Look and Feel Younger

Let’s face it, we are all growing older. We may kick and scream, but we can’t stop the process, and I am not ready quite yet for the alternative. Online articles abound with advice on how to age gracefully. Recent ones include: Remove your Eye Bags Instantly, This Trick Erases Teeth Stains, 68 Year Old Grandma Outsmarts Botox, and The Secrets to Aging Gracefully. I usually read them because I just might learn something. The one bit of advice that appears in all articles has to do with exercise. I also get unsolicited urging from my late bloomer mate who exercises in some form or fashion almost every day. He is on a three mile hike in hot weather as I write this.

Until two years ago, I participated in deep water aquatics at the YMCA. I decided to give up swimming because I was getting too many colds and infections. Then my excuse became something like this quote from an unknown author.

 "I tried exercise but found I was allergic to it - my skin flushed, my heart raced,

I got sweaty, short of breath. Very, very dangerous."

Then I read Fifteen Ways Exercise Helps You Look and Feel Younger. Who doesn’t want to relieve stress, reduce belly fat, have better sleep, and be more flexible? After checking out the options for an exercise program in my area, I finally decided to join two fitness classes at our local senior center. It was time to get out of my comfy chair and take to heart a doctor’s admonition to his patient, 

“I’m afraid pulling the handle on your recliner doesn’t count as exercise.” 

I was surprised to discover that I could get a pretty strenuous workout by using a straight chair for support while I use weights and a resistance band to stretch my legs, arms, and torso. My second class is a gentle Yoga class that helps with balance and relaxation. I can do this without injuring myself and get myself in better shape in the process.

God placed me in this body to accomplish His purposes while I am still here. I can’t do that if I am too sluggish to move and am unmotivated and lazy. I want to be able to say like the apostle Paul did in 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Too Close to Home

The search for the two convicted murderers who escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York is very close to my hometown of Burke, New York.  I still have cousins in that area and a lot of memories of going to Owls Head, New York where the latest search is taking place. Some of my relatives had a camp on a lake near Owls Head and I spent a lot of time enjoying summer vacations there. 

Prison is in the middle county at the top of NY State.

The scene of the latest search is only 17.5 miles from where I grew up and very close to a border check point that leads into Canada. When I was young our family could have walked a mile to the Canadian border and crossed over without being stopped. The border is much more secure today.

My father spent much of his spare time roaming the woods and the hills where the police are now searching. He was a member of a hunting club like the one where the escapees’ DNA was found.

Upstate New York, especially those counties closest to the Canadian border, has a very large prison population. That area of the state is very sparsely populated and rugged, with forests and thick underbrush, and small towns scattered across the Adirondack Mountain region. The prisons are considered an economic lifesaver for a region that has few jobs and opportunities. The population of a county with a prison grows by approximately 30%—counting the inmates, prison staff, and families of inmates who move to the area. An increase in the prison population grows the county census and increases the amount of grants and representation at the State Capitol in Albany, New York. So unless there is a rare prison break, it is a win-win for the locals. This year I suspect a lot of locals are staying away from their summer camps on remote lakes until the escapees are caught. 

Upstate New York is anything but peaceful and quiet these days. I’m praying that the police soon apprehend the convicts so that my family and other folks in that region can enjoy the little bit of summer they get for two months every year.

19 Years & Counting

I’ve been waiting a long time to write this blog—nineteen years to be exact. Today my late bloomer husband and I celebrate our 19^th wedding anniversary. Almost to the exact hour 19 years ago we said our “I dos.”

It was the second marriage for both of us, and with my terminal illness, neither of us knew how many years of wedded bliss we would have. Charles reminds me that “love is deaf, dumb, and blind.”  In spite of the obstacles we both believed that God brought us together and so we chose to trust Him with our future. 

To celebrate we attended the Barry Manilow “One Last Time” concert last week. What a show and what a showman. He sang everything from his forty year music library. I have to admit that I expected his voice to not be as strong as it used to be.  Boy was I wrong; he hit all the right notes and never missed a beat.  He definitely “writes the songs that make the whole world sing.”

The next day we took time to smell the roses at Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground, GA.  One thousand red and white knock out rose bushes were still at their peak. Their fragrance filled the air as we walked along the winding paths. It reminded me of June 1998 when we went to another garden five weeks after my liver transplant. With my limited stamina, I made the effort to walk a few hundred feet and sit on a bench. We were both determined to get out of the house and do something for our anniversary. I am blessed today to live a very normal life today.

