in. Finally, after all was said and done, I had a few scrapes and bruises but none the worse for the wear, dad said, "maybe you should take your phone when you take Jamison". Brave soul your dad!

Until next week, be Aaron, love mom