Reading Glasses

So the other day I was standing at my kitchen sink doing a few dishes when I realized I wasn't really doing a stellar job getting them clean, so I went in search of my reading glasses (for probably the 20th time that day!), so I could actually see what I was doing.  As I stood there with my hands in soapy water, finally seeing things clearly thanks to my $15 cheaters I picked up at CVS, it made me think about my sweet sweet Grandma and how her life would've been so much easier if she had access to even just a few of the things I now take for granted - like, well....reading glasses!  Grandma was in her 80's when she passed away back when I was in high school and I loved the woman dearly.  She was very independent and maybe a little stubborn - she lived in her own home til the very end, and either walked or took the city bus to get anywhere she needed to go.  But what I was really thinking about the other day was Grandma's dishes.  Towards the end her eyesight wasn't what it used to be, so usually when you grabbed a glass or plate from her cabinet, it wasn't exactly clean, simply because she couldn't see that well.  We learned to sneak and rewash our glass or plate or whatever because none of us wanted to hurt her feelings.  Anyway, it just got me thinking about how many things I have today that make my life better or easier - and yes, it made me feel a little more thankful for my reading glasses!   I still hate the fact that I can't read anything up close any more (sigh...), but I'm also grateful that I can just pick up some cheap glasses at the store and hide them all over my house.  Now I guess I need to tuck a pair next to the sink.  Hee Hee!  Have a SUPER week, everyone!  (Get it?  It's Super Bowl week?  Ah, never mind!!)

Family Connections

I think there is no denying that family relationships can range all the way from super close all the way to strained or non-existent, with all kinds of complicated relationships in between.  Over the last 8 1/2 years I've had to readjust my expectations of family simply because I've lost both parents as well as two of my brothers.  I'm not trying to be Debbie Downer here, this is just my reality.  I am blessed with a wonderful husband of 28 years and 3 children who make me - well, they make me happy!  (Most days, ha ha ha....we are all human, after all)  I was just thinking the other day, now that the holidays are over and we're all pretty much back to real life  - it hit me that this was the first year I didn't have a kind of ache in my heart from thinking about and missing my parents, especially at Christmas.  I mean I thought about them, absolutely, but it was pain free reminiscing.  Finally!  I don't know what next year will hold because the one thing I've learned is that grieving is a really really crazy process, but I'm hoping it will get easier.  It was just a couple of years ago that a line in a novel I was reading - "A Fatal Grace" by Louise Penny- the setting was a large party on Christmas Eve and the author wrote this about one of the characters who'd lost both her husband and son, "At Christmas homes are full of the people there and the people not there" - I read that line and tears welled up in my eyes and it practically physically hurt because it was EXACTLY how I felt at that time.  They say time heals, and it appears to be at least somewhat true.  So here's to all the learning - and healing - we'll do in 2012.  Cheers!