love gift

tired from puttering

and nursing, for days,

a mild headache

i wasn’t prepared after 8

hear my doorbell ring

but i opened it to my daughter

bring me my own private

apple pie smelling cinnamony

fresh from the oven

i feel loved

far beyond my deserving

Friday joy

Friday evenings are becoming

traditional suppers together

here in the Gardens with news

and gossip and laughter and teasing

between daughters, grandkids

and blessed grandma to listens

with heart filled with gratitude

back seat non-driver

in the back seat of my brother’s car

i, who nearly always am the driver,

got to peer up between stands of trees

and along the hilltop to the low

mountains layered behind them

trace the curves of tractor furrows

where the farmer followed

the contours of his land

all the delights a driver may not

allow her focus to remain on

as she steers from town

through wooded corridors

and farm communities

on the way to foggy coast

how i love my brother and sister (-in-law and -in-love)

who have always quietly done for me

things i could not do for myself

hours of joy

hours laughing with my daughters

as they settle technical issues

with phone and computer

so i can putter in peace and safety

but it is their presence that

gives me greatest joy

joy of the evening

 gifts and laughter with loved daughters

over scrumptious supper of crab louis

testing out a grabber with magnetic

properties and using its bite-and-open

feature to simulate applause

to greater laughter as we work

a crossword puzzle together

in bonded caring and mutual support

i am the luckiest person

i’ve ever known

bonds of laughter

laughter is the bond that melds

our family’s souls because we love

have learned we have courage

and can rely on our judgement

and each other