Happy 51st birthday...to the guy that makes me smile, makes me laugh, makes me think, makes me scratch my head in disbelief, makes me happy and makes life in an empty nest bearable. Happy birthday to my honey, my best friend, my farmer, my bunny rabbit. I love you.
February 8, 2012
Sit in front of a blinking computer curser and write something about romance. Okay, I can do this, after all, I have been married almost 24 years so I should have lots of romantic stories. Ummm...wait a minute, this doesn't seem to be flowing out of me like it should. Could it be there is no romance in my life? Nah, mine is just a different sort of romance.
I don't want the flowers and candy and fancy wrapped gifts on Valentine's Day. I want the steady, unending, reliable daily love. I want to go home after a bad day at work and know he will be there ready with a joke that I have heard a million times before, but it still makes me laugh. I want the guy that doesn't buy me flowers because they will just die anyway. The farmer that took 22 years to buy me jewelry, after all hadn't he bought me a wedding ring, what more did I need? I don't like romance, to me it is just a big show. I much prefer the little day to day stuff that doesn't scream "look at me, I love you!" but just quietly says "you are my world and I don't know what I would do without you".
My "romance" comes from the guy who makes me laugh, makes me think, makes me scratch my head in disbelief and makes living in an empty nest bearable. That last one is the most important, after 23 years of having kids around and then suddenly it is just the two of us, that is a tough adjustment to make. The true romantic knows when I am feeling lonely and reaches across the couch to hold my hand and tell me it is okay to feel that way. I don't need the show, I just need the knowledge that forever, for always and no matter what, I am loved...24/7, 365.
I feel bad that I haven't posted in almost a month...yikes! I guess it is because nothing has been going on to write about, which is good and bad. The kids are doing great and keeping themselves busy. Dan has been crazy nuts with pig things so I spend many an evening alone...which means I can catch up on my quilting :)
I made a list of quilts I need to get made, right now the list stands at four, two baby quilts and two lap quilts. I still need to get Dan's lap quilt and Brian's queen size quilt quilted, but since I already have two quilts at the quilter they will just have to wait.
I am loving the "winter" weather we have been having, just enough snow to make me cuss when it was here and now nice warm temperatures.We are going to pay for it when spring comes and haven't got enough moisture, but for now I am enjoying it.
Nothing else going on, looking forward to Dan's birthday in a week. Planning on taking a trip to Spearfish the first weekend in March, hopefully Dan can work something out with chores so he can go too. Life is good down on the farm :)
I have a fascination, some people might say a strange fascination, with cemeteries. I could spend hours walking through the headstones and thinking about the people buried beneath them. Although I find it difficult to walk among the rows of stones simply because I am walking on someone beneath the ground. It is strange to love cemeteries, but feel guilty for "walking on the dead".
I find it incredible how people choose to be remembered, or how people choose to have their loved ones remembered, for all eternity. For example, on the headstone of a loving husband and wife are hands shaking with one another...doesn't seem the thing for a married couple.
The older headstones are often the most beautiful, with carvings and statues. I don't think people care less now than they did in the earlier years, I just think something as elaborate as a statue on a headstone would be cost prohibitive. Maybe people would think it was too "showy" or "over the top". I personally love them.
Sometimes I see a headstone that just takes my breath away...like when I see one with my child's name on it...
.And sometimes they take my breath away just because of the abuse and neglect that have overcome them through the years. I am sure this is an old, old grave and perhaps no family member is around anymore to care for it, but in a few years the head will fall off this statue and I am guessing no one will ever repair it. That is sad
I know what I want my headstone to look like and I know where I want my remains to be buried. After looking at so many cemeteries and so many headstones it is hard to think of this kind of thing with morbidity, but more with fascination and planning for the future. Someday there may be someone else who finds joy in strolling through cemeteries and I hope they maybe stumble upon my headstone and it makes them smile and want to take a photo. I want my headstone to tell a stranger of my life, short and too the point, but the important details spelled out for all to see. After all, a headstone is the final tangible thing you leave behind. Memories fade and are recalled differently as time passes. Pictures tell of happy times and family gatherings and vacations, new babies and weddings. But a headstone tells most of all...the years you lived your life, who you chose to love for a lifetime, perhaps the children of that love. Headstones compel loved ones to bring you flowers at least once a year, to leave little momentos of special meaning. Headstones are a link to the past, even if it is a past of a complete stranger. I want to be the one that people talk about and take pictures of. I want to be the one that fascinates someone, just because my headstone is like me...unique.
I bought a new pair of boots and every time I wear them I feel like a total bad ass :) I love that the zipper is on the outside instead of the inside. Aren't they adorable?
I have this problem. If I find something I really like I can never have just one. Be it shoes, purses, angels...or in this case nativity scenes. I have nine and if I see another one I like I will probably have ten...or eleven...or...
This particular one I found at a local craft show. It amuses me how you can't really tell which is Mary and which is Joseph.
This one I just bought this year, after I told myself I didn't need anymore. You can see how well I listen to myself :p
This is one of my favorites. Each figure is only about an inch tall at the most and it has the whole scene of the wise men and the shepherds and animals. I thought I lost it this year, but luckily I found it at the bottom of a Christmas tin...it is so tiny it would be easy to lose!
This one is one of my older ones, the stable was made by my dad so that makes it extra special. It is the centerpiece on my entertainment center every year.
This is the scarf on the entertainment center, it too shows the wise men and the shepherds. Not really a full-fledged nativity scene, but I still count it :)
This one is my all time favorite, the one I will never, ever part with. It was given to me when I was six years old, just before we moved to Marathon. Cheap plastic, but I love it!
Another oldie but goodie. Has been in Dan's family ever since he was a little boy. Cardboard and plastic, but it has held up really well.
Silent Night sits on my kitchen windowsill, tiny but adorable :)
The other new one I bought this year. I just thought it was so cute and almost childlike.
So obviously there is no doubt at my house where baby Jesus was born, although Dan likes to point out that since the wise men weren't really at the stable some of my scenes are wrong. Oh well, I love each and every one of them anyway.