Getting back to work!

Starting Monday I head back to the working class. No more laying around and eating bon bons every day. Darnit! I was just getting the swing of that. Actually it will be great to get back to work. I know – what is the matter with you? Why would anyone say that? Playing and being able to do what you want every day is kind of fun, but I think for the majority of us we like to challenge our minds. It is one of the things that keeps us going. And unless you are rich and can afford not working, you have to make money to play and as a friend of mine always says, you have to be able to buy wine. I mean let us get our priorities straight. So on Monday I will rejoin the rest of you and be putting in my time. It will be a good thing.

Of course, speaking of playing, there are only 3 weekends left of skiing. What a season it has been!! No one could have asked for anything more!! I will be taking full advantage of these last few days on the slopes. And for those of you that haven’t had a chance to partake in this wonderful season, you should try to go to the mountains at least for a day! It helps you rejuvenate your spirit when you are on top of the world looking out over the beauty that is there for all of us to enjoy! So go and have some fun!! You are worth it!

Take care of yourselves, and be good!! I keep trying!

M

Spring allergies!

We are coming up to that lovely season when all of our allergies will be going wild. Today has been one of those sneezing days at our house. It has been either one or the other of us cachooing all over the house. I just love this time of year!!

I know part of it may be the cat, he is shedding his wonderful winter coat all over the house. So I guess part of Spring cleaning is the constant roar of the vacuum cleaner, unless you don’t have any animals.

Keep your Alavert, Claritin, etc. all your wonderful allergy medicines handy these next few weeks. Spring has sprung as they say!! I just got over 5 weeks of coughing from a winter cold!!!

I am so happy it is Spring!!

M

Thinking, again!

Having had a considerable amount of time off, I have thought about many things. I do think it is time to get back to work and that will be very soon!

Life and love and the search for who we are and where we belong and why we are and why life happens to us the way it does and etc., etc., etc. It is the neverending story.

I always tell those close to me that things happen for a reason, which is the truth, we just usually don’t know why. There are good things and bad things and things that make us say Hum!!!
It really does keep life interesting. Most of the time we don’t really know why, but we try to figure it out. That can turn into a great philosophical journey sometimes, which can be fascinating and bring about some great discussions, that is always fun.

I don’t know the real reason I was laid off. As the weeks have passed I guess I am still a little curious, but I know I need to get on with the game of life and just look back at that time as a great learning experience. It was also a pretty great time in my life. So I really shouldn’t complain. Just go on to the next incredible part of this journey of mine!

We are given things in this life for a reason, truly we are. Dave was given an extended time off last year and then was given an opportunity of a lifetime to travel to far off Singapore and be tossed into a work situation that let him see another side of the world and work with some wonderful, very interesting people. So the journey he took to get to go to Singapore was another one of those, why? But look what the end result was, how wonderful!! The next part of his journey is an open book.

Our lives are filled with an array of unanswered questions and opportunities. It really does make it exciting!

Life, it certainly is an interesting phenomenon. Wouldn’t you say? We work, we play, we do our daily tasks and wonder what is it all about. We try to find our way every day and make the best of what we are, who we are and how we are with ourselves and everyone around us, our families, friends, workmates, the list goes on. We continue to search for the things or thing that will make us truly happy. I think that is part of our human nature, happiness and how do we attain it?? Most people don’t know what will make them truly happy, but the search goes on in all of our lives. We all are searching for the things that will bring us our greatest joys in this life! That can be a combination of many things or one thing that brings us the wonder of what this life, our lives are all about. All the things that surround us, our families, our friends, our work, our play, our sorrow, our joy, it is all encompassing. Most of us have happiness in our lives, but I think that all of us continue that search because as humans we always want more. Are we ever content, I think we are sometimes but I think what keeps us motivated and happy that we are alive, is the endless question of how can we make it better for ourselves and those around us. And that really is a good thing.

Just passing along the thoughts that, no matter where we are in life, what is happening to us, good, bad, indifferent we need to continue to take it all in and learn from it, enjoy it, suffer through it, whatever it takes – it truly is an incredible journey!! We are not always going to be happy or attain the things we want, but as long as we keep trying and working and being good to one another and good to ourselves, we can continue this journey of life with each other and make the best of what we have been given. We may still want more, and that is fine, making our lives happier and better is what it is all about.

The greatest gift is each other and the gifts we give each other each day, our gifts of friendship, love and knowing that we are all in this together and we can help each other make the best of this wonderful journey called life!

There are going to be good days and bad days, but what counts is that we have the days to be happy or sad! That is what counts, we are here to live those precious days. So even if we don’t have all the answers just think of all the possibilities out there to find the answer each of us is looking for!

