Today Brian and I visited my husband, Harvey, at the nursing home. Today is Harvey’s 82nd birthday.
I took a picture I painted –
and Brian brought a packaged apple pie.
Harvey didn’t realize it was his birthday, even when I showed him the picture and we explained it to him. His nurse jumped in, though, joined us in singing, “Happy Birthday,” and said it was okay that I put the picture on the wall where he can see it. She also arranged for him to have a precious cup of coffee with his pie.
He didn’t say anything that made sense today, but seemed to be comfortable and definitely enjoyed the pie and coffee.
Later the nursing home sent us a video of the staff surrounding his bed holding a ‘cake’ with fruit all around it, plus two lighted candles, singing, “Happy Birthday” again, and passing around another plate with fruit that they all shared while celebrating with Harvey. He dived right into the plate, grabbing a sliced banana 🍌 after trying and finally succeeding on blowing out the candles.
I can’t imagine a nicer gesture. It brings me to tears that they dropped everything today to help make his day as pleasant as possible.
Today is my birthday. I’m 78. I’m especially happy to celebrate today because I almost didn’t get to celebrate this one. Because of the weird circumstance of being admitted to the ER because of shortness of breath and low blood oxygen, I was in the proper place to have good people there when my heart stopped twice on February 6th, plus the cardiology department who gave me a new lease on life with a temporary, then a permanent pacemaker. So, I’m celebrating today with a super-happy, ear-to-ear grin. If I can find a piece of chocolate cake with chocolate icing, you can bet I’m snarfing it down with pleasure! :0)
Kudoboard
Things are moving at a rapid pace around here on trying to get ready to move to Thailand to be with our son.
Our “emu” planters went to live with some good friends yesterday. They will need a coat of paint and some new googly eyes; but my friend loves them and they’ll have a wonderful home at her house.
I’m still busily canceling things like subscriptions, automatic renewals, automatic orders, etc., plus making lists of things to cancel when we are in Thailand.
We have a busy week ahead, sewing up lots of details, meeting with people, doctor appts, and more, but also have visits with friends scheduled and unscheduled as yet to enjoy.
Our son ordered backpacks for my husband and me to use as carry-ons until we get to Thailand. He will also order a suitcase for each of us, since the only ones we have weigh a ton and are older than he is. The new ones only have to live through one set of flights, so we should be able to get something at a reasonable price. We will each pack one suitcase and the backpack. That’s it. All else we let go.
The auctions may or may not happen while we are here. Our passports should be here in about two weeks, so we’ll be leaving soon after that. I’m concentrating on gathering as much energy as I can for the 23 or so hour trip.
I’m hoping that your life is going well, and that today – especially – you have a good reason to smile.
I’m still feeling pleased that I FINALLY reached my 50-pounds-down goal this past week. I am now into my 5-more-off-goal and have managed to get one more pound off. A large part of the credit goes to our son, who is doing all the cooking for us while my husband and I continue to try to recover from his flu and pneumonia, and my flu, bronchitis and follow up ER stay and pacemaker installation.
I have some big news in regard to our future. We are going to move to Thailand to be close to our son and to make the rest of our lives as comfortable as possible. I look forward to sharing our new lives with you here on the blog.
We have applied for expedited passports, and will basically leave as soon as we have those in hand and our tickets. There will be a block of time between our arrival there and the setup of a laptop where I can write to you again, but I hope that time will be short. I hope you will bear with me during the change.
I am looking forward to a new life as we handle many, many details of leaving here. I hope that you are celebrating changes that bring YOU joy in your lives, too.
I have told you that our son lives across the world from us. We communicate daily via a chat program he set up for us, plus a conference call program. This allows me the illusion that he is NOT across the world from us, but only a message away. We chat daily – sometimes several times a day.
We’re setting up my new computer and I wanted to get the chat program on it. I had a real problem, though, in that my current computer gave me a message that the chat program wanted to “verify it’s you.” To do that, I was supposed to give it my username and password. I did, and it tried to send a confirmation email to the address – but that address is no longer active. I tried to change it, but it wouldn’t let me. AAAAAAACK!
I left a message for our son about the problem. Thankfully, he sent an email inviting me to sign up using the new computer. I used the new computer to follow the directions and finally got it working.
