A friend of mine lost her son this weekend in a terrible car accident. I hurt for her and know that the next year will be some of the hardest trials she will go through. There will be all of those firsts...first Thanksgiving without him...first Christmas...first birthdays...first Mother's day. I need to send up special prayers on those days for her.
From what I have heard, he was a good Christian man, father, husband, son, brother, friend. It just goes to prove that no matter how "good" you are, you can't escape the inevitable, death. Ecclesiastes 7:2 says "for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart."
We mourn because we want to be able to see our loved ones. We don't want them to die and leave us alone. We don't want to feel that emptiness, loneliness, pain. Yes we Christians feel this as much as non-Christians. The difference is, that if our loved ones are also believers, then it is only for a time. We will see them again. Then we will never be apart from them.
Revelations 21:4 says "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order or things has passed away."
What a wonderful day to look forward to. To have that hope. To have that promise. All of these petty things that irritate us, or hurt our feelings, will be nothing. If they are nothing then, why should they be anything now?
We need to love more, forgive immediately, cherish those around us. Even those that seem unlovable. God loves them, we should too. Let's not ruin the time we have left on this earth being self-centered or embittered by what we think are hurtful things. Just let it go...it means nothing. The gift that God gave us is Jesus. He is what we need to keep our minds on.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Random?
Do we really know what is random? What may appear as random could actually be divine intervention. Now don't get me wrong, I don't believe that every single thing in the universe is pre-planned or what would the point of "free choice" be? I do believe that their are more things than we realize that are results of what we say or what we do. And that many of those decisions we make are rewarded or punished. Not all, the finally reward or punishment will be much later.
Today is my birthday. It had been a good day. Nothing out of the ordinary. The kids called, some of the grand kids texted me or fb me happy b-day. Lots and lots of friends fb me happy b-day. I have been feeling very loved. My hubby was able to spend most of the morning with me. Just a good day.
I went to get a few grocery items that were on sale. I went to the dollar store section of the grocery store. One of my clients has very limited funds and I had been keeping an eye out for a silverware organizer for her. Her silverware was just scattered in a drawer. I knew she wouldn't or couldn't get one. I have also been sneaking over some wooden spoons (she had one with the handle broken to within 2 in. of the bowl.) and measuring spoons and cups. I never tell her that I brought them I just stick them in her drawers.
The prize!!! I found an organizer for only a dollar. I slipped it into my cart, finished shopping, and went to the checkout. While I was waiting for the total, a lady and her little girl of about 7 or 8 went up to the clerk and said, "This little girl wants to do a random act of kindness and pay $10.00 of this lady's grocery bill." I was almost speachless. I said thank you and stood there crying while other people were looking at me. Some of them started crying too.
Was that really random or was God blessing me tenfold for the little minor thing I was doing for someone else? Sometimes its just the little things that make a difference to someone.
A VERY Happy Birthday to me!!!
Today is my birthday. It had been a good day. Nothing out of the ordinary. The kids called, some of the grand kids texted me or fb me happy b-day. Lots and lots of friends fb me happy b-day. I have been feeling very loved. My hubby was able to spend most of the morning with me. Just a good day.
I went to get a few grocery items that were on sale. I went to the dollar store section of the grocery store. One of my clients has very limited funds and I had been keeping an eye out for a silverware organizer for her. Her silverware was just scattered in a drawer. I knew she wouldn't or couldn't get one. I have also been sneaking over some wooden spoons (she had one with the handle broken to within 2 in. of the bowl.) and measuring spoons and cups. I never tell her that I brought them I just stick them in her drawers.
The prize!!! I found an organizer for only a dollar. I slipped it into my cart, finished shopping, and went to the checkout. While I was waiting for the total, a lady and her little girl of about 7 or 8 went up to the clerk and said, "This little girl wants to do a random act of kindness and pay $10.00 of this lady's grocery bill." I was almost speachless. I said thank you and stood there crying while other people were looking at me. Some of them started crying too.
