The Journey Home

Thanksgiving banner Happy Thanksgiving, my friends.

It has been another crazy year which has found me struggling to have time to write. I do miss you all and I am hopeful after the holidays I will be back more frequently.

2025 started with some medical challenge for my husband. After months of tests and referrals and surgery, it was determined he needed to have coronary bypass surgery. His condition was high risk so he had to sit and wait patiently with very little activity until his surgery could be scheduled. Finally in June, he had triple bypass surgery. Thankfully he came through it like a champion. After six days in the hospital and 30 cardiac rehab appointments he is back to his old self. We are blessed he came through it all with very little pain and no side effects from the surgery.

Once he was stable I took a much overdue trip to Florida to see my daughter and her family. Two days into that trip I got sick with some terrible respiratory bug. I spent much of my trip in bed so it was not the family time I had hoped for. Regardless, it was still wonderful to see them all and I plan to go back again after the first of the year.

Upon my return, I had a minor surgery on my face to remove a basal cell. Not pleasant but I am thankful it was no more severe than it was. I am adjusting to having a prominent scar on my face, but I know it could be worse.

Now, with all of this behind us, we are happy to be spending Thanksgiving with family. It is truly a good time to reflect on all we have to be thankful for. The Sunday after Thanksgiving we are attending a birthday party for our friend so it will be a full and festive weekend.

December will be very busy, We have two family birthdays and our granddaughter graduates from Clemson. She is graduating a semester early, and we are very proud of her. She and her parents are planning a huge celebration the day after graduation.

In between all of this we will do some Christmas shopping and I have a couple of fun events planned.My friend Molly and I are taking a wreath making workshop and we also have plans to go see the new Wicked movie. I am so excited!

Speaking of Molly, she wrote a book! More to come about that! Stay tuned.

Thank you for taking the time to read all this. I have missed you all but life has a way of taking precedence when necessary. I hope you and your families are all well and enjoying life to the fullest.

HAPPY THANKSFGIVING!

Blog, genealogy

Full of Positive News for a Change!

04/10/2025 Maggie

Yes, the world is a trying place, so I am even happier when I have uplifting and positive news to share.

We spent most of last weekend with family. Long drives but well worth it. Saturday we had a casual dinner with two of our daughters and some of their families at a brewery. No alcohol for us, but lots of good food and much loved time and conversation with children and grandchildren.

The following day we drove back, this time to Clemson University, to watch our granddaughter’s ring ceremony. It was quite lovely as they were each presented with their class rings – a tradition full of encouragement about what the future holds. Afterward we had family photos and then went to our granddaughter’s apartment for food, fun and conversations with friends and family.

We also found out we would have two of our grandchildren for the weekend in early May. Since school has been in session we do not get to see them that often, so this is a real treat for us and a chance for mom and dad to have a weekend away.

We have also had generous amounts of rain which have thankfully helped get all the fires under control. What a blessing!

NOW FOR THE MOST JOYFUL NEWS OF ALL!

If you are a long time reader you may remember me writing about my sister and the fact that when she was younger she gave a baby up for adoption. It was not her choice to surrender the child and even though she searched, she never found the child she had painfully given to someone else to raise.

Now, 52 long years later, I have connected with my nephew. Through the miracle of DNA, we were able to find each other. I am of course a little sad this comes too late for he and my sister to meet, but I will have the chance to share with him as much as I can about his biological family and the biological mother he never got to meet. I am beyond excited. We are already planning a time to meet face-to-face. I feel like somehow my sister had a hand in this and I hope if there is a connection or vibration or spiritual energy out there, she sees and she is happy. I am sure I will write more about this in the weeks and months to come.

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04/01/2025 Maggie

Dogwoods and azaleas in bloom It has been far too long. It seems like the world has been turned upside down. I feel like since Helene hit and left such a swath of destruction it has been difficult to get back to an even keel. Of the 249 deaths from Helene, 106 of those were in North Carolina. There are still people unaccounted for, at least 6 in North Carolina alone. The property and emotional recovery will take years.

I did manage a trip to Florida to see the family, then managed to come down with a respiratory virus that lasted six weeks. We did get to see much of our family during the holidays which was nice.

