The Parish Family Blog

January Come and Gone Almost

What happened to January? Whoosh! gone ... almost.

Sunday night here. All day I've been thinking about Ms. Sharon. It came on more strongly for me while I was at Central Market buying groceries. Lily put together a wonderful complete list with the items ordered in a way that it made shopping easy. I think that reminded me of how Sharon used to put lists together. I like doing the grocery shopping. Weird, I know, but hey, that's me.

Tonight I'm headed to bed early. I reae I haven't been speaking much here, but I've been thinking about our conversations. I miss the interaction.

This year looks to be full of excitement with both Lauren and Justin getting married later in the year.  And Lily wants to make a trip to New York.  She's been watching that show "Project Runway" and has become quite smitten with the idea of creating clothes and just being more fashionably aware. We're looking at going up at Spring Break in March. If so, I'll be sure to take some pictures or maybe video.  My little girl is growing up.

Alright, I promised to get to bed early tonight.

More in a bit.

Love
Tom

Family Vacation Pictures

Ok ... here is a collection of pictures from Lily's, Paul's, Fred's, Patti's and my cameras. 

We had fun! Here are the pics.

Tom

First 3 Days at Sea

What an experience it is being in a ship (the Grand Princess) this large with 3000 other people. It's like a small city.  A giant hotel laid on its side, somehow traveling from one place to the next, smoothly and effortlessly and quietly.

Feels like we're all getting a sense (personally) of what this trips means for us as a family.   I know for me it's been even more than I hoped. Just having so much time to hang out with Justin, Lily, Lauren, and my sister Patti, and not worry with anything. Pam and Fred have been gracious hosts.  Paul and Dreena and family are here, along with Les and Donna, her mom and dad.

We talk and dig deeper into topics. Conversation flows from one subject to the next without regard for time.  Time in the sun. Time in the sauna, time at meals. Time to sleep in. Time to just be.
Anyway, I'll talk more about this later. Just back from dinner and feeling ready to snuggle into bed.   

So here we are having lots of fun. Check back later.  This collage below is just a place holder. For some reason I'm not able to get the pictures to upload.  Interesting challenge but hey, I'm on vacation, so ... tomorrow.

T

Happiness is Available

Happiness is available. Please help yourself to it.

I heard that on the December 17th podcast from Zencast on "Kindness".
  Highly recommended.

If you've taken the More To Life Weekend, you'll find the wording and phrasing he uses so similar you'll think you're listening to a LifeTalk. Yeah ...it's that good.
Zencast 83 - Metta - The Art of Kindness

Enjoy
Tom

Sharon - Are You Still Practicing?

Found this picture tonight while backing up files and moving pictures from my PC to the Apple.  I think there is a similar one on the blog from a couple of months ago. Sharon worked and worked every day she could to learn how to 'spin fire.' Justin and Juliet would come over and patiently help Sharon through the moves.

This pictures has Sharon outside the garage area where my studio sits.  She would shuffle outside in those big green poofy slippers and wait for me when I was on the phone. She would just keep practicing until I got off the phone then we'd take off to run some errands.

This picture is Tinkerbell. Sharon just loved to have Tinker sleep with her. In fact, Tinker would jump in bed once evening arrived and wait underneath the covers. She would barely have her nose poking out so she could sense what was going on and, I suspect, keep cool. If it was real cold she would bury herself deep.  I think Lily pulled the covers back some so we could see Tinker better.

Thank you, Lily, for sending this to me tonight. Hmmm, I guess that's a hint that I should get out of here now and go spend some time with Lily.

We're both packing for the cruise coming up!

Tom
PS - It may be 2007 but I still miss you, Sharon. Hope you're doing well.

We're Going on a Cruise!

Yep, it's almost here.  A much-needed family vacation, only this time it's not just a trip to the beach -- we're going to the Caribbean with four ports of call.

A VERY special thanks to Fred and Pam for cooking up this idea back in August.  With some generous help from them we have everyone going - myself, Lily, Justin and Juliet, Lauren, Paul and Dreena and the girls, her parents are going too.  Best of all my sister, Patti, is going and we're rooming together. Ha! That will be a hoot to see who snores the loudest! This will be the first time I've been together with all my kids for an extended period of time away from home. I'm so looking forward to relaxing and enjoying lots of conversation with everyone, day in and day out, with no worries about cooking food or cleaning up.

We leave on Saturday January 6th returning the 13th. Grandma Gerry is taking care of the house with Tinkerbell and Wendy and Shontie and George Nelson (the tribe of rat terriers). God bless Gerry for this act of kindness. We'll miss those little buggers. Guys, we gotta remember to bring something cool home from Gerry for this.

In case you're wondering - yep I may be blogging during the trip. Not completely sure on that one yet. As might be expected you get charged for extras like Internet access.  It ain't cheap. So I may decide to just let it go. Still though, it might be fun.

Stay tuned for more. I am hoping to travel a bit myself this year so maybe this is the start of something new. Typically, I'm quite the home-boy. I do love staying around the house.  But getting out now and then is good for the health and well-being. And being with the extended family in this way is priceless.

Tom