2019 Joy Journal

March 22, 2019 Annette sent me a good morning text message. We had a fun supper with Zak and Vivian at Quickly's last night. We got to hear about their trip. Vivian may get a shift change at WalMart, so she'll be able to be at Second Sunday Supper again. She's applied for a WalMart scholarship, and it would be really awesome if she got it.  Heard from Skyler. Heard from Andrew. Got to have a nice phone visit with Beverly. She had expected to work yesterday, but they called her and told her they don't usually schedule people on their last day, so she didn't have to work after all.  Heard from Angela. She and Tori are driving in this weekend. They're going to come over here with Kennedy and pick out some things for her new apartment. Heard from Tori. She is looking forward to being able to swim. Kennedy called to update us and sent some pictures of her new comforter, etc. She said, "Thank you for helping me feel ready. I feel so ready. I lov...

March 15, 2019 We have plans to have supper with Zak and Vivian at Quickley's next Thursday. :-)  Bertice said that she is so glad that I am in her corner. Got to talk to Daddy. He seems to be on-track for healing.  "Noah ended up doing one of this trick things where he gets the ball onto his back and kicks it up, so that was fun to watch it play out in a game." Barry offered to take me to the restaurant that is where Hungry Owl used to be, instead of going to get sushi.

Beverly called. She only had seven minutes, but she called. Daddy called. He had gotten my email, and thanked me for the pictures. Vivian sent a text to see if Papa and I would like to meet her and Zak at Quickly's for dinner.  Kennedy drove over last night so we got to see her. She and Barry are going to her new apartment this morning, and she is supposed to get to sign the lease.  I heard from Skyler yesterday. She was watching a school soccer match at the same time I was, only I was watching Noah play, and she was somewhere else. Noah was team captain, and he scored.

March 8, 2019 Tyler gave me an extra hug yesterday. I'm not sure Wylder recognized me, but he wasn't afraid of me. He walked up to me and wanted me to pick him up. :-)  Tori said they were going to go see the Captain Marvel movie.  Kennedy said she's gotten the power turned on in her new apartment! Morgan assures me that Davis hasn't forgotten me. Zak and Vivian are on their way home! I get to spend the early afternoon with Beth. 

February 25, 2019 Andrew: California is the most racist place I've ever been, and when you consider where I'm from, that's saying a lot. The Spanish and the Asians and the blacks don't even acknowledge each other, and don't have anything to say to each other --- that is good. I come in and say, "Hi!" to everyone. That confused them. When they need something done they come to me because they don't know which contractor to call, and that isn't even part of my job. They all bring in food, but just for their own little group. I'll bring in ten dozen doughnuts and get on the radio and tell them we've got doughnuts and they're for everybody. .... When he calls for help, he gets more than he even needs. He needed to move his equipment to another location, way on the other side of campus. He asked if a couple of people could come help him. So many people showed him, he didn't even know how many. He said he was literally just handing each ...

February 22, 2019 I'm just so happy today! Angela and Tori have a trip planned home for the first weekend in March and Beth is coming home the third weekend. We'll have Second Sunday Supper the second weekend, so there should be lots more family time than we've had in January and February.  Had some voice visits yesterday with Beverly, Angela and Tori, and Beth, so my heart is much happier.  Got to talk to Daddy. He won't know for sure what is wrong with his Achilles tendon until he has an MRI and follow up doctors appointment next week. But we laughed together, and he told me about a note that they'd gotten from Kennedy that made them very happy.  Kennedy and Barry are going to Pensacon today. Beverly said it is all Kennedy has been able to talk about. Vivian and Zak are in Denmark and having a good time. Viv posted a video with her laughing in it and Morgan said she'd had turned the volume up and listened to it again, just to hear Vivian's laugh....

February 19, 2019 Kennedy is listed on Escambia Reads website now, as the Program and Marketing Assistant. She was assigned to them as part of her school work program. Now they have her more in the art department, but it looks to me like ECARE really wants to hang on to her. I went to the mall yesterday morning and had a nice walk with Bertice. I went to Publix and stocked up on the cereal that I like, and the fibre cereal that Daddy gave me, that I can't find anywhere else. They had pistachios, too, so now I finally have the ingredients for my regular breakfast concoction again.  I picked Skyler up from school on Tuesday and we got to visit a little bit. She is taking piano at school. Kennedy may be over this evening.  Noah responded to my text re: his soccer game this afternoon. Chris and Tyler and Wylder stopped by so Chris could get some of his mail. Tyler gave me a cord he found that had fallen on the ground, and asked if Mama Cat liked her ca...

