looking forward ~ moving away from the past

Thank you, Rose... for reminding me... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm looking forward to the new decade....

In 2001, my older brother Scott hung himself. He was 42.
http://hediishope.blogspot.com/2008/11/to-write-love-on-her-arms-2nd-annual.html

In 2004, I separated from my marriage of 23 years and moved home and lost almost everything.

In 2005, my 21 year old nephew, Jason, was electrocuted on the job.
http://hediishope.blogspot.com/2008/11/remembering-my-nephew-today.html

In 2006, I lost the job that had restarted my life after my first ever RIF at UTMB.

In 2007, my aunt Betty became ill and died suddenly.  She was the baby of my mom's family.
http://hediishope.blogspot.com/2007/06/in-loving-memory-of-my-aunt-betty.html

In 2008, Ike hit, I lost my home, my job, all of my possessions from my rebuilt life, including my little sporty, Hope, and years and years of photographs, family movies... all of my memories.
http://hediishope.blogspot.com/2008/09/ike.html

Afterwards my younger sister, Stacy, fell down stairs in the dark at her apartment, which had no electric due to Hurricane Ike. I went to the hospital every day until she passed... within two weeks. She was one year younger than me... only 45... and she knew what was happening.  That devastated me.
http://hediishope.blogspot.com/2008/10/stacy-dawn-donelson-may-26-1963-october.html

In 2009, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. I drove her to her appointments and her surgery and tried to be there for her in any way she needed for follow ups and treatment and every day things.  My mom has always been a strength for me.  She is amazing.

I am so ready for the new decade, new challenges, and good things to happen for my family and for me. I want good things for all of you also. Every one of my friends and their families... I wish you all ~ all good things!

There is nothing in life that needs to be acted upon negatively. This moment is called the present because it's our gift to live... enjoy your gift! Always. Don't allow drama to reign supreme in your daily life. Instead forgive... forget... and then move forward together and dream. Simply believe in those around you and know that each of you bring something very special to the rest of us each time we meet.

Remember, when people say and do things ~ it's never about you ~ and it is always about where they're at in their own lives. Don't take anything personally. Ever. It's their world... you're just living in it. My sister Stacy taught me that reality.  May she rest in peace.  I miss her everyday... my heart aches for her laugh, her smile, her jokes, everything......  tremendously.  I know she watches over me.

Always remember, this is life... there is no dress rehearsal! Live, laugh, love every moment you find yourself breathing... and do what's right for *you*.

Vivere Senza Rimpianti! Live without regrets!!!
Love life fully... always.
And most importantly.................

˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Love Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•٠·˙

--

"Our behaviour is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.  The only thing you can control is you. You can’t control the weather, the time or even the driver who may not have even seen you.  How you respond is up to you.  Your reaction will define your character."

~Stephen Covey

PLEASE VOTE ON BEHALF OF BREAST CANCER RESEARCH!

VOTE FOR THE HARLEY'S ANGELS AND HELP US WIN MONEY FOR BREAST CANCER RESEARCH FROM GODADDY!!! You can vote every day ~ Click on the 5 Star!!!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY ♥ JOEL ♥ !!!

My trifecta of April birthdays culminate today with my son's 21st birthday.  Completely legal.  Wow.  Where did the years go?  I don't even feel old enough to have children of legal age!  LOL

Joel,

You amaze me every day.  You went out a week and a half ago with five resumes and a positive attitude and told me you would get one of the five jobs where you were dropping your resume off at... period.  Then you drove around looking for a company that interested you.  Today is your first day at your new job!  The second business you stopped at that day.  A place that didn't even have a 'hiring' blast out to the world for the position you were offered.  I am in awe of your confidence, intelligence, and ability to present yourself professionally in any given situation.

You will do fine in this world, Joel.  You will always succeed.  When you do experience a failure, you won't look at it as if you failed like most of the world would do if it happened to them.  You will always look at it as an opportunity to start over, go elsewhere, learn, grow, do something new.  I am so happy you are in college and working towards your degree too!  You know what to do to get to where you want to go.  I know you will get there.  There is no doubt in me.

Your sharing with me that there are so many things in life that you want to experience hits home with my core and my soul.  You are just like your old mom in that respect.  We see the world the same...  we want to do everything!  You're on your way and building a full life.  You have matured into a man of honor and integrity.  Your strength and courage after we lost everything we owned to Hurricane Ike and had no home again will always stay with me.  Those were not easy months and you have come out on the other side an adult with a life experience that most never grow through.  Our strength gets us through devastation to a life even more exciting on the other side.  In that way, you are just like me also.

Our talks about school and work and dreams and relationships are a joy for me...  just so you know.  I love hearing about your life, your hopes, your aspirations...  what you want and how you know you're going to get it.  You amaze me every day, Joel.  Every day.  I love listening to you express your core to me.  I couldn't have asked God for anything more in a son when you were born to me.  The day He gave me you, when your sister has just turned three, my life was complete.  A mother could have no more joy in her heart than what I have for my children.  I am blessed exponentially!!!

Today the world tells us that you are a man but we both know that you have been one for quite some time.  I am forever grateful that your depth of understanding and your knowledge of what living is really about will serve you well for the rest of your life.  Never forget that your sister and I will always be there for you.  No matter where, no matter what.  Just as we know you'll be there for us.  We are truly a blessed family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY !!!!!!!!!


