I’m planning a relaxing kicked back Shabbat 😊
Temperatures of 100- to 103-degrees are forecast for the weekend, so I watered my garden area and front flowerbeds deeply as soon as I woke up this morning.
After that was done, it was lunch time … and I was craving Chinese food from our favorite dine in/take out restaurant; so off to Kalama I went 😉
Tears didn’t spring to my eyes when I sat down in our booth. Since Bob was on my mind, I ordered what he would have ordered had he been with me – and I ate it without a choking lump in my throat.
I boxed up half of that lunch special, and took the long way home: up the hill and over Spencer Creek Road and Modrow Road, which drops down onto Kalama River Road. Road and culvert work on Spencer Creek Road has finally been completed – rebuilt, repaved, and no more runoff erosion happening; it’s very nice.
I’m glad Bob took me on these backroads all of our life together. I am thankful Elohim revived my memory and that Yeshua was my driving instructor when I set out to figure them out on my own, 18 months ago. I was missing them. I am filled with heart-felt gratitude that I can drive them solo lobo without crying now; even though the memory of Bob’s smiling face and gentle tone is always with me on these drives.
It was an enjoyable couple of hours spent away from home.
Back in Longview, and cruising down Industrial Way (mere minutes away from home), I saw that the Reynold’s Building has been torn down and the debris is being cleared up.
It’s been a week or so since I’d driven this way … so I checked online to see what was happening.
Cleanup of Former Reynold’s Aluminum Plant: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/cleanup-of-former-reynolds-metals-site-in-longview-could-begin-in-2023/
Longview Reynold’s Plant: https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/sbo/2014/07/toxic-battle-brewing-at-longviews-reynolds-plant.html
I instantly saw red when I read that a coal export facility was going to be built here. WTH! The eco-freaks have effectively shut down coal mining in WA State and put a lot of willing and able-bodied people out of work – how does that square up with building and establishing a {Coal Export terminal} on the site??? Are they going to import the coal our obamiden bootlicking governor refuses to allow Washington mines to excavate? It makes no sense whatsoever to import coal to Washington when coal can be mined in Washington State if allowed to do so.
Coal Mining in WA State: https://pugetsoundkeeper.org/2018/05/31/say-no-to-an-active-coal-mine-in-washington-state/#:~:text=Washington%20currently%20has%20no%20active,the%20equivalent%20of%2051%2C000%20cars.
I was needing to get home and enter into my ‘Island of Rest’ mindset: pronto.
When I got home, I deliberately shut the world out … and embraced the mindset of the Day.
I sat on the front porch – on Bob’s Coho Bench (I’m getting comfortable with doing that, now) – with a soft drink on the folding outdoor table beside me, and a light reading novel in hand 😉
Gratitude swept over me as I listened to the gentle tune of the dancing wind chimes as the cooling river breezes blew through; and I looked over the garden area Bob prepared for me before Elohim called him Home. People walk/peddle their bikes past, and wave or comment on the garden area; and I wave back, or say, “thank you, my husband built this for me.” Peace and joy surrounded me as I sat on my sunny porch and looked over my small domain; appreciating the tangible love Bob left behind. My Spirit was soothed.
I will always love and miss my husband; but my heart is in a better place this year. My eyes do not feel like Niagra Falls this August. Elohim is faithful to blunt the pain of heartache – and I am grateful.
Elohim is faithful to soften that missingness as I forge a New Life; and Yeshua makes sure that I never feel the acuteness of being a solo lobo while I walk this Earth. My heart is filled with gratitude. I truly am greatly loved and highly favored as I enter this week’s Sabbat Rest 😊
