An excerpt...

Sept 29th / 07

If there is a movie about my life, this moment will be the opening scene, me, sprawled out in the backseat, wrapped in my blankie, journal in my lap, and a smile on my face.

The latest of many ya ya road trips.

Dianne Keaton will portray me. I've been compared to her, perhaps because of a slight physical resemblance, but primarily because they say I was the inspiration for Annie Hall's wardrobe. It usually isn't a compliment, but not being a fashion diva, I always took it as one to annoy them.

We are on the way to surprise St Kate for her 50th birthday. The youngest of the ya ya's will not be surprised that we will somehow make a big fuss about her birthday, so we will have to surprise her with timing. A pajama party at midnight should do the trick. Seeing as we are in our pajamas at the moment, I hope that we are not pulled over.Actually, when I think about it , a car full of ya ya's on the lonely Saskatchewan highway might just brighten some lonely cop's night.

There is a lull in the laughter and conversation, and as kilometer after kilometer passes my mind wonders from memory to memory, the joys, successes, failures and tears of 30 years of friendship.

My sisters of the heart. It is with this group of women I am me. Hope. Not a mother, or a wife, a daughter, sister or a boss.

I am simply, Hope.

More than any other thing, their energy and spirit renew me..........