So long 2008

It’s been a very strange journey this year and I’m not sorry to see it end. It hasn’t all been bad. On the contrary, many wonderful things happened this year. Let’s just say much of the year has had a very surreal feel to it and I’m more than ready to start fresh. What do I hope for in 2009? How about a sale to a major publisher? How about a new kitty to share our home? How about watching my little boy get married? And, how about finally finding the two sisters I just found about this December?

Ah, dreams…isn’t that what new years are all about? Goodnight 2008 and Hello 2009. May the new year bless you all.

Did I say one lost sister…how about two?

Let us just say the last two weeks here in River City (FYI the pic is the Spokane River near the Falls) have been more than a little interesting.  First I find out I have one half-sister I never met and then I find out there are TWO!  Imagine that…two sisters I never heard a word about.  I’m both amazed and angry all at the same time.  I’m angry with the father who not only left my brothers and I in the dust, but also apparently did the same thing to these two girls.  I’m angry with my grandmother who always had contact with us but who never breathed a word of the existence of the two sisters.  I think we had the right to know and should have been told.  Now that both the father (John “Jack” Houdersheldt) and grandmother gone, so two are the details on our missing  sisters.

I am amazed, however, that I’m no longer the only girl (well, girl might be a stretch at this point, but you know what I mean).  It’s rather fun to think I might actually find them and have a chance to meet them.  Two sisters…Wow!  It’s really mind boggling after all these years. 

So hey, if you ever met anyone whose father was John “Jack” Houdersheldt, born in the Las Vegas area between 1964 and 1969, give me a shout out.  I’m really hoping for  a chance to meet my sisters. 

Happy Friday everyone.  And by the way, how was your week??

How do you find a lost sister?

And by lost, I mean a sister I didn’t even know existed until a week ago today.  Of course, when you have a father you haven’t seen or heard from since the age of five, it’s entirely possible I have more than just a missing sister.  But, for the moment, all I know for certain is that after many years of being the only girl in the family, I’m no longer alone.

The problem…I don’t know her name, I don’t know where she lives, and I don’t know how old she is.  The one thing I do know, is that we share an absent father, one John “Jack” Houdersheldt who died on December 2, 2008 in Norfolk, NE. 

So now the hunt is on.  My biological father may not have played any role in my life, or the lives of my three brothers, but that doesn’t mean we’re not amenable to other siblings.  On the contrary, I find it kind of exciting to think I have a sister after all these years.  I hope some day, somehow, we cross paths. 

And now, I’m off on the hunt.

Full moon madness

Okay…I don’t care what anyone says–madness prevails when the moon is full.  The phone calls I get are strange, people are strange and don’t even get me started on the animals.  My dogs get twitchy as can be the minute the moon hits a 100 watts.  Don’t get me wrong, I love a full moon.  It’s eerily beautiful when the moon hangs full and golden over the meadows near by my home.  As I drive home from the office,  the moonlight fills the meadow with warm light while deer graze and the trees bend in the wind.   It looks magical and makes me smile every time I drive by. 

Then again…there’s the madness.  Things just seem to do a little shift to the left.  It does, however, keep life interesting.  Sure it’s crazy.  Sure people can drive you nuts.  Still, it makes the world a little more interesting.  So madness aside, here’s to the full moon…moonlight, magic and madness.