WOMEN AGES 50 + FOR NOVEMBER 2018

Options
1…3940424445…77

Replies

  • LisaInAR
    LisaInAR Posts: 2,020 Member
    Options
    Morning, afternoon, and evening my friends...

    Pat in Ohio    , I woke up thinking of you and your family's loss. :'( I hope you find some comfort in our small messages of support.

    Allie, so sorry to hear about your aunt's passing.

    Kim, we've both said before that we build our families outside the bounds of the home we grew up in for many reasons. Making the hard choices doesn't mean we have to be happy about them. :wink: But good for you for going in with your mind set to enjoy it as much as you can.

    Kelly, Joaquin is such a little sparkler!

    I am at the dawn, literally of ten days off, and it feels glorious! Just the thought of ten days where I'm relaxed, unstressed, and above all, able to do exactly what I choose... makes me envy Rori in her retirement all the more. I'm not an envious person most of the time, so my penance will be to catch up with all the November gratitudes. Here's the image, for the new ones who aren't sure what this is all about:
    lkzkyg4kxd5w.png

    And here are mine... read at your own risk:
    November Gratitudes
    1. Smell - Coffee, always coffee. If coffee actually tasted like it smells, it would truly be the nectar of the gods.
    2. Technology - The technology that allows us to be together here, that allows me to work from home, the technologies that connect us.
    3. Color - All the bright, eye-popping primaries and their infinite variations stir my soul.
    4. Food - It has been my worst enemy most of my life, my only coping tool at many points, and food and I are finally reaching a form of detente, it seems. I'm eating in a way that I can sustain for the first time in my life, and I think my weight will eventually steady down into the 150s. I seldom feel deprived, and am more at peace on that side than I ever have been.
    5. Sound - Music has brought me to tears, supported me through rough times, and made me happy. The fact that so many of our companions on this planet have their own songs as well, from the whales to the wrens, makes me happy, too.
    6. Nature - Flowers... all of 'em. Even the ones that make me sneeze.
    7. Memories - I've changed this one from earlier, and I'll add the poem at the end that describes the memory. I told you this was read at your own risk!
    8. Book – My mother's journals.
    9. Place – This one. My forever home.
    10. Taste – That first incredible sip of coffee in the morning.
    11. Holiday – Honestly, more grateful for holidays in the British sense, as vacations from the ordinary world. Organized holidays, from Thanksgiving to Christmas, have little meaning from my memories, much like Kim's. They are only what they have been since I grew up. Time off work.
    12. Texture – Not sure who said "skin," first, but am pirating that one. When I roll over and rub my husband's back in the middle of the night, the touch of his skin under my fingers assures me I'm not alone, I'm secure, safe, loved, there's so much wrapped up in that.
    13. Abilities – Typing! I bless Mrs. Coralynn Gamble, my typing teacher, who hung in there with me through three years of teaching me to type in high school, first on a manual typewriter, then on an IBM Selectric, frequently. It has served me well, and allows me to be able to express my thoughts very nearly at the speed they occur.
    14. Sight - Simply being able to see is such a gift, and I try to remember to be grateful for that. We take it for granted.
    15. Season - All of them, honestly. After my years of living in the desert, having more than two is a blessing. After the recent cold snap, we're finally moving into the cool, dry fall days for the next week, and having a true fall again is amazing.
    16. Body - This one's hard, as I've hated my body's betrayal of me all these years of struggling with my weight. But its ability to hang in there with me, to not completely quit on me no matter how much abuse I've put it through has to be respected. So I guess I would have to say the resilience of my body as a whole.

    And the promised poem:

    Summer Smile

    It’s his smile that always tugs at me, breaks me.
    He won’t smile when I have the camera out,
    His teeth are a little crooked, I guess.

    But when he smiles, I hear the echo
    Of our children’s laughter down the years
    And see the dog, panting, take off running, as
    He winds up to throw the ball as far as it can possibly go.
    Smiling all the while.

    It’s the smile he wore
    The day he sat, shirt open,
    A hundred degrees in the shade.
    I barely knew him, but wanted to, so much.

    I sat a few feet away, facing him, and we
    Talked about something, I couldn’t tell you
    Now what it was, didn’t care at all.

    I didn’t know where to look, but couldn’t look away,
    From the wide shoulders, tanned arms,
    One elbow over the chair back, working man’s hand
    Dangled there, scarred with the evidence of
    His living, half-healed cuts and unscrubbable edges.

    Still couldn’t meet his gaze, but there, the
    Other hand, relaxed, on his jean-covered thigh,
    And under the shirt that barely moved in
    The non-existent breeze, that narrow waist,
    And those long, long legs sprawled in front
    Of him, and when I finally brought my gaze
    Back to his face, waiting for me was that smile.

    His summer smile.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,932 Member
    Options
    trisH_7183 wrote: »
    SIL passed away .Both his Sisters were with DD.He was like our son,a wonderful husband
    & father ,a man who will be missed.

