May already!!

Carpe Diem....

It has been just about a month since we drove home uneventfully from Florida with Zoey and we haven't stopped running from day to day.

The mundane (home repairs), the necessary (dr appts) and the delightful (visits with family and friends) have crowded together.

This Mother's Day was especially enjoyable since we went down to our Bay cottage and combined eating on the deck with necessary upkeep and maintenance.  Our son and his girlfriend brought a picnic lunch - home made and thoughtful.  The weather was unusually Goldilocks perfect and the granddaughters went with me for a long bike ride to the next community where they have a playground on a long stretch of Bayside beach. We all attempted, unsuccessfully, to play Capture the Flag and left while it was still daylight.  My husband thoughtfully cleaned up my beach bike for me - I've rarely used it and it has sat in the garage for years.

A very thoughtful gesture came from a neighbor - the second husband of a friend.  This friend is younger than I by a dozen years, the daughter of a friend who was older by a dozen years.  We've known each other forever.  My friend has not had an easy life. Her first husband, still in his 20's, died of an auto accident when a car racing from a police chase crashed into his car which was stopped at a red light.  My friend was pregnant with their second child at that time.  Fortunately, her parents lived nearby and were a strong source of support until her mother died, maybe 20 years ago.  Her father remarried shortly thereafter to her Mom's best friend (this happens often).  Dad and new wife moved to a nearby state and all was well until my friend (he children now grown) met someone she decided to marry.  Her father had objections - unreasonable ones - and has not spoken to my friend since. This is a source of great sadness to my friend.

Yesterday my friend and her new husband were alone at their home.  My friend was still recovering from knee surgery (painful!) a month ago.  I stopped off to say hi and her husband said he noticed the kid who was mowing our yard was doing a lousy job (he was).  It's a ticklish situation.  The young man who mows our yard seems to be the nicest kid in the world but rather slow.  I'm overpaying him for a bad job because he lives with his grandmother and is still grieving for his grandfather who died last year.  We don't live down there and it helps to have this kid and his grandmother who live near us kind of watch out for our place.

Our friend's husband said he would come over and weed wack our badly mown lawn.  He did.  I should have asked them to join us for our picnic or at least at least send some food over. I didn't, selfishly.  We were just having too much fun as a family.

It gets worst, from my perspective.  Our friend said he'd just mow our lawn for us, to let the other young man go since the boy now has finished high school and has a full time job.  My friend's husband said he enjoys being outside, etc.  I said I'd pay him.  He said no.  I don't like owing that big a debt to anyone. Neither does my husband. I'll think it over.