Lasts and Firsts

I read several yahoo groups on a daily basis. Well, maybe it is more accurate to say I scan them and focus on subjects that seems to perk my interest. I read a couple of cooking ones, one that organizes housework, one that focuses on Diabetes, one for quilters, and one that plans for Christmas twelve months a year. Now, obviously I am not that organized but I like the daily small challenges and even do some of them...I do have a shiney sink most days and my bed is always made. Yesterday a post from a woman caught my eye. She was talking about how she was sad because her child was graduating from high school and she was facing all the lasts that go along with that. As I read about her last prom, her last PTA meeting,and other lasts, I realized that in a way I am doing the lasts also. I seldom reply or post to these groups but felt compelled to write to her. I wrote that I too had done all the lasts with my own three boys and was now doing them with the last of the grandkids, my two grandgirls. I guess to be perfectly honest I wasn't all that sad when my boys finished school and moved on to adulthood, Raising three boys can be a challenge at times. I wouldn't miss the last call from the school principal, the last driving ticket, the last D/F slip from school, etc. If you're a parent you understand. But, grow up they did, as they must and should. All of a sudden I had time to do the things I wanted to do and believe me I jumped in with both feet. Before I knew it, I had daughters in law and the grandkids began to arrive...five of them within six years and the firsts started again. First birthday, first tooth, first steps, first day at school, first school program, and so many more. And the wonderful part...I didn't get the calls from school, the arguments that are a normal part of raising kids. But if you think for one minute that you worry less about your grandkids than your own flock, think again. For all the joy they bring, they bring worry too. Now my last two will graduate from high school in a few weeks and we will finish with the lasts and start again with the firsts. For, before I know it, there will be weddings again and new babies and all the wonders that a new generation brings. I only hope I am healthy enough to enjoy every last and every first that is yet to come.

My Quiet Little Town.....

Now, I live in one of those tiny towns that you can pass through and never notice. We are here because our family business, a grain elevator, is located just across the street. How I got here in the middle of the night, is another story for another time, but here I have been for 46 years now. We raised our family of three sons here and now the grandkids are almost grown too. G'ville has changed little over the years. Oh we've had a few people move in and out and of course lost many of the old timers. We, who were the young newbies, are now the older crowd. But, coming from a background in a college town with all the activity that offers, G'ville was a very lonely place for a twenty something with three small boys. But I got busy with family and helping in a new business and time has seemed to fly. School functions with the kids, going back to school myself, a part time job, friends, and occasionally working at the elevator kept me busy. As my family grew and left home the grandkids arrived and we repeated all those activities. Now the last two will graduate from high school in a few months and head off to college and my world will once again become quieter. As I was sitting at my computer this morning I glanced out the window and suddenly realized that this little town has all sorts of activity that I was missing. I think maybe we have to have some age to appreciate the smaller things. I know during those twenty something years I had no time to notice the small things around me. Outside my window there is all sorts of activity going on....for example that old blackbird (not my favorite bird but...) What does he know that the fat robins don't? They pick in the yard looking for food but he stays off to the side poking through a pile of leaves under a roadside bush. Are the bigger worms there? On the bird feeder a cardinal is seeking the favored seeds. Now those brilliant birds are always a joy to spot, but have you ever noticed they seem a bit selfish, squawking at the little wrens who want to share a perch on that feeder? His mate sits quietly on a pine branch. Doe she have to wait until he is filled? Scrambling across the split rail fence is a pair of squirrels. Are they courting? Maybe an old married pair? Will they have babies this spring? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to jump from tree branch to tree branch with such agility? All of a sudden all birds take quick flight and the squirrels leap for higher branches. The golden girls have invaded my yard. In our family we have three Golden Retrievers and in this small town with no leash law they are free to run and play together. One dog is older, at twelve years of age, and the other two are one and two but they all play as if there are youngsters. Like children they seem to meet early in the morning to play together. Yes, G'ville is a bustling little town.......

