Okay…this is just day two, and I’m not sure what my number one thankful item for today is.    One thing is for sure–I was driving home thinking that I’m absolutely not thankful for daylight savings time ending.   I love leaving work at 4 pm and it’s pitch dark said no one ever.

While driving I began thinking about Mike going to Lowe’s twice today and my brother-in-law going to Lowe’s three times today because of the 30% off moving sale–man…I’ll bet they would both say they were thankful for Lowe’s!   I don’t blame them.  It has and always will be My True Love.  But thinking about Gerald made me think  of my sister, Nancy.  I’m grateful for both of my sisters, but Nancy came to mind tonight because her birthday came and went and I didn’t even say anything.  Happy belated birthday to my sister!  I love you!!

Nancy and I  went to Florida with Mother a long time ago, and we had such a nice time.  We went to Busch Gardens and got dressed up for one of those old time photo booths.  This is one of the pictures that was taken of that trip.   We were saloon girls!  There is another picture of mother with all of us, and she was Ma Barker.   I’m grateful for that day as well as my sister.   She is wise and kind.   And she’s fun.  I do not get to spend as much time with her.  I want to change that.

So…driving along–in the dark I might add– I thought about a conversation someone at work had with me regarding travel.  Travel is getting more dangerous, but that is not really why I don’t like to travel.  I like my home.   I always have.  However, there was a time I traveled quite a bit.  Mike liked to go away every quarter after the “quarter closed.”  If you’ve been married to someone in sales, you understand how relieved everyone is for a quarter to be over–especially if it went well.   Bad quarters?  Well, we don’t talk about those!   Whatever.  It’s not part of our world today.   My favorite place to travel at that time was the Cayman Islands.  We went frequently.  In this picture, however, we made our one and only trip to the Bahamas.   We lived in New Jersey and the couple with us were our close friends from Raleigh.   This picture fell out of the photo album tonight,  and I so enjoyed looking at it.    That night I gambled–about the only time I’ve ever gambled–on the roulette table, and I won $500.

Today I am thankful not for just I have today, but for what I’ve had yesterday.  I’ve had some amazing vacations and even more amazing  friendships…Some remain.  Some do not.  For all of them, they brought me–and sometimes Mike–as in the case of Garry and Sue Gardner pictured with us–such joy for the time that they existed.

And now…sorry for the giant picture, but let me also be very honest.  One thing I’m EXTREMELY grateful for are my pots that look like glazed pottery but are really a composite and weigh only about one pound each.  They will look great on my front porch next summer, and I’m so happy I found them at lunch today and got them 35% off at…you guessed it…LOWE’S.  Oh how I love my True Love Lowe’s.

Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage.