That’s the truth, Moortje is sitting in my lap. Of course, right when I decide to post, he comes over and walks up my leg with his nails out – which results in me wanting to scream in pain. Once he is up, he moves over to the desk and parks himself between the laptop and the tablet. Depending on his exact location, things start to go wonky on one device or the other. Since I am technically participating in a conference call, I decided to move him into my lap. Judging by the amount of purring that is going on and his head butting, which is causing some typos, he must be content with his current position.

I was in Groningen today. I left here at 7am and ended up watching the sun come up somewhere just over the border between Friesland and Groningen. It was 23F here and in Groningen it was 17F. At the giant rotonda where the A6 turns off to the A7, there is a stable. This morning, all the big horses had their jackets on. Running in front of them was a very small pony. The way he was running to the barn, you could almost hear him saying “Last one to the barn is a COW”. He had so much attitude. 🙂

I stopped at Marum on the way back and spent some time talking to Mom. It started snowing while I was there, which cut my visit a little short. I had alot of questions for Mom today and not the least of was how could I support someone who had just lost her own mother, on Saturday?

I realized that losing my mother at 39 is very different than losing your mother at 22. And my heart grieves for this young woman. We have talked quite a bit over the past few days and all I can do is be there for her. To think that a month ago, I was trying to answer her questions on dating and now it is over grief. I really don’t have any answers, even after three years.

As I mentioned, I was looking for advice today. I had a question that I had been wrestling with. More than one, but this is a pretty important one – again involving fear, vulnerability and stubbornness. I didn’t get a direct answer but I walked back through the church yard feeling like my Mom had given me a kick in the ass. By the time I got back into the car, I was convinced of it. I made my decision and I am glad I did. What Laura said a few days ago about my mom still teaching me was spot-on.