Lose If You Snooze

I always thought naps were good for you—especially in your older years. Not so says Live Science magazine. “Middle–age and older adults who take daytime naps may be at increased risk of dying, a new study from England suggests.” (April 22, 2014) The logic behind that statement seems to be linked to sleep apnea and the need to sleep during the day because of not getting quality sleep at night. A few years ago, a sleep doctor told me that my daytime napping habit had to go if I ever planned to get a good night’s sleep again. It took a while, but I finally kicked the nap habit. A rainy Sunday afternoon snooze is definitely the exception. 

So what’s the alternative to wanting to nap—staying busy says a recent article on the FOX Business network.  For many older Americans, that means staying in the work force longer than age 65. Seniors are working longer for the financial benefit, but also for the social satisfaction that comes from interacting with people. It’s more challenging to keep or find a job in our later years, but many employers find value in hiring the more dependable seniors who have a strong work ethic. Some folks have even started new careers during their retirement years. You may recognize some of the names below as examples of seniors who hit their stride later in life.

  

Susan Boyle – Her singing career took off after she was 50.

Colonel Sanders – He invented “finger lickin good” chicken at age 70.

Laura Ingalls Wilder – She first published the Little House on the Prairie series at age 64.

Henry Ford – He built the first car assembly line at age 60.

Today Charles and I talked with his sister, Marion, who is celebrating her 85^th birthday. She’s not slowing down one bit. In fact, she was just promoted in her job as head of her local senior center. Charles—the other half of the dynamic duo—goes to work every day determined to sell his devices for reducing aircraft drag to military and commercial operators. 2014 just might be the year.

The best Biblical example of productive old age is the Apostle Paul who was executed close to age 60. (old in Biblical times). He writes to younger Timothy (2 Tim.4:7) “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” That’s a worthy goal for our later years.

Writing this blog has made me sleepy. I think I will go take a nap.  

No Greater Love

During this month of April, I want to recognize all the heroic families who donate life. Sixteen years ago my sister, Audrey, and I received transplanted livers from unknown donors. We have each been blessed with  additional years to celebrate life with family and friends. Not everyone is so fortunate. I recently joined an international Facebook support group for people with liver disease called “Live, Laugh, and Love Your Liver.” Reading about the triumphs and struggles of others who are so sick pre-transplant and, in many cases, post-transplant I am amazed that we have done so well. 

Heart of Gold Rose
honors donor families

Many ground breaking scientific advances are being made in the field of organ donation. Two recent articles on FoxNews.com caught my attention. There is an increase in living donor transplants where the donor gives a portion of their liver to the recipient. The risk of organ failure for both the donor and the recipient can be very high and long-term complications are possible. For this reason the living donors must go through three days of intensive physical and mental screening before being accepted.  If all goes as planned, a half of the healthy liver replaces the diseased liver. Within four to six weeks the donor’s liver will regenerate to 80 to 90 percent of its original size and the donated half will increase in size and restore liver function in the recipient. Except for some ugly scars and livelong immune suppressing drugs for the recipient, both persons have the potential to live normal lives.

I am also excited to learn that scientists are now transforming human skin cells into mature, fully functioning liver cells. The skin cells are regenerated, using a specific cocktail of reprogramming genes and chemical compounds. The hope for the future is that these healthy cells can be inserted into livers to grow and crowd out the diseased cells. Perhaps in future generations, scientists can grow fully functioning livers, thus completely eliminating the need for donor transplants. 

Medical science has come a long way in the sixteen years since my transplant. I continue to pray for the family who made my organ donation possible. A Bible verse from John 15:13 sums it up for me. “Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (NIV translation)

I am also reminded during this Easter week of an even greater gift—the ultimate life giving gift—when Jesus the Christ lay down His life for our salvation. No greater love!!

My book "Born Three Times: A New Life, A New Liver, A New Love" recounts how I received three amazing gifts and a second chance at life.  It's available from Amazon.com in print and ebook formats.

My book "Born Three Times: A New Life, A New Liver, A New Love" tells how I received three amazing gifts and a second chance at life.  Available at Amazon.com in soft and ebook

So Much To Do . . . .

