Christmas Day

My ankle is still bigger than I would like, but the swelling IS going down.

We drove to Coquina Beach Park which Mom thought was a beach near Sarasota. It ended up being a dog park in ghettoville. The Garmin took us through neighborhoods that were culturally diverse to put it mildly and some looked downright scary. As momMA says, "The G in Garmin doesn't stand for God." Amen to that. Anyway, we finally reached our destination - well, we really didn't have a destination in mind - this was more of an exploratory day...so we finally reached A destination...which was some beach somewhere on the western coast of south Florida. I have no idea where we were. Mom and Dad parked me in a chair since crutches don't work on loose sandy beaches and they took off to look for shells. I read for most of the day, dipped my feet in the ocean and marveled at a little gift God sent my way...a crippled seagull. It landed less than a foot away from me and just looked at me. It only had one webbed foot, the other was missing. He hopped around, pecking in the sand, seemingly unphased by his handicap. We kept each other company...the two disabled beachgoers...until I must have bored him and he flew away. There was no trace of anything wrong when he soared through the sky. There's an analogy there I'll let you draw for yourself. I'm too tired to write anymore. It was a beautiful day. I tried to focus my mind on the reason for our celebration today but I have to admit it was kind of hard to think about a baby in a manger when I was on a beach in Florida surrounded by surfers wearing Santa hats. I received lots of texts and messages today from friends around the world. I am thankful for the life God has given me and the people He has placed in it. I am most thankful He chose me to be His.