Wednesday, May 28, 2008
THE ART OF BEING ALONE.....
THE ART OF BEING ALONE……
Today is my 76th birthday. I can’t believe I’ve lived all those years and yet….it seems I’ve been here forever. I have learned a lot about life but it is like childhood. From birth to school age, children are in and out of stages that are sometimes angelic and sometimes drive you up the wall.
Age is a lot like that. You reach the next year and since you’ve never been that age before….it’s a brand new slate. You can do anything you want because you don’t have a history of knowing what works and what doesn’t. I can tell though I’m doing more of what has worked in the past and avoiding what didn’t.
My values have done a 360* and I don’t waste time on things I am not interested in. I also have a house full of stuff and why I’ve hung onto it is a mystery. I decided I needed to make a full “make-over” of the drawers and closets. It takes a lifetime to collect a closet like “Fibber McGee” which seemed very funny each time he opened the door and it all fell out on him. Television was generic in those days but now we are eons away from those innocent days of viewing.
Everything in our country is based on speed. How quick can you get back to me? Mail this out for tomorrow’s delivery! Let’s take a plane, it’s too time-consuming to drive. I need an appointment NOW! Fast food, fast living and we end up “old” and that seems fast also. However, we all have 24-hours a day and we have wasted a lot of them if the process is to cheat the clock.
I prefer the back roads to the Interstates and prefer to eat slow and enjoy my food, I like to watch birds, cats, pull weeds and look for four-leafed clovers. I am a football nut, a news hound, love crochet, knitting and solving puzzles.
I’m a pretty good detective which is good because I’ve had to work on cold cases a lot to find things I’ve put away so I wouldn’t lose them. I do too good at hiding because then, of course, I never remember where they are. I’m very good at “poop scooping” with three cats who stay in the garage at nights and my two house kitties. I swear, I don’t know where all that (poop) is coming from. There are a few strays who come after hours (when the garage cats are shut in for the night….otherwise they’d chase the strays off) I can’t stand to see a little critter hungry and no where to go.
I have a couple of afghans promised so I will be busy making those….I bought a new Singer sewing machine to do some sewing….I want to get my cross-word puzzles out and a really interesting jig-saw puzzle. They say to keep your mind occupied…….well, mine is. I never sit down without immediately planning what I’m going to do when I get out of Rocky’s chair. When I need to take a break I sit in his glider and rock and rock……it’s very therapeutic for a 76 year old body. The minute my critters hear or see me sit down they vie for my lap and if failing that, Mandy, lays behind the rocker and the other odd one sits on the footstool to the glider.
I can imagine how terribly deprived this might sound but please don’t waste sympathy on me. I love being alone with my favorite things and I have treasure boxes full of happy memories. I am not on serious medication, have all my teeth, had successful cataract surgery recently and can eat anything I like.
I realize each one who reads this would have a different list of enjoyments and I’m old enough to know we can be different from one another and that’s OK. I’m absolutely one who doesn’t want to be like the Joneses. I like “difference” and enjoy living in a home that declares who I am. Each thing in it is a story.
I am thankful to my dad and mom who took the responsibility of giving me life and raising me. My life has been colorful, rewarding and a learning experience. I have challenged myself to learn something different each day, to keep on laughing and to keep on telling those I love that I really do….and I will keep on writing in some form or other because it is the heart and soul of who I am.
To my family, my friends and readers……a hearty thank you for being out there!
Essentially Esther
Today is my 76th birthday. I can’t believe I’ve lived all those years and yet….it seems I’ve been here forever. I have learned a lot about life but it is like childhood. From birth to school age, children are in and out of stages that are sometimes angelic and sometimes drive you up the wall.
Age is a lot like that. You reach the next year and since you’ve never been that age before….it’s a brand new slate. You can do anything you want because you don’t have a history of knowing what works and what doesn’t. I can tell though I’m doing more of what has worked in the past and avoiding what didn’t.
My values have done a 360* and I don’t waste time on things I am not interested in. I also have a house full of stuff and why I’ve hung onto it is a mystery. I decided I needed to make a full “make-over” of the drawers and closets. It takes a lifetime to collect a closet like “Fibber McGee” which seemed very funny each time he opened the door and it all fell out on him. Television was generic in those days but now we are eons away from those innocent days of viewing.
Everything in our country is based on speed. How quick can you get back to me? Mail this out for tomorrow’s delivery! Let’s take a plane, it’s too time-consuming to drive. I need an appointment NOW! Fast food, fast living and we end up “old” and that seems fast also. However, we all have 24-hours a day and we have wasted a lot of them if the process is to cheat the clock.
I prefer the back roads to the Interstates and prefer to eat slow and enjoy my food, I like to watch birds, cats, pull weeds and look for four-leafed clovers. I am a football nut, a news hound, love crochet, knitting and solving puzzles.
I’m a pretty good detective which is good because I’ve had to work on cold cases a lot to find things I’ve put away so I wouldn’t lose them. I do too good at hiding because then, of course, I never remember where they are. I’m very good at “poop scooping” with three cats who stay in the garage at nights and my two house kitties. I swear, I don’t know where all that (poop) is coming from. There are a few strays who come after hours (when the garage cats are shut in for the night….otherwise they’d chase the strays off) I can’t stand to see a little critter hungry and no where to go.
I have a couple of afghans promised so I will be busy making those….I bought a new Singer sewing machine to do some sewing….I want to get my cross-word puzzles out and a really interesting jig-saw puzzle. They say to keep your mind occupied…….well, mine is. I never sit down without immediately planning what I’m going to do when I get out of Rocky’s chair. When I need to take a break I sit in his glider and rock and rock……it’s very therapeutic for a 76 year old body. The minute my critters hear or see me sit down they vie for my lap and if failing that, Mandy, lays behind the rocker and the other odd one sits on the footstool to the glider.
I can imagine how terribly deprived this might sound but please don’t waste sympathy on me. I love being alone with my favorite things and I have treasure boxes full of happy memories. I am not on serious medication, have all my teeth, had successful cataract surgery recently and can eat anything I like.
I realize each one who reads this would have a different list of enjoyments and I’m old enough to know we can be different from one another and that’s OK. I’m absolutely one who doesn’t want to be like the Joneses. I like “difference” and enjoy living in a home that declares who I am. Each thing in it is a story.
I am thankful to my dad and mom who took the responsibility of giving me life and raising me. My life has been colorful, rewarding and a learning experience. I have challenged myself to learn something different each day, to keep on laughing and to keep on telling those I love that I really do….and I will keep on writing in some form or other because it is the heart and soul of who I am.
To my family, my friends and readers……a hearty thank you for being out there!
Essentially Esther
