~upon the subject of being married and a whole lot of other things about life~

Good morning to you everyone, our dear friends and family, spread out all over the world from this place here in south western Colorado.  It's another cool and breezy morning here in Montrose with the temperature sitting at 66 degrees at present.  The cottonwood tree's leaves are rustling and the windsocks are blowing~for now, not a cloud in the sky but even that is fixing to change as the moisture from the monsoon rains arrives later on today.  Some things are pretty predictable here and little by little, I am beginning to understand how just like in Kansas, the weather can change rather quickly on any given day.

Hey, if you don't mind, could we talk about Facebook and friendships for a while?  I've been on Facebook since 2008, having drug my feet for months before finally giving in to the admonishments of my friends/family who told me what a wonderful way it was to keep in touch with one another.  And for as long as it took me to make my own page there online, it only took a couple of days before I realized what a wonderful medium it was to keep in contact with my family members and friends, not only "present day" ones but those from the days of my childhood in the "land of long ago and far, far away".  Now, nearly 5 years later, I would have to admit to being pretty dang used to being on it each and every day.  I stop short of saying "addicted to it" because, well because probably I am :)  But I guess if a person HAS to be dependent upon something, then Facebook may well be as harmless as it gets.  

Since moving away from my home in Kansas, now two months ago already, I've loved opening up the Facebook site and reading all of the posts from the people back there.  I've enjoyed seeing the many photos that have been posted this summer and hearing the stories of what folks back home have been doing since I left on May 24th.  For my teacher friends from back at USD 308 in Hutch, I know how close it is for you all to return to school once more and I'd have to admit that I'm a little sad that I won't be there to see it happen again. Life has changed for me in that respect but I can still keep up with what it is going on at school by reading your daily "check ins".  Please dear friends and fellow educator cohorts of mine, keep the news coming my way!  Sometimes the "word" isn't always so good for us all and with sadness I have read of the passing of many of my friends back home since this summer began.  In addition, many folks that I have known have been facing the challenges of serious illness, depression, loss of jobs, and other troubles that many of us would never want to know on a "first name" basis.  Yet even in the sadness, how wonderful it has been to be able to pray for people who really need you to do so.  Without the instant connection of Facebook to the outside world, I might not have learned until much later of those times when families have had to go through some pretty bad things.  So in the very least of things, I thank God that I am living in a time when communicating with one another no longer  requires a 6 cent stamp (LOL, I am really dating myself here!), an envelope, and days worth of travelling time for the news to get there.  Do you share the same feelings?

This week will be a busy one for us here and I'm sure each of you have hectic schedules as well.  It's life, you know?  On Thursday of this week, I'll be boarding a plane here in Montrose and flying to the Puget Sound area of Washington State.  On Saturday afternoon, I'll watch my oldest son, Rick Miller, marry the most wonderful young woman named Angie on a place called Whidbey Island.  My middle child, Grahame, will be driving out from Kansas to meet us there in time for the ceremony.  It will be a great day for them and I couldn't be happier that he finally has found the person he wishes to spend the rest of his days with.  I'm sure that I will shed a tear or two during the course of that weekend but I guess that is to be expected.  And by the way, I hope those tears are shed because I witness my child getting married, NOT because I miss the ferry ride from the airport to the island :) 

I'm sure it's customary that the parents of those who are getting married should impart some wonderful wisdom to their children upon reaching this monumental occasion.  I've learned, as a very newly married person now myself, that the best advice that I could give both Ricky and Angie is to just keep talking with one another in all matters and above all else, to remember that they are not alone, that God would go with them and guide them along the way.  Marriage is not easy, it's just that simple.  It takes a lot of work, courage, strength, faith, and a "blind eye" every once in a while. There are bound to be some hard times for them yet an equal to greater share of good ones.  I pray for them that they continue to love each other and that their love will grow each and every day of their lives together.  What a privilege for me as a parent to be able to witness this very wonderful day in the life of my child.  I'm travelling over 1,200 miles to be there with them this coming Saturday and you know what?  I wouldn't miss it for all the world.  

Hard to believe that the calendar says it's now the 22nd day of July and summer is now way past half over.  It's not been the easiest of ones for me but for all of the challenges I have had here, there have been some real blessings that have come my way.  I haven't always seen them, mostly because of being so overwhelmed with things here.  I have a very good friend, a wise man named LeRoy, who said something a couple of days back that meant a lot to me.  In fact, it meant so much that I went home and wrote it down.  We were visiting, he and I, about how rough it had been to settle in to life here in Colorado.  LeRoy looked at me and said this...  "Peggy, stop and think about it.  You retired from teaching after 35 years, you got married and you did it on the last day of school in front of all of the students and THEN before the week had barely ended you gave up your life in Kansas and moved all the way to south western Colorado.  Each one of those things individually could be a catastrophe waiting to happen and you did them all at once!"  And you know he was right~Maybe I haven't given myself enough credit for how far I have come in my adjustment period here.  The not giving myself credit thought has happened a lot in my life and maybe a good goal for me would be to start remembering that.  I'm gonna guess that I am not alone in that respect~do you find yourself there as well?

Well, the day is getting ready to begin and I'm going to be heading out the door very soon.  To all of you reading this, I thank you for friendship, concern and love for us here.  What a privilege it is, what a blessing it is, to know that you are there for us and remember, we are there for you as well.  When everything else is gone, then the only thing we truly have is one another.  I would not trade my friendship with any of you for all of the money in this world.  You are worth that much to me.  Please don't ever forget that.  Take care all of you and have a good Monday out there.  Mondays are not so bad~they just remind us that we've been given another week in which to live and make a difference in this world of ours.  When you think of it  in those terms, this first day of the work week doesn't seem so bad after all.

Some of my favourite images from Facebook~

The view out of the window as the wonderful Graf Family from back in Hutchinson, KS. drove home from Wichita yesterday. It's of my hometown, Haven, KS and they knew what it would mean to me to be able to see the place where I was raised up and will always call home.  It brought a tear to my eyes to see it once again.

Mike and I with just about the best friends a person could ask for, LeRoy and Anne Willis.  They met us for supper a few nights back here in Montrose and of course, by no coincidence, showed up at a time when they were needed the most.  Everyone should have friends like they are.

Something fun that I have learned to do here is bowling and even though I am always "skunked" any time that I can get skunked by less than 50 pins, I consider it to be a dang blessing and an improvement on my part.  Mike is a great bowler and I am a not so great one, but hey I do believe I am getting a little bit better.

I have been blessed to become a part of the Renfro Family and these are just a few of them. We took this photo the night before we left for Colorado in May.  It was strangely ironic to have learned that during the 3 month period of time that I lived in Valley Center, KS last spring/summer that I was only a few blocks away from Mike's family members living there.  

And we laughed until we cried :)