    So sorry.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,932 Member
    Options
    Machka9 wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    My sister-in-law posted this and I thought it was good ...

    lkzkyg4kxd5w.png

    Nov 1 - my roses. :)
    Nov 2 - social media and staying connected with family and friends.
    Nov 3 - blue. The blue of the mouth of the river/bay/start of the ocean out my window. The blue of the sky. My new blue sleeping top that was nice and comfy last night.
    Nov 4 - food ... cheese. I ate a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches when my husband was in hospital. They were my comfort food. Also cheese has calcium which I think I need. Unfortunately, cheese does tend to be a bit high in calories so I shouldn't eat too much of it. But anything cheese-y is comforting. :)
    Nov 5 - sound. I like listening to the waves and the birds, but I think the sound I'm most grateful for today is my husband's voice. Just the fact that we can talk to each other again. :)
    Nov 6 - "What in nature are you grateful for?" ... That's hard to narrow down to one thing. Oxford dictionary describes nature as "the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth". I am grateful for all of it. I find that getting out into any sort of nature helps to relieve stress.
    Nov 7 - "What memory are you grateful for?" ... Another one with so many choices!!! Recently, I've been grateful for two memories. 1) June 2017 ... my husband and I had a wonderful visit to Canada and did several things to make great memories ... hiking, cycling, visiting my family. I clung onto those memories during the months he was in hospital. 2) When I was 9 years old, my family moved away from where my grandmother lived. One of of the last days there, my grandmother took me to her window and showed me a full moon outside. She told me that on every full moon, we could both look at it and know that even though we were far apart, we were both looking at the same moon. That's a memory which has stuck with me all these years, and every time I see a full moon, I think of my grandmother. She's 97 years old ... but not doing so well ... so I've been thinking of her a lot. And I've also been very glad that my husband and I were able to see her when we visited Canada in June 2017.
    Nov 8 - "What book are you most grateful for?" That's easy ... The Bible. :)

    I've enjoyed reading all your memories. :)
    Love the discussion about books! :)

    Nov 9 - "What place are you most grateful for?" This is not an easy one for me because I don't have the sense of "home" that many people have. I've moved too much for that.
    So ... I've had to give this one some thought.
    What place?
    Well ...
    I'm grateful for our current house. It's comfortable enough. It's not very big so it's fairly easy to manage. And it has a great garden which my husband has been able to work in since returning home from his accident. It is also close to a couple beaches, which is nice. :)

    Nov 10 - Taste! Hmmm ... salt. In the "Do you crave sweet or salty" discussion, I fall on the "salty" side.
    As it happens, I have a diminished sense of taste and smell for whatever reason, so I divide foods into the basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour or bitter, and from there it's harder to distinguish precise flavours. Although, I do seem to have some odd tastes like, for example, meat and tomato taste metallic to me, and I don't like that. If I salt them well, the metallic taste goes away and they taste salty, which is OK.
    Then, one of the side effects of my husband's accident is that he has lost most of his sense of taste and smell. He has regained a little bit, and they say it should return very gradually. But he'll comment that dinner has no flavour, and I'll think, "It just tastes salty to me. Is there supposed to be more flavour than that?"

    Nov 11 - What holiday are you grateful for? Christmas!!! :)
    I've always loved Christmas. I even picked up 3 Christmas CDs yesterday. I like having a decent amount of time off ... not just one day ... so I can get things done. I like all the decorations. I like the music. I like the services and celebrations.

    Nov 12 - Texture. Smooth. Very, very smooth. Clothing with no texture. Textured clothing is unwearable. Smooth clothing is good.

    Nov 13 - Abilities. Right now, it would have to be organisation. While I feel like I'm in the midst of a chaotic whirlwind (and have been for the past 8 months) and I don't feel very organised, surprisingly enough, stuff is getting done.

    Maybe I should include things like endurance and tenacity ... "skills" I've honed from my long distance cycling carrying over to "real life".

    Nov 14 - Sight. What sight am I grateful for? The ever-changing view out the window of our house looking over the bay and the surrounding hills. Right now it's all grey and misty but it still looks good.

    Nov 15 - Season. The season I am most grateful for is summer. I love summer. I'd love it if the year were divided so that there was 1 month of winter, 1 month of spring, 2 months of autumn, and 8 months of real summer weather. We're coming into summer here and I appreciate each and every summer-like day.

    Nov 16 - What about your body are you grateful for?

    Sometimes I think ... "less and less" these days because I'm literally falling apart.

    But ... I'm grateful for my legs which are one of my main methods of transportation.


    Machka in Oz

  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,932 Member
    Options
    LisaInAR wrote: »
    I am at the dawn, literally of ten days off, and it feels glorious! Just the thought of ten days where I'm relaxed, unstressed, and above all, able to do exactly what I choose

    I'm a little bit jealous!
  • klanders30
    klanders30 Posts: 2,569 Member
    Options
    lisa fantastic poem!

