Emotional Joy Ride.....

August 11th marked the eleventh anniversary of my morphing into a Virginian. (I hesitate to say Southern. Ain't gonna happen.....y'all!) While there are times I miss my former life in NY, those moments cannot compare to the wealth I've accumulated in the past 11 years. Not the kind of wealth in the bank (although that would be nice), but wealth of the heart. The love and fun in my little part of the world cannot be replaced. If it were taken away, I would need to be taken away!

This leads to the emotional trauma that went along with SRR's surgery last week. While I knew that many people were thinking about and praying for him (many thanks to all), I was still a wreck. After the surgery, they let us back to see him and my heart sank. (I actually thought my milk was returning!) He was crying, make that screaming, as the anesthesia wore off. Although the nurses told me this was normal, it was not normal for my little man. The feelings of heartache and helplessness were intense!!

Happily, the anesthesia wore off and SRR began to become his old self again! When I knew that all would be well, I went to the closest restroom, dropped to my knees and thanked God for watching over SRR. However, a sense of sadness came over me as I prayed. I thought of all the parents experiencing this intense heartache and helplessness for their children with chronic and / or life-threatening illnesses. How do they cope? How do they function? SRR had a routine procedure: tonsils / adenoids out, ear tubes in. Granted, we had to get up a few times each night for pain medicine, but it just does not compare to the parents who have to get up and administer life-giving medicine or have to perform CPR because the monitor went off. I honor and pray for the parents of these children. May God give them the strength to cope.

Meanwhile, my SRR is on the mend, MGR and JOR are playing their game and I'm enjoying down time with a glass of cabarnet. Virginia is a great place for wine, not whine! Happy Anniversary to me! Life is good.

If you have nine minutes to kill.....

...feel free to enjoy this PhotoStory of our summer vacation. (I apologize for the blurry pics in Luray Caverns. Still not good with our camera!). You may also want to mute it. The music gets to be too much after awhile!