Our son helped me change the user name and password. He wanted me to display a picture with my account. We haven’t been able to move my pictures to the new computer yet, so I looked at what was available so far. In an old picture group, there was a picture of my husband and me, sharing a chair in my parent’s home back in the 60s when we were dating. I used that. Our son LOVED the pic. Apparently, he hadn’t seen that one before. He sent a smiling emoji and said he thought “we ought to go steady.” I replied, “we did, and over 55 years later….” It was a fun memory.
I then was able to move the program to the browser I use for that, so we’re all set. (We will tackle what we need to do to enable the conference calls later. We need to enable camera and microphone, and who knows how we do that.)
I am feeling triumphant that we were able to get this done this morning. Things are looking up.
I got a call a while ago from the tech, saying he was on his way… Fingers crossed about the ice maker.
Here is a quote I live by – “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” ~ Marcus Aurelius.
I really think, in spite of much of what happens in life, you can choose to see the good, can choose to see the humor in situation, can choose to see things in the most positive light.
You can also choose to surround yourself with people who bring you joy. Choosing to find common ground, cherishing what you love about each person, rather than focusing on disagreement areas can calm your mind and spirit.
Choosing to spend time each day doing things you love brings an automatic smile to your face and happiness to your heart. We need to make the time, even if it’s just a little bit each day, to find joy.
Sure, there are challenges – I have to remind my husband that I have the tractor guy on ‘speed dial,’ ready to dig a hole for me to throw him in when he is being particularly ornery, for example, but mostly all is good.
I usually spend the morning writing posts for this blog and doing exercises with weights in-between posts. This way I don’t have to have a particular time designated for working out with the weights, and it doesn’t seem so bad when I can then enjoy writing another post.
I truly love spending time finding things I find wonderful to share with you. I’ve become friends with some of the readers of this blog – a thing I wouldn’t have had the opportunity for, otherwise. What a gift that is!
I escape from my ‘challenges’ by –
writing the posts or finding wonderful things to include later
listening to music – either upstairs in my art room, or finding new wonderful talent on YouTube
reading – I just can’t get enough of diving into an ‘old friend’ or discovering a new author, learning something new, and more.
playing in my art room – playing at being an ‘artist,’ trying new techniques, using new tools, or old tools in a new way, being inspired by things I see on Pinterest, Etsy, or other places that get my juices flowing.
gardening – spring is my favorite season, with perennials blooming from my efforts in the past, new things to plant, veggie gardens to plan, hacking down all the stuff that tries to recapture the wildness that was here before we came, and more. There are good things to do in ALL the seasons, though, and I love to spend time outside, pruners in my gloved hands, walking around.
My husband and I are reasonably healthy at this point, even though we’re older than dirt. He is still grumbling about turning 81 last month. “80 had panache” he said, but 81 is ‘just old.’ I’m trying to watch what he’s eating, though he thwarts my efforts when he can. He refuses to exercise, but that’s just him being ornery. He’s excited about his new welding table, but doesn’t have a new project yet.
He did say he was proud of me recently about my efforts to lose the lard and make what is left stronger. I’m still happy about his compliment.
So, I’m a happy, spoiled lady, and I love my life now. I’m hoping that Dr. Seuss’ words are true for a good, long time.
This was the part of our driveway closest to the house Friday. Even after we had a previous guy work on getting the trees on either side of it under better control for the winter (when they tend to fall INTO the driveway from both sides during ice and snow or severe weather) I was still dreading the season to come.
Because a crew from the power company was here to clear the vegetation encroaching on the power lines, I went out and asked if anyone did work on the side or knew someone who did. I got the name and number of Richard Billett, called and left a message. He called me back very soon and came out that afternoon after work to see what we needed.
Happily, this weekend was free, so he started work early Saturday morning. He worked all day long until almost dinner time. He came again yesterday morning, starting even earlier, and finished up mid to late afternoon.
He cut things way back, but left the woody, natural feel we like.
My photos don’t do it justice, but he climbed tree after tree, carefully trimming or taking out some of the tops, opening things up so the sun can now get to the driveway more, enabling faster melting. He took out almost all the dead stuff – anything that looked like it might THINK of falling into the driveway, opening the whole driveway up. There is no way to show you how much he did, but I now feel safer about the driveway than I have in YEARS.
