Well, the tide IS turning and something tells me it's going to be a rocky ride. Hold on!

I had a lovely time last night...

D9 woke me up this morning to tell us to get up and get ready for church... She had already had a bowl of oatmeal--which she made herself--and was ready to go.

D6 and I just moved pretty slow, but managed to get ourselves together--just in time to get a phone call from Mr. Wonderful as we were ready to head out the door to mass.

He told me that his mom died last night, and that he needed to get in his car and head to Bozeman to help his dad. His brother and their entire family are in NY--spoke to BIL a little bit ago, and he had only heard the news from Mr. W's voicemail to his cell.

So I was the first live body BIL talked to about his mom's death. He was in shock and their vacation (all expenses paid by his company) is now cut short. It was my SIL's and nephews first trip to the east coast--ever. They're catching the first flight home tomorrow morning.

Mr. W. just called me from Wyoming to catch up. He apologized for leaving me in total care of the girls and commented, "I know that Mom has got to be happier."

I told him soberly that I was really sorry that she hadn't really made peace with him. He seemed to have forgiven her and said he knew that she did what she could.

Little does he know that our new priest grabbed me after mass, noticing my tears. He's also from Montana... anyway, I told him about the news and let him know the tears were not from grief but remorse. Remorse that we had a horrid relationship and the hurt it inflicted on the one person we loved together.

He smiled nicely and told me to call him tomorrow or Tuesday and plan on coming over to his place for a nice cup of Seattle's Best (how could he know I love that best?). I thanked him, told him I would, and let him know that forgiving her topped my "to do" list this year and mentioned that it was going to be really hard for me to do.

More healing. More identifying my own faults. More tears.

UGH.

Her 65th birthday was today, and I know this is hitting Mr. W. really hard--he had flowers delivered this morning. Flowers she will never smell (she was blind after cataract surgery in December).

"There are only 2 ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

Albert Einstein