On the first day of winter, I am choosing to be thankful for all of the pictures on my Ipad and computer screensaver.
Over the years one of the mainstays of my life has been doing a lot of traveling. Some of it was going from one place to another in order to change my place of residence. Some of it was just pure pleasure, on a cruise ship or in our car. Even buses and airplanes had their day in the sun and one thing that tied them together was all of the pictures that I took along the way.
At first it was a pretty simple Kodak camera, and it took 20 pictures and plenty of them were not really worth saving. But we graduated to a better instrument as the years went by and I saved them for a while. Because I was living in so many different places all around the country I sent the majority of them to relatives to brag about all of the places in our American West. I am sure that lots of my children still have those old black and white pictures in their albums somewhere.
But now everything has changed. I take pictures with the Iphone or my Ipad, copy my friends pictures on Facebook, and put them into a screensaver on anything electronic. At any time I can sit and watch the pictures from all over the United States that I have actually visited, or smile at the children’s faces from long ago.
And when I look at an Alaskan landscape like a glacier, I can still bring forth the memories of standing on the deck of a cruise ship, can still feel the majesty and the awe that I experienced on that memorable day.
I can look at the picture of a great grandson only two hours old, and it is just like I was still there. Here in Florida I can look at our fruit trees in Michigan, loaded with blossoms, and remember how lucky I am to have lived on a farm. I can and do bring all of the faces of our children right in front of me, feeling the love and respect that we have for each other.
A screensaver is a wonderful thing, and I am so thankful for it. It is the reminder of all of the wonderful events in my life, always to be savored no matter where I am. Every picture is a reminder of how good life has been to me and so this is what I am most thankful for this Christmas.
changes
HOW TO CHANGE YOUR EMOTIONS IN A HURRY
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Listen to these words carefully.
Angrily Blindly
Badly Boastfully
Boldly Foolishly
Fortunately Happily
Gleefully
Take a good look at these words. Read them aloud. Leave a second in between each of them. What do you feel when you hear them?
Angrily, Blindly, Badly, Boastfully, Boldly, Foolishly, Fortunately, Happily, Gleefully.
Emotions, that is what you hear, because that is what you feel. As you speak each word again, your emotions do an abrupt about face, switching from negative to positive and back again. Your thoughts and your feelings are inner twined in the same way that we are all connected. Every time that we are beset with an unhappy or negative thought it is possible, yes even probable that we can change just one little word and by doing so change our current outlook on life.
Our thoughts and our words are the engine that runs us. The next time that you are having a less than positive thought, stop and look at the word you used that described it. There are tons of great words that should be floating around in our mind. Let us capture them and share them with someone we love. Share them in our writing and share them in our speech.
Someone famous once said we are our own worst enemy. We use our own words against ourselves. Listening to our own positive words will bring a lift to our spirits and a smile to our faces. It sure beats hunting for the Bufferin bottle when my own thoughts give me a headache.
GOAL ACCOMPLISHED
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GOAL ACCOMPLISHED
It certainly has taken a long, long time for me to accomplish something that I never thought would happen. It isn’t like I didn’t think about it every once in a while. Over the years I have kept house in many different locations, and most of them I look back on very fondly. They weren’t always in the greatest part of town, but they were filled with love, lots of noise, and plenty of confusion at times. Children abounded for about half of those years, until they went on their merry way. Everyone had their own bed, and plenty of covers to keep them warm, and while nothing seemed to match in a very fancy way, no one complained about how the beds looked. Looking into the rooms you could just tell that boys lived there, and messy boys at that. Every Saturday morning we had a sergeants drill directed by mother, and somehow things got picked up or stuffed somewhere out of sight.
Eventually the inevitable happened, the boys grew up, left their messy rooms, married, and they became another woman’s problem. My daughter in laws probably solved it better than I had.
