Yesterday we awoke to snow in Emerald Isle. Filled with anticipation, I sprung out of bed at 3:30 to take a peek out the window. It looked like about 7 inches of the white stuff neatly packed high along our deck rails. It was a winter wonderland! I snuck back in bed quietly, so as not to wake up Jerry, but my eyes were wide open. I was just like a kid on Christmas Eve, who knows Santa has come, but can’t go downstairs yet. At 4:30, I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I wanted to get pictures of the snow at night, before the sun came up. Call me crazy! I donned my fleece, my pea coat, pulled on my polka dot rubber boots, tucked my pink nylon jammies inside and headed downstairs to get my camera. I needed a tripod of some sort, so I grabbed a box and placed it on the deck rail and started clicking away.
Thus, my day had begun.
Jerry was thrilled by the snow. We walked Montana to the beach and let her roam free to spring in and out of the huge white mounds. Then, we settled in to our warm house and cooked up some apple pancakes with raspberry syrup and fat free whipping cream from the can. You know the stuff that you swirl out of the spout. It’s our grandson’s favorite!
I kept telling Jerry that it would be another hunker down day and that he didn’t even have to get dressed today. How exciting is that! So, I turned on the Olympics for him and I got started on Adobe Photoshop.
In the afternoon, some friends from our church called and asked if we were going to our Valentine party. Since I was all comfy, I really was not all that enthused about going. But, they knew how lazy I can be so they offered to pick us up. What a sneaky plot! These people are so precious and friendly and so sweet to Jerry. When we arrived, the room was filled with balloons and friends all chattering and laughing away. Someone gave Jerry a drink and some cookies so he was just fine. During the party, the men had to sing an old love song to their wives. It was too funny! Jerry and I stood together in the doorway, watching and listening and after everyone was finished, someone said, “Jerry, do you still sing?” The room became sweetly quiet. He smiled. I know he wanted to say something. I remembered his letters he wrote while he was training for the Viet Nam War. They all had written in them, “You Are My Sunshine.” I reminded him of that. Then, a voice chimed in and said, “Come on, Jerry, we’ll all sing it with you.” So the voices broke out with these words:
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine; you make me happy when skies are gray. You’ll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away.