Britni Jade moves out!

The nest is empty once again... of adult children anyway! Britni was busy packing boxes and moving out of our house and into her new place tonight. I wonder how long we'll have our guest bedroom back? Hopefully through the summer when Nathan & Amy come to visit! I'm so happy for Britni, she is doing so well. She sets goals for herself and is working toward accomplishing them with great success. She looks fantastic. She is healthy. She is happy. She has a drivers license, a car, a part-time job, and has enrolled in Cosmetology school. She is renting a room in a house with some friends close to where she works and hangs out. She has been clean and sober for over a year. She loves the way she fees. On her days off she is dancing the night away to techno house rhythms in one of her favorite night clubs. She says that music is her drug of choice. She is usually cast in a "designated driver" role. Britni is 24 years of age. We couldn't be happier for her (and us!). I want to thank my wonderful husband for his support and patience during the troubled years. You are generous with your love and everything else! We love you...

Missing Baby

Baby Groff 10/31/08 - 3/28/09 Who would have expected that her passing would leave such an empty space in our home. I mean, she was one of 5 kittens that we adopted this year. Baby was the smallest kitten of the litter. She adopted me as her surrogate mother. She allowed me to carry her around in the sling. At night we shared a pillow or she would curl up on my chest or flatten herself against my back, she was a cuddler. She was also the "lizard huntress". It had to be her because since her death I haven't seen any lizards in the house. She would catch lizards throughout the day and share them with the litter. The other kittens don't know what to think. I don't think they know how to catch lizards. One of them caught a leaf that was blowing around the yard the other day. He brought it in, the others followed in excited pursuit. He dropped the leaf, a few paws batted it around, nothing exciting happened, they all lost interest and one by one went back outside. Baby loved the pugs. She liked to curl up with them during the day and she would rub her body on them, curling her tail around their face like a frame, sharing her love with them. She was the only one who did this, until yesterday.... I noticed Rumi has started doing it, how amazing is that? I wonder why he all of a sudden felt the need to share love with the pugs. Maybe they are putting out some kind of signal? hmmmmmmmmm

2009 So far...

George has been on the road for the majority of this year traveling from city to city chasing the work. I'm not unappreciative, don't get me wrong, we are happy to be able to pay our bills, it's just that we are missing our life together. He sits in a hotel room night after night or a borrowed office in a company that is in financial trouble dealing with desperate people day after day. On the occasion that he does decide to fly home, his weekend is split between spending time with me and his church family. So this is our journey at this time... This experience has shown us great appreciation for our time together whether it is in our home with our beloved fur-family, in a hotel room somewhere, or in the homes of our scattered family as we try to keep up with the celebration of life and death. We have been blessed with two new granddaughters this year and we said good-bye to George's father who was killed in a most unfortunate accident. We spent a couple weekends in Lancaster, PA dealing with his father's funeral and helping his mother get things sorted out. We were scheduled to spend the weekend together in Reno, NV for Audry's "blessing", however, one of our kittens, Baby, was attacked by the neighbor's dog and died after 5 days of intense care by me, so I was not able to make it out. But "Grandpa Groff" had a wonderful bonding experience with our grandson, Camden. We are scheduled to spend Easter weekend in Salt Lake City UT for Sophie's blessing ceremony. I'm working as much as I want to these days. I have my regular clients but I spend most of my time doing things that I enjoy like spending time with my animals, taking care of my home, organizing drumming events, reading, meditating, keeping up with my family and friends on Facebook and in person. I'm as happy as I can ever remember being, I just miss my partner... Britni is clean and sober for almost a year now! She recently got her driving privileges back. She is working part-time and has registered for school at the Paul Mitchell School of Cosmetology. She met and is dating a lawyer, Aaron, who is into music (like her). The amazing thing is this... we recently found out that his mother and I are friends! She is also a massage therapist (we have even worked on one another) and she is a drummer who frequents my drum circles! How bizarre... Tanner & Kendra are still in Indiana. Tanner is working as a jailer and Kendra is working for her dad. Both are in school part-time. Kendra was recently accepted at University of Tampa so they will be moving back to Tampa this summer. Tanner will continue his education to become a police officer part-time while working full-time to support them. The wheel of life continues to spin, some jump on, some jump off and the rest of us scramble to keep up with the changes and keep our faces pointed toward the light of love and hope...