A Special New Year - 2007

When I woke up and looked outside this morning, my world was pretty much the same. This world that we all share had a birthday yesterday though, and I am big on celebrating birthdays. There are so many opportunities in the ritual of celebration; giving thanks for blessings present and past, sharing with family and friends, reminescing about the past, planning for the future, thinking about how you can affect change or achieve dreams. I think of these celebrations as being a lot like bookmarks for your life...marking your place in life, but serving the higher purpose of moving you forward toward another rewarding chapter.

2007 is special for me because I will turn 60 this year. What an awsome number! I was born in March of 1947, an early baby boomer. So I am among the first of this classified generation to see retirement, maybe one of the last who will receive at least some Social Security benefits, maybe. I remember listening to comics being read on the radio as a small child, watching Eisenhower's innaugaration on our first TV with my parents when I was about 5, being scared of the cold war politics and chaos in the Bay of Pigs in Jr. High, getting a transistor radio (the big thing) for Christmas, watching in horror as John F. Kennedy was shot and crying in sympathy when his brother Bobby met the same end. I experienced a turn to cynicism in my political views during the Viet Nam war, confirmed by Watergate and never fully repaired by succeeding presidents.

I gave up my bra, wore my hair long, grew a garden and ate a lot of brown rice in the late 60's and early 70's. I experimented in my religious convictions, leaned toward buddhism for many years and found my way back to the arms of the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ. I moved through generations of music, through the radio and a small phonograph that played 45's (anyone remember those?), a piano my parents made payments on for at least 10 years, and a progression of hi-fi, radio and stereo equipment that would fill a room if I still had all of it. My first 45's were Gene Autry singing cowboy songs, then Fats Domino belting out Blueberry Hill and the progression never ended. I now have a collection of about 1000 CD's and listen constantly to Rhapsody on my computer.

I watched intently as Armstrong, Young and Aldren sent video back from the moon. The NASA site is still one of my favorites for video...there is such perspective on the fragility of life and our small part in it when you view it from space, but I'm not beyond enjoying a laugh on UTube. I've graduated from Roy Rogers and Perry Mason on television to CSI, Forensic Files and a constant perusing of CNN and MSNBC on TV and the internet. I've learned to block commercial content by taping and watching later. I own a cell phone and a PDA with GPS and can counterspeak in corporate acronyms when necessary. My ancillary hard drive is bigger than the one in my CPU. I still don't know Jack about how we get in or out of the messes we are in, like Iraq, which will in my humble opinion never be "solved" by our current strategy. Also, I think if you shoot at each other, the word for it is war. Refinements are an insult to those who have to endure the process.

I graduated through the steps of current technology starting with an antiquated Remington typewriter (even then), graduated to electric models, add punch tape technology for bookkeeping, mag card and IBM punch card feeds, bookkeeping machines the size of a small room, huge roomsized mainframe computers , personal computers with no more memory than the dashboard in your car and now the evolution of the internet and almost instant access to anything you want anytime you want it. I suffered through DOS queries and calling people up on the phone to find out why the internet didn't work. I survived all of these little steps in life and lived through the loss of my first husband when I was 23, a divorce when I was 38, the loss of my dear younger brother Jack to AIDS when I was 45...he was 35, the passing of both of my parents at ages too young to be taken, and too many personal trials to fit this space.

I also gained the world I live in now, which would not have been possible without the past. I raised four beautiful children who are the core of my heart and mean everything to me. I now have 5 grandchilren and 3 step-grandchildren. I've remarried to a wonderful husband that I met on the internet in 1995 and married in 1996. Our 11th anniversary will be April 27, 2007. We were a rarity (the way we met) at the time and now you hear of internet romances daily. I like to think of us as pioneers in that way, instead of dinosaurs. Love lives on though and I am thankful everyday for him and my family. I am happy in my life except for things that I can not change and I have learned to live with those in the best way possible, day to day.

Fortunate is a word that does not fully describe how I feel at this juncture in my life. I am constantly aware not only of my own blessings, but of the roots and circumstances I came from and the knowledge that there are countless numbers of people who still have no opportunity for the privileges I enjoy or the simple basics that sustain life. This is not a problem I can solve individually, but I believe in Mother Theresa's words "If you can't feed many, feed one." With that in mind, I do what I can to help one day at a time. I also believe in the responsibility of stewardship for the gifts and accomplishments that are a part of our lives. This year, I will write more about stewardship and appreciation and about paying attention to this moment, which can never be recovered once it is past.

With that thought I will close for today, so that I can make the best use of THIS moment and get ready for a dentist appointment.

God bless and keep you throughout the new year!

Paula

Family Pics from our trip.