Looking for Spring

The older I get the less I tolerate the long cold winters of the Illinois prairie. Long ago I loved spending hours outside building a snowman or a snow fort in the yard, never too cold not to beg for just another hour to play. Then came the walks on a snowy day with a good friend or special beau...soft flakes falling on face and hair. Later, the fun of small children, themselves delighted with a snowman in the front yard, getting wet and cold but warming up with mittens and scarves dry and warm from the clothes dryer. ready to go again. More fun with grandchildren, but maybe I will stay inside and man the dryer for those wet mittens and scarves. I'll have hot chocolate for you when you can stand it no longer. After all I'm a grandma now.

Now. at 71, I don't find the same joy in a snowfall I once did. Oh I can still appreciate the beauty of soft flakes but also the cold seems to seep into my bones and I find myself earlier and earlier doing my spring ritual, looking for the first signs of springs arrival.

I will admit to waiting anxiously for that old groundhog to make his prediction. This year he did not see his shadow so that meant spring would soon appear? What happened to him? Perchance he is aging also and forgot his duty? Whatever his excuse he bungled it this year.

This has been an unusually long hard winter here on the prairie with many snowfalls and blustery winds. We live seven miles from the nearest small town and the snowplow slowly makes it's way out to us. Blizzard conditions, which have occurred all too often this year, sometimes require a bulldozer to break through the drifts along the open roads.

But two weeks ago, while sitting in front of this computer, I glanced out the window and saw the first robin to make it's way to G'ville. What a fat robin, searching the ground for any hint of food. He must have spent the winter in a warm and plentiful spot. Ah, spring is coming. Early in the mornings I can hear a hint of birdsong outside my still dark bedroom window. Soon that song will wake me at dawn every day.

So I grab a coat as it's still below freezing this morning and go outside to do my final search for signs of spring and yes, there just outside the front of the house is the confirmation...green sprouts are making their way up and out of the ground. Last fall I planted a multitude of spring bulbs and they are showing tender sprouts in the still cold ground. Soon there will be daffodil's, tulips, hyacinths and the tiny crocus. Then I will know spring has arrived. I will look back fondly at some of the events of this winter of 2011 but ahhhhhh just smell that fresh air.

Body Building Gramma

Now, I'm a 71 year old Gramma and body building is not something I have considered at my age but I have recently reconsidered. A few days ago I watched Dr. Oz on TV demonstrate using cans of food as weights during exercising and it suddenly dawned on me, "I've been doing that for years", and you probably have too.

Have you ever thought about those trips to the grocery store? Every item purchased is lifted by you several times....every can (big or small), every bag (frozen or not), every box. Think about it.......

1. into your cart
2. onto the cashiers scan area
3. back into your cart (now in bigger heavier bags)
4. into your vehicle
5. into your home (ugh - load up those arms for fewer trips)
6. onto your shelves and into the fridge or freezer

And if you drop an item, count that as a deep knee bend or squat.
Wow...check out those biceps. You are weight lifting and at the very least body toning.

I'm tired just thinking about all that lifting and straining...maybe a short nap? After all I have worked out today.

Marking Time

Today is New Year's Eve. It will be a quiet celebration here on the corner of Dirt and Burt. I no longer need the festivities of a party, dancing, noise makers, and champagne. I will be quite content with a nice dinner and my warm bed at the usual time.

This is the time many of us will make our long lists of resolutions, all those promises we make to ourselves as the old year becomes new again. Although there are certainly many things I would like to promise myself (and then act on) this year I have resolved (oops is that a promise?) not to look back with regrets on less than stellar accomplishment, hoping to change... but to look forward instead. If, as Dr. Phil says, the past is a predictor of the future, I may not lose all that weight and finally reach goal. I may not exercise every day, I may not keep my house spic and span. And, oh worse of all, I may not use up all that fabric sitting on the shelves of my quilt room. I may not even get into the closet from hell and finish all those projects.

So today, on the last day of 2010, I chose instead, to remember all that I am thankful for. Of course family is at the top of that list but as I sit every morning and read email I am also most thankful for friends.

