Only people who harbor secrets think other people habor secrets as well...

I hope this past Easter weekend was as beautiful where you are as it was here.

I bought flowers to plant along my fence. Tom put a wood border around my garden. My birch trees are budding and small green leaves cover the branches. I bought a kit that we will use to finally start to construct the pond and water plants for when it is finished. My climbing roses are producing new leaves. Saturday it was in the 70's and Easter Sunday was in the high 60's. It was the first really beautiful weekend since last year.

Saturday was so beautiful, in fact, that Tom was ready to wear a pair of shorts for the first time this year. Unfortunately, he had great difficulty finding a "comfortable" pair. He attributed this to his "Shorts Theory." He said, "You know how when people have to lay in bed for extended periods of time and their limbs shrink? Well, that's what happens to clothes when they sit in the closet for extended periods of time... they shrink." Personally, I think it is the "Beluga Whale Theory." In order to keep warm during the winter, the blubber layer (sorry, honey) increases in thickness, thereby increasing the body's circumference.

So, to bring everyone up to date.

Some of you know that I had a stalker-type following me all over the internet, particularly on the web communities and forums where I am registered. Looking for what...secrets, maybe? I don't know, but I canceled all of my registrations to everything except one private forum and my two blogs and, after a few days, I re-registered at Myspace where most of my family checks in and keeps in touch. I want to make it very clear that I will never again be chased into hiding by anyone, NO MATTER WHAT!! I will never again succumb to ANY sort of intimidation, whether it is overtly aggressive or passive-aggressive. NEVER AGAIN!!! And, my dear family, friends and faithful readers, I will continue to write. End of subject.

Even before our cat, Freebie, disappeared, we were looking for a dog and we have finally found one. We thought we'd end up with a puppy until we got a call from our veterinarian's office. The assistant said she knew of a very reputable breeder who was looking for a home for an older female Golden Retriever. Tom and I went to see her this past Friday. Goldie is a beautiful, very calm, sweet tempered Golden Retriever almost 6 years old. She has been used as a breeder female, has given birth to her final litter of puppies and her owner is retiring her. Even while she was nursing her pups, she let us come right into the kennel and pet her. No growling. No aggressive or apprehensive behavior at all. She just lifted her head and invited me to scratch her under the chin. We can pick her up in about 4 weeks when her puppies are weaned. I had every intention of taking pictures. I took my camera, but it completely slipped my mind. So I found a a photo of a Golden Retriever that looks like her.



I know I sound more like a proud parent or grandparent, but aren't they just beautiful dogs??

And finally, the "son issue". Nope, my son has not returned phone calls, did not email and did not respond to my last post. Yep, I sent him the 6-page letter, but I sent it privately in an email. Nope, I have not received a response. Well, sort of...there was the very indirect, beat-around-the-bush, oblique, disingenuous non-response. My in-laws received a sweet little email from my daughter-in-law along with a photo of my granddaughter and her classmates on a field trip. As my mother-in-law always does (and as my son and daughter-in-law knew she would), she called to express her excitement about receiving the photo. "Did you see that precious photo?" she said. "No, Mom, we didn't get it," Tom said. And, when he visited his parents later that day, my father-in-law said, "Yeah, I thought it was odd that our email address was the only email address on the email." So, Tom explained... not "odd", intentional...and laid out the rest of the details.

But, dammit, I have stopped crying. I feel like Neo in the Matrix. I am dodging bullets in slow motion instead of jumping in front of them, and found out it hurts less. DUH!! In another family matter, I have started to communicate with my sisters more and hope to heal our estrangement, although one does not yet appear too amenable at this point. I am, once again, sleeping through the night and waking up refreshed. I'm looking forward to a new fur baby. Our flip hasn't sold, but I'm not freaking out. I am going to start working on my license for real estate and certification for personal coaching. Whooo Hoooo!! I'M MAKING FREAKIN' PROGRESS!