goodness

hello
my it's been so long since i've written.
so long since i've picked up my nikon, relying solely on capturing our days with my iphone lately.
i know it's the end of winter's season, this is the time the waiting seems so very long and drawn out.  seeing images all over IG and Flickr of spring budding and blooming elsewhere.  of bare earth.  of some planting gardens. it's all so beautiful, and truth be told, painfully so. i look out my window to frozen dirty piles of icy snow. no grass.  no earth. just rock hard frozeness. it's a time i find myself turning inward even more.  waiting for the thaw.  waiting for warmth. it will come.  i hold onto that every year, so i wait.

there has been much goodness this winter.  very little illness at all under our roof.  which is such a welcome and drastic difference to last winter's siege. for this is am ever grateful. SO SO grateful. don't pinch me just yet, we are not fully out of winter, but my goodness it's almost march! that is a triumph.

i had a mini health scare. something showed up on my annual mammogram a few weeks ago and i was called back in for more tests.  problem was the first available appointment was 10 days away.  10 days to wait and worry and wonder what my body was doing. 10 days to think out scenarios that do no one any good.  fear is a tricky beast.  it was the week of our winter break as well.  i tried my best to push negative thoughts out of my mind and enjoy each day as it came. we went tubing.  my first time ever! it was so much fun. we read a lot, watched some movies, some olympics, went to our local planetarium (another first) and generally just enjoyed being warm and cozy together at home. my appt finally arrived on monday. and i am so relieved to say it was a false alarm. after many more images and examinations of my breast, i got the all clear. (EXHALE!)

my birthday came the very following day. my 42nd year around the sun. after having just come through those 10 days of uncertainty, and now the relief that came with good news,  i am feeling more than grateful. it was the best birthday gift i could ever receive.  tuesday was a school/work day, so i had the daytime hours to fill.  i treated myself to a chai and donut. i went to goodwill and scored some great thrifts. i went to trader joes and bought a beautiful bunch of spring for home. the sun was shining. my kids made me simple creative gifts (my favorite kind). my guy took us all out for dinner, we had wine and i had a reuben sandwich my body had been craving. i got a learn how to play the ukelele book and a gift card to pick out my very own uke. ( eeep! )  it was so very relaxed and nice. i feel very full and loved. life is very good.

here's my store bought spring...

 i am not usually a pink kind of girl but these were so full and lovely.
and maybe pink was on my mind, pink being the color for breast cancer.
remember ladies, check your breasts. have your annual mammograms. take time for your health.

march is soon to arrive. always in like a lion. always....
here's hoping the lamb follows soon.

xo.