Nurture A Feeling of Love to Last All Year Long #Valentines

♥♥♥ Happy Valentine's Day ♥♥♥
"Love~ an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired."

Last year, I believe I posted that it's my belief that Valentine's Day isn't just for lovers. It's for anyone who has love in their heart for their fellow man, woman, parent, child, siblings, friends, even strangers. It's the one day that we all agree upon to shower those we love with things "from the heart."

Some people absolutely adore and relish the idea of this day of love while others resent it with a mad fiery passion. I prefer to enjoy it as a day that just serves as a nice reminder to always be my kindest, always show love and compassion to my family and friends and strangers and try to remember to nurture these relationships with the love and respect they so deserve, all year long.

Life is an extensive journey, if we're really lucky, and we spend it with a variety of people, who come and go, throughout that lifetime. I'd never want any of my family or friends to think that they were alone in this world. I hope that when it boils down to it, they all know that there is someone out there who loves them dearly, even when they feel they've hit rock bottom or when it feels like no other soul on earth understands or cares.

I am lucky to have a husband who sees the nurturing side of me and who thinks about that quite often when he gets me flowers for special occasions. Below in the picture are the begonias he got me last week for my birthday and next to them (on the right) are the mini roses he got me yesterday for Valentine's Day.

Both flowers need nurturing, though the begonia is going to be difficult- not too much water but not too little and it seems to be a very sensitive plant. My mom said she never had luck with them because she always killed them and by what I found out when I looked them up, I might have a hard time with these, but I'm willing to give it a chance.

When my husband brought in the mini roses yesterday, they were puny and sad looking, full of old dead leaves and very dry soil. He said, "These looked like they could use some love." 

So he brought them to me. We'll see. I hope I have a heart full enough of love to nurture both these plants and keep them alive. Maybe they'll even bloom so beautifully, I'll have to share them again some time here on the blog.

Nurture those you love, not just today, but everyday~

I wish you great love, laughter and joy this

Valentine's Day.

May it fill your heart to overflowing.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥  

Merry Christmas

 Merry Christmas!

Today I wish you all the best-

Wonderful times and the companionship of Family & Friends

Delicious food that doesn't just satisfy your hunger, but also warms you through and through because of the time and love that has gone into its preparation.

The stories of loved ones past, shared around with laughter and tears.

In memories perfect, they are still celebrating this holiday season with us as we carry them with us, always.

 

Whether it's sunny or snowing, here's wishing you a beautiful Christmas!

 

#MemoryLane Mondays- Make Those Moments Count

Life and death are on my mind right now and I keep thinking about how to make moments count in my own life as I'm growing older and beginning to lose loved ones close to me. I understand that death comes to us all, but some deaths hit harder and closer to home than others. Growing up I lost a great-grandmother, two grandfathers, a grandmother, my aunt by marriage and an uncle. I've lost distant relatives and close friends and that loss still hurts because I keep those who are gone close in my heart at all times. They might be gone, but they are not forgotten. I know of course that, inevitably, I will lose others as well who are closer to me, but I don't relish the idea and try not to dwell on it. We are all given just so much time and this matter really makes me stop and think about how wisely I'm using mine.

So often, I believe that we forget to make moments count as we live them. We don't intentionally take it for granted, but as we go about life, there are things that fill us with joy or sorrow and we carry it with us and remember it with fondness or regret later. There isn't always a a camera to freeze-frame the Kodak moments, there isn't always video, other than what plays out in our minds.

Life is such a precious gift. The relationships and people we encounter who have been blessings as well as curses. The ones who shaped who we are or taught us lessons that helped us move forward into becoming the person we're meant to be, or inspire us to be more than we think we are.

When we encounter those who shape us, mold us, inspire us- those who love us, it's hard to be reminded of our mortality and it's something most of us refuse to face- that someday that person might be gone- gone from our lives or perhaps gone from this world. And yet there is the hope that we will encounter them again in some distant future or space in time.

Remember to tell those you love how much you love them. Now. Share with them the things you don't want to go left unsaid. Hug them and kiss them and remind them that they have a friend in you and that you love them in return. We're not alone in this world, so show your kindness- share your heart and try to make those moments count.

This post was slightly inspired by one of the new songs from Ben Taylor's Listening Album, but also because of the failing health of a few people I know and care about who may not be long for this ol' world. Be a blessing to those around you. Love them deeply and never let them forget it!

Happy 4th of July from me & mine to you & yours!

May you and yours have a wonderful Fourth of July. Enjoy this time with family and loved ones and celebrate what our freedom means!

#TuesdayswithTaryn We Interrupt the Regularly Scheduled Program

We interrupt the regularly scheduled Tuesdays with Taryn to wish you and yours a very 

Enjoy, safe safe and cool and have a great time with family and friends.

#MemoryLane Monday- Memories Lost Along the Way

Well, there you have it. For this week, while I'm visiting my family I was going to share a picture I took of the tree in the backyard where I grew up- the one that has my initials carved into it and talk about touching base with my roots. Seems I won't be doing that. Well, not sharing that photo, that is, unless I remember to snap a photo after I get up there and load it up and add it to the post, but not sure I'll get around to it before it posts on Monday)

After viewing a disk the other day that had that VERY image on it, I can't get it to open at all, not on my laptop and not on my desktop computer either. It's showing that there is space that's been "used" on it and says I have more space I can use, but the files? Those Kodak folders? It's like they've vanished...

All I can figure is that I accidentally reformatted the disk before I ejected it from my laptop or something. It won't read it, can't find the files and my heart is broken. There were photos from April 2011 through January of this year. I had copied them to disk so I could free up some space on my laptop. Dummy me- I didn't make an additional copy. What was I thinking?

I only remember a few of the pictures that were taken, so hopefully it won't worm through my mind that I flubbed up so badly. I still can't figure out how I did that except that it's a rewritable disk. I just don't remember "rewriting" it, cause normally a person remembers doing those sort of things.

Instead, I'll post some pictures I have from coming into town and the view of the park from the gazebo (which is no longer in the park- they replaced it with a different one or something). Was still a VERY pretty view.

My friends and I spent a lot of time in that park. Usually we walked through or rode our bikes through to go to the West Park Shopping Center to go to Wal-Mart to buy cassette tapes or cassette singles, or clothes, makeup, earrings- you name it. Or we'd go by IGA or Rite-Aid for candy or soda pop from the outdoor vending machines. Hot summer days were always a good excuse to take some change to go out there and we'd foolishly buy our drinks and sit on the bench near the payphone, watching the bag boys pushing customers' groceries out or watch for anyone we might know to go cruisin' through the parking lot. Sometimes we'd walk over to McDonald's and buy lunch and take it back to the park to eat at the covered pavilion and just hang out talking and reading the vandalism on the wooden picnic tables.

I truly miss those days. It was hot and you had to contend with wasps and flies around the tables where people had spilled their soda or thrown food in the big barrel garbage cans. You'd be hot and sticky with sweat, but a quick spin on your bike around the path would help take the edge off. Later we'd all collapse on a blanket in my front yard, with the old Magnavox with the broken antenna plugged up to an orange electric cord that was plugged in on the porch so we could jam out to our cassettes listening to New Kids on the Block and Debbie Gibson or Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam. Yeah, I'm an 80's dork.

But back in that park, as well as in our yards, there was solitude though, when it seemed like being a grown up was a million years away even though we wanted it so bad we could taste it. And the smell of fresh cut grass and the fumes from gas mowers scented the air. The splashing and screaming of kids at the local pool or the teenage boys pounding the pavement at the basketball courts was the only important sounds you heard, save perhaps the ice cream truck's tinkling little ditty.

Of course, as a teenager girl, nothing sounded as good as the thumping bass coming from some car three streets over, and you'd wait with bated breath for them to round the corner onto your street and then you'd get to see if it was some cute guy in his little truck. You know the one with the tinted windows and fluorescent doohickeys on the windshield wipers or the ground lights and custom details- cruisin' slow through the neighborhoods. Sometimes if you were lucky, they'd give you a slight acknowledgement of a wave or the nod of their head, looking cool in their sunglasses with the windows down, an arm hanging out the driver's side with one hand on the steering wheel and some song blaring from the speakers, and you'd fall into a heap of giggling as soon as they were up the road and out of sight.

Those were the days.

Of course, I don't have pictures from all those times, and I guess I don't need them, because images capture a lot of great cheesy poses, but your brain and your heart capture the emotions and sights and sounds in a way photography can't.

Hope everyone had a great Easter and I hope you have a great start to your week!
Happy Monday!