It's like this...

Mi mamá Venezolana murió esta semana. Filomena me quería como a una hija y siempre me dio excelentes consejos. La semana pasada, cuando estábamos hablando por Skype, le dije que estaba preocupada de que mi hija se trasladaría a Brasil una vez que ella se casó con su novio y ella me dijo: "Pamela! Tus hijos no son tuyos! Usted dio a luz a ella, la amaba y le enseñó y ahora tienes que dejarla ir " Sólo he visto a ella a través de Skype desde que salí de Venezuela hace más de 20 años. La vi por primera vez cuando mi compañera y yo estábamos caminando por una vereda de tierra en su urbanización llamado Brisas del Lago, en Maracay. Yo no sé por qué lo llamaron Brisas del Lago, porque yo nunca vi mucho de un lago y nunca se sintió una brisa. El día estaba bien caliente cuando su hijo Francisco, quien fue recientemente bautizado, me presentó a su madre Filomena. Me ofreció un refresco y se sentó a hablar. Yo estaba allí como misionera de La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de lo...

They sing Taylor Swift Songs...

Gather 'round little children and let me tell you a story. It's the story of The Monkey Bra . Once upon a time, in a land not so very far away lived a lively family. They had four children, and as the years passed the children grew. They grew and they grew and they grew. Some of the children were of the female variety and as they grew they needed certain undergarments to contain their...er, growth. Enter The Monkey Bra . Now I won't say which daughter was the owner of The Monkey Bra as that would cause embarrassment to said daughter. Let it suffice to say that it belonged to one of the four children. Not the male child however. I will regale you with HIS story on another occasion. The female children continued to grow and sadly, The Monkey Bra no longer fit any of the girls after a time. It's then that the shenanigans began. You see children, monkeys are mischievous creatures, even when printed on a cloth training bra. Little imps that they are, they began ...

It's been a bit since I've written. I know, I know. You've missed me horribly. Here's a hankie. We had a delightful Easter dinner here at our house with 18 or so bodies, three different tables and massive quantities of excellent food. See? And here are the three tables of humans. It was a lovey meal. We used my mother's china and that always makes me feel a bit closer to her. It's been raining a lot, which has meant that our basement room project has been set back yet again as water is seeping into one entire wall. This is not something we are enjoying so that's all I'm going to say about that. (Yes, that was me being Forrest Gump) I've been doing a lot of Interpreting, which I'm loving more and more. Lance is still working---or rather he goes to work but there is no work for them to do so he's bored out of his mind most of the time. We've had some stress of late (who hasn't?) so this morning after we dropped Ash off at schoo...

Or maybe that's just me. I attended the funeral of a dear family friend this afternoon. As I sat there and watched the people arriving, I saw a lot of people I haven't seen in a very long time. It was a reunion of sorts---not the kind of reason you want to have a gathering, but sometimes in our busy lives this is what happens. Weddings and funerals become the places where we get to hug people that we love, but simply haven't the time to spend with in our everyday running arounds. (Yes, 'arounds' is a legitimate word. Honest. Ok, maybe not but I'm still using it.) As Don's children rose to the podium and spoke about their father, I looked around at the people sitting in the chapel with me. As Don was in his 80's, the majority of the mourners in attendance had gray hair or no hair at all. I have recently made a somewhat unsuccessful attempt to hide the white blossoming on my own head. All that is beside the point I was going to make. Yes, there was ...