FRIDAY AND I BELIEVE IN ANGELS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IvBjG7kl6o

Sarah McLachlan - Angel 



"Spend all your time waiting
For that second chance
For a break that would make it okay
There's always some reason
To feel not good enough
And it's hard at the end of the day


I need some distraction
Oh beautiful release
Memories seep from my veins
Let me be empty
Oh and weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight


In the arms of the angel
Fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear


You are pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here


So tired of the straight line
And everywhere you turn
There's vultures and thieves at your back
The storm keeps on twisting
Keep on building the lies
That you make up for all that you lack


It don't make no difference
Escaping one last time
It's easier to believe
In this sweet madness
Oh this glorious sadness
That brings me to my knees


In the arms of the angel
Fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear


You are pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here


You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here"


Good Morning and welcome to a cool wet morning in my fair city - it is lovely and with the gentle rain there comes a silence and a beauty that I cherish.


I really really like this song - I have been given my second chance and truly feel that I have been "pulled from the wreckage" and now have the opportunity to live, laugh, love and to FLY !


My surgery pulled me from the wreckage and gave me the gift of life and I shall be eternally thankful for everything involved with that.    More recently I feel I have been pulled from the wreckage of lots of emotions and my heart is a much happier place.   It amazes me how that sharing of emotions, fears and affection can be so healing.  Life is good, life is sweet and I am "at home with myself.  I hope that you are able to work through your fears and emotions and find that special "at home" feeling.   


As I write it is morning in Australia and in the United States it is the evening of Thanksgiving and I can imagine there are lots of very full tummies and thankful hearts.  I wish we in Australia celebrated Thanksgiving - just a day set aside for expressing thanks for all that we have and all that we are.   I may well establish this with my family - a dinner where we can share the love and happiness of family and each express something for which we are thankful.
Too much going on for a little while to do it - but perhaps a winter celebration in 2012 will become our own "Thanksgiving".


I have my Clinic appointment this afternoon and the butterflies are alive and well in my tummy - but I am trying to shoo them away - I go to a medical team I like, Coordinators I adore and if there was an issue with my bloods taken on Monday - I would have known by now.  I think this is part of the fragile thread that recipients live with and yet life is that way for all of us - Today is all we have.


Take today and live life to the full - say the things you want to say to your loved ones -  Say "I love you" 
"I am thankful for you" and "I care"  It may not be something normally said in your family - but I know my girls never hang up the phone until "I love you" has been said.  Their Dad is something different - he hasn't quite got to the stage of being able to express his feelings - they know he loves them dearly, but a childhood where affection was not shown accounts for that.   I know that he loves them and that is special.


I am a lover not a fighter and a talker - I like to talk things through openly and fully until there is nothing more to be said and I am thankful to special people who have helped pull me from the wreckage by talking and sharing with me.  Walk tall and proud and I love you.


Christmas is just around the corner and I have several little traditions I keep - firstly my Advent Tree which has little tiny decorations to be hung on each day from 1st. December.  Each little tiny drawer holds a tiny trinket which is added daily.

My other tradition is that from 1st, December for breakfast I use my special coffee mug and matching plate and everyone knows not to use this one - "It's Mum's"

This was a gift from a friend no longer with us to share our Christmas time but who is often thought of and with me each day of Advent.


Christmas gift shopping is finished for me and now comes the joy of wrapping - I did wrap two gifts yesterday for Grace and Henry and sent them to the Farm with their Grandpa - hope he remembers to give them to their Mum and not directly to the children.


Time for me to move on and meander through my ordinary, beautiful Friday -  and then the weekend will be upon us and one task I have set for this weekend is to write and mail out the Christmas cards for a group exchange.  I did the envelopes one evening this week and they have disappeared never to be seen again - so I have done another lot.  The Christmas Elves are out and about I think - someone remind them about the Checking of the List - not only once but twice.



Thanks for visiting and reading and sharing the Musings from My Heart - a heart filled with thankfulness.


