Saturday - for celebrating milestones and me

After a long and busy week, Saturday was special for me. I joined my sister and friends to celebrate a birthday at the Oar House in Dahlonega, GA. A festival was going on in town, so the quiet restaurant a few miles from the square was perfect for us. We see each other every few months or on special occasions and, while it used to be the six of us, now I make five. For three years after Barry died, I suffered through those days when the six minus one gathered to laugh and share old memories. But today was good. 

I left home around ten o'clock a.m. and returned after nine at night because on the way home I decided to treat myself to a movie. I had been wanting to see the Jackie Robinson Story, 42, and was happy to see it was still up at the Fieldstone Cinema. 

The show didn't begin until seven and I had time to stop in at a Mexican restaurant nearby and order myself a frozen margarita. I seldom drink alcohol, but today it was so good with cheese dip and chips. 

Although it wasn't my birthday, I felt celebratory. I'd had good news about my brother's health, and also I had made another milestone on this journey called grief. After four years one might thing that trip had been completed, but, until you face it, you don't realize it is never finished. It just gets easier as you pass those checkpoints you meet on the way.