Well, I have done it again, messed with Mother Nature by becoming a mother at age 68 . This time to a little white fur ball that moves about 35 miles per hour and is not potty trained (yet). What must I have been thinking. Ahh there is the key, not enough thinking!!!! I have to admit this little critter is a ton of fun and maybe just maybe enough fun to make up for the utter choas he has thrown this household into.
A lot may be said about our home, ie not clean enough, not big enough, not fancy enough but I guarantee you one thing they cannot say and that it is too quiet and boring. While you may hear me long for "quiet and boring", it is obvious by my actions that I truly don't desire q&b.
In spite of all the cubs efforts to keep my marbles in tact (even to the point of buying a t-shirt), I just keep finding ways to scatter them. There is a strategy in all of this. You see, it keeps them on their toes to try to keep the marbles in one place. Since they are goal oriented cubs, I make sure that I have a goal available in case they run out of their own. Now you know my secret.
We have a fun weekend planned. We are having a surprise birthday party for BD. We will be cooking hamburgers outside, eating cowboy beans and having a carrot cake. Vand R will be here and maybe R's new lady friend. R is doing much better and seems to be improving gradually. My sibling was a little hesitant about his new friend until I convinced her that God intended for us to be "fishers of men not inspectors of fish". She actually started relaxing a little and being a little more flexible. See if you young whippersnappers just give us time, we get it on the right track (or else lose the track completely).
We did lots of work in our back yard last week. Hopefully, A will get the new canopy put on the deck tonight. I love to sit out there and drink my coffee early in the mornings. The Alien water proofed the deck and I sanded and did part of the painting for the yard swing and park bench. Had to quit as the paint fumes were getting to me (or so I told them, lol) You know there is good in everything, I even find good uses for the COPD, Asthma and Chronic Bronchitis. Just don't tell anyone.
I must get busy, have one more day to clean in the Cub's room. Have worked on it for three days so far. She is having to use the guest bedroom so I must hurry or she will have it destroyed too.
My flowers are looking pretty good. The hot weather isn't here yet though.
Thanks for the visit.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
Grief - "A Reality of Life"
As most of you are aware, Memorial Day is just around the corner. I made a trip to the cemetery today to check on Mom and Dad's grave. While I know their souls are not there, it is still a bit of comfort to visit the graveside and a token of respect to see that it is decorated with flowers for Memorial Day. This is not done for me but for them since this was an important event for them and they saw to it that this was done for their parents' graves. This is what has prompted me to think about grief and the different ways it has affected my life. Whether it is a loss from a death, divorce, etc the way we deal with grief is extremely important to our well being.
I truly feel if I had learned early in life how to properly go through the grieving experience my emotional growth would have been deeply enhanced.
A wise grief counselor named Doug Manning is responsible for any benefit that you might gain from these (his) words of wisdom that have helped me immensely.
With Memorial Day on the horizon, it is a time for remembrance of loved ones that have departed from our lives, however, I hope it will also serve as a reminder for us to cherish the loved ones that are still with us. It seems to me that I never realized how much I loved my parents and grandparents until they were no longer here with me. I think I took them for granted and maybe that happens to most of us.
Mr. Manning states that the onion analogy fits the gradual grieving experience. It is done in layers. The Layer that I am sharing today is "Layer-Two Reality". It fits this time of year for me. Most of the questions, why, etc have come and gone. Reality comes and sits on my chest. I wake up at night with the awful reality that I will never see Mom and Dad again {on this earth).
Then the pain comes and it is hard to breath. This for me is the toughest part of grief and Doug is right, there is no short cut. I can't go around it - I must go through it. I know that there is growth in the pain. When I hurt the most is when I am growing the most. I know that when I am hurting, I am working through feelings. Occasionally the pain will subside for a time to give me a much needed break. Without the break, I could not have handled the pain. I realize that the tough times are ultimately motivating me to reconstruct my life without my parents.
Why is it with all the high tech information available, there is still a lack of people preparing their children in the much needed art of dealing with grief? Maybe it is because we don't want to face it ourselves. I plead guilty to this omission with my children, my only excuse is I didn't know better.
