“The world may never notice
if a rosebud doesn’t bloom
or even pause to wonder if the petals fall too soon
but every life that ever forms
or ever comes to be
touches the world
in some small way for all eternity
the little one we longed for
was swiftly here and gone
but the love that was then planted
is a light that still shines on
and though our arms are empty
our hearts know what to do
every beating of our heart says
We will remember you.” ~ Anon.
Though a flower may not bloom,
In our hearts, we still know
The beauty of its blossom.
So it is with this tiny someone..
My baby niece Angel, March 29, 2011 – May 10, 2011. May she rest in peace.
It turned out to be a lovely day to come over to the island. I am thankful the weather turned out to be great! Rain was forecasted when my husband looked last week. I told him not to worry because the weather was sure to change before then and it did. We always seem to get good weather when we come up. Well even if it rains I still enjoy being on the island, plus rain never seems to last long around here.
We are lucky enough to be staying at the world-famous Grand Hotel. We checked in today and went to our room to find we are in the Eisenhower Suite! It is a lovely room but no view. We have a huge canopy bed though and our own balcony. We went downtown and bought some champagne to have out there this evening. Now it is time to dress for dinner – my husband is thankful prime rib is on the menu tonight. I love the Grand! I love Mackinac Island!
I am packing to go up to Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island for the week-end. I hate packing because I always want to bring too much and stress over what I leave behind. I do love going places though, especially in my home state of Michigan.
Today I am thankful for many things. I am thankful that My husband and I get to go up north this week-end for some much-needed relaxation and we get to visit one of my most favorite places in the world – Mackinac Island. I am also thankful that the place I love is so close to home and I can enjoy it without too much expense. Plus we are staying at the Grand Hotel – so thankful that we can enjoy a stay there because it was always a dream of mine since I was a little girl and the Grand is one of the most celebrated hotels on the world.
In addition to being thankful for all that, I am always thankful that my parents took my brother and I all around Michigan when we were little kids. This gave me a deep appreciation for my home state and also let me see all the beauty and wonder Michigan has to offer. I, in turn, have tried to share that with my husband and stepson.
It is so sad that many people who live in Michigan do not know what the state has to offer, have never left the metro Detroit area or the (small) place where they grew up (which they seem to find unappealing a lot of times) so they think Michigan is ugly and boring. I have had many people say to me “I hate Michigan. It’s boring.” or they are surprised at the beauty of the north country (especially the west side or the U.P.) when I show them my pictures. They can’t believe that is Michigan! There is great beauty in this state and wonderful things to do and see. I am so thankful I was born here despite the crappy economy right now.
Today I am feeling thankful for great sales, awesome coupons and especially JCPenney, a store that usually has both. I am also thankful for the kind words of strangers – some old man kept calling me young lady today so I let him and his wife use my coupon, haha.
I am usually not much of a shopper but there were a few things that I needed so I took advantage of sales and coupons I was sent in the mail. I found a great leather purse (I am not a big fan of leather but I do like to have a leather purse) on clearance plus I got to use my coupon. I also found a really unique and beautiful necklace that will go with my dress (it was also on clearance and not as expensive as the one I passed up last night) as well as something for my mom for Mother’s Day.
Today was a good day all in all. I slept in, went and got my hair cut, followed by shopping. I am unsure of my new haircut. It is really short – shorter than I really wanted but I really didn’t know what I wanted when I went to the salon so I got what I got. Oh well, my hair should grow back and it will be nice having short hair for the summer. The stylist was nice and I had a good time talking to her about school – she is going to school for social work and child development. I just love talking to people about school =) She is attending my old alma mater, Mott Community College. She is currently taking a class I wish I would have taken when I was there – Human Sexuality. We a great conversation about the class and a few annoying classmates she has. Apparently one of her classmates is a dude who just got out of prison after 20 years and thinks he knows it all. She says he informed the class that 65% of inmates are incarcerated because of some type of sex offense so she was wondering what he was in prison for. Scary! Damn I wish I could sit in on that class.
I worked this evening. Eh, that was okay, ha. It was busy (I work at McD’s). I just couldn’t wait to get out of there because I am off for the next three days and my husband and I are going up north tomorrow, wahoo. Now I just have to pack…ugh!
Oh, another thing I am thankful for is such a hardworking and thoughtful husband who did the dishes and some other cleaning while I was at work. Less I have to worry about.
***
As I am sitting here writing this sort of ho-hum blog post, it really isn’t about much, but I am thinking about my interactions with people today. The good, the bad, and how contradictory I am . I love people though I am not really all that social or outgoing. I am more of an introvert though I am always curious about what makes people tick. I love having good conversations with kind people and finding all about them though when I am at work I just want to get people out of my face and go home, LOL. I generally don’t mind waiting on people, I actually kind of love it, but the pace of fast food is not an environment that fosters satisfying human interaction. I enjoy pleasant interactions yet I am fine being by myself most – not all, though – of the time. I am an enigma!
I am thinking about writing about some small thing I am thankful for everyday just to help raise my spirits and keep them raised. Lord knows I have a lot to be thankful for but I have this damn low-grade depression doggin’ me. It is always there no matter how good of a day I am having (God forbid it is a bad day ooooh that damn depression just overwhelms then, ugh!) or how much I accomplish. I am always thankful for my husband, my family and friends – those are the big things (for lack of a better expression) I am thankful for, that sort of goes without saying. Mostly I am going to touch on the small things that often go unnoticed.
Like yesterday I was thankful for a great cheap spaghetti sauce, LOL. Over a year ago now a classmate and I had to do a video project for spanish. We decided to spoof a cooking show and made a weird kind of pizza. My classmate stopped at a dollar store on the way to my house and picked up some ingredients – one item was a big dollar can of spaghetti sauce with mushrooms. We didn’t end up using it and she left it at my house. I decided to use it because I felt bad about just wasting such a big can although spaghetti sauce with mushrooms didn’t really appeal to me…or so I thought. I added the sauce to some seasoned ground beef and the spaghetti sauce turned out to be delicious – my husband and I both liked it. I hightailed to that dollar store and bought some more cans and I have been buying it ever since. I have not been able to find that sauce anywhere else, though it is a name brand. The last few times I went to the store supplies were getting low. My husband and I went yesterday to see if we could get some more, fingers crossed, and thankfully the shelves have been replenished!! I was/am so happy.
Let me see, what am I thankful for today? I am thankful I found a great dress that actually fits me well to wear to dinner at the Grand Hotel (Mackinac Island, Michigan) on Saturday (and perhaps to a June wedding). I am also thankful I get to go shopping today to try to find some shoes to complete the outfit. I will be even more thankful if I find the perfect shoes =)
***
Yay! I did find some shoes though they are not really what I had in mind. They will do, I am thankful. I also found a necklace I really wanted (it would be almost perfect with my dress) but it was almost $200. As beautiful as it was it was only gold over silver and it had a lab-created gem – I am thankful I was able to walk away, LOL. My husband and I had a good day shopping.
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