When he was showing me some of what he’d done Saturday and what was left to do Sunday, we walked quite a way down the driveway. It’s steep and skiddy with the gravel, so he offered his arm on the way back up. This old lady was very grateful for a strong arm to anchor me and keep me from falling on my head as I huffed and puffed my way back up.
Not only did he do the driveway, but he cut down a BUNCH of the weed trees that were impeding our view out of the back yard. (We feel if we can SEE it, we OWN it, so it makes us grin from ear to ear when we can actually see down the hill into the valley a bit.) He didn’t even charge us for that because he said it should have been done to clear the area around the power line.
So, in one weekend we are breathing a huge sigh of relief. Our miracle worker’s name is Richard Billett. His side business is called Ba_Boom Tree & Construction. Phone number is 918-315-4286. Email is Baboomtreeco@gmail.com. He does “Tree trimming and removal, Drop & Go, All phases of Construction, Framing, and Remodeling, Custom Decks, Metal Roof/Siding and Repairs.”
To say I highly recommend him is an understatement. He is honest and hard-working. He does what he says he’ll do, with care for the continued growth or function of what is there. (He left some trees in the ground to hold our soil, and took care when topping things so the trees would have continued growth.) He communicates well and wants his customers to be happy with the job he has done. He goes the extra mile. You can trust him.
We’ve had several ‘wins’ lately, and I AM ‘smiling on the inside.’
The most important is that we are finishing up on the generator project. We had put a new car battery in it and a new starter solenoid. We changed the oil and the oil filter. The generator tech/electrician did his magic, getting all the red lights to go off and pronounce it ‘good to go’ again. Yesterday my husband removed what he called a ‘tach (and something else) combo and has a new one ordered. We looked on the general log we keep to find out when we bought the generator and found it was 2008, so it’s old. In fact, the tech said he had never seen on as old as ours. Of course, WE are also older than dirt, so it fits right in. We’re HOPING that the generator will last as long as we do. The generator did its weekly automatic test yesterday – the first time this has happened in about a month. HOOORAAAAAAY!!!!!
Second, for the first time in a couple of years, it’s a pleasure to go down and up our driveway. We had to plan to be able to afford someone to do the project because the driveway is 650 feet + and STEEP. It really needed some reshaping and scraping, as well as a couple of huge truckloads of a special gravel that the city uses when it does roads, plus the work of spreading it. THEN nature was trying to go back to what it was 37 years ago when we first cleared it for our house, our shop, and the driveway. We had done what we could each year, but it just wasn’t enough. We hired a guy who calls himself “The Tree Man” to cut away the branches and brush and even trees that were trying to close off our access to the road. Happily, he said he would make himself available if during the winter we had any problems with trees coming down into the driveway.
Third, my husband mowed the grass last night, so we look as civilized as we ever do around here. Plus, he waited until 6:30 to do it, not risking heat stroke. The weed whacking and weed killing I’ve done in the past is holding up so far. My husband had an easy time of using the riding mower.
Fourth, I’m still alive and mostly sane after riding in the Vette with my husband to our teeth cleaning Wednesday. The hygienist is now used to my blood pressure being sky-high when I first get there, and down to the only-mildly-elevated-about-going-to-the-dentist reading by the time she finishes with me. We don’t have to go back until January 27th of 2025. Ahhhhh!
Fifth, our foyer corner is empty and clean for the first time in about a year, since it holds waiting-for-donations stuff. I’m letting it bask in all its glory for a few days before starting to gather more donations.
Finally, I hit the 33-pounds-down mark this morning, so I’m re-motivated in my efforts. I’m exercising, eating right, and making slow, steady progress, PLUS I’m having a blast experimenting with the concept of wood burning. I have two more pieces in the works and the ideas are keeping me up at night. I have a pad of paper and pen beside my side of the bed so I can write down some of the ideas that are swirling around. :0)
We still have many challenges to work through, but the progress we’re making is encouraging.
My husband was given the best gift ever yesterday by our son.
