Leisure Time Choices

The movie was about six boarded young adults with lots of time and money who were looking of a “different kind of experience”.

As I left the theater, a young employee smiled and said, “Thank you for coming to our theater. I hope you enjoyed your movie.” I told Him that I did not enjoy the movie and pleaded with him not to see it adding, “I don’t know why I made myself in to a garbage can for the last hour and paid for it besides!”

I like to work.  The tasks are clear when my time is spent producing desired results.  At the end of the day, no matter how tough the problems were, I feel great about what I was able to accomplish.  Sometimes it is just a piece of the problem was solved, but the feeling of make a valuable contribution to the project is very satisfying.

Last week I had a rare day off for a holiday and consequently, found myself with extra time on my hands in the afternoon.  I went to the local mall to look around and decided to take in a movie.  I chose the one that was starting just as I arrived, bought a small bag of popcorn… for a huge price, and settled in to a common entertainment experience.

The movie was about six boarded young adults with lots of time and money who were looking of a “different kind of experience”.  Continue reading

Change is Hard

The fire started in the kitchen which is often the case in apartment living for seniors who for a variety of reasons find the kitchen to be less manageable as they age.

The fire started in the kitchen which is often the case in apartment living for seniors who for a variety of reasons find the kitchen to be less manageable as they age.

I know a woman whose home was damaged in an accidental fire. The fire started in the kitchen which is often the case in apartment living for seniors who for a variety of reasons find the kitchen to be less manageable as they age. Independent living including the regular tasks of housekeeping can create fire hazards as we age. In this case, cloth items were on top of the stove. While emergency personal were taking her out of the apartment for a medical need, the stove was inadvertently turned on resulting in the fire which started while no one was at home. Continue reading

Small Furry Friends

Although I could never imagine myself living with a dog of any kind, I can see that for my brother, his small but lively dogs are a very bright threesome in his life and a real necessity for this season.

Although I could never imagine myself living with a dog of any kind, I can see that for my brother, his small but lively dogs are a very bright threesome in his life and a real necessity for this season.

Having a pet requires a decent amount of dedication and commitment, but seniors sometimes find that pets are extremely beneficial friends and just a pure bundle of joy. The companionship that his trio of little dogs provides motivates my brother to get more involved in daily activities and socializing.

Most fascinating of this threesome is Augustus Valentine.  He is a lively Yorkshire Terrier that could jump almost to the top of the small fence enclosure that held him close to his teammates on the patio when I came for a visit.  As I inquired about his name, I learned that at first glance, he just looked like a little guy named “Gus”.  Believing that name was too casual for his special breed, the name was formalized on the spot to…… Augustus Valentine. Continue reading

A Heart Song

Find a place to “sing your heart out”… and when no one’s around, there’s always the shower.

Find a place to “sing your heart out”… and when no one’s around, there’s always the shower.

Remember when you were in a choir or glee club? It was all about singing a message with others using music as the communication vehicle. Whenever music is involved, be it singing or playing an instrument in a band, I think the participant is the real beneficiary. Add dancing or choreography and you had your whole body involved!

I always loved rehearsal… even more that the performance because I got to sing for a longer period of time. In the days and nights that followed, the music was going through my head while I was just doing every day activity. Continue reading

Invisible Pain

Physical and emotional pains are a reality in everyone’s life.

Physical and emotional pains are a reality in everyone’s life.

On the outside, my fingernails looked perfect! But underneath two of those perfectly manicured nails was a throbbing pain that only I was noticing. Just hours before, somehow I had accidentally managed to get several fingers caught in the car door when I slammed it shut while grabbing for my seat-belt strap. Ouch!!!

I try to carry on, no matter what happens, so I tried reading to distract myself from the pain. Continue reading

Knee Work

“Knee work bears fruit.”  It means that prayer is the starting place that will lead me to the next step I must see in order to find my way.

“Knee work bears fruit.” It means that prayer is the starting place that will lead me to the next step I must see in order to find my way.

Who are you listening to? What voices are fueling your thinking?

We all build a structure of living that works for a time, but unforeseen, sometimes sudden upsets bring those structures down like a house of cards. Fear becomes a reaction that is understandable and can be paralyzing. If the downfall included the trauma of emotionally devastating loss or rejection such as divorce, death, catastrophic illness or economic disaster, the sinking feeling can take you down fast. Continue reading

A GOOD Night

Those nights are over!

Those nights are over!

It was a joke in my family… one that I never wanted to hear and NEVER had me laughing! “Mom snores loud enough to wake the dead” was the comment. I couldn’t do anything about that problem so I thought I just had to live with it.

I began to notice that I was really dragging by late afternoon and desperately wanted to take a nap. Of course that was rarely possible, but the feeling would not go away. Continue reading

Get a vision

In search of a vision for the future………… after my last day in over, I found a great book by Randy Alcorn

I wonder what heaven is like?

This week I attended a funeral, an occurrence that is more frequent than ever as my years increase. For my friend Gail, the final weeks were very difficult because of illness and it hit me once again that “nobody is getting out of here alive!” I don’t think that anyone looks forward to the process of dying for the simple reason that we are all wired for living and nobody looks forward to any kind of pain and suffering.

It got me thinking…. I wonder what heaven is like? Continue reading