Was that really random or was God blessing me tenfold for the little minor thing I was doing for someone else? Sometimes its just the little things that make a difference to someone.
A VERY Happy Birthday to me!!!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Memories, regrets, and 8-track tapes
How many of you remember 8-track tapes? I use to have some, but I sold them after I got married as I was down-sizing things to move...and I no longer had an 8-track tape player. This week as I was working, one of my clients pulled out 3 case full of 8-tracks, pulled out a tape and inserted into his huge tape player/radio. Songs that speak to me and take me back to a simpler time. Barry Manilow, Glen Cambell, Johnnie Mathis, Crystal Gayle, Lynn Anderson, The Oak Ridge Boys, Crash Craddock, Bobby Vinton, and many more. My client told me that he had maybe a hundred tapes or more.
Listen to those classics, he started reminiscing. He talked of his teenage years. He was known as the crooner. He sang at dances. Sang at his high school prom. He was voted to be most likely to make it to the hit parade. He had a football scholarship to Michigan state. Lost it in the final game of his senior year with the winning touch down. Got his knee messed up. So instead he joined the marines. He was a POW in Viet Nam, he escaped on his own.
His biggest regret, though, was letting the love of his life slip through his fingers. The music brought it all back to him. I could feel his heartache. It makes one realize that he still has all the same feelings and emotions that we all do.
He told me that he would like to jump in his van, roll his windows down, put an 8-track in the tape player, turn it to blasting, and head to Pennsylvania. Not really something you would expect a man of 75 yrs. to say.
As I watched him talk I could see the years melt away. A light shone in his eyes that allowed me to glimps at the real person inside. It was amazing to see.
My friend, Jan, emailed a poem to me that says it so well. I hope she doesn't mind me using it. Thanks Jan.
"When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in Moosomin, Saskatchewan, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value."
Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, they found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distrbuted to every nurse in the hospital. One nurse took her copy to Alberta.
The man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas editition ot the St. Louis Association for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple but eloquent, poem.
And this little old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem winging across the Internet."
Crabby Old Man
What do you see nurses?...
...What do you see?
What are you thinking...
...when you're looking at me?
A crabby old man...not very wise,
Uncertain of habit...
with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food....
and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice...
'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice...
the things that you do.
And forever is losing...
A sock or a shoe?
Who, resisting or not...
lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding...
...The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking?
...Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse
...you're not looking at me.
I'll tell you who I am...
As I sit here so still,
As I do your bidding,
...As I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of ten...
with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters...
Who love one another.
A young boy of sixteen...
with wings on his feet.
Dreaming that soon now...
...a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at twenty...
...my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows...
that I promise to keep.
At twenty-five, now...
...I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide...
and a secure happy home.
A man of thirty...
My young now grown fast,
bound to each other...
with ties that should last.
At forty, my young sons...
have grown and are gone,
But my woman's beside me,
to see I don't mourn.
At fifty, once more, babies
play 'round my knee,
Again we know children...
My loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me...
my wife is now dead.
I look at the future...
shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing...
young of their own.
And I think of the years...
and the love that I've known.
I'm now an old man...
and nature is cruel.
'Tis jest to make old age...
look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles...
grace and vigor,depart.
There is now a stone...
where I once had a heart
But inside this old carcass...
...a young guy still dwells,
And now and again...
my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys...
I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living...
life over again
I think of the years, all too few...
gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact...
that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people...
...open and see.
Not a crabby old man...
Look closer...see ME!!!
Listen to those classics, he started reminiscing. He talked of his teenage years. He was known as the crooner. He sang at dances. Sang at his high school prom. He was voted to be most likely to make it to the hit parade. He had a football scholarship to Michigan state. Lost it in the final game of his senior year with the winning touch down. Got his knee messed up. So instead he joined the marines. He was a POW in Viet Nam, he escaped on his own.