Our son lives across the world from us – having created a life where he can live on his own terms, happy as a clam. We use a chat program almost every day plus a conference call program when we are all up and functional at the same time of the day, so we stay close.
I check the chat program every morning to see if he’s left any messages, pictures, or questions for us.
Yesterday morning I found this – “Dad, I have a luxurious life now because you were so patient in making me strong.”
I’m still tearing up this morning. What a beautiful thing for our son to FEEL, and to SAY to his dad. We really won the lottery on sons.
In 1961 we fell in love. In 1969 we made it official. Today we celebrate 55 years of sharing our lives. I just got off of an online chat with our son, our greatest achievement. He is such an interesting man with a challenging, full life, doing what he wants to do. There are simply no words to describe how happy I am for him.
It’s hard enough to imagine that I could be ’55 years old,’ much less that we have been MARRIED for 55 years now.
Atticus Poetry, Love her Wild
As any real person knows, marriage is one of the hardest things there is. You make a commitment with stars in your eyes and then real life begins. I think one of the reasons that there are so many failed marriages is that people go into it thinking it will be all stars and moonbeams. It isn’t about the other person making you ‘happy.’ It’s about sharing lives. Sometimes your heart melts. Sometimes the guy with the bulldozer who will dig a hole in the backyard for your significant other can’t come fast enough. That’s real.
My personal commitment includes making it a point to keep falling in love over and over – if I don’t have the bulldozer guy on speed dial – realizing how much we’ve shared over the past 55 years. I was pregnant 5 times. We had two live children, a boy and a girl, and lost our girl to SIDS when she was 2 months old. We both bust our buttons with pride at the man our son has become, creative, confident, caring – carving out a wonderful, satisfying life. We share both sad and beautiful memories that will always be with us.
sayingimages.com
As we age, our life becomes looking to see the humor in situations, a day-to-day overcoming of obstacles, enjoying the beautiful things around us, spending time doing fun things together, enjoying the peace and quiet of being alone (even if it’s just in another room or out in the yard) – striving not to kill the other because of annoyance and frustration. Sharing lives is not for sissies. It means another person knows exactly what buttons to push to get you to react the most strongly. The ones you love can also hurt you the most, make you grind your teeth, cry, maybe even scream, and wonder why you stay – then say or do something to melt your heart again.
I love this quote on marriage by Nora Roberts in Blood Brothers – “Learn to laugh, otherwise, you’ll beat them to death with a hammer first chance.”
My husband said this morning, “We have a good start now.”
This is our utility room. The big bed on the left is our dog, Amber’s. There is a dog gate between the utility room and the dining area/kitchen/pantry area.
Jet, the new cat, and Amber, our 95 pound dog, have finally reached detente, we think, though we still keep a close eye out for any problems. The remaining areas of concern at this point are protecting the cat if there is any kind of food involved – for her, for Amber, for us. Amber has NO sense of humor or compassion where food is concerned. She wants HERS, OURS, and the CAT’s. ALL. OF. IT.
My wonderful SIL sent me some pics of a cat door latch. I had never heard of one before. I researched it, then sent a link to several options to my husband, asking him to choose the one he thought would be the easiest to install and use. He ordered one and it came yesterday.
We didn’t even need tools to install it. It’s heavy plastic. One end fits over the door knob. The other end has several holes into which you can screw a metal thingie whose other end sits in the hardware of the door. It is easily ‘used’ or ‘not used’, so I can shut the cat inside, if needed (as when we’re eating), or at night, when we don’t want her wandering around. Otherwise, it keeps the door propped open enough for Jet to come and go easily, but strong enough that Amber cannot ‘nose’ it open to get in and eat Jet’s food (or used kitty litter.) With its use, this is also another ‘safe space’ for Jet.
I shoved her in and out several times yesterday, but wasn’t really sure she would use it on her own. This morning I was cleaning the bathroom and used the latch. Jet came in, wandered around while I cleaned the area. I put more food in her bowl and she went out with me. I set the latch. She started to follow me (as she does a lot), but then went back, walked through the opening, and started to eat. HOORAY!
I left her ‘in’ there with the latch set. I came into the office. Suddenly, Jet jumped up into my lap. :0) HOORAY!