Love and hugs,
Linda.

SATURDAY AND SWIFTLY FLY THE YEARS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTwbQlJKY5E&feature=related

Sunrise Sunset - from Fiddler on the Roof.

"Is this the little girl I carried?

Is this the little boy at play?

I don't remember growing older

When - did - they?

When did she get to be a beauty?

When did he grow to be so tall?

Wasn't it yesterday when they - were - small? 

Sunrise, sunset, Sunrise, sunset

Swiftly flow the days

Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers

Blossoming even as we gaze

Sunrise, sunset, Sunrise, sunset

Swiftly fly the years

One season following another

Laden with happiness and tears"

Good Morning and welcome to Adelaide and a strange spring morning - heavy cloud and heavy rain and five minutes later the sun is beaming brightly - the weather held off very well for our birthday bash for Rebecca and all went beautifully.   She loved her gifts and the food was great.  Lots of it and lovely salads and cake.   We were able to sit outside and enjoy fragrant candles until a huge rat ran across the top of the fence and sent me scuttling inside.  I was quickly followed by the whole group and the outside part of the evening was abandoned.


As always it was lovely to hear them all together and see their smiles and care for each other - my little girl was very spoiled with beautiful gifts, nice wine and a family who love her very much.


Conversation was good and it was interesting to hear them discuss their travel plans - Rebecca and Nick off to Europe in April for 'FLORIADE' in Holland and then on to England and Naomi and Alexis off to U.S.A. also in April with plans to visit New York, Washington, Boston and L.A.   All plans are in the infant stage so it will be great to watch them flourish and bloom into realities.  They will all be away at approximately the same time - so that means for me only one period of worry not two.  


I wish them all well and look forward to photographs, souvenirs and traveler's tales upon their return.
They will all be away for Easter and also for Naomi's birthday, but life is busy for all of them in the meantime.  Alexis flies to Tasmania today and Naomi is working.


Yesterday, through her work Naomi hosted a "Yarn while you Yarn" session of the Women Leaders of some of our Indigenous Australian people and thoroughly enjoyed learning from these wonderful women.  They talked of life, their traditions and culture and Naomi certainly felt the love.   They wove bracelets and shared indigenous foods.


Alexis brought home two "house guests" for the weekend (two insects - relative to her job at the Museum) and of course as she is off to Tasmania - Naomi is the care giver for these little creatures until she gets home.


Their interests are diverse and very beautiful - they seem to find a common ground and enjoy each other's company - and I take delight in being with them all.  There was laughter and music and at times we got very loud. :)


The phrase at the beginning of this post is so true - and am blessed to have given birth to two daughters.


Among the gifts Rebecca received was this selection of earrings I had made for her.

She will enjoy road side service with the RAA because of her gift membership and her Gardening Australia magazine will arrive monthly.  Other gardening gifts included watering can, gardening gloves and the Scarlet Runner bean seeds she asked for.  Beautiful pearl earrings in a lovely trinket box and special kitchen things in a lovely rust colour. I also took the opportunity of her to give her a green glass dressing table set which had belonged to my grandmother - something that has gone down the line to the eldest daughter and she loved it.


I have become 'Transplant Aunt" to this beautiful little boy who will need at some stage a liver transplant because of Billiary Artesia - introducing Tayden.

I hope I can be a support and encouragement to his Mother because the days will be difficult for her.


Back now - later than I planned - I have just had a phone call from a friend advising of the death of her husband yesterday - Geoff died in hospital in the early hours of yesterday morning.  Gwen and I chatted a while about the times we spent and the days now gone.  Vale Geoffrey Lawrence.


In the midst of happy times there are always sad times and days of sunshine and shadows - and into each life some rain must fall.


Thank you for visiting and reading "The Musings from My Heart" - a heart filled with mixed emotions today, but a heart filled with acceptance too, that these are the things that happen on our journey.


Love and hugs,
Linda.