DEEP INSIDE OF YOU

Somehow today I seem to feel the need to remind myself and the world around us that we really do have the option of looking Deep Inside Of You and Deep Inside Of Me. We don’t have to compete with each other for the love and compassion that is always available when we look for it.

theappleladyblog

Deep inside of you and
Deep inside of me,
In point of fact,
Deep inside of all of us
Lies a loving spiritual being
Striving to come forth.
To see the light of day
To see the wonder of the world around us,
To see the beauty and to see the love of everyone,
To feel the oneness and the purpose of all that we encounter.

It is our fate and our future to open our eyes,
To open our minds and to open our hearts and Know
That we are all in this world together.
Sometimes it seems to be a difficult step to take,
To relax and know that we are here to help each other.
Sometimes it is harder to allow another to take a step toward us.
But here we are, on this small globe together.
Our lives are entwined with each other.
Let us resolve…

View original post 19 more words

DEEP INSIDE OF YOU

DEEP INSIDE OF YOU.

SUMMER IN MICHIGAN

Yes, it is summer, and yes, it is the 4th of July, one of the constants in our lives. Supposed to be hot, but until today that has not happened here in Hart, Michigan. The cherries are turning red, we can see the green and tiny apples starting to appear on the dwarf fruit trees, and another wonderful season is upon us. There is no place like Michigan in the summer and fall. Miles upon miles of fruit trees in every direction, fruit stands wherever you look, and the Farmers Markets are in full bloom. We are blessed with a climate here that brings forth almost every kind of fruit you can imagine. When we were in full swing on our farm we had 25 different apple varieties, seven kinds of peaches, 3 kinds of pears, plums and apricots that you would die for. Waiting for the exact time to pick the fruit when it was at its perfect flavor and beautiful coloring, we would walk the orchards every evening, exulting in the perfection of it all.
Today we smile at it all, and remember. It is a wonderful thing to have spent your entire life raising fruit in order to make people happy, and that is what my husband has done. I am dedicating this day to him, Bob Rider, and to all of the people including our children who worked on our farms and sold fruit at our Farmers Market. As I speak he is out on his riding mower, making our lawn look as great as his farms have always done. Well done, Bob Rider.

GRATITUDE THAT

I woke up this morning.
It is daylight. I survived.
The furnace never came on.
My inner alarm woke me.
I feel rested.
My husband is beside me.
I can still write.
I can still hear.
I can still see.
I can still make choices.
A whole new day stretches before me.
I can still think.
I can still question.
I can still watch.
I can still accept what is.
I can still remember.
I can still love.
I can still be thankful.
NO MATTER WHAT.

WAITING

Somewhere in your life you have to decide that it is just time to relax, pull in the reins, and wait for what is going to happen. No matter what it is that you are waiting for, maybe you have waited for a really long time, but it is just out of your hands.
You may very well think that you know what should happen, may have believed it fervently for longer than you care to remember, but it is still a dream in your mind, and you may even have looked at it in the wrong way.
But that doesn’t mean that the “someday” will never come to you in the future.
Things change and circumstances change and sometimes even people change. Who is to know when the dream may appear in all its glory, even better than you ever imagined.
And if you are very wise, you will welcome it gladly, whatever it turns out to be. It might not be exactly as planned but it will surely be a wonderful thing. You will rejoice that all is well in your world and remember your most comforting thought, the one that has carried you throughout your life.
God is in charge, and I am so thankful!

DEEP INSIDE OF YOU

THE BETH AVENUE PICNIC

On a clear and sunny day in March of this year, I went on a picnic. It was a gorgeous occasion, looked forward to by many of the lucky people who happen to live on Beth Ave in Florida.
Tapping our feet, clapping our hands in applause as some of our friends and neighbors entertained us with a happy guitar, an old upright piano, and old time songs that we mostly remembered, we spent several hours enjoying each others company.
The food, lovingly prepared by all of us, was everything you could have asked for. No, we didn’t have a campfire, we were in our community clubhouse, and we didn’t have to worry about bugs or ants or smoke in the air. There was a great variety of everyone’s specialty, and plenty of things to drink, and no one went hungry at this picnic. No one got into an argument about anything, there was plenty to go around our tables, and we even had door prizes so we didn’t go home empty handed. My special one and I managed to leave with a new mug that looked like Easter, filled with jelly beans, and another candle that smelled like lemon sherbet.
Now I ask you, how could a picnic be better than this? No dishes to wash, no children to keep track of, just a room full of seniors, having a picnic together on a sunny day in Central Florida, knowing that they are right where they belong.
So all of you millennials, look forward to your retirement years somewhere in the future. You may be as lucky as we to find your own Beth Ave picnic someday. It is something to look forward to!

