OH HAPPY DAY

Today at noon I gained a daughter-in-law. It seemed that the day would never come. My son called me around 12:30 p.m. and told me that he and Cheryl had been to city hall on their lunch hour and got married and were having lunch and then going back to work. What a hoot. I don't have one child with a conventional bone in its body.

I was about ready to leave for lunch myself with the Friday Girls so I got to break the news to them and then after lunch we went to Party City and bought a big bunch of balloons. After a little prayer we released them and watched them soar into the clouds, the balloons having formed a circle in the sky. My friend Denise had a camera on her cell phone so she recorded the events for me. We were about to go to our cars when one of the girls asked if we were going to have wedding cake and I said, "Why not." I instructed them to go on to my house and I went past the store and picked up the most suitable cake the bakery had--a layer cake with yellow roses--and had "Congratulations John and Cheryl" written on it. The girls called my mom and she came over with a pot of fresh coffee. We made quite a ceremony of cutting the cake with John on the phone line while I described what was going on and then we sat around and had cake, pineapple sherbert and coffee. What a glorious afternoon. I doubt that I could have enjoyed it more had I been at the wedding myself.

I can hardly get my head out of the clouds all of these hours later. It has truly been a happy day and my friends seemed so happy to share it with me. Sometimes life seems near perfect. I hope that the bride and groom have had a perfect day too.

SUCCESS STREET

One day this week I went up Success Street. I thought I would come back down Success Street too but instead I came home another way. Success Street is my favorite street in this town and I often take visitors up "my" little street which is about 4 blocks long running north and south between two of the downtown lakes in the city. I really don't know how I discovered the street except that I try to take less busy streets off the beaten path to get places and probably found it that way. I find that driving is a lot less stressful if I leave in plenty of time, use less frequently driven streets, give other drivers the benefit of the doubt more often, and do less horn cursing, or cussing as we say back in Indiana.

Success Street has circa 1910-1920 bungalow houses down both sides of the street. The neighborhood doesn't yet know whether it is coming or going since some of the houses still are rather much in a state of disrepair and some are being meticulously renovated. I suspect that when this current real estate depression begins to take off again so will Success Street. One of the very nice things about this street is that the city has engineered roundabouts in the middle of the blocks with a large palm tree planted in the middle in order to slow the flow of traffic making for a quite genteel neighborhood. The street is nicely shaded which is a nice diversion from most Lakeland streets.

While I may never live on Success Street I can still enjoy my little excursions up the street on my way about town and imagine what life would be like there within easy walking distance of two lovely lakes--one inhabited by aligators and the other by swans and many other water fowl.

SUMMER RAINSTORMS

This is the time of year when Florida often experiences daily rain, if only for a little while, sometimes just a sprinkle and sometimes a gusher from the sky. That is not the way it has been at my house thus far but yesterday it rained 3 inches and there is thunder and lightning as I write--80 percent chance today and 70 percent tomorrow. I really do hope that it occurs both days because we can really use it.

Mother and I are sharing the care of my 7 1/2 year old great nephew--her great grandson--this week. We have been having him on Thursdays every week during summer school break. One way that we fill up the time is to take him to my brother's pool and swim. He likes having me in the water with him to splash and act silly--I haven't grown too old thus far to do that. In return I get 2 hours worth of exercise and a decent suntan but the rain cheats us out of swimming this week. Keeping him entertained and his entertaining us have really been an experience. He is earthy and so am I so we get some good jokes and discussions going. Today we talked about feces and defecation--two new words for him. I taught him how to spell feces and I figure he will go home and tell his mom that he has to drop some feces in the pot--he refers to defecation as "dropping the kids off at the pool." He always comes up with something to stun us or keep us laughing. He cleans the cat box at home for a dollar a day. I think that is outstanding--I doubt my kids would have cleaned the cat box for a dollar a day back then if I had the dollar a day to spend. He announced today when he arrived that he forgot to clean the cat box this morning because things were not running as usual at him and that his dad, who delivers him to me, was "frustrated" because the 2 year old, who goes to another sitter, would not eat breakfast. Sometimes I am blown away at what this kid soaks up--"like a sponge" as somebody said.

I am so excited because my younger daughter is moving to Chicago at the end of the month--it is official now and word is out. I will be able to visit both girls in one trip. They will be living about a mile and a half apart. I believe this is a terrific move for Amanda and that she will have greater opportunities there for everything. So she and her housemate are collecting boxes and they along with 4 cats will head to the "windy city." I am postponing my fall visit so that I can make the visit with them both. Amanda and Natalie are participating in a triathlon the last weekend of August and I am so proud that they are into healthy living.

As for healthy living I really suffered from a bout with sciatica last week which kept me off my feet. Recovery is slow and it will probably be over before my appointment with the doc. That's life. If I had a lot of money I would have a deck built outside my back door and have a hot tub put in it. That would really be living. And if I had a lot of money I would go to the chiropractor every week for treatment and have a massage every 2 weeks. Ooooh! Someone find me a rich man.