I finished writing my musings today and posted them everywhere:  Twitter, Facebook, Mailchimp.  Then I sat, gazing out the window, rubbing the nerve which has taken to constantly twitching in my left leg, hoping it is not a clot.  I thought about my day’s to-do list and watched a male cardinal land on the wire spanning from the neighbor’s house to mine.  I spent a few minutes wondering what that wire might actually be, before shaking my head and opening a Facebook page to check on my family and friends.  There I learned that a law school classmate had a stroke; four people share today’s birthday with my sister; and a host of friends awaken much earlier than I do.

This not-complaining thing has started getting easier.  I spend my days working, finding meaningful efforts on which to spend my energy, and plotting “how to amuse them today”.  I know my sorrows lurk somewhere  in the shadows because once in a while they sneak out and I find tears streaming down my cheeks.

But not today.  Not this beautiful Saturday.  Today, I have no complaints.

It’s the sixteenth day of the twenty-eighth month of My Year Without Complaining.  My sister Joyce turns 66 today.  Tomorrow the three sisters who live in Missouri will have lunch in Columbia.  We will text a photo to the fourth sister, Ann in Minnesota.  We will laugh and talk about the mundane events of our lives.  After a few hours, we’ll stand in the parking lot and hug each other.  Joyce will head back to St. Peters. I will drop Adrienne  in Boonville, and then I will make the journey home, in my little blue Prius, by myself.  I will play the radio loud or maybe listen to Paul Orso’s CD.  If I cry, they will be tears of joy.  Life continues.

Me, Adrienne, Joyce, Ann