    Margaret the description of what you’re going through is a mirror image of what we went through. Stand your ground, our sellers were crazy spending hoarders that were about to go into default (they actually ran a professional moving company!) with too many renters to count. They delayed at every turn, wanted us to take on the renters-delaying even more because they needed help with the move!!?? And then tried leaving a driveway full of junk the day before closing on the walk through—-I feel your stress, I’m reliving my stress. Oh wait, we stood our ground, we were willing to walk away and made that clear and the junk disappeared, we didn’t increase our offer, we moved in and love our place—-I’m hoping this will be your story as well.

    Ice and rain after a snow storm yesterday, I’m enjoying a second cup of coffee in my jammies before I go and dust off the car and head to work.

    NYKAREN
  • KJLaMore
    KJLaMore Posts: 2,830 Member
    Options
    Gratitude #16 What about my body am I grateful for: I am grateful every day for my strength. I am not superhuman, but I still have the strength to do what needs to be done and have a strong upper body and back. As I help care for my MIL and watch my husband slowly lose strength due to RA; I am SO grateful for my strength and it drives me to keep lifting weights and taking care of myself so that I don't lose it!
  • 1948Peachy
    1948Peachy Posts: 1,511 Member
    Options
    Happy Friday! <3

    Pat ~ So sorry to hear of your dear son-in-law's passing. Hugs for you and all your family.

    Machka ~ All the photos you have shown make me realize that you have such beautiful scenery in your part of the world.

    Kelly ~ How thoughtful of you to take the TD meal to your husband's family. It is such a kind gesture and I know they will appreciate it.

    Kelly said, " I think the family we make for ourselves is many times more crucial to our well being that the family we were born with." Well said!

    Facebook ~ I know that I spend too much time on it, but, love being able to keep up vicariously with people I have known/know!

    The rain has finally stopped here and today we have sunshine for the first time since last Sunday. It's very cold (in the 30's) but I will take that over the non-stop rain.

    Welcome to all the new posters...please tell us about yourself and keep coming back.

    Carol in GA





  • pipcd34
    pipcd34 Posts: 16,578 Member
    Options
    Yo peeps and welcome new peep-ski’s
  • SophieRosieMom
    SophieRosieMom Posts: 3,363 Member
    edited November 2018
    Options
    TGI Friday!

    You all have been busy over the past 24 hours and I need to play catch up B) It may take all day, lol.

    Saw this and thought it tied in with the month of Gratitude:

    4zdbjr8qquma.jpg

    Went to doc yesterday about the aching shoulder, she thinks it's an "impingement" and possibly bone spur so will try exercise and anti inflammatories and ice for a few weeks. She put me on generic Celebrex since my tummy doesn't do well on ibuprofen. Exercises hurt but after a bit it does feel better.

    I downloaded Messenger on my Fire Tablet last night and I see Facebook has come up with a "wave" thing now. Was trying to binge-watch "This is Us" and all of these little notices kept popping up! Mostly from people who are my "friends" but I really don't follow. GGRR. So will uninstall it. I stay off FB in the evenings so I can relax and watch what I want on that little tablet. If it weren't for the ability to message people I actually want to connect with and checking on family, I'd dump Facebook in a heartbeat. Wish there was a way to turn messenger off, I'll probably have to uninstall FB from the tablet as well.

    Margaret     - I am following your (and Karen in NY) saga with that house purchase with great interest. I can't imagine leaving a mess behind for a new owner and I think you are on the money with them getting all of their stuff off the property before closing or walking away.

    Machka & Penny - I want to visit both of your areas when the teleporter gets fixed. ;) Which reminds me - how hard can it be to rebuilt a flux capacitor? I need to contact the guy and see what the hold-up is. :p

    Katla - we had plenty of haze from the forest fire smoke (and local burning) but I didn't notice a heavy smell in like what we had in the summer. Hope the weatherman is right and rain hits the west coast by Thanksgiving.

    Will be back later <3

    Lanette
    Misty SW WA State
  • mjschmitzmojo
    mjschmitzmojo Posts: 22 Member
    Options
    Lucyogrady5 - Welcome to the group – we are here to support you, visit often and let us know how you are doing. Are there any support groups in your area that you could join to meet other people?
    Trish - sorry for your loss – condolences to you and your family
    Willow - Welcome, sorry your health is so poor. Suggestion a friend of mine teaches chair yoga is there anything like that in your area? Possibly locate something on line in regards to chair yoga to help you get some exercise.
    Well today is my DH actual birthday so we are having our annual pizza night as a family so looking forward to family time I love it!!!
    Will be off work for 9 days and I am hosting Thanksgiving so lots to do on my “TO DO LIST”. Will probably not have time to catch up until I come back.
    #16 Grateful I am still limber and able to get around and do pretty much of anything
    Wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving enjoy time with family and friends in case I miss getting on line.

    b3jm75brux0x.png

    Jo - Windy City Chgo

Categories