thank you for tomorrow

Dear Lord above, who gifted me with each day, I thank You.

I thank You for the days of sun and light. 

I thank You for the days of clouds and rain.

I thank You for the days filled with success and smiles.

I thank You for the days filled with failure and tears.

When the new day begins, I thank you for yesterday and however it went.

When the day is done I thank You for all the good and bad of it.

I thank you that yesterday is gone and today is here.

But most of all, Dear Father, I want to thank You for tomorrow.

I want to thank You today for whatever greets me in the morning.

I want to thank You today for the hope of another day.

I want to thank You today for the chance to fix what I screwed up.

I want to thank You for the time to enjoy the blessings You bestow on me.

I want to thank You for the promises I will be able to keep.

I want to thank You for the opportunity to put today behind me.

And if there is no tomorrow for me on earth, 

I want to thank You that I can face Your judgement having known You and Your great mercy.

With life having occurred or happening right now, we take it for granted. 

But because of the mystery of the future, enhanced with Your unending love,         

I thank You for tomorrow. 

who is curing you?

Many many years ago, God watched His chosen people take all He had to offer and then turn their backs on Him, finding gods who were easier to serve with less give back on their parts.

And God got angry and turned His back on them, letting them lose in battle and suffer with disease and loss.

Then the people asked God to pretty please save them because they know He is really God and merciful… yadda yadda yadda. And God heard them and saved them; over and over again.

Now we are facing a health crisis around the world, and we are pleading with God to help us and keep us safe. And if He does see that we are trusting in Him and humbling ourselves before Him, we will see His hand at work and feel His mercy once again.

After a week or two, we will be congratulating doctors for their care, commending the business owners for fast action, talking about the chemists who suddenly created a cure and treatment, and patting ourselves on the back for weathering the storm.

As usual, we will forget about the God who gave the doctors their skills, gave the business owners success and common sense, and blessed the chemists with the gift of discovery and perseverance.

And He knows this will happen and He will do it anyway. I may not understand Him, but I sure am grateful that He is the way He is.

I love nature - just keep it out of my lane of traffic

In the morning, I encounter all kinds of wild animals on my way to work.

I don’t go through major rural areas, but I do have woods that border some of the nicer properties in Brookfield, WI and a large pond in Menomonee Falls. Add to that the nature preserve just south of Mill Road and you have a breeding ground for all sorts of wild critters.

I have a few words for my wild friends.

Deer – look both ways, please. If you see a car coming, DON’T CROSS. I know that “suicide by car” is the dream of every deer who is suffering from low self-esteem or depression, but not my car, please.

Geese – (and ducks) YOU CAN FLY!!! Why you have to walk across the road is inconceivable to me. To make it worse, you walk single file and sometimes not even straight across. There is nothing more tempting than seeing if you can squish a whole line of geese with one swerve of wheels.

Wood Cranes – you are big and mean and I am really tired of watching you watch me while I go past. I don’t trust you and am sure you can run up and attack my car if you want to. And you did just that once and are lucky I didn’t panic and have an accident. Stay in the marshes and long grass and leave the pavement alone.

Coyotes – please, go away. You look sort of cute like dogs from a distance, and I would never hit a dog, but then you look mangy and disjointed once I get closer and I wouldn’t feel guilty tapping you to make my point. If you are hungry and looking for food, there are plenty of geese, ducks and wood cranes walking the roads to give you a feast for a while.

Joggers – oh yes, you are on the list too with walkers.  When there is a lane for running, biking and walking, please don’t go in the traffic lanes. If you want to be in the car lane, get a car, drive to the gym and run on a treadmill. If there is no lane for your activity, please walk towards traffic so you know when drivers are coming. And I figured out that the group of 4-6 women that I pass regularly, purposely put the one woman that is doing all the talking closest to the cars because it is obvious that 1) they don’t like her and 2)if someone has to go, let it be Chatty Kathy! On the bright side Chatty Kathy, the people at your funeral will be in very good shape.

Bicyclers – you are the best and the worst. If you stay to the side, are adequately illuminated and obey the traffic laws, I challenge you to run over the animals of my previous rant. If you are one of those who has no protective equipment, no reflective gear and think you are a car to be anywhere in the lane you want, you are a scourge on society and I hope you hit gravel, fall over and skin your knees.

Don’t get me started on other drivers because we all have our quirks. The difference is that the other cars can complain about me too so I won’t even open that can of worms.

It’s so nice to get this out of my system. I feel better.

What a snoozer! (not the dog - that's a schnauzer!)

After reading my recent blogs about me, I have reached a conclusion. I am really boring.

I am not saying this to get you to contradict me or try to make me feel better. In fact, I may erroneously interpret those comments as encouragement and then there is no stopping me. We all know this would not be a good thing. .

I have to face my minuses and pluses and then figure out what the total is. In all honesty, I feel every day that my total is growing because every person I meet, every assignment I finish – those are pluses. But in a different way, every burden I overcome, every mountain I climb and every problem I solve… those are pluses too. The acts of living and being free to succeed or fail are pluses because one is active and the other learning. The acts of being hurt or disappointed or sad are pluses because they require me to think and analyze and put values on the reason I was hurt or disappointed or sad, and the awareness that I still stand regardless.

As it stands, I don’t feel bad about having a boring life. Not everyone can be the interesting one. I believe each of us was designed by God with a purpose. Being boring doesn’t mean I am not special; just not memorable. Being interesting doesn’t make you more special; just different.