A few months ago, our nine year old granddaughter, Belle, drew this picture of Charles and me for Grandparents’ Day. She copied it from a family photograph. I guess this is what anniversaries are all about. 

  

The Bible offers words of wisdom on how to keep a marriage strong in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never ends.”

During our marriage ceremony, we played the song; “Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be. God bless our love.” Those words still ring true today.

Sister Act

Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of

our personal stories to the inevitable dusk.” – Susan Scarf Merrell

As the years go by and life gets busy, we don’t spend enough time with family members who live away. It takes extra effort to plan opportunities to get together especially since we’re all getting older and challenged by our abilities to drive long distances. Charles and I had been saying for some time we needed to see both our sisters this spring. 

Marion & Richard Simmons

Charles sister, Marion and her husband Richard Simmons, live in Baton Rouge, LA which is a long ten hour drive from where we live. So we asked them to meet us in the picturesque city of Fairhope, AL for the weekend. The beautiful weather enabled us to tour the shops and visit the Mobile Bay area of town. We enjoyed tea at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear and a delicious feast at the rustic Wash House Restaurant. The building is so old; you can’t imagine a fine restaurant being housed inside. But the inside atmosphere and food were very delightful. We spent a lot of time catching up on kids and grand kids and talking about the old days when Charles and Marion were young—more interesting stories for Charles’ book. 

We drove scenic 98E from Fairhope toward Pensacola, FL. Several signs along the way kept us entertained and gave me some new ideas for future writing efforts. I’m glad we’d already eaten lunch when we saw the Roadkill Café or we might have been tempted to check it out.  Next we passed the Blue Angel Baptist Church that gives dual recognition to the Christian’s eternal destination and the US Navy’s flying aerobatic squadron. 

Our next destination was Gulf Breeze to visit with my sister and her family.

Audrey & George Kimmel

Audrey Kimmel is my older sister and like me a recipient of a liver transplant. Our personalities and interests are similar so we’ve enjoyed a lot in common throughout our lives. I was the pest when we were younger when she dated her soon-to-be husband George. Charles and I stayed on Pensacola Beach so we could take advantage of the beautiful weather and the ocean waves.  Audrey came with us to sit on beach chairs under a big umbrella—a very enjoyable and relaxing experience. We enjoyed visiting with their children and grandchildren, and having a delicious dinner with Audrey and George at Jackson’s in Pensacola on our final vacation night.

Sisters are those special people in our lives who have known us the longest, know all about us, and love us anyway. So glad we could make some new memories with them.

As we headed home on I-65 in Alabama near Evergreen, we drove over Murder Creek.  My story making wheels have been churning ever since.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

What’s your favorite way to travel? I like all modes of transportation that will take me to new and interesting places. We were too poor to travel much when I was a kid, so it’s still a real treat for me to go anywhere. However, I’ll take a pass on boats and ships since I get seasick. 

As a teenager I yearned to ride in a luxury convertible like I saw advertised on TV and in the slick magazine pages. I wanted to hit the road and feel the wind in my hair and the bugs in my teeth. When I found out that one of the engineers in our office had purchased a classic vintage 1966 black Corvette convertible, I started to drool and drop hints. “You know I was a teenager in the 60’s and I didn’t know anybody back then who had such a fancy car.” On another occasion I took a more direct approach “Riding in a Corvette convertible is on my bucket list.” 

Finally, our co-worker Larry Hill said, “It’s going to be beautiful Saturday. Do you want to take a ride?” I looked at Charles with hopeful eyes as he said, “Go for it.” 

We cruised through downtown Acworth with its antique shops and historic buildings. I waved at the gals at Glitzy Chicks and felt sixteen again. Finally we arrived at Sonic for car hop service—vintage 1966. A beautiful day, a beautiful car, and a smooth way to travel.

The next Saturday Charles and I went to the Salute to America Air Show at the Silver Comet Airport in Paulding County. Charles checked out the Corsair he worked on when he was in the Navy and admired the C-130 cargo plane on display. Charles’ Finlet invention was tested on a similar C-130 with good success. Now we are waiting for the government to decide to buy them. It’s a good thing we’re not holding our breath.

Have you seen the Famous Idaho Potato Truck?  Well, we found it at the air show and it did not have wings. Here’s granddaughter Alexa with me in front of the Giant Spud.

