Getting older isn't always the most exciting thing...unless you are young then it is great. Once you get past a certain age you really don't want to celebrate birthdays anymore. Like not having a birthday party will prevent you from aging. However getting older is better than the alternative!
I can honestly tell you that last couple of birthdays that I have had were very much unwanted. I was certainly feeling old and did not appreciate it at all. Yesterday I turned 47....almost a half a century, almost five decades....anyway you look at it, it is just a number. It is what you feel like and what you think about in your mind. If you mentally think of yourself as old, then you are.
This year I have taken some serious steps to improve my health and it has all started with losing some weight. To date I have lost 41 pounds. Yes I go up and down but not by much. I started running again, something I am not really that great at. However I have been plugging away at the miles and slowly working my way up the miles. My half marathon I did was over 4 years ago. So far I have only worked back up to 10 miles. Yesterday I gave myself a birthday present. 11.4 miles......okay I was actually pushing for the half marathon distance of 13.1 but honestly I was dragging a bit. Regardless I am beating my goals I established for myself at the beginning of the year. I will certainly have the 13.1 distance down before January.
My family got me the perfect gifts of winter running gear....I hate the cold. But I am determined to keep running all winter long. Thanks to my family and thanks to all those who have been reading my blog posts and facebook posts encouraging me along the path. I plan on DOMINATING old age!
Well, we first heard about the circle of life from the famous Disney Lion King movie. Our family, with all the young kids at the time, watched it over and over........and over and over. It seems that many times we reminisce about a past experience with our now grown children and use a quote from one Disney movie or another to recall the moment.
However the discussion of the circle of life never really entered into the discussions. The words of the song appear like this:
From the day we arrive on the planet And blinking step into the sun There's more to be seen than can ever be seen More to do than can ever be done Some say, eat or be eaten Some say, live and let live But, all are agreed as they join the stampede You should never take more than you give In the circle of life It's the wheel of fortune It's the leap by faith It's the band of hope Till, we find our place On the path unwinding In the circle The circle of life Some of us fall by the wayside And some of us soar to the stars And some of us sail through our troubles And some have to live with the scars There's far too much to take in here More to find than can ever be found But the sun rollin' high Through the sapphire sky Keeps the great and small on the endless round
This week begins another transition in our lives. Not sure I have grasped the total reality of everything that will take place. It has come the time for my mother to move in with us. She is calling it an extended visit.The Circle of Life.For now we are letting her call it a visit but she needs someone to watch over her now she is at the age of 80. There is nothing wrong with growing old...we all do it. When we get older we begin to forget things, we have more illness, we have more medicines, we cannot get around quite like we used to. Nothing wrong with that....it is better than the alternative.
As a teenager, my grandmother(my mom's mom)came to live with us in Oklahoma for many years. Teenage boys are not the most energetic individuals about sensitivity. I had older siblings growing up and by the time I was in elementary school, most of them had grown up and moved away. I had the house to myself. My mother and father worked in their tax business and I often times found myself home alone. Pretty typical for right after school. During the tax season, my parents often worked late in the evenings and I was home alone then as well. It was either that or stay up at the office with them....no thanks.
So when my grandmother came to live with us, my territory was invaded. It actually wasn't that dramatic. I just had the rule of the house and now I had someone to chat with instead of being alone. I wish I had taken the opportunity to write some of her stories down. It would have been great (now) to recount her life growing up. She was the only grand parent I ever got to meet so it was special. Looking back I can say that the only thing that really irritated me about her was when she took over the remote control. Television was her life....isn't that so true about older folks.....the television is their connection to everything. She had to watchLittle Houseon the Prairieor The Waltons. Those were not the favorite shows of a teenage boy. And back then we only had one TV.Isn't it strange that years later I marry a girl whose favorite shows growing up were just those!
My grandmother went up to my aunt and uncle's home in St. Louis for the remainder of her days and unfortunately I never got to see her again. I never even made it to her funeral. A very sad accounting now that I think about it. I missed out on a lot.
