I've been knitting socks. They are such a perfect, portable project - entertaining in their simplicity, and very useful as gifts (since both daughters and I wear the exact same size). They squish nicely into my purse, carry on for a plane, glove box in the car, and can be picked up and set down quickly.
I've been spending time with my parents in Florida, assisting as they work through various health difficulties. My dear Mom was discharged from the hospital mid March, and within a week and a half, had fallen three times, and had some rather serious heart irregularities - She thus went back to the hospital, had a zillion more tests done, and is now back at Manor Care (a physical therapy care facility that prepares people for returning home).
My brothers and I have been playing pass-the-baton and staying with my parents for the last month, since my sweet Dad also seriously reinjured his back and knee while lifting Mom. :-( A very difficult situation for my wonderful parents. Yet they have done well with allowing us to assist them - and we all hope that with time, their health can be restored.
In the meantime, I've been working a lot here, preparing for a huge Mozart Concert 
with the fabulous chorus I sing with, and making plans to fly back to Florida to be with Mom and Dad once again. My youngest brother and I have been sharing our thoughts every night (as he is there with them now) - and we both agreed that it is an easy gift of love to be there caring for Mom and Dad. And heart wrenching when we have to leave.
I have been dreaming of someone making a molecular transmitter so that I can zoom back and forth every day! Yet until that dream comes to fruition, life will be a creative dance between here and there. I am considering opening a part time practice down there on Marco Island - and am looking into licensure there this week.
My daughters live on both sides of the country (one here, one in Georgia, my parents in southern FL, 
brothers and Sisters-in-law spread from LA to Detroit to Tampa, dear friends and my work and the chorus here on the west coast....
and I learn the heart ache of how to choose where to be. Deep thoughts wrestle throughout my being - about what truly makes a life "significant', and how the choices that I am attempting to make will affect the remaining years of my life.... 
In truth, I do not think that there is any way of 'predicting' or knowing with certainty what the correct decision is...
My personal style, when faced with such a challenge, is to become very quiet. and move slowly through each day. I share my feelings with my beloved close friends, I knit a lot,
I take long walks 
and pray for clarity. 
The pictures in my mind fill with images of where I might be when I am in my mid-late 80's and what would bring me comfort, and I easily am called to move to FL.... 
yet then, I think of my small world here, which is filled with closeness to Erin and my beloved friends, and my tiny cottage, and I cannot imagine leaving it, yet then I am pulled up short by what has always mattered to me the most.......... loving the people who matter to me. 
And I pray for clarity as to how to proceed in the best, most truthful way I can with this, to live my own integrity. Most of me believes that there is no perfect solution, and no 'wrong' answer... instead, that I may continue to find the way to travel back and forth... the best of both difficult situations....
Please enjoy the photos from my sunrise beach walks on the Residents Beach of Marco Island.... my walking companions were Heron, sand pipers and pelicans (whom my brother calls the beach patrol). 
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