— RIP Larry Hagman: Thank you for giving me and all the children of the 80’s a wild ride through the Texas oilfields. Dallas 2.0 won’t be the same without you.
— From the “where-have-you-been-all-my-life” department, my two new addictions are Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles (I think I’ll send my dental bill to the Queen) and True Lemon (crystalized lemon packets for those of us sophisticated enough to eat British gumdrops but gauche enough to use lemon in our tea).
–Today my supervisor told me she thinks I look like I’m 31: Thank you to my beautiful Gran for the excellent genetic structure she passed on to me. If it had to be Grandaddy’s height or her youth, I’m glad I got her youth. I cherish it more the older I get.
–It snowed today. Snow sucks. I hate winter. Ok, so the snow didn’t stick, but that can’t be a good sign of things to come.
— From the “it’s not as weird as it sounds” department: Thanksgiving made me realize that I’m thankful for the challenges of infertility. Because of it, I have found out that I’m stronger than I ever thought possible, and that when things get rough for my husband and me, we grow closer instead of growing apart. I’m also grateful for the fact that my experience may someday help my niece. She has cystic fibrosis, which affects fertility, and if what I went through can help her cope with her situation, it will be worth it.
–From the “slow day in Sunderland” department: The town administrator called the other day (well she robo-calls, but same difference) to let us know that if we smelled smoke on Monday it was due to sewer line testing and to not call the fire department. Did I mention I live in a small town?
–On the other hand, there was a gas explosion in Springfield just down the street from where I work that leveled a strip club on Friday. We’ve had gas leaks, tornadoes, earthquakes and now an explosion in the past couple of years. Is someone trying to tell us something?
Jen's Rambling Thoughts... 
Came over to your site because you visited mine! What can I say? You’re a really good writer. I wish I could express myself in words the way you do. And, by the way, I always thought JR was quite a character, even though I watched only a couple of Dallas episodes when I was a teenager. I hope your niece is doing well: that’s a very serious and scary diagnosis.
Thanks Julia! I appreciate your support. I’ve always loved writing and what I really love about blogging is sharing my heart with the world. I was a kid when Dallas was on, and it was part of my family’s Friday night ritual. I can’t even imagine what the new Dallas will be like now. My niece is 7 and is doing very well so far. Her genetic malformation that caused it is extremely rare (only 6 other people in the world who have CF have that particular strain) so we’re hoping that it means she will have an easier time of it. To look at her and watch her live her life, you’d never know she was sick. So far her lungs are clear and I keep praying that they will stay that way for a long time. THanks for your kind words.:)
I love the True Lemon products, too. (We’ve also tried their tea and lemonade mixes, too.) Your comments on infertility and your thankfulness are touching. I like that even in the midst of the difficulty, you can foresee some purpose in it. I’m so glad that you and your husband remain close…it’s so sad when this tears couples apart.
Thanks Janna, I was thinking about it on Thanksgiving and it sounds so wierd to say, but even in the midst of the terrible sorrow of not being able to have children, there are things to be thankful for. As for the True Lemon, I can’t believe I didn’t know about it sooner. I won’t drink tea without lemon but I hate taking a real lemon to work because we clean the fridge out every Friday and it seems wasteful to throw away lemon every week. I’m in heaven now;)