Wednesday, May 13, 2009

May 13, 2009

Hi Friends,
Since I last wrote I have started both of my golf leagues but got rained out today.

I have spent some time in the garden lately. Cassie shopped with me and bought and planted flowers with me but then I continued for several days after she left. I now appreciate why Joe loved the gardens so much and always liked to look at the flowers after he planted them. I look out every morning to see how they are doing. I particularly like the rose bush Cas and I picked out and it has a wonderful scent. I am feeling much more emotion as spring hits that I think I was either holding back of stuffing with food.

I went to my first grief support group at Wellness House tonight and it was so good to be with people who have gone through the same thing and all with spouses that lost their lives to cancer. I felt free to cry and sympathize with others and felt like I belonged. I even met a friend who was in another support group there with me which was special.

I will start sitting with the elderly lady this Friday. Please pray that Lucky will behave and not bark too much because I will be staying overnight and he has to come with me. I have the trainer coming again tomorrow so I hope she has some good tips for me. My two small groups really see an improvement in his behavior when they are here as he greets them etc. but let a dog walk by the house or a golf cart pass by and he goes berserk. I still love him but I want him to know he doesn't have to protect me from either of these things.

I am still coaching my swim club here at Carillon three times a week and have a few new ladies and some snow birds that have come back so the pool is full. I love helping people learn how to build endurance and enjoy swimming as I do. I will be started a 5 week course of the Bible 101 series doing the New Testament. I love learning more about the word and it keeps me going to it often if not every day. Life is still good and my friends and family are so faithful, I couldn't be more blessed.

Take care and God bless you also.
Mary Anne
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Wednesday, May 06, 2009

May 6, 2009

Hi Friends,
I have just come back from playing 9 holes of gold with the couples league that Joe and I used to belong to. Now I am playing with Doris, another recent widow who used to play with her husband. It was different being out there without Joe but that first is over now. I am still waiting to get our golf cart fixed. It only goes backwards so that doesn't work very well.

I had Sunday dinner for Cas, Kirk and the kids on Sunday. After dinner they were all out fishing and everyone caught one except Andrew who truly loves to fish. We haven't had a Sunday dinner in a very long time and it was nice. I had Marianne and Cas for dinner on Saturday as they were headed to a concert in Joliet so it was on the way.

By the way if you want to email me my email address has changed. It is now maryanne80@att.net. Joe's is no longer active.

I did attend the grief group here at Carillon last Friday and it was good to be there. There are so many changes just in my vocabulary to get used to.

It is now planting time or almost and the man that used to help us with it from the golf course is no longer going to be doing it so I have asked our grandson Matthew to help me with it. I was never into the flowers but Joe loved them. I loved looking at them but not all the work. I bought some of the flowers this week and there are a lot of perrenials in there now but I have to be careful not to pull them thinking they are weeds. And then there is the pond. Currently it has no fish but I have to get it cleaned up before I can add goldfish. We don't dare add coy because the blue heron love to fish there.

Our family has stayed well this spring and Marianne our oldest granddaughter is finishing her first year of college this week at NIU. She will be working in Colorado at a dude ranch that her other grandparents work at so she will be gone all summer.

The in-town Coburns will be gong to Feed My Starving Children this month to pack food for the poor in Haiti and other countries. We have been going quarterly with our small groups from church and it is a wonderful experience. If you want to know more about it the website is www.feedmystarvingchildren.org . The facility is located in Aurora.

Anyway that is what is going on in my life. I am still coaching swimmers here at Carillon three mornings a week and we have a few newcomers which is always fun. I swim myself about three times a week with my Masters team.

As far as Lucky is concerned he is going to have another visit from the dog whisperer type person next week to work on the barking at the golf carts which are very numerous this time of year. The weather has been beautiful the last few days and you just want to be out in it.

Enjoy spring and enjoy each other. Take care and God Bless.
Mary Anne