Eleven Months

The love of your life dies - so, what do you do?  You don't own where you live - and, now, you certainly can't afford it!  Worse than that, however, is that you find you are finished with Florida.  Therefore, you gather up enough "stuff" for a two bedroom apartment, put it into storage; try to figure out what clothes to take with you; then search for the gypsy in your soul and hit the road!  You find out you have wonderful family and friends (something you always knew, but had not actually put yourself so literally in their lives!) and roaming around the country is a lot easier than stopping and facing the loss day to day.  Well, now I am in Reno, NV and will be here for a month!  Wow, I have had so much down time since I have been here that I actually have been hit quite hard by the sadness and loss of Mike.  However, I realize that this is pretty normal and I will recover.  So, let's get onto a little bit lighter subject..  First of all, happy mother's day to me and to all of you!  In Reno, I am surrounded by mountains (and casinos).  It is beautiful, but I truly am not a mountain girl.  But, Hogan, who is Meg's dog, loves it because we walk the hills everyday and he can run without his leash!  Thus far, I have seen one sea (Atlantic), purple mountains majesty, and will see the other sea (Pacific) at the end of this month.  The amber waves of grain will have to wait until the return trip!  This truly is a beautiful country and while the circumstances were not perfect, I am definitely enjoying seeing all of it.  I am missing Gina, though, and I hope she will recognize me and still like me upon my return.  Unlike Las Vegas, Meg and I went to a casino, were there for three hours and left with the same amount I brought - which seems to me to be winning!!  Thanks for checking in.  Ricci