I don’t know how to begin this blog… "Boo, hoo, hoo" or "I am sad" are how I feel, but, let’s face it, those two entry phrases are pretty negative, and they don’t really begin to cover the great sadness I feel every time my children leave our home.

My daughter packed her car and left this morning… She’s off to another semester of Aerospace Engineering, which translates for me as "another semester away from home." I am sure I am not alone in these parental feelings. And, I am guessing that there are a lot of people who are experiencing this same sadness right now, since most of the universities are back in session tomorrow.

My daughter and I share a very special relationship….. She truly is a best friend to me. I absolutely cannot imagine my life without her. I really do not know how parents managed to deal with these types of frequent college separations years ago… before cell phones. I cannot imagine not being able to talk to my children any time they want to talk to me… (Note that I say any time they want to talk to me… not anytime I want to talk to them!)

I remember (years ago) when I was in college. I talked to my parents probably once a month… maybe twice if it was a birthday month. During these "tender moment" phone calls… I could hear my father in the background saying "We need to hang up." or "She can write us a letter." or, if he was in a particularly good mood "We can write her a letter." Some of you may be able to remember those "Ma Bell" precious moments… when the minutes truly were preciou$$$$$!

But, I digress….

Let me just say, I am experiencing a "withdrawal of sorts." I am not at all sure I care for this phenomenon… children growing up and going out on their own. Thank goodness we belong to the "family plan" of our chosen cell phone company!

I’m going to keep this blog super short… Happy New Year!

I know that a lot of us will be battling with our old-fashioned check books… but it’s the time of year that we need to start double-checking our checks before we send them out! (I think that I actually remember writing the wrong year on a check as late as April!)

Of course, all of this could be remedied by "writing" our checks on line. I still haven’t mastered that particular computer skill. It’s not that I haven’t tried… I have actually started the "easy" process a few times only to get frustrated at how many questions my local utility company wanted answered before they would allow me the privilege of sending them my money!

Maybe that should be one of my New Year’s resolutions… to get all of my monthly bills catalogued online so that I don’t have to hassle with envelopes, stamps, writing checks, and correcting the previous year’s date!

I am so tired of cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, and chopped pecans! Ordinarily, I don’t bake, but once a year I bring out my grandmother’s recipes and spend hours in the kitchen, waiting for the thirteen-minute oven timer intervals. Some of you may know what I am talking about… I am so thankful that our kitchen overlooks the family room’s television, and that I have a remote control that is able to pause!

My grandmother was the type of grandmother everyone should have. She loved us, spent quality time with us, stressed the importance of character, never criticized us, encouraged us to read, and baked the best cookies (among other things) from scratch. She was my particular anchor while growing up. My father’s job had us living in several states, South America, and Europe. And, my grandmother’s house in Iowa was the place I always thought of as "home"…

I have found myself thinking about her a lot these past few weeks. I happened to be "channel surfing" the television one day when I saw a few minutes of a show that was devoted to the "take some time out to smell the roses" types of themes. One of the questions of this particular show was: If you had to pick someone from your life who you would want to spend a whole day with, who would that be?" Since watching that show I have given that question a lot of thought…. Would it be a favorite mentor of mine, a favorite friend, a favorite family member, etc.? With whom would I choose to spend the entire day? (The show’s topic only included people who are no longer living, but I have expanded on that theme…)

I haven’t yet been able to narrow it down to just one person… instead I have several who are on my list of people I have known (know) who I would love to spend an entire, uninterrupted day with… Thinking about this particular topic has left me smiling many times as I remember all of the people who have given me so much happiness.

Hmmmm… I believe I have gotten quite a bit off-topic while typing up this blog… But, let’s face it, thinking about loved ones is better than complaining about thirteen-minute timers, and rolling cookies in powdered sugar!