Welcome

I want to welcome all the new followers of my blog. Levonne, Gypsy Bob and Sharon.

Sharon does a blog called the The Odd Essay and is a great writer.
Levonne does a great blog called Camp Host's Meandering. She is also a great photographer and has started doing historian records of people's lives.

I haven't gotten any information yet on Gypsy Boho so if you have a blog, please let me know so I can check it out.

Welcome to my world!

The Road Ahead of Us

I’m not sure when Ken and I were teenagers that we set in stone any goals for our future. We just knew we wanted to be with each other until the end of our time. We have spent the biggest part of our lives together and the funny thing is that as our timeline gets shorter we seem to be focusing more on goals. Some might call this their bucket list, though we have not gone there.

Three main goals keep popping up:  Get out of debt, retire, and full time RV.

We know we have some work to do to get there and each day try to take a step in that direction. We have become frugal, have done lots of talking about which way we want to go with the full time RV experience, and we look forward to retirement. Each of those items requires diligence and planning. We think more before purchasing things, we plan how to pay down debt so we have none when we retire, and we watch our 401K plans and social security benefits to know what to expect in retirement income.

Another major concern in our plans is our health. Without health, that road in retirement may run out of pavement before we are ready, or we may never take a step on it if our health fails us.  So another goal we need to achieve is better health and maintaining it for a long time.

There is a lot of information out there on diets, exercise, health issues, this program or that. We can turn on the tv and see Dr. Oz lamenting about our weight or body fat or any number of issues that can scare us to death. The Doctors are there to help us too with their white coats, experiments and audience. We can Google any question about health we want and hope that the person who wrote it really knows what they are talking about. The bookstore is full of written material on the subject.

Ultimately though, it comes back to us. It is up to us to improve and keep our health. The decisions we make in our lifestyle of eating, exercise, sleep and activities we participate in factor into the end result. Why is that when we are young we feel so invincible, immortal? Then as we get older health becomes a big issue. I remember when I was young watching “old” people refuse certain foods because it had too much fat – “I’m watching my cholesterol” – or too much sugar or carbohydrates. They wouldn’t eat red meat often and limited their consumption of both food and drink. I remember thinking that this is what old people do. Well guess what? Now I need to do that. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t consider myself old yet. I just want to get to the stage where people consider my age old.

I want to be like those retired people you see in the commercials. You know, the ones riding bikes in the country, dancing with their spouses, at the beach, being active wherever they are and smiling because they are happy. I know that without health those things would not be the same.

Does anyone have any good tips to keep me motivated? What do you do to improve or maintain your health?

Primal Fear

I was just settling down to do a crossword puzzle in People Magazine. I tore out the page with the perforated edge that was just before the puzzle page. In doing so, the page behind the puzzle also came out. Both were of a stiffer paper, some kind of advertisement, and I knew they would be in the way of keeping the magazine open flat while doing the puzzle. I'm not a big crossword fan by any means but out of boredom after eating my lunch I decided to give it a try, not caring whether I finished it.

Then I heard two male voices. "This is some kind of conference room. Doesn't look like much in here."

I froze. Listened. They were looking around and didn't belong here.

I moved myself up against the wall beside the fridge. All I had was a blue Bic pen. I tried to stay as still and quiet as possible, hoping they wouldn't look in this room. The door to the lunchroom comes from the conference room and was open. The light was on in here.

I could feel my body withdrawing inside of itself, trying to make me as small and quiet as possible. It was as if the inside of my body was a sponge sucking in every possible fluid, fiber, breath and muscle. I dared not move, tried to remain ready. My hand was held upward, close to my body, gripping the pen as tight as I could, ready to attack if I'm spotted.

I said a silent prayer. "Dear God, don't let them find me. Keep me safe."

I knew I was so vulnerable. My entire being was full of fear. I wasn't sure if I was ready to protect myself or too scared to move.