Then of course, there came the political upheaval left in the wake of our presidential election – if you know my blog you know I try to stay away from political topics, but suffice it to say this has been an extremely difficult time.

Most recently we have been hit by wildfires. It has been extremely dry. Helene left a lot of debris, and with the tree canopy destroyed in many places, the underbrush is dangerously dry. We have had three fires (one from which we feared we would be evacuated) started by downed electrical lines that sparked fires that spread quickly. We finally had some rain Sunday and Monday which helped. Our neighboring state is currently fighting a fire started (unfortunately) by careless teens. It has burned well over 5,000 acres.

Now on to the good news. Spring is here – my favorite time of the year. We are planting a few small container gardens. Flowers and trees are alight with color which feeds my soul tremendously.

My friend and I formed a small women’s group. Out of about 150 women, there are 10-15 that are active. A few of us started a book club so at least I am reading again. The current selection is The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone.

I hope this finds you all well. I cannot possibly catch up, but I will try to catch up on what is current. I’ve missed you terribly.

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Quick Update Post Hurricane Helene

10/06/2024 Maggie

I am sitting in the parking lot of our library where we have Wi-Fi. Today our power was restored after nine days without power. Fortunately we have a generator and sustained no damage to our home. Our cell service and internet are both still out, but we count ourselves fortunate. The devastation here is unbelievable. So many people lost their lives and their homes. The geography of this region has been forever altered and it will be years before this area comes back to near what it was before the storm.

The Valley where I grew up and blogged about so frequently has sustained extensive damage as well. The people of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida are hurting. People have been generous with donations, but we will need so much more in the months to come. At this moment another hurricane is building, focused on the state of Florida where my daughter, her wife and two children live. Any positive thoughts you can hold for those in the path of the storm I will appreciate.

I will update more when I can.

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Life is a Mixed Bag, Isn’t It?

09/10/202409/09/2024 Maggie

Dragonfly on a path, AI generated art — Dragonfly on a Path – AI Generative Art

Well, I, made it back. I am trying to make good on my promise to be here more frequently and try to get back into the groove of things.

My last post was a little heavy and sadly, life isn’t always a bed of roses. My heart was broken to read about more school shootings. This time I had Tik Tok and all those children took to that platform to pour their hearts out. I watched every video I found as hard as it was. I felt like these kids were owed something from someone. They are begging us as a country to save them and protect them and it is gut wrenching.

There have been some really good things, too. I have been engaging in more self-care and little things like an occasional pedicure and a facial (courtesy of my daughter and her wife). I try to have coffee with my friend, Molly, frequently and now we are adding walks and short hikes to our outings (she has always been fit – I am trying to build my stamina back.) It has been nice.

I stay in touch with our grandchildren via text and FaceTime. My daughter and my one-year-old grandson FaceTime me every morning before he goes to daycare. The older ones are very busy. The oldest will graduate from Clemson in December. The second oldest is starting her junior year at Clemson. We have two in high school, two in grade school and one in daycare. They are the joy of my life!

Since my surgery I have delved into the world of AI. Not for writing, but for education and image generation. It is interesting and I want to be knowledgeable about how it works and how the good and bad balance the other. Most of my banners you see here will be AI generated. I do not try to replicate artists and their works and I never reference artists in what I create.

We have had some cooler weather, too which has been a welcome change. Our overnight temperatures are getting down into the mid 50° F. We are finally able to open our doors and enjoy some fresh air for a change. Our dogwood leaves have turned their lovely red and it will not be long before the other trees will follow suit. I hope we have lovely fall color this year so we can take our drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway and take in all the autumnal changes.

Last Saturday hubby and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary. We celebrated quietly by exchanging cards, languishing over our morning coffee and going out for a quiet dinner. Afterward we went out for ice cream which we intended to enjoy sitting on a bench on the sidewalk. It was so windy and cool so we ended up sitting in the car and enjoyed our ice cream there!

I guess the lesson is to enjoy every little moment as they come. When you turn the corner into your 70s (which we both did this year) you realize even more now precious each and every day is.

Enjoy the remainder of your week!