I grew up saying those few words. Somehow, knowing May would be filled with blooms helps me, as a Seattle girl, get through the heavy April rainfall. I’m still in Seattle (actually Lynnwood) while Dan works on our Michigan vacation cabin, emphasis on vacation because I don’t think I’d survive a winter there…lol. I’m enjoying my time with family and friends and even squeezed in a game night. There were sixteen of us, some all the way from Canada and California, battling out Apples-to-Apples and another game very much like it. The age of the players was fourteen to seventy-three. Yes, all playing the same game together. Who says age matters…not me, that’s for sure.

Last weekend, my daughter and I spent the weekend in Reno visiting my son and his family. My grandson, Cameron, is five-years-old and is an amazing child. He is so caring and polite and always happy. His smile, along with his laugh, is contagious. My son and daughter-in-law are wonderful parents and blessed to have such a happy son. We spent time in the arcade playing games. Cameron always making sure grandma sat next to him.  Kristin and I even caught a show at the Eldorado. The Four Illusionists…and WOW was it amazing.

Sunday was a birthday party for one of Cameron’s classmates at a trampoline place. It was so much fun watching Cameron and Mike bouncing…it’s a fun place to burn up energy. We spent the afternoon at their home visiting with my daughter-in-law and playing games. Simply a great family weekend filled with laughter and love. Mike and Cameron walked us to our gate at the airport, and the world stopped with the hugs from them both. Then Kristin and I spent the evening at the airport, watching the last Game of Thrones to wrap up our adventure.

Anytime I can spend with my kids and grandkids is something I treasure more than words can express, and is why I say the word love just isn’t big enough.

I feel the need to do a “shout out” to the goodness of my husband right now. Mind you, he isn’t a computer person so he doesn’t read my blogs, or my Facebook posts, or my scary books…but he’s used to being a part of my internet/open book world. Anyhow, he was driving down the road and found a toolbox spilling its contents out on the road. He stopped and picked up what he could find and soon after found a posted notice from the owner looking for the tools. He called and met up with the guy to return the items. Apparently, the guy lost the toolbox off the back of his truck when he neglected to shut the tailgate. The owner truly appreciated Dan’s honesty and integrity. The reality is that in this day and age those tools would have been scooped up and sold at the nearest pawn shop, so luckily Dan was the one to come across the treasures. I call them treasures because to a man, especially my husband, tools are precious belongings.

But not all stories are good – I posted on Facebook about the three churches that burned in Louisianna…a tragedy that GoFundMe is trying to help with donations. This reads to me as a “hate crime”…and if that is the case I hope the people will be caught and prosecuted to the fullest. Then there is Notre Dame Cathedral, and the tragedy knowing the historical building will never be the same. The person responsible, I believe it was a restoration/construction accident, has to deal with that sad weight on their shoulders for the rest of his or her life.

It seems as if so much of what we hear or read is filled with sadness, violent acts, or political ugliness. So, I love it when I can share a “happy ending” story. It is refreshing to know that kindness, honesty, and goodness still exists, and Dan is a prime example.

