Retired

 

 

A privilege

 

Appreciation of the present,

accelerating pace.

Filled with choices,

Selected with joy.

 

An exploration

 

Revelations of the past,

Unfolding patiently.

Congested with regrets,

Mingled with the treasured.

 

An awareness

 

Consideration of the future,

Recognizing changes.

Savored with wonder,

Enriched with family and friends.

 

The opportunity of aging.



Celebrating Life

 

Spinning, skipping,

Swishing, spiraling,

 

Whirling, twirling,

Twisting, weaving.

 

Piles forming

Against the fence

On the grass.

 

Sun so bright,

An autumn wind's delight.

 

Leaves dancing.

Leaves laughing.

 

From baby buds to graceful greens

To party yellows, reds, and browns.

 

Trees gloriously celebrating

With one last dance

Before winter's unending intermission.

 

Branches alone will then take their lead

Swaying to and fro in the ice and snow.

 

Come spring,

Leaves

Will dance once again

To the lively music of the sun and wind.

 

Celebrate

In all its glory--

The divine, alluring life of the
Tree!

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Whirlwind Week

Indy Palm Sunday
Easter egg hunt
Dress shopping
Snow storm
Mega book sale
Return of spring
Husband's minor surgery
Early baby arrival
Birth of Evelyn Mae
Easter bunny subs
Great-Grandma's Easter dinner.
Another Evelyn visit

Last SOLC post.

 

I've enjoyed posting this year.

 

Can you tell how my mind is working right now?

 

Enjoy the picture show.

 

It's a Girl!!!

Everything went just fine.
No worry about the baby's position after all.
Induced last night at 2:00 a.m.
Regular delivery.

Thought it would be a third boy, but.............

It's Evelyn May

Born 8:34 a.m.

March 30,

8 lb., 21"

Maybe a picture tomorrow.
On our way back to Ft. Wayne now
Then Easter.

What a great Easter weekend.

Woohoo!

Baby Now

Just a quick update:

Just got back from Ft. Wayne from my husband's surgery.  All went well. 

Just got a call from my son Ben.  His wife had an ultra-sound today.  Doctor found no water, so baby must come out today.  Baby is in wrong position, too.

Packing to go back.

Thanks for thinking of me and my husband.

Tomorrow, hopefully, I will update with all good news.

It's About Food Again!

I've lost 20 pounds in the last year.  I've gone up and down my whole life.  I'm one of those that has to talk myself into dieting.  Sometimes it takes a long time to get there. 

I'm older now and realize less weight means better health.  I also want to go out thin is what I've been telling my friends.  I want to be finally thin and looked upon as a woman who is in control of her life and body.  I've maintained keeping the 20 pounds off since last fall.  Winter is a great time to give into carbs, comfort foods.  I did not. 

Today, it's a beautiful sunny, warm day compared to the snow we keep having.  I was very busy all day and my husband made chili.  Perfect.  As we sat down, he asked me if I wanted some of the Kahn's bologna I had bought for him.  I said I would eat the bologna only, no bread.  Bologna is not part of my healthy eating, but without bread, it's okay for today. 

As he came to the table, I noticed he had cut the bologna sandwich he had made into halves.  How cool is a sandwich when it is sliced in half!  And a bologna sandwich, too!  We were raised in the 50's and 60's with bologna as a main staple.  I don't eat it now as a rule--bad, bad, bad for you--nitrites and nitrates.  I took a bite and then two and then finished the whole half.  He made himself another sandwich and cut it into triangular halves.  What is he doing to me?  I ate another half of a bologna sandwich--a whole sandwich with bread!  I also had a whole cup of chili.  Then I had two homemade choco chip cookies which I made and froze and was left over for a week.

I plummeted to the bottom!   Why had he and I done this today?  

I know why now.  Tomorrow, my husband is having minor finger surgery to remove a cyst and see why his finger is reacting to the cyst.  Instead of talking about tomorrow morning and getting to surgery by 6:45, we are eating comfort foods together--bologna sandwiches, chili, and cookies.  We chuckle, finish eating, and watch the news.  It's minor surgery, but we always think about where we are in the scheme of things--our latter years together.

We're ready.  We won't sleep, but we're ready together for tomorrow. 

Chinese

Tonight was a well-deserved dinner out at our favorite Chinese restaurant.  Today my husband and I worked hard at helping set up for the community library Mega Book Sale by lifting, carrying, pushing, alphabetizing, and sorting hundreds of books. 

We like this particular restaurant because it has the best buffet ever--not a roomful of food but a handsome assortment of Chinese on a small island table in the center.  There is a full menu, but most people go for the buffet.  It is all you can eat, but most people eat reasonably.  It's always fresh, hot, and delicious.  It's when you've had enough of the basics at home, enough spaghetti and pizza, enough tacos, and enough hamburgers and chicken.  It's a casual enough place you just get up and go from home with your whole family.  The owners are polite, quick, and friendly especially with children.

After our meal we are always given fortune cookies with our bill.  On the back of the "fortune" are lucky numbers, a Chinese phrase to learn, and, of course, your fortune.  Many sayings on these strips of paper are not fortunes anymore but interesting comments, funny comments, and today a quote with no credit given to an author.

Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant. 

 

 

 

Sometimes as teachers, parents, grandparents, sisters and brothers, we wonder if what we do or say really makes a difference.  Every now and then we'll be rewarded by someone acknowledging our endeavors.  Many times we never know the outcome of our influence. 

 

I just know I have to keep on planting, caring, nurturing with consistency and fairness, and not giving up.   It's a thankless job many times, but I am here to make a positive difference when so much around us is negative and dark.

 

Enjoy your Spring Break and come back refreshed and ready to plant again.  Spring is here.