Now Jet and I have much more freedom. I don’t need to figure out when she needs to be put in the bathroom in order to do her business, or be let out again afterwards. She is going in and out at will, except when it’s dangerous. Win/Win. THANKS, ML!
Today I am 77. I told my husband this when we were heading up for bed last night just after midnight. He said, “Oh, is it March?” :0) I thanked him this morning for getting to all the birthdays first so that, by the time I hit them, it isn’t anything. :0)
Gifer
I’m very thankful that I’m still making progress on some of my goals. I’m happy that I’m building my daily yoga practice into a habit (if I live long enough). I’m feeling more flexible and ‘looser,’ if that makes any sense. Yesterday I made it to 16 reps of the abdominal exercise and 7 reps on each side for my leg-straight-out stretch. (I wish I knew what that one was called. I’ll research it and see if I can find out.)
I’m happy I’m finally seeing some progress in my efforts to lose the lard. Between this and the yoga, and generally moving more, I’m hoping to feel better and better as I hopefully continue to age…
UNtR-Gifer-HND
Since my husband and my son don’t make a big deal of birthdays, I have long since put away any resentment and used the opportunity to get myself something I really want. I just ordered two things for my wood burning fun –
Thing One – this assortment!Thing Two – I love the shape and rustic edges of these!
I think these will both come next week. I WILL get up to my art room, regardless of the other things pulling at me, and PLAY. :0)
I want you to know that I’m not as dumb as I look! I figured out TWO things recently that I’ve been TRYING to do it seems like forever –
THING ONE – I used to add captions and credits to pictures on my blog with no problem. Then – the people who get paid to keep the website up to date, make it easy to navigate, and on the cutting edge, came in and ‘improved’ WordPress (this host) and disappeared my ability to caption or credit the way I used to. I tried and tried, and finally gave up, just putting the credit on the next line as close to the picture as I could. Suddenly, in the middle of nothing, I right-clicked ON a picture instead of elsewhere, and a box for caption and credit popped up! Yureka!!!!! I am newly ‘en-franchised’ now. :0)
THING TWO – I told you that I have been working to improve my Etsy site. I have fought with making and installing a banner across the top, have made and installed a new logo, and have mostly finished describing my products in a different way that SEEMS to be slowly increasing my “traffic” (visits to the site).
I’ve been unhappy with the names of my product sections for a long time. I have also been upset that I couldn’t reorganize the categories in a different order on the page. I fought and fought this morning, after having added two of my new wood-burned earrings to the site, trying to change the name of the earring section and also to figure out a way to have the three types of earrings I offer to be listed as sections one after the other to the left of the page, instead of having people have to scroll down to SEE I make stud and clip earrings, as well as dangles. I FINALLY found a place that allowed me to change the names of the sections and reorder them! HOORAAAAAAY! :0)
I’m not as dumb as I look, nor am I dead yet!!!!!!!! There is still life in the old girl!
Now that I’ve done that, I need to take a gazillion pics after putting the hardware on the rest of the earrings I wood-burned and add them to the site. I hope to be able to finish that today.
It feels so GOOOOOD to have finally made some progress.
It’s a thing of beauty and a joy forever! It will probably last longer than WE do. :0) It was installed yesterday and the grin hasn’t left my face.
Travis, our wonderful plumber, is coming back sometime today to clean up the installation debris, old unit, etc., and has agreed to cart off the old backup regular water heater that failed and has been sitting down there, as well. I’ll write him a check today.
My husband and I both think that the water is getting hot more quickly than with the old unit. I don’t know if that’s because the former one was failing or if the new one is more powerful, more efficient, or what, but it’s NICE.
Any condensation goes into a drain in the floor. It’s wonderful not to have to ‘wonder’ if the hot water will come on when I’m washing my hair in the kitchen sink in the mornings, or whether the hot water will STAY on when I’m taking my shower in the evening, constantly having to turn the knob to adjust the temperature.
Heart-warming moment on UK documentary series when a school teacher helped a student overcome his stammer. The teacher used the method from "The King's Speech" with success. pic.twitter.com/ZMNZjo41Q7
No marching bands played. No confetti was thrown. No champagne corks were popped. No parades walked past, but the Lewises celebrated being able to drive the ‘old’ shorter way to town yesterday over the brand, spanking-new bridge! WOO HOOOOOOOOOO!
