It's gonna be a good year!

It's been one week since Patty and I watched Zozobra go up in flames, taking all our trials from last year with him. It was an amazing adventure that I will never forget. I have watched Zozobra burn many times in my life, but this year was particularly special. This year I watched him through sober eyes.

One week after giving away our troubles, we invited Patty's new friends over for a BBQ. Kiera and Seth are both new to NM as well and joined us last week in our adventure to Santa Fe. Patty is quite the grille master and is well on her way to perfecting chicken fajitas. MMMMMM! My favorite! After dinner Patty was kind enough to stack the dishes in an organized manner and fill the sink with water and soap so Seth could do the dishes! What a good sport he was. Thanks Seth! And then we all enjoyed an episode of 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'. After Kiera and Seth went home for the night, we both decided we were exhausted and it was time for bed. I made my way to the bathroom while Patty and Linda admired Patty's new wall art (yes, they're 1$ placemats from Wal-Mart). I sat down on the toilet and, luckily before I started going, reached over to the toilet paper. As I was ripping off a couple squares, I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye and felt something touch my fingers. I immediately threw the TP on the ground and screamed. I pulled up my pants and ran into the hallway, where Patty met me wondering what the heck I was screaming about. There, looking up at Patty and Emily with his big, black, scared eyes was Mr. Mantis. He must've crawled through the window. After about 5 minutes of figuring out how to get him outside safely and without injuring him, we were able to relocate him to his natural habitat. Patty made me close the window in the bathroom so no more bugs can get in. For those of you who don't know, Patty is not a bug person. Neither am I. However, I don't believe Mr. Mantis posed a threat. In fact, just the opposite.....

The word mantis is a Greek word meaning 'prophet' or 'fortune teller'. Many people believe that encounters with a praying mantis are good luck, myself included. As startling as it was to see Mr. Mantis, I am happy he stopped by and believe he came to let me know Patty and I are both on the right path and this is a safe and healthy home for us to be in during this time of our lives.