When Life Gives You Lemons...

Does it seem sometimes that life is one great big lemon tree and that you have so many lemons you don't know what to do with them all?



Yes? Me, too, of late.

Without getting too embroiled in a "woe is me" scenario and without going into infinitesimal detail about the lemon cake I made this spring from the lemons I was handed involving old house repairs that occurred (and had to be redone) for well over a month...



Suffice it to say, there's a whole new crop!



Lemon number one appeared when I had a close encounter with a brick staircase, a concrete sidewalk, and an immovable object and am still recuperating three weeks later. I am getting better, but it's a slow go. Truth be told, it hurts to blog...



Then I missed a family wedding, Mr. Magpie's birthday, and Pink Saturday's Second Birthday, three events I would have given anything to have celebrated and to which I had eagerly looked forward...



But all of that was rapidly put into proper perspective with the unexpected death of a close friend, one of my nearest and dearest and five closest, the kind who asks you to be in her wedding, the kind whose children are like your own, the kind with whom you've spent family holidays and milestone birthdays and regular birthdays and everydays, the kind who though your lives have taken different paths, can still pick up where you left off though a month or even a year has passed, and whose funeral was on Saturday...



Shock. Grief. Disbelief. Reality. I cried so hard on Saturday my eyes are still swollen and are veritable slits in my head. Actually, I'm starting to wonder if my eyes will ever open fully again. No, I haven't introduced her to you, yet, and I won't at this junction because I simply can't find the words to do her justice. But a husband is missing his wife, children are missing their mother, grandchildren are missing their grandmother, and friends and parishioners are grieving her loss with them...



Blogging was truly my solace through a tough few weeks. It brought normalcy and routine and familiarity in the form of your dance recitals and recipes and tablescapes. It made me forget, if even for a second, and laugh or reach out or delight in the creative muse...



Then it happened. As if to add insult to injury, I tried to download some pictures onto my blog for a post I had hoped to do, and I got the following:

YOU HAVE EXCEEDED YOUR PHOTO LIMIT! CONTACT BLOGGER!

That may not seem like much to you, but I am NOT a techy. I have no clue what I need to do next with this latest lemon, and Mr. Magpie is tied up with serious client matters. He's home. I'm not. So, I'm stuck in blogger limbo.

But you know, just as I felt I had exceeded my legal limit of lemons and was beginning to drown in the lemonade I was making by the gallon of late (and there are other things I didn't mention)...



Our young godson celebrated his birthday with a family party...



And the sight and sound of children enjoying themselves goes a long way toward the healing of a heart...



It's the antique body that needs to heal now. ;-)



And even though I did figure out how to go into past posts and steal pictures from them, that's not quite the same thing as new posts with new pictures. I'm so tired I'm not even sure what I'm saying is making sense. So I am going to take advantage of this time off, grab those lemons, and spend time making something good from them...



And when I come back I will announce the winner of Mr. Magpie's Birthday Extravaganza. So please stay tuned!



In the mean time, I hope you will join me in taking the time to celebrate each and every day we are given....















I'm going to celebrate the people I love by telling them just how much I love them...



And more important than that, show them...



I want to find joy in the little things because as trite as it may sound...



It's those little day-to-day things that comprise life...



And make its tapestry such a rich and varied one...



Above all, please know that I'm celebrating having met you and having been invited into your lives and hearts. You are certainly in mine.

Warmly,

Mrs. Magpie (Sheila)