close call and grateful

Gratitude.  This is the month to emphasize gratitude. 

I wrote this a few Wednesday nights ago, but I hadn’t posted it yet.  Sorry for the delay… here you go:

Tonight was an example of a time to be thankful. 

On the way to church tonight, we had a close encounter.  It gave a whole new meaning to the phrase “a deer in headlights.”  Yes, a doe was standing there looking at the car as we approached a section of 460.  Standing in the middle of the road.  I’m thankful to God that Mr. M was able to swerve and maintain control with the skill of a racecar driver while missing an impact with her. She attempted to come in our direction by turning, but we still missed her.  It was a truly divine God moment.

And I will never forget it.

Hopefully I won’t get another chance to look up at the face of a deer so close anytime soon.

I have one more thing to bring to the table this Thanksgiving as my reasons for being thankful in 2010.

So as we say goodbye to November and hello to December (and my baby girl’s birthday, tomorrow), Consider all the wonderful blessings in your life.  I have many.

Is there a specific moment you have to be grateful for and thankful for in recent history?  Share it in the comments section below.

Find yourself…keeping it real.

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Happy Thanksgiving

My kiddos happened to be with their dad for the whole Thanksgiving holiday.  They left Wednesday after school.  So with that in mind, Mr. M (who also wouldn’t have his boys till late in the day Thursday) and I decided to take a short trip for our holiday.

We ended up here at Natural Bridge enjoying the sites, the attractions, and the lovely resort where they also had unbelievable food.  Good thing we had our reservations for the Thanksgiving feast. The place was packed when we headed back to the resort for our meal.

 

 

 

  

 

Here is the Indian village they had created on the grounds of Natural Bridge. Inside this Palisade Mr. M. and I learned interesting facts about the early days of the Indians that lived in Virginia, how they made their tools and what they used for trade.  We could have listened to this guide for hours, but it was getting close to time to eat.

After this photo, the batteries died.  But you can see from these pictures, we had a great time.

Hope your Thanksgiving was a memorable and enjoyable one.

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Technorati Tags: Thanksgiving,travel,resorts,Natural Bridge,Virginia,hiking,photography,photos

Ode to Autumn… Tadah!

Kass and E are best friends. E is our neighbor but is more like one of the family, I tell her that often.  These two act more like sisters than just friends. The day on the hike was no different as they walked ahead of Mr. M, his boys, and I. Of course they had their time for girl talk (or should we say boy talk) as they crunched in the leaves and posed for the camera from time to time.

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Technorati Tags: photography,photos,hiking,Blue Ridge parkway,fall,leaves,autumn,mountains,girls,friendships,girl talk

The day I told Mr. M…

Here we are…the day of the hike last weekend. The day I told him… well you already know if you read my twitter feed or see my facebook status.

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Technorati Tags: photography,photos,Blue Ridge parkway,hiking,mountains,relationships,dreams

Ode to Fall in the Color of Pink

When we went hiking last weekend on the Blue Ridge parkway, I took a few pictures before I knocked the camera one too many times and messed it up.  The shots I got on the hike weren’t fabulous. 

But I love the pink peaking through the bare trees in this one.  It was getting close to the peak of the fall colors in this part of Virginia and some of the trees had lost their leaves… but that pinkish looking one was holding on to her fall colors, her fashion statement, for as long as she could.  Strong woman. Nothing wrong with that.

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Yes she freaks out…

“Oh EM Ghee! Happy’s dead!”

Now before you hit the big X in the upper right corner of your screen, read on and hear the rest of this story…

The above statement was being made by my daughter yesterday when we returned home from her scout meeting.  Her frantic yelling at an octave higher than I can explain was in addition to her jumping and swaying from side to side from the gate of the front yard. In the distance, in the dark, Happy was laying by the back porch on the driveway. 

My vehicle (SUV mind you) is sitting diagonal in the street facing the closed gate at the driveway.  Kass got out to simply let the dogs (yes we have 2) into the house so she could open the gate for me… quickly… to get parked.

But instead, she sees our older dog laying there and presumes, instantly he must be dead.

She is a little over dramatic and easily panicked.  So put the two together with a dog lying on the driveway and what do you get?

My SUV sitting diagonally in the street right outside my driveway, placed into park, as I now have been demanded by the panic stricken to go check because she refuses to see if he might be ‘just asleep.’

Yeah, you guessed it.

Happy was asleep.

He’s old, yes.  But he likes to sleep. As do I, but I won’t digress here.

What have we all learned from this little episode?

Not much.

Wish I could tell you some great epiphany of a family life lesson was pulled from this.  But instead, I was just grateful he wasn’t dead, so I could say, “See, there!” “You get all excited for nothing sometimes.”

Will she take it down a notch next time she jumps to conclusions, or perhaps maybe wait before jumping to conclusions? Naaah, probably not. 

Find yourself… keeping it real.