Love has many shapes, colors, and textures…it is likely the most overused, and underused word in the dictionary. Sometimes I think about how I’d feel if I lost someone, on a day, when I didn’t say those special three words, “I love you”…but, in reality, the people in my life know I love them…words are often just words. It’s actions that speak volumes. How does a person show their love? How do they let the person in their heart know that whatever they do for them is out of love? Maybe for a child, it’s doing chores without being asked. Could it be making someone a nice dinner when they have put in a long hard day? I recently put fresh sheets on my daughter’s bed because she had been on a tiring business trip, and I knew it would feel good to crawl into her clean bed…it was out of love, not out of obligation that I did this. I had pretty flowers and a card to welcome her home from all of us. Those are the actions of love. And she reciprocated love through her appreciation.
Showing someone you love him or her in actions means more than words. The words are merely an entry ticket to that person’s heart. It’s the entire play that says the most.
There are many different types of love. Such as the love from a father to a child, a mother to a child (yes, they are different). Better yet is the love of a child to a mother or a father. You would think they are the same, but the relationship is different. Therefore, the type of love is different. I lost my parents when I was young, so I don’t have the experience my son and daughter have in how they love me compared to how I love them. The same is true between grandparents and grandchildren…two types of relationships, two types of love.
Another is a young child to a friend or a grown-up who gains a new friend compared to a lifelong friend. There is the love between a person and their dog, cat, bird, or even gerbil. Or any other pet as an example. Another type is the love of sunsets or sunrises. The love someone feels when they see the first buds open up in spring. Or the love I, speaking personally, feel when watching the waves lapping against the sand without a care in the world. The pebbles of sand swishing around loving the moisture that engulfs them.
My husband and I are both strong independent people. Our personalities can cause conflict more than I’d like to admit. We push at each other hard, sometimes he more than me, and other times me more than him. In other words, it is our personalities that drive us apart, but it is our love that keeps us together.
Love isn’t something you can measure. Love isn’t something you can even explain…love is just love…the good, mysterious, warmest and the most beautiful emotion of all.

Travel is a funny thing. It’s exciting, sometimes a little scary, exhilarating, and exhausting. Every person has a story and sometimes those stories need to be told.

Many of you know I came to Washington the first of December while my husband continued in Michigan working on our cabin. After a year of traveling together in a 29′ trailer, 24/7, let’s just say it was a welcome break for both of us. At that point, things had been said that shouldn’t, a whole lot of head shaking, eye rolling, shoulder shrugging, and “whatever” got tossed around…and that was just me. So I hopped on a plan and let out a sigh of relief that I would soon be in Lynnwood, WA with my daughter, granddaughters, and other family members. My flight was great, and I mean great…it was on time, the comfort was there, the turbulence were few…just a great trip all around.

Over the next two months, Dan has, in frigid snow and cold, been building our cabin. He has the plans in his head and has only asked for his brother’s help on two occasions. The rest has been mastered with only his two hands. This is a two story cabin so it is 25′ high. It is 24′ by 26′ – and he knows exactly what he wants it to look like. He has been out there in -25 degrees, “finger biting cold” as he calls it, and with snow and ice trying to hinder the progress he just kept getting tougher and more determined. Must be the farm boy in him, but it wasn’t a place for me. so I was glad to get out of there.

Skip forward to February when my husband decides to come to my daughters. His trip was, on the other hand, not so great. I was anxious enough about him coming because it was going to be a “do or die” for our marriage…yes, the struggles had increased enough to put us in a bad place. I was so anxious in fact that it took all my effort not to tell him NOT to come. But we started talking out our issues and reminding each other why we married the other, and soon the anxiety eased up. I started getting a bit happy about him coming.

Let me interject here that being here with my daughter, granddaughters, friends, and family is like wrapping a warm blanket of comfort around me. It’s my safe place, the most welcoming place in the world. Staying at my daughters’ home is as natural as breathing. We all understand each other’s needs and live life with an ease that is as smooth as butter. When I got here, damaged and broken, I doubted I’d ever leave again. My husband had damaged us, and I knew what damage I’d done to my husband and I really wasn’t sure if it was repairable. But marriage means a lot to me, and though I was currently enjoying living my life at my daughters exactly like I thought life should be, I knew it was time to face the music and see what would come out of my husband and I being in the same room again. Would I even want to make good on my marriage or give up? And I really hate being a quitter.

The plan was for Dan to fly out of Green Bay, Wisconsin on Thursday, Feb. 7th. His sister and brother-in-law drove him from Escanaba on Wednesday (it’s a 5hr round trip), so they wouldn’t get stuck in the upcoming storm. Dan settled into his hotel room knowing his flight was before noon the next day. That next morning he got to the airport and the flight was quickly bumped out two hours…not so bad, he’d still make his connecting flight. Then it got bumped out again, and now the connecting flight wasn’t going to be there when he made it to Minneapolis…so he’d have to work that out when he got there. Next thing he knew the entire flight has been changed, and now he would get into Seattle at 8 PM, instead of 4 PM. All doable, right? Oops, nope, the flight was just canceled. So back to the hotel he goes. Now, mind you, the alerts are coming to me by email and text, so I’m keeping him informed as the activity goes on, when he’s not at the airport.

