Lemony Fresh!

Sometimes I like to help people feel good about themselves..Today, I am going to make you feel GREAT! If nothing else goes right in your day today, you will have this..."At least I'm not THAT stupid".  This is my gift to you today.

Joel and I like to go to breakfast.  For me, it's one of my most favorite things we do together.  It's a chance to spend some quality time together before our day gets hectic and besides that, I freakin' LOVE breakfast food.  Start my day off with some artery clogging eggs benedict or some syrupy sweet pancakes and I am one happy camper.

So, one Saturday morning we end up in a local diner. It's nothing fancy..your typical diner atmosphere but BOY, did it smell CLEAN.  We are sitting waiting for our food to come and every once I awhile I am getting this REALLY strong whiff of "cleaner".

Me: Wow, this place smells so clean.
Joel: "Huh?"
Me: Clean..it smells really fresh and clean in here. (Joel just looks at me like I'm stupid)

We continue our conversation and then BAM...there it is again.

Me: Don't you SMELL that?
Joel: Smell what?  I don't smell anything except greasy eggs and the guy behind me who smells like cigarettes and stale beer.
Me: You are CRAZY..it smells Lemony Fresh in here! Like the waitress just wiped down all the tables with lemon fresh pledge or something.


I look around but there isn't any waitress polishing the tables or mopping the floor so I am baffled. Our food comes..I start to eat..take a drink of my water and...THERE IT IS AGAIN!!

Me: Come on Joel..you have GOT to smell that..it's such a strong lemony fresh odor.
Joel: Honey I think you are losing your mind.
Me: Look..I've got one honker on this face, thanks to genetics, and I KNOW what I smell and it smells like CLEANER!!

Once again, I look around and THEN I start to giggle...I start to laugh hysterically...and I say to my husband...

Me: Know what ELSE smells like lemony fresh cleaner?
Joel: I have NO IDEA..what?
Me: LEMONS!

Every time I took a drink of my water I would smell that damn cleaner...Guess what was in my water?  Yep...slices of LEMON!

So Joel thinks I'm an idiot and now YOU can feel better about yourself...You're Welcome.

Time to Slay Dragons...

It's been awhile since I've written a new post.  At first, it was the holidays.  Too much to do, too many commitments, too much stress. I'll get back to it when things settle down, when life gets back to normal. Well, now it's March and I still haven't written. I haven't written because life will never be back to normal again.

One minute, I was 'daddy's little girl', and the next, I wasn't.  One minute, I had a daddy, and the next,  I was left with only memories.

In an instant I felt 6 yrs. old again.  All I wanted was my daddy to make it better, the way he always did.  I needed him to slay the dragons and make the monsters under my bed disappear, but this time he couldn't.  This time the dragons and monsters would win and suddenly the world seemed cold and frightening.

Losing my dad made me come to the realization that there was nobody left on this earth that would think I was perfect.  No one left that would see me as flawless.  Not that I am, far from it in fact, but when I looked into my dad's eyes I knew that's what he thought.  Don't get me wrong, I am loved, unconditionally even, but they see my flaws and love me in spite of them.   My dad just never saw them.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I don't think I've been honoring him the way I should.  I've been stumbling through the days.  Taking care of my daily duties, but not really living. Allowing grief to take me prisoner and feeling like I've surrendered. My dad would be disappointed in that.

So... if I close my eyes and listen with my heart, I can hear him.  I can hear that low, deep, booming voice, and he is telling me...'Sis, it's time to live again. I have given you everything you need to slay those dragons on your own.'

I guess it's time I sharpen my dagger.