Oh Merci ::: Merci-Notes.blogspot.com

Hello SUMMER!
Are you taking the time to enjoy the hot sand at the beach?
Or the coolness of a forest?

Taking time we are finding is very important as we watch friends and family head out for a a wonderful break together, returning
with smiling faces.  We are frazzled with work and decisions that we were not contemplating to be done at the same time.
How is that for a "frazzled" sentence!

Growing up I had a few swims with cousins in cooling Michigan lakes.  We would all help roll, yes roll, the ginormous inner tube
down the lane to the lake.  Once there, we set it to sail as we tried over and over to climb atop it! The small city slicker (me) is last
to arrive to that party.  Then we three slowly stand up together on top of the inner tube.  At first we end up "in the drink" ~ over board :).
However it does not take us long to be happily standing and bouncing atop the inner tube.  Carefully at first, then recklessly so that
we can fall again into the cooling lake and start all over again.  What FUN!

I was blessed with a wonderful Mom & Dad.  They new what sacrificial love was.  They had 6 wonderful *(i guess i will include myself) kids.
In the heat of the summer days my Dad would call my mom up as he was leaving work.  His request was to have the kids ready to jump
in the car and head out to one of the lakes near our home.  My Dad would also have us all jump into the station wagon and drive out of the sub
with all of us asking, "Where are we going?  Where are we going?"  After a few miles he would pull slowly into the Dairy Queen with all of us
jumping for joy.  See, treats were just that, a sometimes event.  Not seldom, but not often either.  We appreciated these wonderful times very much.

Other times we would go for a Sunday drive, usually in the Fall or Spring, when the sun broke out from grey clouds.  Rolling hills, farms,
cows, horses, white clouds on crisp blue skies, sll was ours to enjoy.  Then at the end of the drive as civilization was all-around us,
my Dad would pull into an A&W Drive Inn and we all would get a Frosty Root Beer drink!

You may notice that my Dad is getting all of the credit.  I think that that is how wonderful my Mom and Dad worked together.  How wonderfully
they loved each other.  Sacrificial Love.  I have no idea which one of them had the idea, it did not matter to them.  But we knew that my Dad
was the head of our home and our Mom backed him up.  It seemed to me that everyday my Dad came home from work and made a bee line
for my Mom, a kiss & a hug.  Loving words. We KNEW how much they loved one another.

Back to Summertime ~
Are you collecting beach stones?  Here is wonderful idea for displaying the collectiion!

Blogging at least once a week is my new goal.  Not sure if it will be a certain day.  Getting on Instagram is another goal.

Enjoy your loved ones.

With Kindness,
Mary
*photos culled from Pinterest