Such a busy weekend! Thunder Over Louisville was this past Saturday, one of the largest, most spectacular fireworks spectacle in the country. Louisville is gearing up with all kinds of events leading up to the 150th Run for the Roses, or The Kentucky Derby horse race, always run the first Saturday in May.

My good friend Steve from Ohio drove us down to the Ohio River, which was so very nice for me. I drive enough as a hospice nurse and I appreciated just riding along. We met another friend Lori down by the riverbank on the Louisville side. There were throngs of people everywhere, showing up on the Kentucky and the Indiana side. I had not been in such a crowd of people for a quite awhile. It was wonderful, the people watching; all different ages, all the different hair styles, the clothes, some people dressed for the cool weather, others dressed more like it was summer time. I was thrilled to see so many of us outside, enjoying the outdoors, the river, and the food and music, too. Lots of folks had brought their dogs with them.

The wind was cold coming off the river, and as evening went on, got even colder. Unfortunately I did not have enough layers of clothing on to stay warm, so Steve brought me back home before night fall. But I had a wonderful day, and will be more prepared next time!

Sunday afternoon Steve, Lori, Debbie, Doris, Jeri and myself played cards at Our Treehouse. We sat in my living room with a warm, crackling fire and played card games for several hours. Ate some good food and created some fun memories. So much laughter with such good friends! Then today I woke up and I was a little tired. The week end was quite different from a regular weekend for me, but that is a good thing!

I went on my morning prayer walk, across the road on the neighbor’s farm. I could hear the children laughing and I figured Noah and Isaac were outside, and maybe their brothers and sisters, too. Reddogg and I walked further down the gravel driveway. I figured it would be good for me to be around all that energy. Perhaps it would be contagious and help clear some of the cobwebs out of my head. There they were, on a morning break from home school, Noah, Isaac, Evie, Millie and Silas. Their mom, Lindsey, was outside too. It was good to see all of them. The kids have a new zip line in the back yard, and the three older ones had to show me their new skills, zipping down that line from one tree to the other! Again, so much laughter!

I was telling them all good-bye when Silas walked up to me. He is three years old, with soft, straight brown hair, and eyes the color of dark brown sugar. He still had his thick, flannel P.J.’s on, with his blue, rubber boots, which looked to be a couple of sizes too big. But who cares, right? “Here, Joan”, he says. He hands me the little, yellow dandelion in the picture above. I just fell in love with that little guy all over again! “Oh, Silas”, I say. “Thank you. I love flowers.” He smiles up at me, then runs off to push his toy wheel barrow.

It was just what I needed. My cup runneth over, with the sweetness of life.

c   Love, Joan