What a Great Way to Share Your Gift

It Doesn't Matter How Old You Are - You Can Still Get Growing Pains

There have been a lot of growing pains in my family lately. 

The youngest is having growing pains from realizing that it really doesn't matter how intelligent you are, there is always going to be something that will challenge and cause you to struggle.

The oldest is discovering the growing pains of being in a relationship, going to school full time, and still working an average of 20 hours a week.  

I am dealing with the growing pains of having a job I love, but may not be in my best interest in the long run.  

I have also noticed growth spurts among my friends.  Ever since this summer one of them has come into her own more.  I noticed it right away.  It was like she had a switch turned on and I can tell she is really enjoying her new self.  Unfortunately, not every one has caught to the new her, and sometimes there is tension in the air.  

I don't think I know this person better than others and that is why I noticed.  It is just I like to people watch and mother the people around me, so I tend to pick up on a change in attitude, confidence, swagger, etc.

I think that one of the great wonders of life is our ability to continue to grow and bring about change in ourselves. Unfortunately, I don't have enough confidence in myself to bring about as many changes as I would like, but I hope to learn from my friend.  

Maybe that should be a goal for 2011.  Learn to embrace my growth spurts, and even create a few.  It's something to think about.

I Have to Pinch Myself

It is after weekends like this one that I have to pinch myself because I cannot believe how incredibly blessed I am. 

I spent Saturday with my extended family.  Like all families, we have our squabbles, but we all love each other and are always there for each other.  

Today was spent working on a quilt layout, visiting on the phone with one extended family member, and having another one drive me to see my youngest.  

The youngest looked really good and we had an enjoyable late lunch, and a little time together.  He is such a fantastic young man.

Haven't seen the oldest this week, but that is par for the course these days.  I know he is off doing his own thing as young adults should.  He is a fantastic person too.

I lost the love of my life, but I didn't lose love.  I am surrounded by it all the time.  I don't feel deserving of all my blessings, so I have to pinch myself often to make sure I am awake.

Reminder

I changed the blog design to remind me of the little color I had on the trees until the big wind came and put most of them in the pool.

I miss the true fall colors of the mountains during Oct. and Nov.  Although all my KY people are talking about the snow right now and posting pictures of their lawns and driveways covered in white.  I do not miss weeks and weeks of snow, or being stranded out at the lake.  

We have never been stuck here more than a couple of days due to ice.  I remember not being able to get any where for two weeks in KY because we never had four wheel drive. Our driveway was a pretty steep hill, and then once up on the road it didn't matter which direction you turned, there were steep hills to get to the main part of the subdivision.  My parents loved it when I met Raymond and he could come and get me out and take me to the store.

I still laugh at the fall my friends came down from Ohio in Gordon's monster truck.  The trees had turned and it was beautiful, but then we had an ice storm that melted quickly on the roads, but the rock cliffs still had giant icicles and we went down to Cumberland Falls to see the colors and the ice together.  Our driveway already had three cars that had to get in and out for work and school, so Gordon had been parking the monster over on extra land next to us and when he wanted to leave he would just drive up the embankment to the road and take off up the hill.  My mom thought that was terrific.  

One day while my friends and I were out in the truck, my mom decided that because the driveway was blocked by someone else visiting she would try to get out on the road like Gordon.  Mom didn't have a monster truck, she had a Ford Torino.  Let's just say that it was a good think Gordon was there later to pull her out with his truck, after he got done rolling on the floor laughing.  Poor mom was so bewildered as to why she hadn't made it to the road. 

Not a Happy Camper

My boss has decided that we all need to have our pictures on our website page.  I am not happy.

I don't like to have my picture taken and I don't want to be told I have to have my picture taken. 

I see no reason for me to be on the website.  No one ever sees me.  I work alone most of the time.  I would guess that 90% of the congregation know me, and the rest will get to know me if they keep coming to church.

The other staff members are not too happy about it either.  None of us like to have our pictures made for various reasons.

I guess my only recourse will be to try to take one myself that I like and turn it in.  

Really need to win the lottery. 

Only Good News ...

This has been a very rough semester for my youngest, and quite frankly, I am not sure he is going to have another semester. It could be he ends up getting a GED.

I talk to him every night, and almost every night he gives me more bad news. Tonight's really ticked me off and we had a small heated discussion.

I finally told him I was sick of bad news and he had to tell me one good thing. He couldn't think of anything so I said "Well, did you crap today?" To which he replied, "Yes mother, I took a dump. I took a dump today, I took one yesterday. I take one every day." I said "Well, at least you are not constipated on top of everything else."

So that is the good news of the day. My youngest is not constipated. So the problem is not that he is full of s$%*.

Which reminds me of a prescription Raymond used to carry around with him all the time in his billfold. 

After Raymond had his sacrectomy many nerves were severed and there was a lot of rehabilitation involved.  Our regular surgeon had left town right after the surgery and we were in the care of another surgeon during the recovery process.  He placed us on a rehab floor that we had never been on before, and that I would not recommend.  It was pure hell for us.  Raymond did not receive the proper care for his type of surgery and ended up with a serious infection that required a surgery every day for five days.  After all the surgeries, Raymond became very ill, and no one could figure out why.  After several days of exams by many doctors, I went through the hospital searching for our favorite PA.  When I found her I explained what had happened, and asked for her help.  She said she knew exactly what was wrong and immediately wrote a prescription and told me she would be in touch with the doctor, but to take the prescription directly to Raymond because it would help him.  The prescription said:

"Full of shit."

She was right, it cheered Raymond up because he laughed so hard.  She did call his doctor which started a process of x-rays that proved she was right, and when surgery was mentioned I called her again, and she prescribed a rigorous treatment that kept us from any more surgeries, and solved the problem.  I will always be grateful for her brilliance and caring.  Thank you Sue.  

Old Friends Die Young

I had an online chat tonight with an old friend from high school that I dated a few times.  We met up again through Facebook.  He is almost to the end of his life.  He found out in 2004 that he had a genetic, aggressive, progressive disease and now 88% of his lungs are dead.  We had a nice chat. 

In an earlier post on a high school page we are both on he had mentioned that he owed apologies to four people.  I was one of them.  I asked him why he was apologizing to me.  His response made absolutely no since to me, in fact it sounded like I probably owed him the apology and said so to him.  He insisted he owed me one and asked me to accept it, which I did.  He went on to talk about something I can't believe happened when we were together, but some of what he said had a ring of truth to it. 

He told me had a good life.  He is on his second marriage, both to redheads which he blamed on me.  I had to laugh because I have heard that before from others, including Raymond.  He is not afraid of death, in fact he said he would welcome it. 

This news comes to me less than a week after another classmate passed away from cancer.  Kelly was just someone I saw in passing, but he had a nice smile, and I think we could have been friends as adults, just ran in different circles as teenagers. 

A good friend of mine in high school recently passed away from complications of lupus, and I found out that another female classmate died from cancer.  There have been a few more deaths in the class of '77 too.

All this made me think of this song by the Moody Blues: