One Sunny Saturday in Spring

I know, I know -- I have not yet blogged about my trip to Hugfest. Don and I met wonderful people, had crazy this-could-only-happen-to-us adventures, and learned a lot about the research that is being done 'round the clock to find a cure for LMS. It was a grand experience, both exhilarating and exhausting, and I am so glad that we were able to go. It was a real stretch for me physically, and I was really out of my comfort zone. (But let's face it, my comfort zone is a lift chair and a bedside commode, so it's basically limited to the inside of our home. This means that if I never go out of my comfort zone, I never go out, period. And that's simply not acceptable to me.) I'd like to give the details of our trip -- parts are humiliating, and parts are hilarious -- but it would make for a long blog entry. Maybe I'll write it all down and add it to my "thoughts" page one day.

Anyway, I really want to talk about today. We have been working on a giant project in our front yard, so Don and I went to our local giant home improvement store to buy landscape lighting. While he shopped for a few other items, I headed for the garden section, where all of the beautiful bedding plants and hanging baskets are located. Happily, I wandered through the aisles of hanging baskets, gazing up at them from way below (wheelchair-level), enthralled with their simple beauty. I was trying to choose two baskets, one for each end of the porch. I was so happy that I couldn't stop smiling. I just couldn't shake that kid-at-the-carnival feeling which kept reminding me, "You're here; you're alive; it's spring, and we're buying flowers!" I proudly brought home my New Guinea impatiens and the landscape lighting to complete our project. Our yard looks so nice now!

I love the smell of the just-mowed and oh-so-green grass, the little flowers that pop up everywhere, and the way our whole family migrates outdoors because it's impossible to resist the warm sunshine. I remember on those cold, dreary winter days when I longed for a day just like this one -- it's finally here, and it made me feel so happy and carefree today.

I'll be heading to the oncologist's office on Friday (May 2nd) to schedule my next round of chemo. My break will be over, and it will be time to fight again. But right now, I think I'll roll to the front door and sneak one more peek at my pink and orange flowers and the delicate white landscaping lights that now welcome us home at the end of all of our journeys.

After all, there really is no place quite as comforting as home ...

:-) Sharon