Back from my sabbatical...

Dear Readers,

Paris was lovely, Venice was divine,
Switzerland was breathtaking----if only in my mind.
Back from sabbatical, eight months abroad,
If I said I was in Europe, I would be a fraud.
The truth is, my computer sadly bit the dust,
It was the end of last summer, yes, it was in August.
Off it went to the computer shop for what was an extended stay,
And when it finally came home, that was a happy day.
Short-lived, however, was the joy in my heart,
For it had to go back--it was a mess!--and again it was taken apart.
This time I went along to show the guy my concern,
And he promised it would all be fixed by the time we would return.
We sailed right through the month of September,
And then it was ready to come home in October.
But we weren't home, we were California-bound
For our grandson's first birthday and our daughter's ultrasound!
Good news there--our first granddaughter was on the way,
And we came home to a fixed computer, fixed in almost every way.
But our Favorites list was wiped out, and I couldn't access this blog,
And with 14 coming for Christmas, my mind was in a big fog.
But before they all came, starting the 20th of December,
Our son moved his family from Hawaii to here in November!
They had eight days with us then moved to their Seattle home,
And my incredible joy can't be adequately expressed in this impromptu poem.
Such a memorable Christmas, all of us together here,
Including our two grandsons and each loved one we hold dear.
Two weeks of joyful times, they just went by too quickly,
And sadly, before they left, we realized we were really sickly.
So January was a time to work hard toward our healing,
Which was hard to imagine, considering how we were feeling.
But by the time the first of February rolled around,
We noticed our good health was on the rebound.
Thought surely in February I would return to my blogging ways,
But I was still cleaning up from Christmas, yes that filled my days.
Then lo and behold, three weeks early, quite a surprise,
Our granddaughter was coming, so we took to the road, not the skies.
Drove to California, hoping to make it straight through,
But we got incredibly sleepy so we stopped---what could we do?
An hour and forty-five minutes, that was the length of our rest,
Then we talked to our daughter, who was holding her daughter--oh, that is the best!
So back on the road, too excited to sleep, and eventually we were there,
Holding our precious granddaughter close and covering her with prayer.
Our time with her and her brother was beautiful, over before we knew it,
So hard to say goodbye, to leave, but we always have to do it.
Then March brought spring but way, way too much rain,
And back-to-back tragedies put us all in so much pain.
A Seattle TV helicopter crash took two lives and devastated another,
And four days later a massive landslide took so many others.
And as April arrived, with Easter just a few weeks away,
We want to be joyful, but still we need to reach out and to pray,
As searchers keep looking for victims hour by hour, day after day.
All over the area people are pulling together to see what they can do,
And we are all reminded that life is fragile, and our days could be so few.
So you see, Readers, these past eight months I haven't been vegging out,
I've been busy and involved in so many things I could easily blog about.
I'm back now for good since I figured out how to get in here,
Back to the blog, ready to write about the BVG's--never fear!
They've been up to their usual, with their usual flare,
So stay tuned for future posts--I can't wait to share!