I have been waiting impatiently for the 30th of June to arrive so that I could go to a luncheon I had been invited to. Yet on the actual day of the party, I forgot.

Is this old age? Or is it the various distractions of my life many of which were unplanned but often very pleasant? I am distraught to have missed the luncheon. An author of a historical novel asked other authors to come to enjoy each other’s company. How could I forget to go? What a fun day I missed.

That morning I went to my 7:30 am Pilates class. It was the third day in a row for early Pilates. When I came home I felt sleepy, I did NOT look at my calendar. What was I thinking? I simply went blank on my plans for the day. I actually thought, “I have a free day, and I am going to take a nap as soon as I can.” I did some housekeeping, and checked my email but NEVER LOOKED AT THE CALENDAR!  I lay down on the sofa before noon and promptly fell sound asleep. Woke at 2:00 pm and immediately remembered the lunch feeling foolish and remorseful. It has been such a full week. Perhaps there was no energy left.

A few days earlier my son arrived to spend the week unexpectedly. That was a pleasant surprise but it was slightly distracting. He has to eat. And my inclination is to feed him or at least go out to eat with him. Unplanned visitors happen a lot because I am always happy to have them.

Then my editor wrote to tell me she has time to work on a book right now. One of her best clients died suddenly. Though sorry for her loss, it is fabulous news about her availability. Now I must think about what I have ready to give her to edit. I write all the time, but it is not always well organized. There are so many ways to write. I use “notes” to write a paragraph here and there. I use “pages”. Sometimes I write directly into my “Grammarly” app. And then there are the voice memos. I can record them in messages or in a couple of different recording apps on my phone. Now, where did I put that one about being true to myself? That was a good one.

Also, I have new neighbors in the cottage next door. I went to welcome them and talk to them about getting our dogs together. It is important that my dogs understand that they are “friends”, not interlopers. They are amazingly nice and their dog is adorable. We arranged to meet halfway and the dogs all got acclimated to each other. Recently I went to the Elvis Presley movie. It was well done but left me feeling sad and “down” because of the wasted talent. Elvis was an amazing singer who died way too young. He destroyed his body with drugs and died at 42. It was not an uplifting movie.

There have been a number of visits with grandchildren and my own children. These make me happy and fulfilled. What a pleasure to see these wonderful humans sharing some of my DNA turn out so well. I am proud of all of them. It is such a pleasure talking with them and learning what they think about the world today. They are all so interesting, and well-informed.

Several relatives have had birthdays and one had a wedding recently. Never a dull moment with grandchildren! There were 2 parties back to back this past weekend. One was a 1970s party where I dressed as a hippie ( an old hippie). That was great fun. They had a disc jockey who played music from that era and people danced like crazy. At the end of the evening, I got up and danced with many relatives to “ We Are Family”. It was a beautiful evening at Chisholm Vineyards. There was a big crowd and many of them were my own children, in-laws, and grandchildren, plus some friends who came for the fun.

Life in the country sometimes includes wildlife. So it was not all that unexpected when we discovered a black snake in my garage. Lucky for me my assistant is a courageous country girl. She trapped the snake in a corner of the garage by holding its neck down against the floor with a shovel made of heavy plastic. It did not hurt the snake but immobilized it. She was wearing gardening gloves, so she asked me to hold the shovel tight while she reached down and grasped the snake behind the head with one hand and further down its body with the other one. Then I let go of the shovel and she was able to carry the snake to a field far away from the house and drop it into the grass there. (I am sure it is probably back in my garage by now, but maybe it has decided to relocate)

The second party last weekend was the 30th birthday party of a grandson. It had a theme that included dressing in white or gold. My plan to wear a skirt of pale aqua tulle flecked with gold sparkles became impractical due to heat and humidity. So I wore a long colorful caftan with a white and gold snood in my hair. The costumes of the guests were imaginative and often lovely. The evening ended before 10 pm for me. The young stayed into the wee hours of the morning. I know this because the couple of grandkids who stayed with me did not arrive home until after 3 am. A spectacular success as birthdays go, none of the guests will forget it.

One night I went out to dinner with a friend who likes Chinese food as much as I do. It is so nice to go out to dinner and chat while eating delicious food. Sitting down to a meal in a restaurant is a very civilized way of socializing one on one. We each took home enough for another meal!

It has been a wonderfully busy, happy, last week of June. The summer is well on its way now. Soon we will celebrate July 4th and then it is all downhill until Labor Day.

Copyright©. 2022 Bonnie B. Matheson