We actually had to REMIND each other on the way back from getting groceries that we could turn in on the old road to go home, rather than bypass it to travel several miles down farther where we could return to the house the detour way while they’ve been working on the bridge. :0)
SOOOOOO NICE!
We won’t even get a chance to take it for granted because of the PHASE 1 of the Greenwood Bypass project, slated to start sometime in November of this year. We’ll worry about that when it comes, though. Meanwhile, we are really happy to be able to simply drive to town when we would like to, using our regular roads…
Just before my husband got up this morning, the driveway detectors went off (just as they should!) telling me someone was driving up the driveway. It was our mail person (It was a woman today) delivering two big packages. The first was a package I had ordered for my husband. He loves double-walled large glasses for his sugar-free sodas. He is a bit careless about keeping up with them, or drops and breaks them. Many times he wants another drink, but the cupboard is empty. I ordered 4 double-walled plastic large glasses for him recently and he loves them. I ordered 4 more for him and they arrived this morning.
The 2nd package was a package from Temu, the online company that my husband pours over, finding all kinds of things he can get for extremely reasonable prices. He loves the site and orders a lot of ‘stuff.’
He brought the bag below into the office and put it on the table.
I unzipped the bag and look what was inside!
There are 262 different colored markers. They each have a ‘regular’ marker end and the other end is pointed. I guess I ‘knew’ there were technically 262 or more colors, but this is incredible. There is one marked “colorless blender.” I may be able to get some watercolor effects! Maybe I can use these to make my wreath Christmas cards! I love this, and it was a complete surprise. WOW.
In 1492 (more or less) we met and instantly fell in love. Because he was in the Marines and I was in junior high, high school, and then both of us were in college, we dated for 9 years.
We made it official in 1969.
54 years later, we are still together, and I only think about throwing him in a hole in the backyard SOMETIMES. We probably won’t celebrate ANOTHER 54 years, but we can try.
I think I told you yesterday that we tried to get our flower planters/tomato planters watering system going and failed. My husband was able to change the batteries in one of the timers, but he gave up on programming it. This is one of the many things he has always been good at doing – making me feel inept – but now “I” am the go-to technical person. YEAH.
I tried to do it yesterday, but it didn’t run. I decided to see if I could find the paperwork and try again today. This morning I went out and started from scratch, completely resetting both timers to run 15 minutes apart. I set my alarm so I wouldn’t forget to check to see if they actually ran this time.
I’ve just come back in and I prevailed! I had time to go around to all the planters – including the tomato planters – and make sure all were getting water. I tweaked the amounts, since we had shut things off tightly for the winter and there was still a lot of air in the lines. Once I finished that, I cam around the front and the 2nd system was working!
I think I have most going fine. We’ll check for any breaks in the lines and keep tweaking how much water each of the planters is getting, but the main system seems to be going fine. I’m really relieved. Can you see me grinning?
I write this blog to share the beauty and talent I find all around me in an effort to combat all the bad stuff that can sit on your soul and make you forget.
Two things have shown me lately that we have a shared humanity that fills you up when you least expect it – when we react as one, regardless of our backgrounds, uniting us.
One was when Chris Stapleton sang the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. Usually, I’m not very impressed. Singers tend to use the opportunity as a place to show how impressive their voices are, rather than to share the message of the song. We tuned in late and missed it, but I’ve listened to it on YouTube and then have been watching reactions to it from all over the world. People are uniformly blown completely away by his performance and in many cases, moved to tears.
The second was when I listened to Iam Tongi singing “Monsters” by James Blunt as his audition on American Idol. He had Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie in tears at the audition. The reactions on YouTube have all been the same. I looked up James Blunt and the song, thinking I should hear the original by the person who wrote it – and was in tears, with a lump in my throat. And in every reaction, every man, young or old, has reacted the same.
A third was a performance of “Creep” written by Radiohead, sung by Brian Justin Crum on America’s Got Talent. He was bullied as a child for being overweight and then gay. He channels his emotions into this performance, making you almost shake with what he has suffered and yet inspired by his stunning, powerful voice. Reactions again – regardless of background – uniformly feeling empathy for the boy and jubilant for the man.
