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Health & Fitness

Keep the Sunshine


Comfort food, a must in my daily menu this week. Homemade Macaroni & Cheese, Pumpkin Pie, White Chocolate lattes ..... If I don't gain an extra ten pounds this week it will be a true miracle! 
Once again, our precious little town is rocked by the loss of a simply beautiful woman.
Jan was the forever optimist.  A few years ago we booked a trip to Block Island, just the four of us. It was a great little escape! We were giddy with excitement, we'd be on the island just a week or so before the island geared up for the summer tourist season! We talked about visiting the lighthouses, walks on the beach and of course a little shopping. As the weekend approached, I watched the weather with great disappointment. Rain, rain and more rain .... Friday afternoon we headed out with overcast skies and intermitting wipers running. I sat in the back seat with Jan, sulking like a school girl thinking 'well there goes a perfectly good weekend!' Then an amazing thing happened, her positive energy was contagious, her squeaky little giggle started to turn up the corners of my mouth, by the time we were climbing aboard the ferry I was in a completely different mind set. 
It was a rainy overcast weekend, with breaks in the weather offering opportunities for walks on the beach and visits to the lighthouses.  It's interesting, the colors of the landscape that weekend were so wildly vibrant and intense! The sun breaking through the clouds has a way of creating that. I realized after that weekend, that that was exactly what Jan was .... She was the sun, the bright, glistening light breaking through the bleak, sometimes very dark clouds. Jan, my dear friend had taught me a lesson, that you can make your own sunshine, even on rainy days.
Saturday, Jan's fight with cancer ended, the news rocked my world. I am heartbroken. 
Today we take Jan to her final resting place.  I may just eat ice cream for dinner tonight.  I can actually see and hear Jan's response to such a dinner selection.  She'd wave her hand and say (with just a little squeak in her voice) 'oh sweetie, enjoy it!  Once in a while it's OK to eat dessert for dinner!' She'd crinkle her nose, shrug her shoulders, and the giggle. Then she would smile, lean in a little closer and say 'really it is!' 
I know there is a very special angel watching over us, working her magic from heaven .... Forever smiling down upon us guiding us from afar.  
Thanks for the sunshine Jan ... Keep it coming! 

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