So as we go through yet another day of remembrance, give your loved ones an extra hug, set aside a time to reminisce about the ones departed and stop to smell the roses.
I truly feel if I had learned early in life how to properly go through the grieving experience my emotional growth would have been deeply enhanced.
A wise grief counselor named Doug Manning is responsible for any benefit that you might gain from these (his) words of wisdom that have helped me immensely.
With Memorial Day on the horizon, it is a time for remembrance of loved ones that have departed from our lives, however, I hope it will also serve as a reminder for us to cherish the loved ones that are still with us. It seems to me that I never realized how much I loved my parents and grandparents until they were no longer here with me. I think I took them for granted and maybe that happens to most of us.
Mr. Manning states that the onion analogy fits the gradual grieving experience. It is done in layers. The Layer that I am sharing today is "Layer-Two Reality". It fits this time of year for me. Most of the questions, why, etc have come and gone. Reality comes and sits on my chest. I wake up at night with the awful reality that I will never see Mom and Dad again {on this earth).
Then the pain comes and it is hard to breath. This for me is the toughest part of grief and Doug is right, there is no short cut. I can't go around it - I must go through it. I know that there is growth in the pain. When I hurt the most is when I am growing the most. I know that when I am hurting, I am working through feelings. Occasionally the pain will subside for a time to give me a much needed break. Without the break, I could not have handled the pain. I realize that the tough times are ultimately motivating me to reconstruct my life without my parents.
Why is it with all the high tech information available, there is still a lack of people preparing their children in the much needed art of dealing with grief? Maybe it is because we don't want to face it ourselves. I plead guilty to this omission with my children, my only excuse is I didn't know better.
So as we go through yet another day of remembrance, give your loved ones an extra hug, set aside a time to reminisce about the ones departed and stop to smell the roses.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
"CLICHE'S"
These days, there are lots of discussions occurring regarding marbles....so with that in mind... I have invented a substitution for "That is how the cookie crumbles" to "That is just how the marbles roll". Now if you are a student of the game of marbles, you can understand how they could get lost so easily.
Back in the "olden days", grown men used to play marbles. My father was one of them. On Sundays, after Church, several guys would get together and play behind our grocery store. It was very competitive. My Dad dug the holes and they had to be so far apart, so deep, so round, etc. He had a special marble called a Taw. This shooting marble was a little larger than an ordinary marble. His was white with black specks. He treasured this Taw immensely.
My Dad was very sports minded. He played baseball (before his illness) and we loved to go to the games. My Mom was expecting my younger sister and she said, "If she is born on Sunday, it had better rain so I don't miss a ballgame". Sure enough, the little one was born on a Sunday and it rained. What a fiasco, the entire team decided to come to the hospital to share in this new arrival.
We were died in the wool Yankee fans so when the Yankees played in the finals for the world series one year, my Dad talked our school principal into giving excused absences to the kids that wanted to come to our house to see the game. One of my best friends could tell you the batting averages of all the players in the American League.
Maybe I will compose a song instead of "rambling rose" it will be about rambling marbles. Or again, maybe not. Thanks for the visit
Back in the "olden days", grown men used to play marbles. My father was one of them. On Sundays, after Church, several guys would get together and play behind our grocery store. It was very competitive. My Dad dug the holes and they had to be so far apart, so deep, so round, etc. He had a special marble called a Taw. This shooting marble was a little larger than an ordinary marble. His was white with black specks. He treasured this Taw immensely.
My Dad was very sports minded. He played baseball (before his illness) and we loved to go to the games. My Mom was expecting my younger sister and she said, "If she is born on Sunday, it had better rain so I don't miss a ballgame". Sure enough, the little one was born on a Sunday and it rained. What a fiasco, the entire team decided to come to the hospital to share in this new arrival.
We were died in the wool Yankee fans so when the Yankees played in the finals for the world series one year, my Dad talked our school principal into giving excused absences to the kids that wanted to come to our house to see the game. One of my best friends could tell you the batting averages of all the players in the American League.
Maybe I will compose a song instead of "rambling rose" it will be about rambling marbles. Or again, maybe not. Thanks for the visit
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
