April 1st

 26 years ago, Kevin asked me to marry him!

Yes, on April Fool's Day. I did not think it was a joke.  Even then, I knew when he was joking and when he was not. Also, he wouldn't make that kind of joke.

So yes, 26 years!  He was 26 when we married so half of his life has been either engaged or married to me!

(Our engagement was short -- 3 months!)

I am an older woman by a year, so in a year I will have spent half my life married or engaged.

We released a new book yesterday, the Fire at Longbourn. It is doing well so far. That makes me happy!

I am writing another one, of course because that is what I do.  I am struggling a bit with the plot.  It is not flowing yet. But I'll get there.

Mostly this week has been great but I have to confess that I am feeling quite sad right now. A friend from work lost her 3 year old granddaughter a week ago.

I don't know details but it was a horrible accident where the child got tangled up in a hanging macramé chair or something and strangled.

Every parent I know has lost track of a small child at one time or another.  99.9% of the time, there is no harm done.  But my friend's daughter and husband are living the nightmare that comes when that 0.1% happens.

I remember well that Rose, who was a runner, once took off when I was distracted while we are visiting Young's Dairy, a local ice cream place which is a large expansive site with goats and other animals to pet and feed.

By the time I caught up with her, she had almost gotten to the parking lot.

Angela fell into a tub of water once and I was right there, but I had left the bathroom a minute earlier to run and get some towels. I didn't realize she could climb the step that goes to our tub. I plucked her out immediately and no harm was done but what if she had fallen in when I was out of the room for thirty seconds?

So yes, we all lose track of our kids and usually nothing bad happens.

But it did a week ago and my heart breaks for the little girl's family.

So yeah, I am grieving for them. But am thankful for good things in our lives.