And me, I went on making my own bed wherever I moved. It looked alright, it didn’t disgrace me, but you know, nothing really matched. The sheets had been around for a long time, and so had the blankets. Sometimes I would break down and go out and buy some new ones, but it was more of the same. I had resigned myself to buying whatever was on sale, and that is exactly what I continued to do for many years. No one made me do that, it was just it didn’t seem that important to me.
Fast forward. Last week we got a new bed, mattress set, springs, frame, the whole works. And I put on my regular sheets and cover, and for two days I thought and thought about it. I went on line and looked at bedding with a fresh eye, and marveled at the beautiful bright colors. I looked at so many websites that the Internet took notice of it and started sending me tons of ads about comforters and Beds In A Bag.
Whoa! Bed in a bag? Bells started ringing in my mind. Everything matched in them. I could have the best looking bed in town. I renewed my searching until I found the absolutely most beautiful one of all at the very best price, and then I went shopping. It was time for me to decorate our room so that it all looked perfect.
It wasn’t until I started writing this article that I realized that I had done this on our 22nd wedding anniversary. What a wonderful feeling to celebrate our marriage with a fantastic bed that matches.
Sometimes parents can put themselves at the back of the line over a lot of minor events. Eventually life catches up with us all, and we seem to take a lot of comfort in the little things. But A Bed in A Bag isn’t a little thing. Not to me. I finally MATCH!
I AM FEELING THE URGE TO CREATE.
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I am feeling the urge to create.
I am thinking of the life all around me.
I rise and I rush for a pen, fearful that I might lose the words bubbling in my brain. Writing them down is such an important task for me. It seems like I haven’t had this urgency for a long long time. Heaven knows I have tried but it always seemed to escape me.
Yet here they are.
And I am watching. It used to be that I was “doing” and now I am “watching.” Watching as the children that I bore repeat all of the experiences that I once did. Remembering what it was like when life seemed so full of all of the adventures that I yearned for – remembering what it was like to go to a new place to live, set up house in a different state, look for a new job doing whatever I loved to do.
Listening to people that had been brought up differently than me, that had a way of looking at life that I had never heard of before. Looking for a new library, getting signed up for my new card, and seeing a whole new room of books unknown to me before. Making new friends, finding a friendly neighbor, finding the best bank, best grocery store.
This has been the pattern of my life. Always the urge to see down the road, over the next hill, wondering what life had to offer if I went looking.
And so I did go looking. Lived in so many different places that I have to stretch a long ways back to remember them all.
Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Florida, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana…the farther I went west the more I loved it. Freedom from the restrictions that bind us all in our state of birth, of growing up around relatives who expected us to live as our families had always lived.
Maybe the restrictions were only in my mind. I don’t know. But the air was bigger and broader and more open wherever I went, and so I traveled and moved, and saw the world in a new and vital way. Each new move was to a new culture and a new life style, and I thrived on it.
And now I am returned to the land of my birth, and I still travel and I still think of all of the places I have been, but somehow I have come full circle. My children have scattered to their own destinies. They have traveled and made their own homes in many different places also. Did I instill this wanderlust in them”? Or is it just the way that Americans are, always looking over the next hill, wanting to be their own person, looking for the end of the rainbow? We seem to be a restless people, not content to rest on our laurels, no matter what our ages.
Looking back, this is where I am right now,and also looking forward to where I’ll be tomorrow. I must never lose the sense of adventure or life will become complacent and dull. There is always another place over the next hill that awaits us all, another group of people to meet who have a new way of looking at things.
We cannot afford to relinquish the past or the future for that is where our understanding lies. We must keep our zest for living to use as a warm and comforting blanket, allowing us to enjoy our days.
WHEN?
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WHEN?
When will it get easier?
When will I always remember?
When will I look upon all beings with love?
When will I treat others with the golden rule?
When will I accept everything just the way it unfolds?
When will all paths be smoothed for me?
When?
When I relax
When I release
When I let go
When I stop insisting
When I stop controlling
When I remember I am an extension of God’s love,
Here on earth.
