A near-perfect weekend :)

      This has been a day for counting blessings and there are so many.  Friday night some of my friends gave me silly gifts for retirement:  a bow and arrow with suction cups on the arrows, a plastic bad mitten racket suitable for a 4-year-old (they have my physical abilities down pat!), a set of knitting needles and some yarn - implying that I can use my new free time to learn pre-school archery, bad-mitten, and knitting:)  But then they gave me what they probably thought was my real gift, a generous gift card to Mardel's.  However, the real gift was the laughter, heated discussion, and just general give-and-take that kept us at a restaurant until 10 p.m.  I've been very fortunate in my friends and I know that.
      Shopping - and spending other people's money:) was a lot of fun too,though, I have to admit:)  I finally ended up buying a cross necklace that's not too obvious, hoping that I can wear it when I go to Israel to visit my sister there. But mostly, I just had fun looking - probably drove the sales clerk crazy as I kept going back to the locked jewelry cabinet but he seemed fine with it!  And somehow, it doesn't seem right to spend a gift card without looking over everything first:)
      Another blessing was simply the gift of time - an extra day  to just rest and relax without any great pressure. I've been dealing with allergies and such for several days and as the symptoms increased, it was soooo nice to just be able to nap at will and not worry about what wasn't being accomplished.
     Church was a blessing - although I was on an antihistimine that I mistakenly thought wouldn't make me sleepy, still it was so nice to be able to go and worship in freedom and in peace. And to be able to choose the place of worship in a city where there are so many great churches to choose from.  We are blessed.
    And then, to round off a near-perfect holiday weekend, I was able to start something baking in the oven  this morning (seasoned pork chops and potatoes on low for 2 hours!) and then concentrate on writing for the rest of the day.   I already had 7 chapters of one novel going - fitfully, to be sure. And in sorting out my papers back in the winter, during one of the snow days, I found the first chapter of another novel - one I had totally forgotten about. (There are a lot of deceased first chapters hiding around here and most of them will never see the light of day -for which everyone can be thankful:)  So I worked on two novels today and am not sure I made much progress - maybe even got the characters mixed there for a bit and created a hybrid persona by accident. But I had a ton of fun!
    Then a hot date to Sonic with my best friend who also happens to be my husband.
     And I would have to say that it doesn't get any better than this -
     At least down here!
     Thanking God for everything, including gimpy sinuses, nap time,  easy-bake recipes, computers, church, Sonic dates and a fun time with some colleagues at a Mexican restaurant! Louis XIV may have enjoyed his weekends in a tad bit more splendor than we do here in Mabelvale.. .but I doubt he ever enjoyed his weekends more than I enjoyed this one.  And maybe that is the best gift of all - the ability to simply enjoy life as it comes, in all it's various forms.