Last evening the OddOnes (now that is a story in itself for another time) met for dinner out and then back to Joan's for dessert and chatter. We usually spend out evenings together working on our individual projects but last night we seemed content to simply spend time together. How comfortable we all are with each other. Over the years we know each other's joys and concerns. If ever anyone "has my back" it is the OddOnes (yes I will explain that name sometime). I belong to other newer groups but these are my "homeboys"or more correctly "homegirls". We have been together since?????? Well, many years! They saw (yes, saw, through the many pictures I bored them with) the birth and growth of my five grandkids. They read my email posts every day and seem to tolerate my daily ramblings. Obviously they realize how fortunate I am to have five such remarkable grandkids...grin! And if I ever need a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on,,,the OddOnes will come running. I know that like I know the sun will come up tomorrow on a new day and a brand new year.

So, let's raise our cup (mine is coffee) to the coming of 2011 and to family and friends. Thank you for being mine!

Christmas 2010 - The Day After

Christmas 2010 was wonderful as always. The entire family, including dates (the five grands became nine), joined us for Christmas Eve dinner and gifts. We had a houseful and a packed living room with paper flying. NO..we are definitely not a picture perfect family. We are more like Charlie Brown. And speaking of Charlie...I forgot to get a gift for Michele's Charlie and got scolded for it . Now, Charlie is an almost 1 year old steer that Michele adopted and made a pet when he was a newborn and had to be bottlefed several times a day. He is now almost grown but follows her around the yard like a puppy. Being a rather large puppy his head butts (affection) have put her on the ground more than once but she is certain he is sorry afterwards. She buys him special apple treats...a good life for a steer. I always have treats for the various dogs and kitties under the tree but somehow forgot Charlie. I guess Charlie will forgive me. Christmas morning we had brunch and following that I declared the kitchen closed for the weekend.

One thing I will do next year to make life simpler is NOT bake all that stuff and make so much candy. I thought it was so smart to lay it all out on a table in the family room and provide bags for everyone to fill and take home. I baked for a week. It is all still sitting there. Nobody filled a bag. Guess I will fill freezer bags with an assortment and stick them in the freezer to be gotten out a little at a time to send over to the elevator.

DIL Michele has declared her house a "NO Cookie Zone" and Beth and Kimberly are always on a diet (skinny girls already...could that be why?). The guys...Brad, Brian, and Kevin don't eat many sweets. I need some little ones who love sugar!

Darn and I was really in the mood to try baking some of those cool cupcakes everyone raves about and they do on Food Network. With me trying to eat in a more healthy way it's only Leon and while he loves desserts he can only eat so much. Perhaps I should watch less of the Food Network and more of, oh let's say The Biggest Loser? Why wasn't I so fascinated with this cooking and baking thing when I had kids at home or the grandkids were little? Why now that they're grown and gone? Maybe because I now have time to do other than the washing, cleaning and other chores all busy Mothers have. Sometimes it seems to me that things are turned upside down. When the kids were young and full of energy I was too busy trying to keep up with the essentials to do the extra things and now the time is there but.......

Time Flies

My wise grandmother always told me how time sped up as we grew older. I would smile and think to myself, "I sure wish it would hurry cause I want to be 16, or I want to go shopping this weekend, or I can't wait to be out of school for the summer."

One of the small groups I belong to writes emails to each other on a daily basis. We have an inside joke among us...."It's that day again." Yes, I have reached the speedy time of my life. Now how did that happen so fast? Do you remember that old song, Turn Around, often played at weddings? Oh how true that is. At last, time to be out of school, time to marry, time for babies, time for school again, time for grandkids, time to grow older. It seems I no more that wake than it is time to prepare for bed again and those darn Monday's roll around all too often. As a matter of fact Christmas is only two months away and it seems I just put the decorations away from last year.

If I looked at this in one way I could become depressed thinking life is rolling by as in the blink of an eye but I chose to think of it another way. Yes, the once auburn hair has many touches of gray now, the once smooth lines seems to sag a little more every year and even the bones seem to ache at times but blessings have come with those changes too. My time seems to fly because I have filled it with much...five grandkids who I have been blessed enough to have been part of their growing up years, three sons now grown and responsible men and fathers, a husband of 51 years still healthy and active, oh so many friends, and so many things I want to do that I can't find enough time. So if there is a moral to these ramblings it is to take a little of that precious time, look at what you really have, and spend it with the people who really matter.