October 30, 2012 Greetings My Friend, The curtains for the front room and enclosed porch are hung up. I have been staying on top of the housework and seeing the house picked daily feels good down deep inside of me. I love looking at the curtains. To me it is the beginning of the end of renovation chaos and again that feels ever so wonderful. We still have a ways to go before everything is done but to have the house clean and the curtains up I find I don’t feel so at loose ends anymore. I have a new spot I sit in during the day to listen to my programs on the internet and frankly I love it. My chair in the TV area is comfortable for TV watching but this chair is a place to rest, to write and I tend to do the day in and out of this chair. I have the heavy layers of dust off the entry way furniture and I’m working on the TV area getting the dust down so I can use a duster more often. Junior is cleaning the wood floors for a few days to get the heavy dirt off. We still need to have the floors refinished so I am anxious for that day to arrive. As I finish up with the inside I want to direct my attention to the porch and then to the yard by picking up the debris that has accumulated all around. I feel like I am the “old” Janet with her fairly clean home and to be honest it feels wonderful. I’m not good with a mess all over the place. I move slower these days. That is ok as well. I’m good with I can’t be what I once was, but I can have what I once had even if I move slower to get it done. To be honest…that feels wonderful and I am staying away from depression more due to a more organized life. It is who I am and that is the way it is so I accept this part in my personality. I need order in order to function well. My walks are getting longer again. I am aiming for a half hour walk each day which would take me to the end of our street, road and back again. Each walk I fall in love with our surroundings. I see mountains, forests, sometimes and a deer. We watched a small deer run back into the woods this morning and to me it was beautiful. The tail was curled up and looked real cute. The other day Junior spotted a dead copperhead that was the first one I’ve seen in the 3 years we have lived in Virginia. Dead was good. We have heard that cats will keep the snakes away so Junior has let a cat live in one of our sheds with her babies. He is so creative, her name is Shed. I get Junior’s humor and find it cute to be honest. He accepts my strange humor as well. We are well matched in the humor department along with other very similar traits. It feels nice to be well matched to my mate. We tend to have the same goals, we both love Jesus and frankly it feels very nice to be well matched to my mate. Are we exactly the same, oh no we are not. I love to have a spot for everything and everything in its place. Junior likes a bit of clutter all around him. That has been my struggle the last few years. It got to be way too much for me. I love to talk and talk and talk and Junior being a man has only so many words each day. So we have our areas that are different as day and night. For me I have learned to take Junior to prayer when I do not understand him. I am not complaining to God and I don’t think God wants me to complain. I do ask God to open my eyes and heart to this man at times so I can live with him. God has been very good at opening my eyes and heart to Junior and to be honest when I see his heart, I find myself falling deeper in love with this man. As I go through health struggles, Junior steps beside me. When the doctor told me not to drive, Junior did not insist I drive and that was so very nice. Junior is tender in so many ways and yet he often sounds rough, it is weird. I love him a ton though. I would not want to be anywhere else but with Junior. As I was rolling on the ground when I fell and broke my vertebrae, Junior maintained a calm presence. He was fairly shook up but for my sake he presented a calm front. He took me to the hospital and did not get all edgy. I really appreciated his ability to keep himself under control so I would not panic. We had M here at the time and we needed to take her home to Michigan. I was left at the hospital which was a good place for me and Junior took her home. I could tell he wasn’t real thrilled with this project and leaving me at the hospital but we also had to get M home. So I knew I was on my man’s heart and frankly that felt good. Some days Junior’s back hurts him a lot, especially when he over does it, like putting a carport in. He needs to slow down and sit a lot. I am good with that to be honest. I sometimes think he takes on more than he should but I won’t tell him that. His body will tell him to stop and then I don’t have to nag him. It works. I see us enjoying our older years. We have the friendship we have longed a lifetime for. We work hard at trying to understand the other one and then we also seek each other’s highest good. In all of this I find life to be sweet. May God bless you and keep you, make His face to shine upon you. Love Janet