Your Beginning

I love you,
Mom

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ♥ TOMMY ♥ !!!

There is a young man in my daughter's life who has been a constant for her ever since she was a senior in high school.  He is good and kind and caring and loving and intelligent and motivated and just one of the men you admire for their character, person, and strength.

I am blessed that he calls me "Mom" and doubly blessed that he wants to someday call my daughter his wife.  They are both good for one another.  That day when they get married is going to be joyous!  Today, my 2nd son turns 24 years old.  He is busy taking finals for this semester of his medical school.  He'll start with new classes in another week.  He is doing something that I always had wanted to do.  I want him to know that I am so very proud to call him my son and share him with his mother and father.

Tommy, you are awesome!!!
I love you as if I had given you life...
I hope you have a day as wonderful as you are!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Mom

understanding

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned in life:  It goes on."
~Robert Frost

♥ forever ♥

"Everyone always wants the fairy tale...not me, I just want ♥ forever ♥"
~Anonymous

it is hard to imagine...

it is hard to imagine
my life getting any better
than it is right now
this day
this moment
this breath
i am abundantly blessed
and thankful
and wonderfully
marvelously  
♥  loved  ♥

my ♥ overfloweth

"Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.  A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love."
~Mother Theresa

life and love is all about taking chances

"Life isn't always easy. It's full of tough decisions and heartache, and things don't always work out the way we hoped. Life just doesn't come with guarantees. And while it's true that sometimes, by avoiding taking a chance on people, we can avoid some heartache, we might also miss out on the best times of our life. Don't be afraid to love."
~Lynsay Sands

passion

“Passion, it lies in all of us, sleeping... waiting... and though unwanted... unbidden... it will stir... open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us... guides us... passion rules us all, and we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love... the clarity of hatred... and the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion maybe we'd know some kind of peace... but we would be hollow... Empty rooms shuttered and dank. Without passion we'd be truly dead.”
~Joss Whedon

never grow old!

“We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing!”
~Benjamin Franklin

More of Bunny's Octette Bridge Club pics

it's your choice

"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
~Viktor Frankl

EMHE ~ The Beach Family build is online!

Part 1

Part 2

My two seconds of fame is at the 10:30 mark in Part 2...  :)

This was a wonderful experience!!!  I'm so glad I got to be there every day to help another family affected by Hurricane Ike.  I think one of the biggest blessings though, was being able to rock Trinity to sleep in my arms while her mom and dad installed the boys' bunk beds that her father custom built up in the fort bedroom.  That was the highlight of my entire experience!  She was a gift for my soul that week... :)

always believe in your dreams

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
~Eleanor Roosevelt

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ♥ BETHANY ♥ !!!

Every year I have a tradition with my children.  I remind them of how much they were wanted and loved and cherished, even before they were born.  They are the joy of my life.  I am rich beyond measure because of them.

Today is my daughter's 24th birthday.  She actually celebrated it yesterday though, because in Australia, they are one day ahead of us.  Yes, Australia!  My beautiful, intelligent, motivated daughter is presenting her research at her first conference.  She was picked out of hundreds of entries!  Not even two years into grad school and she's already making a name for herself.  I am so very proud of her.

Bethany, I love you so very much.  God has blessed me beyond my highest hopes and dreams when He shared you with me.  I hope you have an awesome trip!  You will knock them dead when you present.  You are articulate, warm, and a wonderful communicator.  I am in awe of you...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No matter how old you get, you will always be that cute little girl with the gerber face to me...

When you were born ~ Your beginning

Love,
Mom


Bethany's First Conference Presentation:  (Page 6 of the .pdf)
Session 2: Addressing Violence
(Room S 1201)

Bethany Coston Stony Brook University, New York, USA
“Issues in Intimate Violence: Heterosexism and Exclusion”

♥ I wish you joy ♥

“When you wish someone joy, you wish them peace, love, prosperity, happiness... all the good things.”
~Maya Angelou

“One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others.”
~Robert A. Heinlein

“One joy shatters a hundred griefs."
~Chinese Proverb

“The excursion is the same when you go looking for your sorrow as when you go looking for your joy.”
~Eudora Welty

“The secret of contentment is knowing how to enjoy what you have, and to be able to lose all desire for things beyond your reach”
~Lyn Yutang

"We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them."
~Kahlil Gibran

"Joy is a heart full and a mind purified by gratitude."
~Marietta McCarty

"The great teachings unanimously emphasize that all the peace, wisdom, and joy in the universe are already within us; we don't have to gain, develop, or attain them. We're like a child standing in a beautiful park with his eyes shut tight. We don't need to imagine trees, flowers, deer, birds, and sky; we merely need to open our eyes and realize what is already here, who we really are -- as soon as we quit pretending we're small or unholy."
~Anonymous

"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by its breathtaking moments."
~Michael Vance


 ♥  I will always and forever wish you joy  ♥ 

happiness & peace comes from inside our ♥ ~our core~

"It is essential to know that to be a happy person, a happy family, a happy society, it is very crucial to have a good heart, that is very crucial. World peace must develop from inner peace. Peace is not just the absence of violence but the manifestation of human compassion."
~Dalai Lama

"People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within."
~Ramona Anderson

"The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are."
~John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913)

♥ my joy overfloweth ♥

“I do it for the joy it brings, cause I'm a joyful girl. 'Cause the world owes us nothing, we owe each other the world.”
~Ani Difranco