Holidays?

I am currently on holidays. We had planned to go to BC but our Newfie needed some major surgery to fix one of her legs - to the tune of $3200. So much for going anywhere. Between the cost and recovery time, we are sticking pretty close to home. If our son will look after the dog for us for one week we may make it to a lake.

But there are wonderful things to celebrate. Molly's surgery went well and she seems to be recovery nicely. She will need at least one more operation but it shouldn't be as expensive. If nothing else, this has helped us appreciate medicare all the more. Living in Canada we often don't realize the cost of our health care.

Staying home gives me more time to organize our celebration of Mom's and Dad's 60th aniversary celebration. We decided to have it out here rather than in the city. Part of it is that our costs for hall rental and catering are not as high. The other part is that Mom can just sit back and enjoy rather than worrying about being hostess with the responsibility of housing and feeding others. That falls onto my shoulders. Because we are keeping it small, it really isn't a lot of work for me either.

I get to do a service of celebration and thanksgiving. Mom and Dad decided that they wanted to renew their vows. The request threw me as I never thought they were into that sort of thing. Dad made the comment - "Why not? This time we won't have to keep them as long." (Meaning of course that they won't make another 60 years as both of them are 80 - just in case some might think they were planning on splitting in the near future.) I found a service from the Church of England that we will use as a base with the eucharist from the BAS - Eucharistic prayer #5. I sent a copy home with them tonight to look at and get back to me with suggestions.

Mom and Dad, my sister, and my older children and their partners were out tonight to help celebrate our youngest's birthday. Although I was not happy to discover I was pregnant over twelve years ago, I frequently give thanks for our youngest. He has taught me so much about life and about myself. He lives life very earnestly but celebrates each and every moment. He has taught me to do so myself and for someone who is prone to depression this is a real gift. I pray that he will never lose this himself as he grows older and begins to face the struggles and complications that come with maturity.

As I think of it, each of my children has given me so much. My oldest has taught me how to be a better parent (we went through a very rough 15th year with him). My second has taught me much about myself as she has a number of my traits. This has taught me how to celebrate the person I am. The third has helped me understand my more spiritual side. She has inner strengths and insights that never fail to amaze me. And my youngest as mentioned above.

I also give thanks for my husband. I often say that I may be his curse but he is very definitely my blessing. He has stuck with me and supported me through some pretty major changes.

So truly, life is blessed and I give thanks to God for all these blessings. Not being constantly on the go has given me time to reflect on these blessings, so I also give thanks for this time of relative quiet.

One last thing to celebrate. By the time this weekend comes, my house will be clean and I won't have to do fall cleaning in October. Or at least, I won't have to fall cleaning in the rectory. I will have to do some cleaning in my husband's house but at least it will only be the one house.

So, maybe our holidays haven't turned out as they were planned but, on the other hand, maybe they have turned out even better.

Love and Prayers,
Ann Marie