Take care and be good to yourself and those around you!

M

Life is Good!!

It has been a long time! I am so happy Jim got Penyork back up and running. Thanks!!

Well since our last encounter, I have had some nice quality time off. It really has been quite wonderful. I got some house cleaning done and got to visit with folks I haven’t talked to or seen in awhile. I finished a book that I have been working on for sometime and I hope to get at least a couple of more read here in the next three weeks! And I have caught up on my sleep, if you can do that. It has been lovely!

I will be employed again starting the 3rd of April. I will be going to work for my old boss who now has his own landscape business. He and I always got along really well and I am looking forward to helping him out. It should be fun, and I will be only working part time at this point. So this is good news.

Last week we ventured over to Kansas City, the old hometown. We had a nice visit with Dave’s aunt and cousins. Dave got an offer to go flying with his cousin John. John got his pilot’s license last year and has been having a blast! They didn’t get to go this time but John and his wife hopefully will be flying our way in the months ahead for a visit, so we may both get to go flying when they come to Colorado. Dave has always wanted to learn to fly, hopefully some day he will get to do that. We should all try to follow our dreams as much as we can. Life is too short. We need to make the most of every day!

I also got to meet my new nephew, I didn’t think I was old enough to be a great aunt yet! What a cutie, and such a happy and good baby. He is William Evans IV. We got a picture of the four generations. It was the first time my dad had met little Billy – it was so wonderful to see him with him, it was a truly cherished moment!!!

This will lead onto the subject of seeing my dad. Dad is 81 years old and in residence at nursing home in the Alzheimer wing. I never thought that my dad would end up in a place like that. It is very nice but it is still a nursing home. I know that that may be a reality that anyone of us may have to face as we grow into our golden years. And of course we know that if we have children they will be there to take care of us, because that is one of the great things about having children. Right guys!!!!! You will all come and visit too???

On to my dad, dear Bill. He is in pretty good shape physically. It is just that the mind is going. Physically the person could go on for many years, enjoying life and every thing that it has to offer us. Maybe at a little slower pace but still being out there in the world – enjoying life!! But when this disease kicks in the mind starts going and you have to protect them and make sure they are safe because they can no longer do that for themselves. It is so very sad! Dad loved to play golf and I so wish some days I could take him out for a round. That was a great passion for him and he loved it. He has slowed down quite a bit, but it would be so fun to take him out – he was always so happy out in the sunshine and playing golf. He taught me how to play and I always enjoyed being with him. He has also played with both Jim and Phill. He always loved that too. So enjoy all the moments you get with your parents/grandparents – treasure those times, memories are wonderful, but being able to interact with them is still the greatest gift!

I learned a few more things this past visit about the disease. I know that it shuts the mind down so to speak. Since that is our control center, control of the body becomes less and less. I know a couple of the folks have passed away in his unit and I asked my brother how they died. He said a lot of these folks go in their sleep because the disease at some point becomes so bad that they forget to breath, the mind is shut down to that point where the body has no more control at all. It is so terrible. I think going to sleep and not waking up is a good way to go, but it is still all so sad. I watched my mom die from lung cancer that finally crept through all of her body and I know I do not want to see that happen to anyone ever again, especially to my dad. It was one of the most difficult things in my life and still after 4 years I have moments that take me back to that very sad time. I am not sure why people have to suffer like that and it is a place none of us should ever have to go or revisit, but that is part of human existence. So I hope that God has plans for dad to just go peacefully into that good night!

It was so good seeing him. I hadn’t seen him since last May and he looked so much better. He is taking his medicine and getting the care that he needs. We had a nice visit, sometimes you are not quite sure where he is at or what he is talking about but then there are the lucid moments and that is great. He still knows all of us by sight and name. I know my brother expressed his concern of the day that he walks in and dad doesn’t know who he is. The caregivers at the nursing home say that it can happen at any time, there is no time line. So I just hope that it will be a long time or that that part never happens to him. It would be very sad. I miss dad and how he was but I got to see a little bit of my old pop a couple of times this weekend and it made me feel really good.

I guess what I am trying to convey here is that every day is precious, every life is unique and wonderful!! We all need to make certain that we do take each day as it comes and try to make the best of it and be happy as much as we can. Living and loving life and the people that we cherish is the most important thing for everyone!! So get out there and enjoy and be happy and do the things you enjoy and try new things too. They say using the mind and learning new things all the time is the best thing you can do for yourself, keeps the mind active!! Try skiing, it has been the best thing for me this past two seasons!!! What is the saying – don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today, you never know what tomorrow will bring!

Be happy and take care and also try to be good!! That’s a hard one for me too. Until next time!!

M