Happy Holidays, people! I love this time of year. The hope, the putting old things behind, the looking ahead hopefully toward the new, the music...all of it! I will be reading my Christmas Carol and sitting by the fire a lot. There is nothing better than the light of the Christmas tree, a fire, a cozy blanket and a good book. I hope we can all take a breath and look with wonder and faith at what God has done for us. He certainly has given me more that I could ever hope for. Merry, Merry Christmas! Love to all.

Tailgating for Keystone

Our lovely tailgate ladies! This is from Jenn's blog, but I had to post it! I hate that football is over, but we had a great time. Love you all!

I am going home to Baton Rouge for Thanksgiving. This is very exciting. I am bringing Tracy(or I should say he is bringing me!) to meet my family. This is no secret. I am looking forward to this very much.

Meeting and experiencing my family and friends can be overwhelming. The sheer volume is a bit much. As Bradley has said, people like to talk about their "crazy" families. Aunt So-and-So spilled the chowder on herself and cried or something. It's not like the Louque house. My kids won't be with me, which makes me sad. They are part of the noise and collective insanity. I can't really think about that. I am looking forward to laughing and seeing my people. I hope this goes well. Always good. Always home. There are people that won't be there that will be missed, but I will enjoy every moment.

More Beauty

Louque

One of my tattoos(I have 3)is my maiden name Louque. It is in red and is underlined by the scar from my appendectomy from oh so long ago in the 8th grade. I got it (the tat) when I was 40. Kay Lynn and Carole were with me, and I think I had a little drink before I got it. We went to Government St. right where Papa Louque had his paint store when I was a little girl. I remember very well my reasons. I wanted to honor my Daddy, and, mainly, I wanted to say that I was not just Mom or Mrs. Harvey. I was somebody before those things. So, I basically carved that into my skin so no one could say any different. And no one can. It seemed a little desperate, and it was.

I have decided to restore my name to Louque when my divorce is final. I understand that some moms want to keep the names of their children. I'm not going to. I like being Karen Louque. I always did. I do not want to be some new person after my divorce. I will be happy just being me. I haven't gotten to do that in a long time. I guess that is new in a way. People who knew me before understand.

So I will restore my name. I am happy about this.

Random beauty

I love when songs make sense...

I am messed up, people! Have a wonderful, groovy day! I know I will.

Wow that picture uploaded small....anyway.....


Life is good these days. there are so many things changing....My very dear friend Linda Latner (aka the Spaniard) made an observation yesterday. She held my shoulders, looked at my face and into my eyes and said, "You're not sad anymore, are you?" And I'm not. I am not sad. It's gone. The dark weight that I carried around for so many years is gone. I realized it the other day. I was reading my "manifesto" of sorts. I had written down some things a while back about my life in order to stay sane. (literally) It is a sad couple of pages. Only a few people have read it, and they know what I mean. But now when I read it, It doesn't even feel like it is me. It's another woman. Another Karen. I cannot explain what a miracle that is. I used to think that the only way to escape the sadness was to die. I had no hope. Amazing. Now I am walking on air! I still have most of the same challenges. In fact, I have no idea how I am going to get through some of these things. But, I am not worried. Love actually does cover up everything.