lavish and abundant

The old pink ribbons hanging in tattered shreds around my trees had taken a beating.  They'd withstood harsh winds, blazing sun, slanted rains and busy boys.  Last week my Aunt Marlene adorned the trees with fresh hot pink ribbons.  Their slick and shiny tails now billow around with renewed energy and life.  She also surprised us and had our lawn thatched, mowed and readied for spring.  I've tried saying "thank you" hundreds of times in a thousand different way.  But it seems so smallish compared to how I feel.  

Its all so lavish.  The love we feel.  Its abundant.  Its big and deep and wide.  We've been rendered speechless and awed at the same time.  The boys can read it on my face.  They handed me a card last week, and when my hand came up to my face they knew... "yep, she's gonna cry... yep, there she goes." 

The tears come when the words written with love in a beautiful note, hit home- because they so often do.  Or they spring forth because two sweet girls emptied out their change jar and shared it with you.  They can also come when you receive a heartfelt note, from an author you greatly admire, who reads your blog! Tears take the place of the words that lodge in my throat. 

Lavish- like the number of votes our video received these past couple of weeks.  We've clogged all of your Facebook feeds with daily reminders to vote. Knowing, the whole time, that each video, each finalist, is oh-so-deserving to win. 

But greater than any dollar amount, I will always remember how lavished we felt throughout.  In cheers.  In acknowledgment.  Way more than 5,000 dollars could ever buy!  This is the feeling that lodges with the tears and commingles in my heart.  I've won without the final votes being tallied. We're winners.  Steeped in lavish love and wrapped in pink ribbons that ripple in the wind.