As a father, we have gone through the mass Exodus of all our four kids. Okay, again a bit more dramatic than actually occurred. It just happened. My wife and I had our children pretty young and they just grew up. I can honestly say that I wasn't really sure that I was ready for that. It has probably affected me far more than my wife. One by one each left for college or for the mission field and then marriage and now making their home. Currently two are married, one lives near us in Norfolk and the other in Colorado. One is just finishing up a mission work in South America and will soon be headed back to Texas to finish up school. I expect a wedding announcement soon.....I probably shouldn't say that on here....oops. And finally our daughter just announced her wedding plans for January. Basically all of them no longer live in our home. It was always our intent to have them grow up and send them out of the nest.....what would be the alternative?
We are actually very proud of them all. It is exciting to see them begin their lives and careers......and I am sure families soon too. Don't call me grandpa yet.....however I believe that my grandpa name has already been coined as "PAPA T". A spin off of MR. T and COACH T from the younger days. At 46 my wife and I had found ourselves as empty nesters. As first, tragic. After we got used to it...okay, after I got used to it.....later.....it was kind of nice. We could go anywhere at anytime....nobody to report to...except for MAVRICK.
As a son, now yesterday I spent the day home from work preparing my daughter's old room for my mother. It is painted a bright cheerful turquoise. I cleaned the room, made adjustments for the lighting and heat, and prepared the bathroom for her needs. This will be a transition for us but I think it will be very nice. Different but nice. There will need to be time for all of us to make adjustments....even the dogs....they need to learn how to get along and share their bones.
Later this weekend, we will get her a cell phone, set up her computer with Facebook and an email account (she is baulking a bit at me on this one but I think it will be good. We need to keep her mind busy and active. TV will not be her only outlet. She can connect with friends and family from all over. It wont be that complicated....she is a smart lady, just hasn't had the need to use it in awhile) We will be making a few repairs around the house, many of the things we were wanting to do anyway. I just need to get them accomplished now.
I am excited, and happy....my mommy is here. After all the years of her watching over me and taking care of all my needs, I get to help her.....It is The Circle of Life. I don't intend on wasting these moments. This will be a great Christmas! Take care my friends.
Ok well, just passed a milestone of 46 years of age. Not sure where on the scale that puts me but I do feel and bit OLD many times. Kids are mostly gone now and living their lives away from us. No hair on head, all grey in goatee. Too many medicines, chiropractor and too difficult to exercise. Over weight, hard of hearing, cannot see with my glasses on or off. (constantly taking my glasses off to read my iPhone and then putting them back on to see further than 12 inches away from my face....what is the deal with that.) Achy in the morning, achy in the afternoon and most certainly if I wasn't so tired in the evening I would recognize that I am also achy before bed.
I understand (and relate)too much of the commercials on television about 'going and going and going' or Happy Bob (sorry too much information), blood pressure medicine, depression medicine.....and even medicine for medicine. My exercise exists in watching other people exercise on TV (and that makes me tired watching too). A treadmill sets in my front living room to remind me everyday of what I need to be doing. (An early birthday gift from my wife...at my request). Chores around the house are so exhausting, for that matter walking is exhausting!
This morning my knee started to hurt.....one spot that usually doesn't hurt surprisingly with all my knee injuries from football, baseball and powerlifting. My theory is that it is telling me it is about to rain or the weather is going to change. Yes, I know, it could be that it is 33 degrees this morning. Just one more thing that aches.
Thursday was my birthday. Cannot really do anything during the mid week due to work schedules etc. Supposed to have a birthday dinner on Saturday evening. Excitment really doent exist somewhere after the 35th birthday. Anyway, nothing special planned on the day, except having to go to the dentist the first thing in the morning.....oh yeah, add that to the list above of things falling apart or OUT. My mom called me at 6:45 my time, 5:45 her time, while I was still in bed....awake always by 6:00 or earlier...this morning was 4:30, to wish me a happy birthday. A text from my son going to work real early in Colorado and a mountain of Facebook posts from everyone....one of the best features of Facebook. A few meetings, a card from my employees and then out of the office a bit early. Thought about going to a movie with my wife....oh, wait this is only Thursday, new movies don't come out until Friday....scratch that idea....ok just dinner out. Oh of the same 'ol places and same 'ol selections off the menu (don't need to look at the menu I always get one of two things there). And then home!