. . . .So little time.  Revelation~ to be an author, blogger, and speaker is hard work, with little pay but much reward.  And since I started later in life, I have a lot of catching up to do. If I want to write another book, I need to perfect my craft. That means writer’s workshops and conferences. At conferences you get to rub elbows with other authors, editors, publishers, agents and lots of other folks in the writing industry. In many ways it’s like boot camp–long days and hard work– if you are to get the most for your money. At writer’s conferences, I learn the art and craft of writing and also how to market what I write. That’s the hard part. I am not good at self-promotion and marketing so I usually find someone to help me and that generates more work on my part. Like everything else in life, you get out of something what you put into it. I am trying to look at this full-blown hobby of mine as a ministry—it ministers to me and hopefully to others as well.

I have three speaking opportunities in the next two weeks and an Author Meet & Greet at a local book store. Each one requires advance preparation, especially the class I am presenting at a nearby senior center. My topic is “Write Your Memories” and I will be showing my peers some of the many ways to preserve their legacy for the younger generation. I will tell them it’s not necessary to be a computer geek to use lo-tech and mid-tech writing tools. Then I will share more complex computer software packages that can be helpful to the more technologically advanced. I hope they don’t ask me too many techie-type questions. 

Making a new friend at a book signing

I am gradually learning more effective ways to use social media such as Twitter and Pinterest.  But I don’t want to spend all my time in front of a computer or with my head scrolling a smart phone. I understand how easy it is to get addicted to always being “social.” In addition, I am in the process of launching my website:  friedadixonministry.com.  I am maintaining my present twolatebloomers.com blog site, but there will be a link on my new website that will also connect you to this blog.

Then there are days like today when I am totally unmotivated to do anything connected to writing. However, I am determined to complete this blog so that I can post it before the end of March. I set myself a goal two years ago when I started blogging that I would post two times each month. Those dedicated folks who post twice each week or more are to be greatly admired. Writing presents so many opportunities, I will never be bored and for that I am very grateful. 

Persistent Pansies

My containers filled with pansies are teaching me a lesson about persistence this spring. Like so many things in life, they started healthy and full of promise. I remember when we planted them last fall when there was a nip in the air and the days were getting shorter. Since those hardy plants are known for being tough, I just knew we would be rewarded with purple, yellow, and blue flowers all winter long. I didn't count on the Polar Vortex and nights of single digit temperatures, followed by inches of snow and ice. My frozen and battered flowers stayed hunkered down in their containers and produced only a few pitiful small blossoms. 

“Those early bloomers look dead,” I told my late bloomer husband. I just knew we would have to dig up the plants and redo the flower containers if we hoped for any spring color. My pansies had other ideas and must have adopted the motto: “Hope spring eternal in the human breast.” (Alexander Pope–An Essay on Man)  As soon as the first few days of 60 degree sunshine warmed those hibernating plants, they raised their heads and started to grow again. Now I am awarded with an abundance of colorful flowers with happy faces that provide color and joy to my front porch and back deck.

 

The persistence of my pansies is not just about the flowers, but a picture of life. Our days start out so full of hope and promise, but seem to be sabotaged by difficulties and challenges that knock us down for a while. Broken relationships, chronic illnesses, job loss, financial difficulties, prodigal children, and family deaths intrude and we find it difficult to raise our heads and bloom.

The expectation of our time is for a quick and easy fix to our latest dilemma. Chris Tiegreen in one of his devotional books wrote that we live in a “microwave world.”  Today we could add we live in a “Google world” that provides us fast answers to everything.  (Did you know the Internet celebrated its 25^th anniversary this week? How did we ever live without it?)  The challenge of our day is to learn persistence and perseverance in the midst of difficulties with no fast fix.  The Bible admonishes us in Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Good advice for me to follow and share with my fellow readers. 

I really like the way comedian Jim Carrey put it:,“Flowers don't worry about how they're going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful.”

Climate Change Reflections

February was definitely a month of climate change in Georgia. First we had SnowJam 2014 when every interstate and side road in Greater Atlanta area was locked up in a massive traffic snarl. And snarling is exactly what people did as they spent hours and even nights in their cars. The salting trucks couldn’t even get around the mess. Two weeks later IceJam 2014 closed down schools, offices, and stores. Everyone had to stay home until the ice melted. 

As soon as we defrosted, Charles headed to Ottawa, Canada for a wind tunnel test. Now that was one cold and snow packed city. But he dressed for it and actually enjoyed seeing all the ice sculptures in the park across from his hotel.

