Twenty-seven years

I slept better last night than I did all those years ago. I was too excited to sleep. It was an incredibly rainy day but that didn't matter. I was going to be Mrs. Mark Cannon and that was all that mattered.

Wondrously, the clouds cleared an hour before the wedding. Everything went off without a hitch and I was hitched!!

For these 27 years, Mark has stood beside me through the rain and through the sunshine and I couldn't be happier.

The Beach Test

What the Beach Test Says About You

You like people, but you're careful about who you get close to. Friendship is important to you... so important that you aren't just friends with anyone. You fall in love with ease and confidence. Even if you've had bad experiences in the past, each new love is a reason to start completely over. You are deeply passionate about several things in your life. You're not passionate about much... and the few passions you have are truly obsessions. Your sense of humor is goofy and silly. You are good at making almost anyone laugh.

The Beach Test

Brand-New Granddaughter 24 hours old

Summertime!

I was asked the question the other day about my memories of summer and thought I'd share the answer here.

When I was a kid, the day school got out we shed our shoes. Mom would pick up several pairs of 50¢ plastic flip flops for us to wear to the store or to church. And I grew up where people say 110° F without blinking. Do you know how long it takes to scrape melted tar from the bottom of the feet of a kid who ran barefoot on the blacktop all day?

On Saturdays, two great things happened: I got 50¢ allowance and the Bookmobile came to the Pic & Pac (convenience store) at the end of the street. With my allowance, I could get a bottle (and later a can) of Coke and two comics. Then a with a stop at the Bookmobile, I could pick up 10 books for the week. By the time I was 8, the librarian who drove would pick out several books for me in particular because I had read all of the ones they usually brought.

I'd walk back home (until I got a basket for my bike) and sit in the shade and drink my Coke while I read the hours away.

A few nights a week, we would lay a pallet of blankets out in the backyard and sleep out there because it was cooler than being in the house.

When August rolled around, we'd go to Payless and buy shoes for everyone @ 2 pairs for $5 and we had to start wearing them a couple of times a week "to get used to them" before school started.

I know that nationwide, the 60's were a tumultuous time, but on the backside of the West Texas desert, it was a good life. (If you skip that whole crazy mother thing.)

Emma is here!!!

She was born at 10:01 am weighing 6 lbs. 2.9 oz and 18.25 inches long with a head full of brown hair! Momma and baby are doing well. I will post pictures as soon as I get them.

A New Car! (And other stuff)

This weekend, we did something we have never done. We bought a new car. We bought a 2008 Suzuki Forenza and I love it. For the past 15 years, we driven either a minivan or a full-size van and now we've graduated to an empty-nesters' car!

So, of course, when you get a new car, you go for a ride. Here is what we saw on our ride:


This coy little goose was kind enough to pose for us.


And do you know what this is?


It's the underside of the I-80 bridge over the Mississippi River.


And finally, we have the most glorious sunsets in Iowa.

My granddaughter is on the way.

At 9 am this morning, they prepared to wheel my daughter in for a C-section. It is ripping my heart apart that I can't be there with her. She is 1400 miles away and with the current price of gasoline and air travel, it's just not possible.

Sometime later today, my precious Emma will enter the world already loved beyond measure by her Nana and her God.