Happy Mail from NancyH.

It was a treat to receive this back in December.

Front and inside of card pictured below.

Envelope is original art, the card looks like she had her art printed - but she assembled them and that little gold border is steal-worthy.

You too could learn to write like this if you devoted your entire life to lessons in art. Technically, Nancy has a lot of other stuff going on, but, she's put in a ton of hours studying art. More than I have. As I recall, she has only one step-son, so my excuse for being a lesser artist was my devotion to raising the offspring.

*****

In Dec or Jan I ran across The Daily Stoic, and signed up for a daily blurb on coping. Half the time, I just delete them without reading because I have enough to read. The other half the time, chore-avoidance allows me the time to read them. The Feb 2 message was a real ah-ha moment for me. It was a simple reminder that we are all riding waves. Situations repeat themselves. Some of us ride longer waves than others. But we will all wipe out at some point. Unless an alien spaceship stops by and offers an alternative trip.

The stoic blurb of the day triggered thoughts on why I get so much out of the blog. It occurred to me that my time spent on the blog and my interaction with the readers who leave comments or send emails is a magical connection that balances out the things that are in-my-face. I get along just fine with the people in my bubble. But, those of you who are out there - are contributing just as much as the people in my bubble. 

So, thank you. And treat yourself to something fun today. New art supplies. A favorite food. An entire day of doing nothing. Do whatever you want -- guilt free. If anyone objects, tell them with conviction that it was not your choice. Tell them that you were just following instructions that are beyond your control. You only have my permission to do this once a year. It's my birthday. I have not decided what I am going to do yet - but I'll keep you posted. It will probably involve coconut. I'm pretty wild.