Friday at 2:30 AM I get a text that his 11:45 AM flight has been bumped to 2:30 PM already. So, I sent him a text letting him know not to rush to the airport. Needless to say, his flight was eventually canceled and he was put on another flight, got to Minneapolis and we held our breath that he would get on the connecting flight just fine…which he did. Now he is expected to land in Seattle at 8:15 PM, but Seattle is experiencing a snow storm like none other, so we weren’t even sure he would land. Landed successfully…but the storm is so bad, I’m not about to drive to the airport 45 minutes away by freeway to get him…so Kristin ordered him an Uber and at 10:30 PM I finally saw him walking through the snow up the drive.

It was like seeing an old lost friend after years of separation. Something filled me up and made me whole again…it’s a thing called love. We have a lot to work on patching up our marriage and making it whole again, but when you have someone that is willing to go to the ends of the earth for you in a “Planes, Trains, and Automobile” fashion, well, it’s is worth the work.

There are likely other stories that have many other reasons, reactions, and results, but this is our story, and when all is said and done, we are safe, we are loved, we are blessed, and we are thankful. This is a winter to remember, or forget…it’s your choice, but it has been one heck of a winter for sure. When Spring shows her beauty we will all sigh that bit of relief and move on with our day…until then bundle up, be sure you have emergency lights, food, and water because winter is still showing her style.

As always, thank you for reading my ramblings…love to all.

As you know I have an unusual name, Cecily. The name Cecily is an English baby name. In English the meaning of the name Cecily is: A feminine form of Cecil, derived from the Roman clan name Caecilius, which is based on the Latin ‘coccus’ meaning ‘blind’. A quote from SheKnows.com.

Throughout my life, I used my given name for all those fun school years…lol, and my career. However, my family and friends have always called me Cec, Cecy, or CJ (short for Cecily Jane). It’s not that I don’t like my name, it’s that it has been pronounced enough different ways to create its own dictionary…just kidding, but it has been a lot. It’s hard to pronounce and it’s hard to remember. So, by the time I retired I was ready to relax and go for the easy name of CJ. When I met Dan and remarried I was introduced to my his family and friends as CJ. It became a new commonplace for me.

When I started building my photography website I put my work under Salt Creek Images. That name came from the first place Dan took me camping in Colorado. A beautiful place that holds wonderful memories. However, there are too many references to Salt Creek Images on the internet, and I don’t want to be mistaken for someone else or take credit for their far superior photography. I separated my portrait photography by putting it under Cecily’s Photography.

I bet you are wondering what this is all about? It’s about building a brand. I’m going back to using my full name for my photography and will pull it around to my author name, too (though a longer process). All of my photography will be under Cecily Vermote Photography, instead of Salt Creek Images. And I’ll rebrand my writing under Cecily Vermote.

After going for almost eight years using my nickname of CJ for the most part, I realized I miss my name, Cecily. At the time I retired I was ready to become someone else. I know many people struggle with who they are when they retire, but not me…I knew I wanted to be an author and photographer…two of my passions, so I had no problem creating a new image.

As time has gone on I have met other people named Cecily, okay, maybe only two, but I have met more and more people who are able to pronounce my name correctly on the first go around…YAY. For those that aren’t able, it’s okay, I am used to it and I’ll help you out.

Part of this decision came because I am, as some of you know, writing my autobiography. When I thought about my parents picking out this name for me, and saying it for the first time as they looked down on my tiny face, I felt a different connection to it, so in their honor, I am going to be Cecily again.

I will always answer to CJ, Cec, and Cecy, of course, but if you want to use my full name, Cecily, or even Cecily Jane, you will get my attention. As always, thank you for reading my ramblings and have a wonderful day.