February 14, 2019 Barry and I drove down to Firefly last night. The pier is about two poles away from the deck, and it was exciting to see that progress. You can see all the way around the point from that far out. We went to the Pelican for dinner and I asked if I could put the Serve It Up With Love tennis card on their community bulletin board. The lady was very kind and lent me some tape and didn't seem put out at all.  The tennis meeting went well. I'm not sure I handled the "pick the colors for the T-Shirt logo" just right, but I think overall people were pretty happy.  Beth seems to have had a good visit and made it back safely to Houston.  Kennedy drove over last night and will be with us till Friday night.  Sent Andrew a text letting him know that I'd heard from Mark about their visit in California --- that Mark had said he's a fine young man, and considered his time with Andrew to be his birthday present -- Andrew said he'd enjoyed the ti...

Just a quiet kind of morning. Plenty of things that I could get in gear about, but I just don't feel like it. Beth is here for a few days, at Phew!, and is resting this morning. She and I are going to see Davis after lunch.  Saw Brittany on Facebook a little bit --- she posted an interesting article about the north pole. Beth and I went over to Zak and Viv's last night for quick hugs.  Got a text back from Noah re: his soccer schedule. 

Morgan, as part of conversation about dressing babies up for grandparents and great grandparents, and Goodtimes: "We spent so much time in Papa's T-Shirts! That's still my favorite thing to wear to sleep! 2X" Brandon said, "She even wears it out sometimes." Morgan added pretty quickly something like "Just to the ComPac."  Kennedy said that Saturday was her first day being paid to work in the art department. :-) Work study program.  Beverly and I got to have a nice long phone visit Friday night, and Angela and Tori called us that night, too.  Kennedy came over yesterday afternoon and she and Barry spent some time out in the pottery barn working on her gun project. She said her art teacher said he could see it developing into graduate student work.  Saw Beth on Facebook a little bit. She'll be here sometime Wednesday and will stay for a few days. It will be so good to have her home. Morgan and Brandon and Davis came over yesterday and s...

January 22, 2019 I made Zak some chocolate chip cookies for his first day at his new job, mostly because it makes him so happy when I make them, and it felt like a fun way to celebrate. Vivian was working, but he came over to get them and then stayed to have supper with Papa and Kennedy and I. Papa had cooked Bubbles and Squeak, and had made mixed bean concoction with the leftovers from our Moe's Southwest supper.  Zak's new job is on Halls Mill Road, and is a place where they manufacture / assemble the monitoring equipment that he learned how to work with when he was getting his degree. This experience will let him know the equipment inside out. He seemed really happy and confident as he was telling us about it. He asked Papa about his oysters and asked Kennedy what was going on with her, and then the two of them went out to the shop so she could show him the nerf gun setup.  ~  Got a text from Vivian --- she'd gotten my thank you note, which she referred to as a ...

January 18, 2019 Barry and I had a nice time over our coffee this morning. It is nice not to hop up and be pressured to get started on the day.  I didn't send any of my weekly postcard texts until yesterday, but I had little visits with Brittany and Amber and Abby and Kennedy and Morgan and Vivian and Annette and I heard from Skyler. Angela and Tori called, and Papa and I both got to talk to them. 

Vivian stopped by yesterday to visit. She said she's been certified to run a forklift.  We talked to Angela and Tori last night, on speaker phone, so Barry got to hear their voices, too. Tori said that Josh's roommates have cats, and that cats aren't supposed to like the odor of orange, so I'm trying a cotton ball with orange essential oil on near Papa's pillow today. We'll see if that helps. I also put Mama Cat on her catnip infused cat tower before I left, so that might help, too. Kennedy and Papa spent most of the afternoon together, getting reading for Wizard Con, and then she went and had supper with us.  Morgan, thanking me, "Everyone needs a "grannie," I swear!"