CINDERELLA STORY

It's been another busy day, and tonight I am tired.  It has been fun having Jeanne and her family back from their fun-filled day at Cedar Point.  Their excited chatter about the day's events added such a special dimension to the dinner table, and, though missing, Gwen was surely smiling on the whole scene.  The house will be much quieter tomorrow, but now I am more used to it, and in some ways I will welcome the solitude. Yesterday I wrote about how being alone is quite different from being lonely.  Being lonely leads to sadness while being alone provides solitude and serenity.  Another word for it might be quietude.

While the kids were gone I manged to play golf all morning with Ed, and then spent the afternoon doing some gardening work; mainly putting mulch in my gardens.  Yes, I do have "gardens" now.

I found an old slipper of Gwen's; just one half of the pair, but they were her favorite pair of slippers.  A poem popped into my head:

CINDERELLA STORY

 My Cinderella left behind

one slipper, missing its mate,
sturdy buckskin, shiny with wear.

Storybook Cinderella left
a glass slipper, shiny with jewels,
worn only one time.

Glass breaks, as do hearts.

Like the buckskin slipper, old and worn,

 each day I learn anew
what it is like to be missing my mate.

John A. Bayerl, May 31, 2011 

We were a good pair, Dear, we were mates that matched.