My prayer was answered. I was nearly awake, could hear my husband snoring, yet were those voices I was hearing in the hall outside our bedroom door? I lay in the bed listening, not moving.

Only snores. I can exhale. It was a dream.

Kenny's Day Today

Happy Birthday Kenny!

What a great son I have! I am proud to say you are my son. You bring joy into my life and are such a responsible loving adult and husband to Marissa.

You brought lots of happiness to your Grandpa Frank too when you were born on his birthday.

Have a great Birthday because you earned it!

Love you always,

MOM

MONTH OF LOVE

February is the month of love for me. Not just because of Valentine's Day.

43 years ago on Feb. 10, my then boyfriend, Kenny, asked me to "go steady." (I know, how long has it been since you heard that phrase?) I accepted eagerly and we have become a couple that won't be separated.

Then four years after were married, on Feb. 13 our daughter was born. We became parents and great things followed.

Three years later on Feb. 15, our son was born completing our family. We were now a perfect family, one boy and one girl.

Valentine's Day falls right between both of my children's birthdays, so fittingly, because they are the loves of my life along with my husband and grandchildren.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day and don't forget to tell that someone special how much they mean to you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARIN!

Today is my daughter, Karin's birthday. She deserves to have a great fun filled and love filled day. She is a great daughter, mother and wife. Having children was one of my lifetime goals. Seeing them grow up to be responsible and caring adults is a plus on top of that.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARIN! I LOVE YOU AND ALWAYS WILL.

Mom

No Guarantee of Tomorrow

We go through our lives doing the daily chores that need to be done just to get by. We put off doing those things we are working so hard to be able to do…you know, travel, retire, write, camp, spend time with family, start a business, drive off into the sunset, visit our grandchildren, help those less fortunate, learn to play music or dance, or any of the numerous other dreams we have.

We hold ourselves back because we think these day to day activities are more important and are the stepping stone to that point where we want to be someday. But in reality, by using the space of our lifetime that it takes every day to do these habitual things, actually takes us farther from our end goal.

I like to write. I want to write well enough that people look forward to what I have to say in print; whether that is a novel, blog, short story, poem or just a blurb. I need my words to make sense, touch someone’s life, make them feel better or at least feel something, make them think, expose them to something, or just share with them.

So one of my big goals would be to have the time to write whenever I want, for as long as I want without interruption, work, or day to day drivel getting in the way. Yet, I let it get in the way. EVERYDAY.

I assume there is a promise of tomorrow or later today, after all the usual stuff gets done. I do need clean clothes, enjoy my home being clean, and I enjoy eating a good meal and sometimes, believe or not, enjoy making that meal. I love spending time with my husband most of all.

I don’t want to write 24/7. I have to take time to enjoy life, learn, explore and feel in order to put words to paper. I need to see more than what is in front of me, to feel it, to digest it into my system, figure out how it got there or why it stays there, learn what makes it tick, or how it makes me feel when I am letting it enter into my life. That’s what gives me subject matter to write, gives me ways of describing things, therefore I need some of the day to day but at my own pace.

For years, Ken has told me to write. “You are getting older. When are you going to write? Some day it will be too late.” I knew he was correct, yet I always assumed there would be a tomorrow. As my life stick gets shorter on the other end, I know my time to write is also limited by the size of that end of the measure stick.

What is it about humans that make us assume there is a tomorrow? Why can’t we just take today and grab it and run with it full force, the wind knocking us in the face, our legs moving as fast as we can make them go, still pushing them harder, until we have lost our breath, and exhausted the day, ending it happy?

The Campfire

Sputtering to start

Just a spark,

A small flame

Licks upward catching a twig.

Will it take?

Burning bright,

It grows

Higher and higher,

Changing colors

Blue, red, orange, white

Filling the fire ring.

It draws a crowd

Looking for the calm,

A time to reminisce and relax.

Warming those around it

Creating that sense of peace, quiet.

Night wears on,

People yawn,

The embers turn to coals,

And die out while we sleep