So where’s the train—at the Whistle Stop Café where we dined on fried chicken and biscuits. The train made famous by the movie, The Great Locomotive Chase, is housed nearby in Kennesaw, GA and is featured at the Café. A small scale version of the famous Civil War train travels through the restaurant on an overhead suspension track blowing its horn as it goes. That’s us standing in front of a painting of The General with the moving train in the background.  

I didn’t go farther than thirty miles to enjoy planes, trains, and automobiles, but it was still quite a ride. Where are you going on your next road trip?

April Showers Bring .....

… Lots of pretty flowers and anniversaries. It’s been a blustery April in north Georgia with lots of rain and wind. Today, however, is one of the most beautiful days of the year so far. April and May are two of my favorite months – springtime days before the heat of summer settles in here in Georgia.

I had the wonderful opportunity to speak at a ladies retreat with the April Showers Bring May Flowers theme.  I shared my testimony and stories from my book Born Three Times.  We talked about how the tough times in life (those April showers) make it possible to bloom like May flowers and bless other people in the process.

There are other things I like to celebrate in May besides the pretty weather. It will soon be seventeen years since I received my second chance at life when a healthy donor liver replaced the diseased liver in my body. It’s with mixed emotions I celebrate my life as I still reflect on the family who made the difficult decision to donate their loved ones liver in May of 1998.  April is National Donate Life Month to encourage people to register to be organ donors and to tell their families about their decision. Please consider checking that box on your driver’s license. Currently, nearly 124,000 men, women and children are awaiting organ transplants in the United States.

My blog anniversary is also in May. In 2012 I started my twice-monthly blog and can’t believe how quickly the months have flown by. This is my number 72 post. I’ve had 15,251 clicks to this date. People from countries all over the world have read what I have written. I want to keep on keeping on and am continually looking for new ideas. Your input is always appreciated.

Mother’s Day is fast approaching and it’s another reason to celebrate in May. My own mother has been gone for twenty-eight years and the older I get find myself imitating her in some of my ways. Being a mother to two adult sons and grandmother to five grandchildren continues to fill my life with challenges and blessings. As a step-mother to Charles’ two children and his grandchildren, my life has grown in ways I never imagined.

Celebrate those April showers and May flowers God has placed in your life and share those blessings with others.

“For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.”
Song of Solomon 2:11-12

Home on the Range

Charles and I talked for weeks about taking a “Staycation.”  Spend less money, sleep in our own comfortable bed, ignore the phone, pray for no emergencies at work or with the kids, catch up on household tasks, eat out every night – sounded  “de-lite-full.”  I can’t believe we actually pulled it off.

We began our great adventure the week leading up to Easter. We each had a goal for the week—Charles was going to write more of his life story in preparation for his book. Frieda’s plan was to clean out her clothes closet, store winter clothes, and bring in the spring/summer clothes from storage. We didn’t want to spend all our time just relaxing, as tempting as that was.

By the end of the week, Charles actually produced 8,500 words for Frieda to edit into his manuscript. Frieda loaded up three big boxes of clothes to donate to the local homeless shelter. We ended up with our pickup truck full of odds and ends to donate. I felt ten pounds lighter when all that stuff was gone.

All work and no play was out of the question, so we took one day to visit Gibbs Gardens near Ball Ground, GA.  The Gibbs family has landscaped over 200 acres with beautiful trees, flowering shrubs, ponds, and bridges. Thousands of daffodils dotted the hillsides, and the pinkish Japanese maples were just starting to bloom. It was a beautiful 80 degree day-perfect for strolling on the garden paths midst clouds of yellow pollen unique to Georgia and its pine trees.

Picking a different restaurant every night was the frosting on the vacation cake. We decided to explore the USA via our food choices. We started out the week with Huey Lueys for a taste of south of the border foods similar to what we could find in Texas. Next we went to California Dreamin for some fresh vegetables and a taste of Los Angeles.  Our next stop was to Boston for Irish food at O’Charleys (use your imagination please), then to Chicago for Italian food from the local Parkside Grill. We concluded our week by eating Memphis BBQ at our BBQ Cutie, and finished our imaginative tour of the US by consuming Southern fried chicken and biscuits at the Whistle Stop.

I didn’t want the week to end, but Charles was ready to go back to the office. Doctor and dental appointments and a trip to see the tax man demanded our time and attention. Our week practicing retirement put a new spring in our step. Another staycation in the future is definitely on our  
“to do” list.