His biggest regret, though, was letting the love of his life slip through his fingers. The music brought it all back to him. I could feel his heartache. It makes one realize that he still has all the same feelings and emotions that we all do.
He told me that he would like to jump in his van, roll his windows down, put an 8-track in the tape player, turn it to blasting, and head to Pennsylvania. Not really something you would expect a man of 75 yrs. to say.
As I watched him talk I could see the years melt away. A light shone in his eyes that allowed me to glimps at the real person inside. It was amazing to see.
My friend, Jan, emailed a poem to me that says it so well. I hope she doesn't mind me using it. Thanks Jan.
"When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in Moosomin, Saskatchewan, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value."
Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, they found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distrbuted to every nurse in the hospital. One nurse took her copy to Alberta.
The man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas editition ot the St. Louis Association for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple but eloquent, poem.
And this little old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem winging across the Internet."
Crabby Old Man
What do you see nurses?...
...What do you see?
What are you thinking...
...when you're looking at me?
A crabby old man...not very wise,
Uncertain of habit...
with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food....
and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice...
'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice...
the things that you do.
And forever is losing...
A sock or a shoe?
Who, resisting or not...
lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding...
...The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking?
...Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse
...you're not looking at me.
I'll tell you who I am...
As I sit here so still,
As I do your bidding,
...As I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of ten...
with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters...
Who love one another.
A young boy of sixteen...
with wings on his feet.
Dreaming that soon now...
...a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at twenty...
...my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows...
that I promise to keep.
At twenty-five, now...
...I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide...
and a secure happy home.
A man of thirty...
My young now grown fast,
bound to each other...
with ties that should last.
At forty, my young sons...
have grown and are gone,
But my woman's beside me,
to see I don't mourn.
At fifty, once more, babies
play 'round my knee,
Again we know children...
My loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me...
my wife is now dead.
I look at the future...
shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing...
young of their own.
And I think of the years...
and the love that I've known.
I'm now an old man...
and nature is cruel.
'Tis jest to make old age...
look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles...
grace and vigor,depart.
There is now a stone...
where I once had a heart
But inside this old carcass...
...a young guy still dwells,
And now and again...
my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys...
I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living...
life over again
I think of the years, all too few...
gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact...
that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people...
...open and see.
Not a crabby old man...
Look closer...see ME!!!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
I am where I need to be.
Last month I got to watch my Grandchildren show livestock at the county fair. It was a week of fun exhaustion. I knew the time would fly by, and it did. We got home late on a Sunday night and off to work the next morning to see my clients and I kept pretty busy.
Last Monday as I got up for work, alone, (Ralph left for Indy the night before.) the rain, which I was very thankful for, put me in a melancholy mood. I read my devotions and prayed, but still felt so lonely. I wanted to be closer to my family. I missed them so much, and missed being more a part of their lives.
After I got o my first client, my mood changed. He was so glad to see me and even broke out into song. (Which he often does.) After I finished with my second client I realized that I need them as much as they need me. I am where I need to be...for now.
Last Monday as I got up for work, alone, (Ralph left for Indy the night before.) the rain, which I was very thankful for, put me in a melancholy mood. I read my devotions and prayed, but still felt so lonely. I wanted to be closer to my family. I missed them so much, and missed being more a part of their lives.
After I got o my first client, my mood changed. He was so glad to see me and even broke out into song. (Which he often does.) After I finished with my second client I realized that I need them as much as they need me. I am where I need to be...for now.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Pickles
I am not really a big pickle fan. Their are really only 2 kinds that I like. Both of them are the ones that my Mom always made. Maybe it is nostalgia but I think it is just that Mom really knows how to make pickles.To keep from losing these wonderful recipes, I am passing it on to you. It is well worth the effort.
Start you own family tradition. I hope you all will try making a batch.
It really gives me something to do with my extremely prolific cucumber plants.
- BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES
1 gal. thinly sliced unpeeled cucumbers (the thinner the better)
8 medium onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup salt
Combine and cover with ice water and let set for 3 hours then drain.
Bring to boil;
4 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
5 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves or 1 teaspoon whole cloves
2 tablespoons mustard seeds
When sugar is dissolved add drained cucumbers and onions.
Bring to a rolling boil and can.
LIME PICKLES
7 lbs. cucumbers cut in 1/4 in. slices
MIX;
2 cups pickling lime with 2 gal. cold water
Soak cucumbers in lime solution 24 hours
RINSE;
well with cold water then cover with cold water and soak 3 hours longer.
BRING TO BOIL;
2 quarts cider vinegar
4 1/2 lbs. white sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon mixed pickling spices
DRAIN;
cucumbers and cover with vinegar solution. If needed weight down cucumbers to be sure they are covered. Soak over night. The next day bring everything to a boil and simmer for 40 minutes. Pack in jars and seal.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
On my soapbox again
What a whiner! I read my last post and seen all the self-pity dripping disgustedly.
The things I have seen the last few weeks makes me ashamed of my petty complaints.
My knee is doing better.
I know a lady who will never be able to walk again and is very close to spending the rest of her life
in a place she doesn't want to go.
Losing her independence, and dignity, forever.
Being told what to do and when to do it.
Yes, sadly, she needs extra help that she can't provide for herself.
And yes, that will probably be her only option.
Her mind is clear. She is intelligent. A little demanding. A little stubborn.
Why is that a crime? Why is it a crime to be old or disabled?
Do you know that if you are a criminal and in prison you have more rights then if you are in a nursing home?
We don't even consider all of this when you are younger.
We make jokes. We think that is just what everyone should do.
I respect and admire those that try to take care of their parents, even if only for a little while.
I know of some people who want to put their father in a nursing home because they are worried that he
will fall (He has fallen several times and broke bones) and because he lives alone they fear for his life.
It makes him angry because he thinks they don't think he is capable of taking care of himself.
He was a marine. Very intelligent. Funny. Interesting.
Does anyone ever consider that for someone like that, they, would rather die earlier than to live longer in a
place that will never be home to them?
Why can't the nursing homes change to meet the needs of the residents instead meeting the needs of the
people who put them there.
It should be an enjoyable place for them. A home. A place that lets them come and go as they please.
I know that there are assisted living facilities. Not enough of them. Very expensive.
Or maybe families could get tax breaks for putting up daudy houses like the Amish have for their elderly.
that takes away their freedom and sense
Saturday, June 25, 2011
The onion patch
It has been a very long time that I have been this dirty.
And it is all because I am a procrastinator. (Don't tell my daughter, Jamie.
She thinks she has exclusive rights to that title.)
I have done pretty well at keeping my garden weeded...except the onions.
I never planted this many either. They started out so beautifully too.
I don't really know why I neglected them so bad. Anyway the grass and weeds took over. Mostly grass.
I decided that I would finally rid the onions of a lawn.
It took about an hour and a half but finally you can see the onions.
I weeded in my shorts, which I never wear in public.
I also sat on the ground. The reason I got so dirty.
I am finding that I am getting too old to bend or squat for very long. I suffer greatly when I try.
Actually I don't feel that I am getting too but my body tries to disagree with me.
I will continue to cautiously rebel against my aches and pains.
I do mean cautiously. Just trying to avoid having to use Ben Gay. Still sometimes it wins.
Take running for instance. I had been trying to get some needed exercise by running.
When I say running it really means that I could beat a turtle, or a crawling baby in a race, but that is about all.
Anyway my stupid knee has kept me from continuing that pursuit.
(Stupid Knee!)
I have tried new shoes and a knee wrap. Still no help. Guess I will just have to stick to walking for now.
(SIGH)
I refuse to wallow in self pity!!! I also refuse to give in to the aging process.
Is that really possible or am I just in denial?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)