It’s 2024?

 I can’t believe it has been three years since my last blog. Well what do you expect with my schedule?

I go to work… I come home… I watch tv… ok. I really don’t do much but maybe I can do a few pieces this year. 

I will be 70 this fall. I look in the mirror and usually see a regular adult woman. Occasionally I see a twenty year old, ready to settle into married life. I feel so young and eager to see how things develop for me.

And then there are those days where I am the oldest person in the world. My joints ache. My wrinkles are like deep furrows. I could plant wheat I have such deep wrinkles. My gray hair is growing out and I need to add color regularly. Or wear a hat.

But I can now address a common perception about aging.

I am getting taller. 

They say when you get older you shrink, but the older I get, the taller I get. Lately, when I drop something on the floor and bend to pick it up, it seems like floor is so much lower. The only reason I can think this is happening is that I must be growing. 

That’s my story and I am sticking to it. 

No more birthdays for me...

 

When I started my job in May of 2002, they told me that their calendar year started on the first of January and although I would be working there the equivalent of one year in May of 2003, my benefits were based on annual employment. I would get benefits based on my first fiscal year… hence, on Jan 1, 2004 I would qualify for vacation and other yearly benefits having achieved 1 full year as an employee in 2003. (just so you know, I did get benefits on 1/1/03 based on 7 months employment… not a bad deal for a new employee.)

January 1 is a new year even though it is not my new year.  

On October 3^rd I started my life and my first year. I didn’t have to wait till 1/1 to begin aging, or growing… I didn’t have to wait a year and 3 months to have a birthday. As a result, I find that is why I love birthdays and don’t care all that much for celebrating each new year        .

I appreciate every moment of my existence. God put me here to serve but He didn’t tell me I can have 3 months prep time. God didn’t give me any probationary period before I could get benefits. He put me here and started rewarding me immediately. He gave me loving parents, a great older sister (then more siblings after)… He gave me good health and a positive attitude… He gave me warmth and protection, friends and associates… He blessed me with so many gifts, including the opportunity for eternal life.

So why am I having a Happy Birthday and a Happy New Year when they are one and the same.

So no more birthdays for me… from now on, on October 3^rd, wish me “Happy New Year!”  I will restart my life with a complete year finished and a new one to begin.

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.