Addison and Peyton, about 1 week old.








Awake!











My grandaughter, Amber Hewitt, who will turn 20 Nov 9. We were privileged to have her visiting with us while we were in Colorado. She was a big help and it was great to see her. The twins are her new little cousins.


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Rockingrama's Reflections: rockingrama (Paula) Updated 9/4/2006

Rockingrama's Reflections: rockingrama (Paula)
Hello netfriends! It's been a while. My husband and I have been traveling around the country, back and forth from Texas where we live to Florida, then Colorado, then Kansas and back home again. It was a fun time filled with family and new experiences, but we are both more than ready to be back and into our zone of familiar friends and routines. Funny how a person looks forward so much to vacation time but looks forward just as much to getting back to the routine they escaped. Is this a loop???, hmmm....maybe worth further consideration. Another time.

Our Florida trip was almost a month long and we combined many things we've been wanting to do with visits to Bill's family in Lakeland and mine in St. Augustine. Between Lakeland and St. Augustine we spent time at our timeshare in Orlando and participated in some of the local hoopla, including Kennedy Space Center and Water World. Mostly we just hung at the resort though because everything we wanted was really there. We had a great view of the lake from our screened in veranda and plenty of opportunities for fine (and not so fine) dining and viewing the beauty that is all around you in Central Florida. It's not my cup of tea for a place to live, but visiting is always nice.

We drove on both of our trips. They were planned well in advance of the gas hikes and we decided we would still be slightly ahead going by car. The trip across the southern states on I-10 was a grim reminder of the tragedy of Katrina. It appears that some progress is being made but I can't imagine a full healing of the affected area for years to come. I'm just praying that they are not hit again this hurricane season and that the levees and dams will be in full repair the next time an act of God brings a storm. My gosh...where are all of these people that were displaced? How are they doing now? The answers we get in the media just don't seem to suffice for the scope of human difficulties that must remain. Let's not forget this wonderful part of our country.

We were home from Florida only 3 weeks when we got the call from my daughter in Colorado that her twins were going to be delivered within a day. We had promised her a month to help them get settled with the twins and put her on the path to healing and we delivered as promised. It was a wonderful month, full of activity. My most significant contribution, I think, was just to get meals to the table and be there for moral support. Bill felt a little out of his element, but hung in like a champ and really enjoyed being around these new little lives. Both of us were exhausted and ready for home by the end of our month. By the same token, it was really hard to leave these grandparent duties and feelings behind for now. I'm having trouble posting the babies' pictures within the blog, so will post them independently...just can't resist!

Coming home brought new challenges...especially outside. The garden was so overgrown that I was surprised we didn't have a letter in our mailbox from the community association. It was time to change the filters on everthing in the house and two days into our return the compressor went out on our air conditioning and we had to have it replaced. In a record setting month for heat (24 days over 100 and an average temp of 100.7 overall), this is not a laughing matter. We got great service though and put the matter to rest in a day. So...we called our yard service and got some help with the yard, which is now mulched, trimmed, fertilized, fungus free and replanted for fall...more pictures to come...and went to work on the inside of the house to get ready for a visit from my son and his wife from Connecticut. Between all these obvious tasks we worked in doctor's appointments, started physical therapy for arthritis issues both of us are having and tried to renew our commitment to getting down to the fitness center for swimming sessions in the afternoon hours. We're still working on the last one.

Our cat (even though she has a loving petsitter) was mad as a hatter because we had been gone so long. This lasted about 5 minutes though and she was back into our normal routine of petting, feeding, snuggling, etc. I noticed that freefeeding her during our absence had put a little weight on her, then checked my own thunderous thighs for the changes that being on the road can bring. I think I won. Shoot!

Priorities now include catching up on my responsibilities as coordinator for the adult activities group at our church, trying to finish my Texas Real Estate License course I ordered from UT Arlington online educational services at the beginning of the summer, getting my blogs back on track from a long absence and trying to keep my health up to par. I am hoping to add at least one class from the Senior University at Texas Southwestern University here in Georgetown this winter.

The older daughter of my three often poses the question to me.."What are you doing Mom?" Her tone is one of disbelief that I am busy after retirement. I guess the answer is that I can't imagine what was getting missed when I was working because I am very satisfied just living life and having the freedom to choose what I do. That includes working again if I want to. For now, retirement is A OK. I feel blessed.

Next week our adult activities at church kick off with a luncheon at Southwestern, then we are off to Mo Ranch in Hunt, Texas near Kerrville mid-month for an annual all-church retreat. The fun begins!

See you again soon.

God bless and keep you till then.

Paula

rockingrama (Paula) 8/20/2006