Here is the clue that tells me I must be OLD.....I fell asleep at 7:30 on my birthday! Yep.....oh how exciting is that?....all I want for my birthday is to fall asleep! And I did. My clock is all screwed up. my calendar is all screwed up...I am only 46! That shouldn't be old! Wake up body! Get moving!......okay maybe later after I have another cup of coffee, go pee and take a nap.......oh brother! I see it now...just a few years away......in bed early by 7:00PM, with my walker by my bed, bottle thick glasses on the nightstand right beside the teeth in the water glass (that is just gross) and out like a light ready to snore the plaster off the ceiling (ceiling is falling in but not because of snoring) due to my fat little tummy....(by the way I hate it when my wife wakes me up when I am snoring only to tell me to go back to sleep...her gentle touches are probably more ignoring than just one huge shove!)..........oh brother! Maybe I will go back to sleep and wake up 20 years younger......yeah right, Dream On!
OK, here it comes, Hurricane Irene. Yep it is right on track to hit us straight on here in Virginia Beach. We have been preparing for this for the last week, buying groceries, getting gas, filling up water jugs, stock piling on food, putting all the lawn projectiles furniture away. It gets just a bit crazy when a hurricane comes upon us as we have just a bit too much time to prepare.
You see, I grew up in Oklahoma, you know the land of tornadoes....."Hey, look up in the sky (no! its not Superman) it's a twister...JUMP IN THE DITCH." 5 minutes warning and then its over 5 minutes later. The sky is beautiful and peaceful after a tornado....perfect weather to clean up the mass of debris that is left in its wake. Hurricanes give too much warning!
So today I had planned on a few things to do around the house BUT......Cannot mow the yard, cannot weed the gardens, cannot edge the lawn, cannot cut the hedges, cannot paint the house, sorry Mavrick...cannot walk the dog....good luck going potty in the category 2 - 100 mile an hour wind and rain! Ok so truthfully I might get only one or two of those things done.....if I'm lucky! or unlucky depends on one's perception)
We do know what will happen within few hours....NO POWER! (you won’t believe this but just now in the middle of writing this blog post the power went out here at the house…the very second I wrote no power!) so that means no television, no computer, no lights, no waffles this morning!!!!! Ahhhh should have woke up 15 min earlier! At least I got my coffee. Oh yeah, we can read in a book….no lights and the storm makes it dark outside….Oh yeah, we can play board games….really?!....Oh yeah, I made the stupid comment that I wasn’t going to move the big heavy patio grill inside the garage and if the power went out I would go out and cook in the rain!!!! Little did I know it would go out in the first few hours of the storm…AHHHHH.
Okay, get out the candles, get the flashlights ready to use, get the buckets of water for the toilet….ahhh I forgot to take my shower last night so I could shave…after all I need to be clean and smart looking when the rescue teams come for us while we are on the roof top surrounded by flood waters! I bet I am going to look like Tom Hanks in Castaway when they rescue him off of the deserted island. He did clean up pretty good afterwards.
Speaking of cleaning up…..guess what we will get to do once this storm has passed? Yep, pick up all the down branches, cut all the broken limbs, pick up all the debris left in the yard from the neighbor’s house that flew off, go look around the neighborhood for all of the stuff that flew off of our house, reinstall/replace the vinyl siding that was ripped down, put all the patio furniture back out in the yard.Labor Day weekend in next week….guess I will still be laboring thru that holiday!
Just relax…..stay calm….everything should be fine. We still have plenty of Poptarts and Vienna sausages. Consider the candles romantic. Consider the power outages as a way to get back to nature.Consider this a forced vacation, an opportunity to have a little peace and quiet as well as a much needed rest. Consider ourselves lucky!
Seriously my friends….stay safe. Count everything a blessing.You never know how much you have until you don’t have it anymore.My prayers go out to all those who are being hit much worse than we are.May God Bless.
Power went out in the middle of writing this blog and then came back on for a few minutes with enough time to post this. This will be a record of our existence should anyone find us trapped inside of our boarded up dwelling and huddled around a neverending monopoly board eating cold vienna sausages from a can and singing church songs.
