I wish I had the time right now to respond to each of these posts and pm's....amazing, nurturing !!! Thank you all and thank you Helen....dumb-dumb here missed the lilac "symbolism". We have a species of "tree" here called a Cape Cod Scrub Pine. They grow and flourish under incredibly adverse conditions near the ocean. I have often, in the last few years, gone to my favorite beach just to focus on them and breathe.

Paul..hold on to your shorts(bg)...it's coming!!

With my skin crawling a bit here, thinking about cockroaches inheriting the earth....gonna go back to typing the next "installment" .