WHAT IF I REALIZED THAT
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I am filled with energy. It is easier and easier for me to wake up each morning knowing that I can still breathe and walk and carry on my daily routine.
I am surrounded by family and friends who will come willingly if I call them.
The whole world of books is at my fingertips wherever I go and I have the time to read them.
Someone somewhere is waiting for my smile and a hug to cheer them up.
New friends await me on my internet connections from faraway places.
I don’t have to wonder any more “What will I be when I grow up?”
I can relax knowing that children and grandchildren are doing all the things I dreamed of but didn’t quite manage.
New things keep popping up in my life and I can enjoy learning them.
It really doesn’t matter if it takes a little longer, I can still accomplish them.
Having a blog, theappleladyblog.com, to express myself is a lot of fun.
I am filled with love and light and energy and this is a beautiful thing.
Realizing that I can enjoy my life no matter what happens is just wonderful.
Yes, I sure do realize now!
REMEMBERING
StandardRemembering all the times you listened to us when we were troubled.
Remembering that you thought we were survivors, no matter what.
Remembering that we could always call you just for reassurance.
Remembering the times you were so exasperated with us you wanted
to shake us.
Remembering your courage as you struggled to get out of the car
with your cane.
Remembering you waiting on your loved ones when they were too
blind to see.
Remembering the tons of flowers and hundreds of cards when you
left this world one summer morning.
Remembering your smiles, your hugs, and your generous spirit that
encouraged us all.
Remembering you every time we see a white-haired older lady walking,
intent upon getting somewhere by herself, cane in hand.
Remembering every time we realize there is no house to go to, no
telephone call to make, no one waiting for our arrival.
Remembering, always remembering that you showed us all how to
love one another, no matter what!
THE WHOLE WORLD IS NEW WHEN
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I decide to love, rather than to be loved.
I decide to appreciate, rather than criticize.
I decide to go with the flow, rather than push.
I decide to listen to my inner voice, rather than deliberately
avoid hearing it.
I decide to ask what do my children want, rather than tell them.
I decide that I am in control of my emotions, rather than erupting
without thought.
I decide that I can look for what is right in my world, rather than
what is wrong.
I decide to praise all of my blessings,, rather than condemn my
shortfalls.
I decide to be thankful for all God has given me, rather than a
complainer.
I decide to be kind, rather than right.
I decide to enjoy what I have right now, rather than look for
what I want next.
I decide that all is well in my world, No Matter What.
Yes, the secret is, I DECIDE!
THE SILENT TELEPHONE
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THE SILENT TELEPHONE
All day long, in the back of my mind, I kept waiting.
I did the dishes, swept the floors, made a pie, and thought about you.
I checked my e-mail, paid some bills, went to the store,
and I thought about you.
Were you doing dishes, sweeping floors, paying bills,
driving your car, and did you think about me?
Were you doing all the things you wanted to do, seeing
what you wanted to see, and living the life you wanted to
live?
Did you pass by the phone and think, ” I really should call
but maybe tomorrow I’ll have time.”
Once I thought I too would have more time to call
tomorrow and now there is no one left to call.
Once I said “I’ll do it tomorrow, ” and now I am filled with
sadness for all of the tomorrows that vanished while I too,
kept so busy, did the errands, and walked on by the silent
telephone.
I look through the faded photo albums and remember,
sometimes there isn’t any tomorrow for our loved ones.
Where did the months and years go while I ran and pushed
and shoved myself to get all the important things done,
and the telephone just sat there, waiting?
Will my telephone ever ring in time?
THE COMPROMISE
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THE COMPROMISE
I said, I’ll do this if you’ll do that.
Nothing else seems to work.
Does this seem fair to you?
And you thought it over, and first you said maybe,
And I held my breath and said, that’s not good enough.
Life is full of compromises
And commitment is what I need.
Either you will or you won’t,
Either you can or you can’t,
Either you choose to, or not.
We all make choices.
So do we choose to compromise?
Finally you said yes,
And so began a new way of looking at things.
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