A New Era...

What a month! A wedding, a new nephew, and a new start in our house. Our master bedroom and bathroom are almost finished being remodeled. They are beautiful! And with a new bathroom comes new towels- soft, fresh and perfect. With a new bedroom comes new curtains and bed pillows and bedspread... Neil would prefer not so many pillows ;)

With a new marriage comes new dishes and new pots and pans. We also said good-bye to our old couches. Sallie bought some "new to us" couches for Neil and I for our up-coming birthdays! THIS is a great gift! Neil and I each had a lingering couch from our college days. Mine, a green velvet couch, with one cushion that could not be flipped over. I tried to clean it with carpet cleaner... and bleached the heck out of it. One glue stain on the arm, and one small hole in the corner- strategically covered with a throw blanket. Neil's was the former dog-couch. A not so comfortable khaki couch formerly loved by Little and the late Lucky.

A moment for Lucky- Lucky was a Rhodesian ridgeback that was found left for dead on the side of a highway. He was neglected, starving and almost dead and a very young age. He was rescued and brought back to health. The vet who saw him first named him Lucky. He came to Neil during grad school and spent weeks behind a couch in his apartment before he was finally ready to come out, live life and trust his new dad. From then on- he was Neil's dog. I was scared of him the first time I met him. He was huge, had a huge bark, and killed huge rats, a couple of cats (I know- sorry), even bit another dog's leg off in one snap-no problem. But- Lucky became my dear friend and protector. He lived to the old age of 12 years old until he went to heaven. He let us know that he was ready to go. I still think of him and believe I will see him again.

Lucky's dog couch was scrubbed by me and my mom, until it was clean enough to use in our house for a few more years. Yesterday it left on a truck to go to a young man's first apartment. Even though I had awesome new couches in my living room- it was bittersweet to say goodbye to that silly old dog couch. It's funny to notice the things you get sentimental about.

The rest of the evening- I spent unboxing new dishes, silverware and other new kitchen and house hold items. New, beautiful and promising of the many fun meals to come! SO exciting. So much fun. What a ride we are on. The up's the down's - and end of one era and the beginning of another. Surrounded by friends, family to ease the bumps and celebrate along side you.