29 for 29

February is the month of love.

Hallmark promotes only romantic love, which is sweet and dandy, but the heart is stirred by affection for other things as well. 

Like chocolate.  And KitchenAid mixers.  And TV shows about mysterious islands.  And good toilet paper.

I have a list of things I really love and am grateful for.   My hubby and kids, of course.  That's a given.  But, then other things and other people who are just bonuses in my life.

For the month of February, I'm going to write about the other, non-romantic things I love.   Some I've loved for years; others I've just discovered recently.    29 things, for the 29 days of February.

1.  Yesterday, I posted a limerick for my brother because it was his birthday.   He's in this "other things" category.

I grew up with two brothers, and both were fairly annoying when we were all kids.   Angel Greg died when he was 23.  I was 19.  I'll never know what kind of relationship we might have had as adults.

The ex-clown turned out beautifully.   Partly because, when he was a young man and came to a revelation of following Christ, he called me to apologize for all the former teasing and big-brother-pain-in-the-butt stuff.   To this day, it makes me tear up to think about it.  That kind of humility and accountability is what makes him a gem of a man/husband/father/brother/friend/engineer/ex-clown today.  

We get along much better these days.

2.  My sister is another gem in my life.  I'm five years younger, and I was nothing but a nuisance to her when I was a kid.  However, once we both had kids of our own, we found common ground.   She's a worker bee and a great encourager.  She works with special needs kids and loves it.  She is a new grandma and loves that too.  We can talk for days and laugh over nothing.  And I mean nothing.  She's probably laughing as she reads this.

I think she likes me now.

Here she is hugging her son at his October wedding.   She generously bestows hugs on everyone.  It's one thing that makes her so loveable.  
 

My siblings are like two extra Valentines in my life.