Our parents lived through WWII and the Great Depression. We children have lived through one year of a pandemic and some other crazy stuff going on in our country.  I’m so glad our first day of spring was pleasant weather-wise and my day has been going well. Hope yours has also. Saw a group of bicyclists when I was out and about today. I looked at my bicycle when I was in our newly House Plantbuilt shed. Tires could use some air. Hoping my husband can help with inflating them. I envisioned myself driving to a park. At least that’s a start, like an athlete getting mentally prepared to run a race. I had a Toastmaster’s meeting this morning for which I had to mentally prepare myself. I was speaker number two. A newer member was speaker number one. It is courteous to let newer members speak first, so they can get it over sooner because they may be a tad more nervous. We evaluated each other’s speech. The newer guy said he couldn’t find anything wrong in my speech to tell me about. My ears heard him say “perfect”. Then he added, “I’m a new toastmaster,” like he might not be experienced enough to find something which needed improvement. The grammarian found plenty on which to report. I’ve become pretty lax in my older age, since not working outside the home. Like, you know, who cares, and ah . . . I mean, isn’t juggling the food in the refrigerator to keep something from going bad, more important? “You mean I left the plastic container of fresh fruit out all night?” I asked my husband who had just devoured a piece of cantaloupe from the same container. “I wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t said something,” he said. I guess it’s a good thing in my speech at Toastmasters I told everyone “I love my husband” twice, once at the beginning and again at the end of my speech.

It’s good, I feel silly, and witty, and bright . . . and I’m happy for the hope, amid caution, starting to seep out in our everyday vocabulary. Of course, I’m just a relatively new author . . . hoping my second children’s book will soon hit the shelves.