It seems that, even in the middle of division, harsh opinions, disgust, and fear, we can come together with our shared values, our shared humanity. It’s a beautiful thing when differences drop away and we react with our hearts.
What would you do?….you make the choice. Don’t look for a punch line, there isn’t one… Read it anyway.My question is: Would you have made the same choice? At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its Dedicated staff, he offered a question:
‘When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection.
Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.
Where is the natural order of things in my son?’
The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. ‘I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.’
Then he told the following story:
Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, ‘Do you think they’ll let me play?’ I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.
I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, ‘We’re losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning..’
Shay struggled over to the team’s bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt… I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.
In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field.. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay’s team scored again.
Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.
However, as Shay stepped up to the Plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay’s life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.
The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.
The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.
As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.
The game would now be over.
The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.
Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.
Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman’s head, out of reach of all team mates.
Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, ‘Shay, run to first!
Run to first!’
Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.
He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.
Everyone yelled, ‘Run to second, run to second!’
Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.
By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball . The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.
He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher’s intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman’s head.
Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.
All were screaming, ‘Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay’
Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, ‘Run to third!
Shay, run to third!’
As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, ‘Shay, run home! Run home!’
Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.
‘That day’, said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, ‘the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world’.
Shay didn’t make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day! May your day, be a Shay Day.
Whew 1 – We signed our tax returns and had overpaid, so we applied the overage to next year’s taxes, just in case.
Whew 2 – We made it to Ft. Smith and back with my husband driving the Vette safe and sound. I had to take an Alka-Seltzer when we got home, but it was actually better than the last time.
We’re just home from Lunch Bunch and errands. Lunch Bunch was just Kay, Bud, my husband, and me, but WOW – was it special!
Kay and Bud got me these gorgeous flowers. I took two pictures so you can get an idea of the variety of gorgeous blooms.
Kay and Bud also bought our lunch!
Our wonderful waitress/friend, Mikey, and the “Pizza Barn Gang” got me a card, this Vanilla Sugar candle, and the CUTE ladybug below.
I’m thrilled, but feel a bit guilty. I’m not this special, and this whole week or so of celebrations has been over the top.
I even got to chat with our son this morning before he headed to bed. He is 13 hours ahead of us, and so his day is over as ours begins.
You can see how lucky I am in relatives and friends who reached out with good wishes, cards, emails, texts, presents, and food, with lots of smiles and hugs. It just means the world to me.
Shout-outs to Sandi and Cathy for sending me actual birthday cards. I love all forms of reaching out, because people are making you feel special, but I have to say an actual card in the mail remains one of my favorites.
Another shout-out to my good friend, Marsha, who means the world to me. I received a box in the mail today containing several beautiful pairs of earrings she made. I keep changing which pair is my favorite – all different colors, stones, and styles – and can’t wait to show them off!
There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.~ Sophia Loren
IN THE WIN COLUMN – I FOUND my MP3 Player! :0) I wanted to use it while I was on the elliptical trainer on Tuesday and it wasn’t in its usual place. I looked all around, but came up with no clue. I exercised in silence in the garage, each minute seeming like 5 or 10.
Later, I looked at the table again where the player should have been. I realized the charger wasn’t there, either, and that made me think in another direction. I found the player on the charger behind my left-hand computer monitor in the office. I don’t remember why I moved it now, but I’m happy I found it, since today is elliptical trainer morning, with yoga this afternoon.
IN THE LOSE COLUMN – The third load of laundry yesterday was our comforter. I’ve washed it several times before, but this time when I checked on it, the washer had stopped and “15” (I think) was flashing. I tried to get it going again, to no avail. Then it showed ‘locked’ with a key, that would flash and then go off. The door WASN’T locked, though. I could open it. The washer had water, soap, and the comforter and I couldn’t get it to work. My husband found the circuit breaker for the utility room. We tried turning that off and back on again after waiting, hoping that would get the washer to reset. No change. The basket finally drained and we took the comforter out, putting it in a laundry basket, where it waits. I need to get it rinsed, somehow, and I’ll think about how best to do that.
