Good News Updates

Life has gotten just a little too serious around here lately. I knew it was getting to my mom when she uttered in exasperation "I don't want to hear any more about sickness or death ..." when she came out for our family reunion. Guess what? It didn't happen.

What is perpetuating this onslaught of bad newscasts within our world these days? Certainly, we can not be making these things up. This is all a part of the grand scheme of living. The good, the bad and the ugly. We can't escape it. But do we have do dwell on it?

Mom called me last night with a Good News Update on her sister. She had been quietly concerned about her for quite some time. Things were not feeling good and then they took a turn for the worse. In this time-of-great-loss I believe we were braced for anything.

But her sister has turned another corner and is sounding upbeat and back to her normal self again. Mom didn't dwell on her concerns but you could hear it in her tone and in the little things that were nettling away under the surface. She was worried.

Last night, Mom's voice was cheery and elated. She was talking quickly and I could feel her anxiousness to get off the phone before I said anything to break the spell. This was a Good News Call and she wanted to keep it that way.

So I spouted off all of the Good News in our lives. I talked to my Oldest Son and we had a brief but uplifting chat (he is good, he is busy, he was glad I called). My Middle Son came over and painted the rooms they had been living in (fulfilling his promise to leave things in the condition he found them in [or better] when he moved out). Oh yes! And they got a new kitten. My Youngest Son has asked for one new shirt and he will officially be ready to go back to school (he organized his binder and backpack at the beginning of the school holiday so that he would be ready, without getting ready for this day of reckoning). I was busy working on the Book Project.

Yes, all is very good here. We are hale, hearty, happy and content. I couldn't wait to give Mom this good news.

Then I woke up to a Monday morning and realized that today is the day I usually write Mom a letter. And I used up all of my good material last night. What is left for me to say?

Maybe this will suffice:

If this little ball of fluff doesn't make you want to say "Awwww...." you just don't know what you are missing. Hello World, meet "Saxton" (my new and first Grand Kitty).