Green

Spring has arrived here in the Pacific Northwest.  Everything is so green.  The trees, the grass, the roads.  Moss grows on everything and it is so beautiful.  Our private road is positively glowing with living beauty right now.  I love this place.  We also have bulbs popping out bursts of bright blue and orange and yellow.  The air has an earthy, fresh scent, the birds are singing melodies to the heavens, the sun is showering us with warmth. I'm enjoying watching a teeny brown squirrel eating bird seed off the deck out one window and a hummingbird at the feeder out of another right at this moment and marveling at His handiwork.  He is The Great Artist, indeed. 

Hubs had been working nights for roughly the past five weeks and is finally back on days at the hospital.  Which means I've finally been able to really let the kids make noise in the house, vacuum, clank around washing dishes...okay you got me on that last one; the sink is sky high with mixing bowls and cookie sheets and pans.  I'm reveling in naptime quiet at the moment and certainly not about to let a sink change that.

My coffee cup is nearing empty , but it's my third cup already, so I can't feel too bad.  And it is sitting atop a bright green and white checked and shamrock adorned tablecloth that has me smiling every time I look down.  I just love St. Patrick's Day.  For me, it is a family holiday.  It is a day we set aside to celebrate life with the people we love.  And it is a day that we now honor our sweet Irish Prince.  My red-headed Angel-Boy.  Thinking about it and him makes so so happy and so heart-broken all at once. 

And even though things are going to be very different this year, we are still planning on getting our Irish on as much as possible.  I'm not going to lie, I'm probably more homesick for this holiday than Christmas and Thanksgiving combined.  Not only will we miss the family and friends, but we will miss the always fantastic St. Patrick's Day parade, the Celtic Mass at the Cathedral, the bagpipes.  Alas, there is no parade here and I've seen no mention of any special masses.  Well, I suppose this town had to have one fault. 

We are, however, going to rally as best we can.  Hubs will be working from God-awful-early to much-too-late as usual, but we will do our best work around that.  The house is slowly being covered in construction paper shamrocks and rainbow chains.  We have our green and orange ready to wear, down to the 7 days of Irish socks that I busted out earlier in the week.  Today's are knee-high with shamrocks.  I know.  I'm awesome.  I've got the Irish dinner planned.  And if I'm feeling quite brave, we may head to a pub to hear some bagpipers.  We're gonna celebrate.  And this handsome man will be at the center of it all for me. 

I hope you all have a lovely St. Patrick's Day weekend.  If possible, go a little Irish in honor of my Jameson. 
Slainte!