Precious

Thanks, you guys, for the nice congratulations messages! I really appreciate you coming to see me and taking the time to comment - especially when I haven't been arty lately, and that's what this blog was originally all about!

Isn't it funny how life changes? Things that were so excruciatingly important last year ... poof! Not even in your thoughts now. Last month's crisis? No problem! My husband and I have been talking about the casual, throw-away nature of connections with others these days. It seems that connections used to be more precious. We took time to handwrite letters to cousins, spent a dollar a minute to call a friend, drove a thousand miles to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Now, we scarcely take the time to dash off a misspelled email or leave a message on a cellphone, figuring that they'll see the Caller ID and call us back themselves. Ugh!

I'm so glad that in a few little ways, my family is fighting this disconnected trend: Homeschooling, knowing exactly what my boys read and learned today, seeing the joy on my son's face as he learns about the honeybees' dance in the hive to tell others of the flowers location ...Taking a daily walk with my husband and having 45 minutes to talk, without interruption, or just walk and hold hands ... Reconnecting with my far-flung siblings, starting to call more regularly, keeping up on their life events ...

...Getting to know some of you, nearby in my same town or far off in Pennsylvania! You are precious people!

Photo is of an Ad Rem tulip in my front yard, after a rain shower.