Thursday, April 29, 2010

Happiest and Saddest Days


One of the happiest days of my life was July 19, 1963, the day my first child was born. She and I both had a rough time during that breech birth, but it didn’t dampen my spirits at all, because I had waited a full 10 months for that day. Her dark blue color, when I first saw her scared me because I knew I had nearly lost her. She weighed 9 lbs 8oz and had the most beautiful long dark hair. I remember the day I brought her home from the hospital, one of the nurses helped me put her hair in a large curl on top, with a bow. Dressing her for the first time made me feel like a little girl with a new baby doll. She was so cute and such a good baby.

Now I’m left with a hole in my heart, that I can only try to fill with memories.


Rebecca Lynn Taylor
July 19, 1963 ~ February 19, 2010




When Becky, was first diagnosed with Stage Four Breast Cancer, I told her that the most important thing, was to focus only on a positive outlook. I knew she was strong and would fight it every step of the way, for as long as she needed to. She also believed that God would help her through it, because she had a feeling he had put this burden on her in order to help others in some way. I cried and told her that I wish it had been me instead of her, because she still had so much more life to live and children who depended on her. She laughingly told me that God gave it to her because she could handle it better than her two sisters or I. She was certainly right about me, I could never have dealt with the emotional strain or pain with such courage. Her will to live gave her an unstoppable determination to try anything her doctors advised.

She was truly afraid when she found out the cancer had metastasized in a rib and leg bone. But once again, her courage conquered that fear, just as it did when it next metastasized in her brain. Each time the cancer moved to another part of her body, she would say she made it through the last round and she would make it through this one.

After nearly eight years her body just didn’t have the strength to endure anymore. She still would not give up and her spirit carried her through for a while longer. She fought all the way to her last breath.

I have so many wonderful memories of my daughter, but the most remarkable ones during her time with cancer, were the ways she helped several others deal with fear of their own cancer, her sense of humor and the way she made it all so much easier for our family, by being so strong. Somehow she got us through it, when we all thought it should have been the other way around. She was a great inspiration to all of her friends and family.

I know when my time comes, I will see her standing there with a smile on her face, saying, “Come on Mom, I know if I made it through this, you can too.”


I am blessed with many wonderful friends and family members who have given memorials in Becky's honor. When we arrived back home, after the memorial service, friends gave us a beautiful pink Weeping Hibiscus tree. With it was a card with this written inside: Due to Becky's unflinching devotion to life, nothing but a living memorial would do.

The last couple of days, I've been making a bed of flowers that will grow around the tree and this will serve as Becky's Memorial Garden. Whenever I'm feeling down or need some propping up, I plan to look at this and remember her strength.


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City of Sanibel Monitors Oil Spill

City of Sanibel Continues to Monitor Oil Spill -

The City of Sanibel continues to monitor and work closely with its Federal, State and local partners regarding potential impacts to the Florida Gulf Coast resulting from the current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

For the latest updates released by the Federal government, please monitor the following websites:

http://www.d8externalaffairs.com/go/site/2931/

http://www.incidentnews.gov/incident/8220

Monday, April 26, 2010

Sanibel After the Thunderstorm

The temperature got down to 66 last night. We had a cold front passing through and during the wee hours of the morning we had thunder storms and nearly 2 inches of rain. A lot of people in SW Florida were out of power this morning due to the storms. This afternoon it was sunny and got up to 81 degrees. The wind was out of the WSW with gusts up to 29 mph.

We went off island this morning around 8:30 and the sky was still very cloudy. I took my umbrella just in case. But, evidently the rain was over, even though the clouds hung around for a while longer.

This afternoon it was very nice out, so I put my boy in his travel box that we call the Pope Dome, and we sat out on the back deck for a while. Actually we were watching the birds. :)

This evening we went to Resident Access 2 off West Gulf Drive for a long walk and to watch the sunset. The water was still pretty rough, it was very windy and before we left it was getting a little cool.





I've left a lot of cyber shelling for you, but it really wasn't that good.







The small groups of puffy clouds were pretty.



A couple of small orange scallops. I can never pass them up.

I was surprised to find a Shark's Eye.



This picture is for our friend Harry. Could this be what is left of the kite you lost last year? :)

Someone had been clearing out a very large area by the beach, near access 1. It looked as though there had been Australian Pines there. I noticed as we drove on West Gulf Drive, that the same lot had been cleared to build on. I guess there will soon be another new beach home.



Nuts to you, from who knows where?



There's a nice Apple Murex!

Cockle Shell here!

A Pear Whelk, but not a good one.





Hmmm, maybe an Orange Scallop? :)

Very near that orange scallop, I found an Apple Murex. ?? :)





Just before I took this photo, I saw a young couple positioning their bottle of wine and two long stem wine glasses in the sand. They also wrote something in the sand next to the bottle, then took pictures. Romantic, huh? Another young couple was walking along the beach carrying their drinks.

You can hardly see them in this photo, but there is an older couple sitting up in the dunes having drinks as they watched the sunset. Yes, they were sitting in chairs, that's what we old people do. :)

The sunset marked the end of another wonderful day!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Lazy Sanibel Sunday

I've been kind of busy and neglected to post the last couple of days. So, here are a couple of pictures that I took during that time.

There was a lot of boating activity going on Friday as we drove across the causeway. Here's a peek.


Saturday on the way back from Captiva I snapped a quick shot of some fishermen and sun worshipers, as we crossed the bridge. It was a pretty busy place with both parking areas filled up.


Today was a lazy Sunday, only doing what we wanted to do. This afternoon went to access 5. The sun was shining and warm wind was blowing from the SSE. The high temperature was 80. The water was 76 and felt warm enough to walk in. I love walking in the water, I find it relaxing. :) There were shells, most of them were small and in some places there were only crumbs. We did pick up a few and found a couple of nice mac 'n cheese(juvenile horse conchs) in the water, near Mitchell's.















































Driving back on West Gulf Drive, I took a couple photos of a beautiful Pink Oleander bush that I've been noticing lately. I think I should get one. :)