I am in a hotel room in Washington, DC.  Bill is here with the MS Bankers Assoc. Board of Directors and I get to come along and enjoy!  We got here Saturday afternoon and we fly out tomorrow at noon.  Having a great time and the weather is beautiful!  Been eating way too much delicious food but also done tons of walking!  Yesterday, Bill and I and two other couples who are banking friends of ours... well we met because of banking but now they are just good friends....went out to Arlington Cemetery which is one of my favorite places here.  One of the couples had never been before so we did the tour which Bill and I have been on several times before...we visited the Kennedy's graves, Robert E. Lee's home and saw the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers.  That is something that you can see over and over again and still be awe struck everytime.  Once we finished the tour, my sweet husband and good friends accompanied me on the real reason I went out there this time, to find and visit the grave of my sweet friend Tammy Summers' husband, Sev.  Sev lost his life last August while serving our country on his second tour in Afghanistan.  Finding a gravesite at Arlington is not hard, you type the name in a computer and it prints out the section and number of the location, but getting there is a different story.  We walked and walked and walked... up and down rows and rows of graves of men and women who loved our country so much that they fought and gave their lives for it!  It was worth all that walking to find Sev's grave and honor his memory by visiting there and to take a picture for Tammy.  If you come to DC to visit, Arlington would be the #1 place I would suggest you visit. 

 

So, completely changing the subject, tomorrow is my 56th birthday.  I know that age is just a number, but that number sure is getting on up there!  It is very hard for me to believe that I am only 4 years away from turning 60, if the Lord allows me those years.  The thing is, I just do not feel old!  My body sometimes feels old...but not all the time...but ALL the time in my mind, I am young!   I guess that is a good thing!  I am so very blessed to be celebrating another birthday.  Life is short and we are not promised our next breath.  So, I want to live each day celebrating and enjoying my life... Praising God and thanking Him for all the JOY in my life!  It's not always easy to do.. there is much sadness.  Just this week my sweet friend Sheryl went to heaven at the age of 59.  My dear mama is still in a fetel position in a nursing home unable to communicate.  I lost my precious daddy just a little over a year ago and I miss him everyday!  There are many around us suffering with cancer... some little children...so it's not easy.. BUT...then ... there ... is JESUS and so there is JOY!!!  Joy watching my grandchildren play, joy being with my girls, joy having a wonderful husband who's cancer is in remission!!! Joy having a sister to share memories of my childhood, joy loving two nieces who are like daughters to me, joy having a generous, caring brother in law, joy having lots of loving extended family!  Joy having been blessed with amazing, wonderful, fun, kind, friends.... some that are close by and some that live away but are still close at heart!  So, dear friends.. I choose to celebrate the JOY and trust God to give me strength and comfort for the pain that must come along with living life!