As I prepare for the holidays again this year, a few things strike me as different. I am more thankful this year than I have ever been. and for the right things, too. Those of you who are reading this already know that I have been sans-family for a real long time. Not my immediate family, Dirk, JD, Eden and Higgins, but the other blood relative family on my side. For many years, the thought of holiday gatherings, sent me into such depression it wasn't even possible to describe. Every holiday gathering I tried to participate in seemed so completely different than the ones that I grew up with. Both good and bad differences, too. Not having anyone to verify that, believe it or not, I WAS once a child has been, up until now, really hard for me. Then it happened. I just gave all of that despair away one day. I just decided that for me to really gain an appreciation of God's grace to me - I needed to show grace to my own mother and just let it all go.
I picked up the phone and called Ramona the other day and gave her a gift of "good news" regarding myself and my family. Basically, let her know that we were all healthy and happy. Never mind how the conversation ended, what is important is how it began.... and it began with the giving and receiving of a precious gift - forgiveness.
I am grateful that God showed me this valuable gift. Forgiveness is given to those who wish to move forward.
I am grateful for my husband. I am grateful for all that he is to me in my eyes and in my heart. He has always forgiven me anything and I will always offer to him my gratitude. He is a Godly man and gives me many reasons to be thankful of my choice in him. I am also very grateful that God saw fit to return to Dirk his medical so that he can once again bust bugs on his windshield! The FAA returning his medical - the hugest thing to my husband! Go God! Go Dirk!
I am grateful for my son. JD is a person that I desire to spend time with - any and all the time he is willing to share with me, that is. I am so proud to know him and be his mother. He is deep waters and that is where I feel the most at peace (in deep water).
I am grateful for my daughter. Eden is such a joy to my soul! Her common sense, her nature and her sense of "who she is" is all so amazing! I love that she isn't impressed much. People seem to try a bit harder in her presence as a result. I respect who my daughter is and I will stand beside her in her life always wanting to be there.
I am grateful for my dog Higgins. Don't laugh. He is really a fantastic dog. Above and beyond stuff over here with Higgins. Best dog in the whole universe.
I am grateful for my mother-in-law. Donna has given me the example of how a mother loves in all circumstances. I am so thankful for her deep love for JD and Eden and the willingness to do whatever is needed to help us in our tiny family. We wouldn't be us without Donna!
I am thankful for my friends. My happiness wouldn't be possible if not for the many many friends who help us raise our family. It takes the love of many to raise a good and decent "one" believe me. Thank you all for listening to my woes and laughing with us! We all know how important it is to have people who love and support us! Thank you all so much!
God Bless us All Please.
Peace.
Sarah
OMG! Mellie (she is a great friend from Cessna) and I decided enough with all the economic B.S. - or the fact that Cessna now finds it too costly to arrange for us to get together, post 9-11 stuff and the fact that we are no longer a GREEN company so we planned a girl weekend in Kansas City to ghostbust over the Halloween weekend. I know, kinda cheesy, but hey - we can have fun just giving ourselves facials so, at least, we would be promised out of the room!! We checked into the Hotel Savoy and, according to A LOT of people, it's haunted. Supposedly, room 505 or something a lady drowned herself in the bathtub. A claw foot one, in fact. So, checked into 545 and it was the most beautiful Victorian Suite with a claw foot bath in one bathroom - the other didn't have a tub. and Stained Glass enclosed master bed with a sitting lounge and fireplace just lined and lined with great big huge enormous windows covered in lace. Can you just see this place, it was nice. The ceiling is like 11 ft it felt way the hell up. A very luxurious place given the age of the place. Built in like the 1850's and it has a bunch of history of being a Speak Easy and such with Gangsters.....
Melanie and I planned at 10:00 p.m. to attend the Missouri Paranormal Assoc.'s Haunted Tour being conducted at the John Warnall House close to the Plaza. So, at 10:00 p.m. we drove up to quite the set up. The Paranormal Society was taking $50.00 per person to let you be there during one of their routine "investigations" during which, a guy named Harvey would be called by telephone and he would then let us know if, any spirits were present with us that nite. The house felt like really "nothing" was going on in there and it just seemed to get sillier and sillier and I, quite frankly, thought Harvey was a fake. My reasons for thinking this are as follows: When Rob (the Para. Soc. leader) asked Harvey if "Roma" (a spirit they thought they recognized) was associated in some way with the history of the house? Harvey, began to say "ooohh ahhhh Yes..... something is coming in ..... yes, Wilma is associated with the history of the Woernald House!" I mean, that's it precisely! So, the next room was Rob's new machine called the Spirit Box that was supposed to Seek Spirits wanting to talk to us by randomly stopping on various fm and am frequencies. Picture yourself going down the road in your car and you hit the Seek button on the radio..... it jumps around and lands randomly on a station..... for a second and then it's off again...... well.. if a word jumped out like :stop: Rob would say "did you hear that? it said for us to stop" he doesn't like it when we do this........ okay....... so Mellie and I said we had to pee and exited FOREVER! tee hee!
Now the story gets a lot better.........
We drove back and it was like 1:30 a.m. or close to 2:00 a.m. and we were laughing about our most recent debacle feeling a little like Lucy and Ethel, we were laughing and clinging on to each other in the dark nite without much moon. Walking into the Savoy that nite - I felt like someone was walking in with us. Once back in the room, I told Mellie that I needed to go downstairs and smoke my goodnite cigarette and asked if she would mind and be "okay". She said, of course, and so away I went down to the stairs out front where I smoked and saw not one human body on the street or in the hotel. I walked back in and when I was approaching the elevator to push the button (which this elevator had always required prior to lumbering to me) the door dinged and opened sitting empty. I was startled at the "automaticness" of this door and I snapped a photo of the empty elevator. I felt the presence of a "lonely older lady and I also felt like she was wishing I would just go back and be fun again with my friend. She made me feel as if having my friend was the most valuable thing she wanted. I turned to the empty elevator and said "thanks for getting the elevator for me" and went back to having fun with Mellie that nite. The Cardinals WON THE WORLD SERIES! Yeah! We had so much fun together and she and I will now have many reasons to continue our ghost busting adventures...... check out the face in the photo on the right in the picture that I took of the elevator that was completely EMPTY!