I started trying to find someone to come look at it. Of COURSE our stuff breaks down during holiday week, when everyone is closed or can’t get someone here until much, much later. I have a text in now to another tech or may or may not call me back. ARRRRRGH!
My husband went out to the shop right before lunch and put the new part he ordered on the air compressor. It was the RIGHT part and WORKED!
He told me the compressor charged up to 120 pounds during the test he ran after he got the compressor back together.
We use the air compressor ALL the time, so this is huge for us. I use it to etch designs on glassware, plus clean yucky tools. We have several air tools, like the tool that helps us get the lug nuts off the truck tires and then put the snow tires on. We also use it to do powder coating of things we make.
It’s big – about 8 feet or so tall and about 2-1/2 feet wide. We have a really long cord that we wind up with a gravity-based (I think) wheel to draw the cord up and out of the way. There are small, compact units now that you can throw into the back of your car. This is NOT one of those, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
When the compressor failed, my husband took it apart, figured out which part had failed, took it off, brought it inside where he could try to find a replacement part on the computer. Got the part, put it on, and we’re back in business. Are you as impressed as I?
I’ve set my alarm to write to our son about 8pm this evening – since he is 12 or 13 hours ahead of us – to wish him a Happy Birthday. He is 44 years old this evening/tomorrow.
HOORAY ONCE – My husband “came up with the idea yesterday” (idea suggested/rejected by this same man several times) that we might drive the trash can down to the bottom of the driveway and leave it overnight for the trash people to pick up today. We did that.
I had all appendages crossed as we drove down the driveway this morning. I wasn’t sure if we would find the trash can on its side with garbage strewn all over the place for us to regather before the trash people came, or the trash can as we left it, still full, proving my husband’s previous point that we could simply leave the can when we left to do our errands this morning.
HOORAY TWICE! – the trash can was upright and EMPTY when we got down there! This reinforced the idea that we SHOULD, in fact, leave the trash can for pick up the night before and that it wouldn’t necessarily be dumped by critters or stolen by weird-minded thieves.
Kay, Linda, and Patty were all there!!!!!!! That’s the first time in WEEKS!
I hugged Linda’s neck when I saw her, and then again, when we left. I told her how much I’ve missed her and encouraged her to come back. I hope it got through how important she is to the group and how much she is loved.
We saw that the local library was having a fund-raising sale next door, so we headed there, getting several books, as well as information about the new library to be built in the future. I asked a lady about the location of it, since we were all gritching about it at lunch. It’s going to be at the intersection of the main street in Greenwood and the larger highway that goes to Ft. Smith. I had forgotten that the library is a REGIONAL one, not just for Greenwood, but also for the whole South Sebastian County, plus Scott County, and the new location will be better access for the others. She also told me that the ideas for expanding the current library just weren’t workable, since the building was built in 1965, I think, and is considered ‘unworkable’ at this point. (I have to admit that I got a bit ‘huffy’ internally at that point, since MY date of origin is even older…. ) I got several biographies of people I admire, and I’m looking forward to reading them. I also found a couple of books about quilts that I’ll make sure get to Kay.
Strawberries will be served with no-sugar-added ice cream for tonight, plus fresh salad ingredients to go with our dinner rounded out our errands.
A happy morning to be sure. I hope that YOUR day is a happy one, too. :0)
At the risk of alienating you completely, I wanted to tell you I DID IT!!!! I used the new one-gallon sprayer and got ALL the garden boxes sprayed with KILLZALL to kill the weed roots. I finished the job in about 20 minutes from start to finish. I’m going to take the sprayer attachment out of the container this time and run water through it with the hose, hopefully keeping it from clogging up.
I brought the old phone, just in case. It turned out to be a good thing, because the kind lady transferred the SIM card from the old phone to the new one. I wanted a screen protector and carrier this time, since my previous phone had a hard life and had actually fallen out of the carrier I had been using for years. The nice lady put on the screen protector and then the carrier for us.
I’m still feeling very good that we managed to do the updates here at home, as well as transfer my information to the new phone.
I feel empowered now, with a phone that is not overheating, as my old one did, and doesn’t cut my fingers on the chips on the screen.
Little could happen the rest of the day that would dampen my spirits. :0)
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