Someone once told me they liked to visit me because there was no stress. I didn’t insist that we play games or take walks. I was just as happy sitting with them watching a movie than doing something active.

So I may refer to things in my life that have happened, but not in the “read about me” way I have addressed my earlier years. I need to keep the perspective that my life has been mine for a reason and everyone I meet or write about is part of me and probably more fun to read about because of my skewed view of life and problems.

My life is a compilation of experiences with people, places and things and while I am a ME ME ME person, I prefer to create a picture of people who have made me the wonderfully boring person I am.

So be prepared to meet the real me, as I tell you my stories; even the ones that don’t involve me.

for Nancy - when she talks to God

They say I’m sick – I’m feeling bad.

It’s just too much. It makes me sad.

                                                                                I heard – let’s talk – you shouldn’t fear.

But you don’t know – it’s scary here.

                                                                                But that's why I am here to talk.

                                                                                You can’t forget, with you I’ll walk.

Some days I carry such a load.

                                                                                Like a Cross being carried on a dusty road?

Some days the pain just makes me cry.

                                                                                Like thorns on a head – a spear in your side?

But pain? How can you understand?      

                                                                                See the holes in my feet and hands?

But so many think my days are done.

They look at me like I’m already gone.

                                                                                Remember when they jeered My Son

                                                                                Assuming He was not the “one”

                                                                                Yet He remembered to talk to me

                                                                                And then embraced His destiny.

It’s Cancer Lord! How can I cope?

What if I lose my faith and hope ?

                                                                                Oh Nancy, dear, I’m glad you asked.

                                                                                Because of that, I’ll  take the task.

                                                                                No matter what your earthly ills,

                                                                                Don’t ever doubt My Love…but still

                                                                                My plan for you is evermore.

Tell me what you have in store.

                                                                                On earth your life is just a phase

                                                                                But when it ends your soul will raise.

                                                                                Your faith filled life is just a dream

                                                                                For when you wake, it’s me you’ll see.

So this is just for here and now

And someday to your throne I’ll bow?

                                                                                The details I will not now tell.

                                                                                Just live in love, and in love you’ll dwell.

No More High School

I graduated in 1972 and got a job. It wasn’t my goal.

My mother wanted me to join the U S Army, like Mary did, but I really wasn’t interested. I knew if I did, it would have been a last resort – you know… can’t get a job, gotta do something, so why not join up.

My father wanted me to go to college. For some reason, he thought I would be a great student and make something of myself if I went to college. So I tested and got admitted to college. I was ready to work the summer, saving a little money and then getting a part time job while I was in school.

When I graduated, I started working at Taylor Electric in Mequon as a billing assistant. This began my office experience. I found that I loved the work and was quite good at it. I discovered that each desk had its own job description and the more desks I sat in, the more I would learn. It was better than college because I learned tons about accounting, billing, customer service, computers and much more while they paid me! It may not be the most sincere reason, but the money was the best part.

I started in June, 1972, and Duke got back from the service in February,1973. He had previously worked at Taylor and he stopped in to get his job back after his commitment ended. He walked through the office to visit his best friend Steve, who happened to work with me, 

I fell madly in love.

Duke was 6’4” tall, in his best shape ever, and had just spent his enlistment in Texas so was tan and beautiful. I did everything I could to get his attention and finally there was a company baseball team picnic in June and he got drunk enough to talk to me.

That was it! We were married the following April. It wasn’t even a year but like someone told my mom, “when it’s right, it’s right.”  We just celebrated our 45^th anniversary so all those who said it was too quick or we weren’t the right astrological signs or I was too young, I say… POOP ON YOU!

I worked at Taylor through December 1977. I left for two reasons. I had full vesting in the company profit sharing fund after 5 complete years and I was going to have a baby in February. 

Effective 1/1/78, I was a housewife, and after 2/14/78, I was a stay at home Mom.

High school was over and I was ready to move on.

some details from high school

Back to writing –

I believe I just left high school in my last ME post. OK – I notice I missed a few major things when talking about my years from Sept 1968 to graduation in 1972.

First – I did discover four loves that I still have today. One is English (poetry, literature, the classics and the modern) – one is Math – one is writing and the last is baseball.

Second – I also had a few dates in high school so was not a complete wallflower. I always had a date to dances and events because I had friends that were male and when we went out somewhere it was strictly platonic. Except for one…

Third point – I met a guy named John at Milwaukee County Stadium the summer between Soph and Jr years, and we became a couple my junior year of high school. I took him to my prom and then he took me to his school homecoming dance when I was a senior. It was that event that broke us up as he wanted to smoke marijuana at the dance and I was totally against any kind of drugs or artificial highs. I didn’t even drink…that came later.

BUT when he told me that by not smoking grass I was spoiling his good time I decided that we were done. I did give him one chance to apologize and repent, but he was rather weak and couldn’t see his life with no pot. So I turned my back on him. I dated many boys after that but until I met Duke, none was serious.  I can’t say if John was my first true love or if I was even in love or just infatuated, but I can say that my self-esteem and confidence shot through the roof once I stood up for what I believed in and let my “love” know that it was me first or he alone. I made a similar speech to Duke a few months after we started dating and he threw away the pot and kept me. Smart move, Duke! (yes I am laughing as I write that.)

I had to keep myself first because there was no guarantee that anyone else would. My father always told us to be proud of who we were and remember that we should be kind to everyone because it was our station to be nice to those less perfect. His answer to personal doubt was “you’re a Pearson – you’re better than that.”

A wonderful way to grow up, don’t you think? It probably explains a lot about my attitude to this day.