What a difference a year makes

It's all in the perspective. I remember the phone call, I remember grieving, holding my family close to me. But most of all, I remember the seemingly never-ending highways under grey skies. Today's skies remind me of that. I remember making a point of moving my sunglasses into Husband's car before we left (we took his car because it got much better mileage than my minivan), and then not needing the sunglasses at all. We seemed frozen in time, driving along Wisconsin and Illinois' highways with endless farms on either side, on that long, long ribbon of highway that matched the colorless sky, keeping our emotions at bay so that we could handle the ongoing miles upon miles. La Petite used her iPod adapter to play it through the car radio. Amigo listened to his own armband radio, finding local stations that interested him. I just listened to whatever they had coming through the speakers and gazed out upon the road before us.
This year, we're safe at home. No one is sick or injured, none of us had surgery, no one has died. The skies are as grey as they were a year ago, but we're tucked into our den watching bowl games instead of rolling south and west on the never-ending highways. We're hanging together, enjoying each other, and appreciating all we have.
May the New Year bring all of us health, happiness, and security. Blue skies would be a nice bonus, too.

Stumble It!