Surprise Last Day!

Last night was Dad's staff Christmas party at Red Rock by Lake Hefner (love that location).  I sat between Kristin and Triston, and I chatted with them and Mom and Georgia, Alan, and Charlene!

I enjoyed the skillet cornbread, the salad (and my first time trying goat cheese), the potatoes and carrots, and the dessert!  And hopefully Kristin and/or Frankie enjoyed my chicken and ribs. lol  Mom and Triston loved their steaks, and everyone seemed happy with the food from what I could tell!

Asher Kenneth is a big fan of Santa Claus... not so much for Miss Karsten Blair!  Looking forward to seeing them tomorrow for an early lunch at Ted's!!

Doris got this cake for me this morning for what turned out to be my last day at the Cleveland County Courthouse!  (Judge told me around 4:15 that he was taking tomorrow off, so I gave them their gifts and packed the rest of my stuff to do the same - huzzah!!)

A lovely final afternoon walk around Main Street in Norman - surprisingly nice weather lately for December, so I took advantage of that!

The meme on the left made me laugh, in spite of me participating in that trend.

I tried a new prompt, and it randomly changed my eye color.  So now I know what I'd look like with blue eyes - turns out God knew what he was doing giving me brown. lol  I would adore that hair, though!!

For any Swifties out there, or really anyone at all, if you ask Siri to "Play Opalite by Taylor Swift," please let me know what happens??  Nearly every time I ask (which is fairly often, as it turns out), it plays her Elizabeth Taylor song instead -- those titles sound absolutely nothing alike, and it's become both comical and infuriating. lol  What on earth!?

The last of my things as I left work around 5:15 today!  Yay for Mom's rolling cart, and yay for her helping me get most of my things last weekend!!

I'm super grateful that Judge decided to take tomorrow off completely (he was originally just taking the afternoon off).  This will make all of our Christmas Eve Eve family plans feel stress-free for me, and it allowed this last workday to be all I wanted it to be.  I printed and filed my last transcript, backed everything up on SD cards, took a final walk around Norman, said my goodbyes to Judge and Doris (and Melissa and Leslie when they came down for cake), and grabbed dinner from Victoria's Pasta Shop and gelato from Apple Tree Chocolate one last time on my way home!!

My adorable friend, Hogie, at the Christmas Chute on this day last year!!  Gah, Corgi puppies are the very cutest!

Hilarious pic from a fun game night at Nancy's on this day in 2018!

Mel Robbins had David Kessler on her podcast this week, and they had a great conversation about grief HERE.  I'm on the very short list of people who feel drawn to that topic and always want to learn more.  One of my favorite things he says is: "Grief must be witnessed, not fixed."

The idea that it "must be witnessed" resonates for me, reminiscent of the Shall We Dance quote I've mentioned before:  "We need a witness to our lives...  In a marriage, you're promising to care about everything.  The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things... You're saying, 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it.  Your life will not go unwitnessed because I will be your witness.'"

So once again, thanks to my blog readers for being "witnesses" to the ups and downs of my life!  This year has been intense - some big and loud accomplishments and some quietly painful losses.  When grief feels sharp for me, writing helps to soften it, and knowing my words will be read by even one person who cares about me helps me feel less alone in hard seasons.

That's all I've got for today.

Happy surprise last day of work to me!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas ahead!!

❤ ❤ ❤