Thursday...already????

I want to thank all of you who commented so nicely on Roger's birthday. A big hug to you all and so great to hear from Judy in Northport again. Hi Judy!!How are you?

This top called out to me while I was rooting around in the "Closet" for something else. I made it to replace the cruddy quilt that I have used for myself for too many years. It was made from April Cornell charm packs and just used a simple throw-it-together method which really resulted in a less than pleasing top. I had the yardage and finally put borders on it last week. Why do I make things for others so pretty and yet when it comes to making something for myself, I knock out a careless top with nothing going for it but the fabric? I have sworn that when it comes time to make something from the Robyn Pandolph fabrics, I will be good to myself in all ways. Pretty pattern and pretty fabric. Before I put on the borders I contemplated taking all the blocks apart and doing something else. What, I don't know. But it did seem a shame to have this gorgeous fabric and no plan.
Did I mention that I got new Pandolph fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop??? Really pretty stuff. It's aging upstairs as we speak and looks like it will go beautifully with the many other fat quarters I already have. I think that at this point, I have enough to make a full bed-sized quilt rather then a smaller throw like the one above. Clearly a summer project on the horizon.

I seem to be in a bit of a slump-sewing-wise. So many things going on and events coming up. We are going to a reunion for Roger's High School class in the not too distant future (roughly 6 weeks)so I need to do two things. Loose 50 lbs and get a face lift. Barring those two things I guess I'll have to get something to wear that doesn't look like I just cleaned the bathroom in it. The casual life is nothing to complain about but it sure makes you lazy about how you look. I know we've all discussed this before but the clothes out there are for little tiny 15-year-olds. Baring my midriff and wearing very tight jeans are just not going to happen here. Along with that, little short sun dresses over little short stubby legs are also not happening. I believe I'll go with a silk shirt and slacks and maybe a tiny, pretty, sandal-type princess heel. That's a big order but I'm going to persevere. If I could find these things in black it would be a special gift from the universe. Stay tuned. Our best friends, Rich, Diane, and their lovely daughter Erika, are coming to stay with us and go to the reunion since Roger and Rich have known each other since Kindergarten. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to having them here. We've missed each other since "Roger's heart episode" last summer at their house in Pa.
I have no idea where this week has gone. Tonight it quilting with the girls night and so I must go and make a meal for the guys so I can get out of here on time.
Have a great day. Talk to you soon.

Birthday Boy

We celebrated my husbands birthday yesterday. It was a very nice, if hectic, kind of day. This morning I'm sitting here having a cuppa and thinking about how lucky a girl can get. I married my best friend. Much like a great friendship, we really have made a good life for ourselves. Not in terms of wealth and often not in terms of great health but there is no one I would rather spend time with. I know lots of married couples who may have been together a long time but really don't like each other very much.

Roger and I found each other a very long time ago. Back in the dark ages of the mid to late 70s, Roger was working in the Deli near my apartment. I would go there everyday for coffee and deli stuff. When Roger made a sandwich for me-there was a sandwich like the Carnegie Deli makes in Manhattan. One sandwich that takes two people to eat. He was in college and I was a married lady trying to make sense of my doomed marriage. By the time I did make sense of it and found that it sucked rocks, he was getting his Masters Degree and, while he still worked in the deli, I had moved to another part of town to lick my wounds. I would hear about him from people and knew that he was working in a laboratory and doing well for himself.

Time went by...jeopardy music......One day I stopped to get my coffee at another deli across from another apartment and who should I run into by my old friend Roger-now all growed up and manly and the new owner of a neat boat. I was thrilled to see him again because he was always so nice and such a gentleman.

Roger asked me to go out for a boat ride. We went on a lovely day and I didn't hear from him again for a little while. Then I heard from him a lot. We compared notes on failed romances and the general emptyness of our lives. Somewhere in those many conversations a bell went off. The name of that song was "what's wrong with becoming more than friends?" Also, would it ruin a perfectly wonderful friendship?

On one of the best afternoons of my life he picked me up and we went out on the boat. He had put a rose in a Michelob bottle and like a great engineer, he told me about how he felt and how he envisioned our future together. Over great sandwiches and beer I found myself seeing this friend take on a whole other persona. He went from good friend to the man I fell in love with. I thought to myself, "This is what it feels like to love a man who knows who he is. He was a man with a plan. I still think of that afternoon with a butterfly in the tummy.

In all my messed up life before that day, no one had ever been more clear, romantic, and reasonable. Now you wouldn't think that being reasonable would be romantic but I tell you that I held onto him like a life vest. For so long I had wondered why some people get the good life and some don't. When I listened to Roger describe our possible future I could feel myself let go and love. I knew then that no matter how long it takes, you'll most likely get the life you plan for when you stop trying so hard to live up to what other people say life should be. I had somehow stumbled into the best thing, the thing I had dreamed of. A man who knew what he wanted and knew his first priority was his family. He's what a man, and a husband, should be. His wonderful Mother and Father taught him right.

I am grateful everyday for the karmic influence that brought is back together in that deli. A chance meeting, there are many delicatessens in my area. To paraphrase a famous movie line, "Of all the delis in this town, why did he turn up in mine?" Thank God he did.

Happy Birthday Baby.