Belated Happy New Year

Let's see today is January 3rd so I am just a few days late in wishing everyone a happy new year. Yesterday we worked very hard around the house, taking the tree down and putting the ornaments and some decorations away. I take great pains to see that the ornaments my grandmother made us are carefully tucked away and that the paper mache' Santa my son made me is put in it's special box for safekeeping. All these things represent tradition and love to me.
I have been enjoying the new laptop but there are some drawbacks over a desk top. Firstly, I had a very large monitor and I am spoiled by that. Yes, I have made the text bigger but on a smaller screen that changes the look of a page. This can make it difficult to harvest my farm on Facebook. Honestly, this should be my worst problem. lol

I got a Christmas card snail mail yesterday from my cousin who found my blog, accidentally she said. Interesting story there. We are actually double cousins. My grandmother's brother was her grandfather and my grandfather's sister was her grandmother. Her Dad and my Mom had all four of the same grandparents and all the same aunts and uncles. They were more like siblings, especially since my Mom was an only child until she was twelve years old. When we were little kids we both had four kids in our families and they would often come from a neighboring state to visit. We would sleep on the floor and give her parents our bedroom and it was great fun. We got married about the same time, had our first child about the same time, and ironically got married for the second time just months apart.

One of my friends is going through a very bad time. As individuals we all differ but I am struggling with her decisions. I have told her repeatedly that only she can make the decisions that will change her life but it's hard to sit back and be quiet when I see her choices. She told me that her husband is her EVERYTHING. Without him she is nothing. I tried to explain to her that she has herself and that noone in life should be your everything. That is too much pressure for your partner. She also believes in soul mates and that this man is her soul mate. If someone does things you know you yourself could never do, how can you think of that person as your soul mate? Instead of holding him accountable she blames the woman that he got involved with. I gently reminded her that that woman didn't even know her but that he was the one who made promises to her. While I worry about the delicate emotional state she is in I struggle with trying to understand it all. I have to remind myself that this is not mine, it's hers and she has to be the one to deal with it. While I can listen it's she who must pick up the pieces and go on without the person she planned to be with for the rest of her life. I'm so happy to know that as much as I love Rob, I would be okay on my own. We come into the world alone, and we leave alone. I don't understand why so many people find it difficult to spend time alone. (By the way that friend doesn't even know about my blog or read it.)