A CIRCLE IN TIME

When I was very young one of the fun things that I liked to do was to play board games with my cousins on a Sunday afternoon. We were very competitive with each other and I can still remember the shrieks of laughter when I won, or the moans of disgust when I lost. I gloried in showing that I could be the fastest or best, and so when I lost, I felt embarrassed and impatient with myself. We played Monopoly for hours on end, or card games like Rummy or Solitaire. It was always fun tho.
But time moved on, and I married, became a mother and was the overseer for many of their boisterous events. They had some pretty noisy games.
Now I am retired in a whole new environment, time to do whatever I want, and what do I do? I play GAMES. I play word games, or solitaire, casino or slot games, number games, you name it, all on my Ipad or computer.
The fun thing is that I am still playing these games with my sisters, many cousins, daughter in laws, brother in laws, all of the same people that I played with, some of them over 50 years ago. We write each other little notes of congratulation over a good win, or make a resolve to do better next time.
Who would have thought that I would be still playing games with the same people, all a lot older, but still having fun together?
Life is really a circle, isn’t it. We just have to hold on tightly and the brass ring will come around again.
And then there are all of the new friends like you, who have come along. Life is good, especially since we can all smile and cheer as we enjoy playing games with each other. Thanks for all of the great competition, it keeps us thinking young.

YOU’RE MY INSPIRATION

For the past few days the song “You’re My Inspiration” by the group “Chicago” has been drumming thru my mind because the subject for our Creative Writers Class has been “Inspiration.” I thought of my own mother and how she never gave up but conquered throughout her life, living a very productive and successful one. I thought of many other figures that I knew that did the same.
But eventually I came to the conclusion that I have the perfect example right here in our own group of writers.
To my own knowledge, we have had almost all of the major adversities in life in the past four years since I first joined. Many of us have been widowed after long and successful marriages, and others have had and still do have to cope with serious illnesses. Still others have had deaths or divorces in their past experiences. Yet never have I felt anything other than admiration for the way our members have risen up, and helped others get thru their own difficulties. We are all growing older and looking out for each other and that is a wonderful thing.
So Creative Writers, I salute you! You are my Inspiration, and I am so thankful that you are in my life. As members of this group, you are providing a great happiness for us all. Viva la, Writers!

JUST THINK WHAT 35 YEARS CAN DO

Every once in a while a new experience comes along that has the effect of making a very different way of looking at our lives.
Bringing forth four sons, living with them thru a tumultuous twenty five years or so, surviving the ups and downs of daily life as they grew and wrestled each other for their place in the family order is something that is not for the faint hearted. I can proudly report that I did survive it.
When the last one to leave rode off into the sunset I didn’t waste too much time or breath missing the constant uproar that had been going on for the past quarter of a century. Wives came along, and then grandchildren, and a whole new style of family living. Everyone ended up with a chance to make their fortune on their own. We knew what each other was doing, roughly speaking, but their lives were their own to make.
Time went by. We often lived in the same towns, like Cortez, CO, Lawton, OK, Holton, MI, even Wyoming and Montana, but we didn’t stay in each others houses overnite. We had our own homes and our own spaces.
Fast forward.
We are wintering in Florida in a retirement community, and guess what. Son #3 and wife are arriving for nine days! We are all excited, hoping for warm weather. I begin to plan things, and then I realize. I haven’t lived in the same house with #3 son in over 35 years! I don’t know what he really is like on a day to day basis! What does he like to eat, what kind of TV does he watch? What are his every day habits?
For twenty years I took care of him, knew him as well as anyone in my life, and now a relative stranger is coming for nine days. How is it going to work out?
Wednesday noon. I hear a car door close, then another, and they are here! Looking as great as they always do, smiling and hugging, and it is like the years have all flown away and we have our children back again.
There are some obvious differences. I notice that now they tend to take care of us, instead of the other way around. As they are showing us new pictures of their life I realize anew that they are grandparents also, and in the prime of their lives. They have their own friends and their own business interests. Their lives are full and I am so proud of them.
I finally realize. They are grown up. They don’t just need us but want us also.
The days fly by and all too soon the alarm rings at 2AM, and off they must go to the airport. And we return to our quieter life, thankful that we have had a great time renewing our friendship with our children. We can rest assured that we did our job and they are part of the living proof of it.

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31