Today is Friday, February 29, 2008. That sentence was on the blackboard every day when I was in grade school. There was always another sentence about the weather. Today is sunny. Occasionally there would be another sentence, but always those two. Interesting that this is Leap Year Day. People born this day don't have to age at the same rate as the rest of us if they choose not too. And this aging business is quite a complex issue. I can remember Grandma having Carter's Little Liver Pills and Lydia Pinkham's bottles always in her medicine chest. Then there was Geritol and now I think it is Omega 3 that is supposed to keep us energetic and full of vitality. So far I can't see much magical about Omega 3 but I keep taking it, hoping I feel better for it.
Some days I feel like an old car. You know how cars begin to wear out. One week, the brakes quit. Just when you get that fixed something else goes wrong. Well, that is happening to me. First, it was being diagosed with Type II diabetes. For a long time, I was able to control that with diet and exercise. But now I have medication. Some days I do well, other days not so well with my blood sugar. We just changed insurance companies and now I have to get used to a new glucometer. You guessed it! This insurance company won't supply the strips for the one I have. And why not? I keep asking myself. Oh well, even though I am an "old dog" I am going to try to learn "new tricks."
My knees started giving me trouble. If I am sitting down they don't hurt. But I'm not ready to sit down constantly. Thank goodness, my chiropractor keeps me so I can walk pretty well. I've got an exercise bike that helps keep me moving, too. The knee thing comes and goes. I've got a nice expensive knee brace that helps. I can remember Mother having lots of knee pain. She bought every piece of knee help she could find - from Dr. Leonard's catalog, Walter Drake's catalog, or the Parade magazine in the local newspaper. They weren't really expensive and they would each help for awhile. I decided to just go with the expensive one first. Forget those others.
The knee thing had pretty well subsided when the head started acting up. One night, well, one morning really, about 4 A.M. I had to get up. When I went back to bed the room just started spinning and I started screaming. Glen said I wasn't really screaming - just moaning. I'm sure the neighbors would probably say I was screaming. Ohmigosh! It was awful. I thought I was having a heart attack or something. Now I find out that it was not as unique as I thought. "Just vertigo," the Dr. said. Whoa! I don't want that again. But now I find out lots of people have it. Oh, my!
In the past two weeks I have been able to lie down gently and slowly on my left side. And I can sleep in a chair (the recliner works great). I guess what scares me the most is that it can happen again. To everyone who has ever had an episode like mine I say you are marvelous to have kept functioning.
I know there are so many things about the wonderful body that each of us has that can go wrong. And I am grateful for all the years I've had with so few problems. And I know that I can look forward to more challenges as my "car" gets older and older. I shouldn't crab about anything. There are people with way more problems than me. I thank the Lord every day for my blessings. I pray also that I can have enthusiasm to the end. I don't want to just endure to the end.
That's it for today.

A New Beginning

Wow! Today I sort of feel like a "Grandma Moses." Here I am at 70 years of age and starting something totally new. I'd love to become a famous painter but that is not too likely. Since I do like the computer and all the available things on internet, I decided I would try this avenue of self-expression. I was introduced to blogs by one of my children. Oh, I had heard about it before but never thought I would like to do it. However, another one of our children and her husband gave me the encouragment to try it.
I have always wanted to write - a book or a newspaper column. I tried writing some articles at one point in my life and sent them off. What I got in return were some rejection slips. I know that many writers paper their walls with rejection slips before they have a hit, but I did not persevere. Anyway, here I am starting my "column." And I chose this name so I can write about anything that suits my fancy each day (or whenever).

When I was a teenager I loved a poem by Angela Morgan entitled "Today."

"To be alive in such an age!"

The poem continues with several stanzas, talking about miracles and challenges and the goings on of life. And I felt that! And now today, 2008, I feel that. As a teenager I had just seen my first TV- black and white-mind you! Who ever dreamed we would have living color and such clear screens! And the sizes, oh my! I'd never ridden in an airplane even though some of my friends had. Later, I remember when a friend opened a shop with a word processor where I could go to type a term paper. And with what excitement when my husband and I got our first computer. Once when our daughter was typing a school term paper and I got out our typewriter (electric) to work on some paper I had to prepare. Well, guess what? I decided I could wait to use the computer so I didn't have to turn the carriage and erase my crazy mistakes. And then another new marvelous addition to this age - the internet. Instant information - sometimes more than I ever wanted - but information, none the less. And new exciting things happening all the time.

We've had e-mails from friends we have made in places we've lived - Pakistan, India, and Greece. And news from classmates in Missouri where I grew up and in Idaho where my husband grew up. It's an amazing life and I am exciting to start a new adventure. My family teases me about the long letters I used to write. That's okay. They have a lot of family history in them. And now I'm going to use this new avenue for my love of writing.

Here it is 2008 and Glen and I are still in Citrus Heights, California. We love it here and hope we can stay forever. We had a wonderful trip this last week. We spend all day Thursday in the Temple and Saturday afternoon. Taking a trip takes lots of planning. This week we went south to visit Kathy and her family and then on to visit David and his family. The trip was wonderful. Friday it rained most of the way. But after that the days were sunny and warm. We love visiting our grandchildren. And it is fun to "eat out." Friday we had lunch at Carl's Jr. and on Monday we stopped for a long break at Sizzler's. And of course, on Tuesday we had to stop at Wendy's - we love their $ menu.

There were lots of trucks on the road from all over - Tennessee, Oregon, Washington, Mississippi, and Florida, just to name a few.

Coming home is wonderful and it is nearly time to begin a new month. I think I'll sign off for this first posting. I'll see if I can come up with a catchy phrase to end with each time. Right now I don't have one. But till next time!