Not Too Much To Ask

Dear Mom,

Today, New Year's Day, I was out and about at 8:00am on my way to work for my lady in Marble Falls. I was reflecting on another New Year and what it may bring. On the way, I had the oddest feeling I had stepped into a Twilight Zone episode, you know the classic, "All The People Have Disappeared, Leaving Only Buildings and Parked Cars". Then I realized, a whole lot of people were still in bed, with upset stomachs and aching heads. Poor suckers, I bet they think they had fun last night. I went to bed a bit after midnight, woke up and went to see one of my very favorite people, Dixie, a friend and client. Now, is my head screwed on straight, or what?

Worked fairly hard, did the grocery shopping and came home to a delicious dinner cooked by Don. Last night we had a pot roast with carrots and turnips. Tonight he added three cups of beef broth from cooking a beef brisket, a large can of green beans, simmered all of the above a bit more and presto! home-made Beef-Vegetable Soup. Served with crackers, followed by candy, it was lovely. The aroma when I opened the door was heavenly. Once in awhile I catch a commercial on TV that mentions the dreaded "cooking odors". Excuse me? Are you talking about House Perfume? I'll never buy a bottle of perfume or room deodorizer unless it comes in Bacon or Onions in Butter...or Cranz's Icebox Cookies...or...

I've been thinking a lot lately about mortality, but in a good, and I hope healthy way.

Just for the record, in the unlikely case that it really happens, I had a deja'vu concerning my future-or lack thereof. I was wide awake and just for a second felt that I was in the passenger seat of a car in traffic, I looked up and saw headlights quickly approaching the front bumper, took a startled deep breath and then...nothing. There was no pain or fear so it wasn't a bad experience in the least. Who knows? I just wanted to write it down.

The same thing happened almost 4 years ago when I was still living in Florida. Don and I had gone through a pen-pal-type friendship, something of a courtship (but never really seeing ourselves together), then to hoping once we straightened out our personal lives, maybe sometime meeting somewhere. From there, once our lives were going in the direction we had hoped, we started to consider meeting, then really considered it seriously, then since I was going to move anyway, perhaps my coming to Texas would be an option. But we were terrified, only "losers and nutcases" did that sort of thing. I had another "moment". Don and I were walking down the left side of a street in a quiet, tree-lined neighborhood with our arms around each other's waists, perfectly quiet, perfectly content. The next time I talked to Don I had made up my mind; I said, "I'm coming, you ready?". He said, "What?!", an octave higher than usual. "Uh, yes!". I rented the U-Haul, drove to Texas, and set up my house. Eight months later we married.

I had another moment like that about 2 years ago. When Don and I first lived together and then got married, for awhile neither of us could believe our luck in finding each other. Then something happened that was deeply moving for me and I hope it comes true. We were lying in bed, I swear I was awake, with my head on his chest, his arm around my neck. I closed my eyes, opened them and there he was, with lots more wrinkles and a pure white mustache. I think we'll know each other as old people. That's the wish of my life. And it's not too much to ask.

I love you,

Lisa