in just 6 more days, it will be our 25th wedding anniversary!!

I guess it is that time of year again, and the bird sanctuary is being burned off again.  So it is being real hard on my allergies.  I can't cut a break.  Just when I am starting to recover from the bad flare up I had, and my nose is starting to heal and my ears are doing better... i get slammed in the face/sinuses with the smoke from the bird sanctuary.  Joy of Joys!  Yesterday I thought it was just another cycle i was dealing with then EO came home and told me what was going on.  I'm guessing they are still burning today too.  What a massive headache I have.  Plus my throat is really bothering me too.  I didn't take nearly enough meds yesterday, as I just didn't know what was going on.  So it is just another set back.  

So I ended up getting up early. EO had some running to do this morning, then he came home with more meds for me and a rose.  He has such sympathy for how sick I am.  He told me a month or two ago that he knows he doesn't show me enough sympathy and that sometimes he isn't very understanding.  But I just don't see it.  I told him, that I don't feel emotionally neglected.  I don't want him sitting here saying "poor poor thing" all the time.  That would drive me crazy.  Sometimes you have to emotionally disconnect from someone who is chronically sick so you don't go crazy yourself.  If he was the one who was sick, and I had to make a living and take care of responsibilities, I couldn't be moaning over his condition and be of any benefit to anyone else.  But he knows my roughest days and those are the days he stays close by, if possible.  And if he can't be here, he makes sure someone else checks in on me.  And I know, if i really need him to be close by, or sometimes to hold me, he is there in a flash.  I couldn't ask for more.

EO is so happy it is warming up outside.  we are seeing sprigs of green grass all over the yard.  But yesterday he found his first wood tic.  super tiny.  he wasn't happy about that.  he was so hoping he would have had some time before the tics came out, so he could get some wood cut. So, i don't know if he is going to wait until they are bigger and can be seen or what.  If he waits too long, it will just be to hot out.  So i'm not sure what his plan will be now. He was so disappointed to find that tic.  granted he is glad he found it before it latched on, but still... it is just too soon for them.  ok, maybe it isn't too soon... our snow was just on the ground far longer that normal.  We know we still have a chance we could get more snow until the first week of May, but this warmth has everyone's moods so much higher.

The news on the Convention was AWESOME!  Well, a bit scary and intimidating, but awesome and exciting too.  So there were three things I personally plan to keep in mind.  Bring sunblock, binoculars and most important and over abundance of the newly updated fruitage of "Patients".  As we will need patients with driving, patients with walking, patients with finding seats, patients with long lines, patients with large crowds, patients with hotel staff, patients with restaurant staff, patients with traffic, patients with our families and most of all, patients with ourselves... so that we take the time to remember to be appreciative of what we have and remembering it could always be worse.  In some countries they have those flimsy plastic chairs to sit on for 3 days.   Some have to sit on the ground.  Some have to sit on stumps or stools with no back support.  In some countries they have to walk the whole way to where they are going and it takes them many days to arrive and to only have the clothes on their backs and don't have food.  They would be thrilled to have a place such as this to attend.  We have been spoiled.  

If we fail to appreciate what we have, then we don't deserve it.   

When my pain gets real bad, i tense up and struggle to not be anxious.  I need to remember these things.  I need to remember it could be worse. I know I could never manage in another country.  I am too sickly.  We are encouraged to build our enthusiasm for the upcoming convention.  Everyday I am going to make an effort to meditate on it and remember if I fail to appreciate it, I don't deserve it... and I so want to be worthy in Jehovah's eyes.  I know my family is going to have a lot to deal with to attend.  EO will drive, the girls will help push me in a wheel chair and they will also have to find seats.  I won't be able to sit with them, but I hope I can be some what near by as I will need help to get to the restrooms.  Who is to say, there will be restrooms close by.  Lauren said she hoped maybe she could sit by me so she could help me.  I have no idea if they will allow a family member to sit with me or not.  If they do, then between the girls and EO they might trade off.  That would be nice.  Then I won't feel so alone in such a huge crowd.  But if not, I understand and will cooperate. I could always text one of the girls to help me if I need it. 

Whatever the case, I am grateful that Jehovah has provided this very special convention and I am so thankful for all the efforts of all the brothers and sisters who are making this possible.  And I pray I won't fail to appreciate it!!