Less than one week later, we spotted a gorgeous pink Eastern Redbud on the road to our office. It only took a few days— with temperatures in the 20’s to temps in the 60’s— and that tree burst into full bloom.

I have a real issue with the climate change scientists who declare that humankind is solely responsible for warming up our planet to the point where catastrophe is awaiting around the corner. During the coldest winter in decades, people have been left helpless before the onslaught of plunging temperatures and mounting snow. I choose to believe that the natural forces put in place by our Creator are the deciding factor when it comes to climate change. Yes, we should all be responsible citizens and not pollute the air and water, but we don’t need to destroy jobs and our economy to do it.

To all my friends and family in the northeast and other colder climates, I know you are so over winter and are counting the days until March 21-the first official day of spring. In the meantime we have March 9 and the return of Daylight Savings Time. How did that get here so fast? I much prefer more daylight in the morning and less at night. But, once again, nobody asked my opinion.

 

I defer to the wise words found in the Bible. Genesis 8:22 says it all. "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."  

Stay bundled up and look forward to warmer days ahead.

The Importance of Milestones

A friend recently shared with me the following quote from baseball great Satchel Paige:

 “How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?”

Since I've just celebrated a milestone birthday, I decided to ponder that question. I concluded that since I wouldn't have known then, what I know now—this is my best age. I've had the opportunity to do many wonderful things in my life, but nothing compares to the peace I feel today of being comfortable in my own skin. That doesn't mean that there isn't room for improvement—there definitely is. There are many lessons I've learned over the years that contribute to my contentment at this stage of life. But there are areas of life that I want to work on in the next decade. And they all start with the letter “C.” With help from the definitions found in Dictionary.com and the New International Version of the Bible, here is my list:

•   Courage - To face difficulty without fear, and to not flinch in the midst of criticism.

I don’t want to be debilitated by my fears, but I want to face them and overcome them. I am reminded of the Bible verse in 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…”  To me, this means I should not rely on my own strength when faced with life’s challenges, but on the perfect love of God. 

            

 •   Compassion – To deeply feel for someone dealing with misfortune, with a strong desire to help their suffering.

It’s all too human to turn a blind eye to human suffering and to think its someone else’s problem and not mine. I want my eyes to be open and to be aware of those persons whose lives I can impact. Gal. 6:2 “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

•   Creativity – To be inspired to generate new ideas and ways of expressing myself.

I am finding that in my “older years” I have more time to dream, be creative, and share those thoughts with others. If the Lord gives me time and the ability, there is an historical novel deep down inside waiting to be written.  “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

•   Connectedness – To develop new relationships and nurture existing ones with friends, family, and acquaintances. 

I want to see each person as having been placed in my life for a reason and a season. “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help.” Ecclesiastes 4:9–12.   It’s my goal to connect and be connected with as many interesting and inspiring people as possible.

Please comment below if you would like to join me on my journey.

Make Friends with a Book

Joseph Brodsky—named United States Poet Laureate in 1991—wrote, “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”  Brodsky was speaking from personal experience since he was raised in Russia during the Stalin era and was not allowed the freedom to distribute his writings.

A post on Facebook called “Surprising Book Facts” gives the following statistics:

• 33% of high school graduates never read another book during their lives.
• 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
• 42% of college grads never read another book after college.
• 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.

Do you think that explains why graduation rates and test scores are at an all-time low?

Contrast those stats with another article I saw on the Internet with the headline Sandvoort, Guyana. The closest library to this South American village was a long two mile walk away. Most school age children had never read a book and the teachers used the “chalk and talk” method for their teaching. In a village where most families can barely afford toothpaste, the desire for learning is so great that villagers are using sweat equity to build a local library. Everyone is pitching in by donating their spare time to construct the building, shelve donated books, and cook meals for the workers. The children in that village will now be exposed to a whole new world of opportunities through their reading. 

I know the ways we receive information in the U.S. is changing due to the technology revolution, but we need to encourage our families to read. All authors, including me, want to know that people will read the words that we are inspired to write. An unknown author has said, “A good book on your shelf is a friend that turns its back on you and remains a friend.”  So pick up a good book and read.

ere’s a suggestion:  Born Three Times-A New Life, A New Liver, A New Love.

http://www.amazon.com/Born-Three-Times-Life-Liver/dp/1462403875/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390853072&sr=1-1&keywords=Born+Three+Times