It's Just a Number

As we begin to age, there is a point in time, when everyone else seems to be younger and you wonder who you are when you look in the mirror. Depressing as it sounds that means a lot of other changes to go along with it. On any given day you might experience:

*A woman you believe to be somewhere near your age calls you Ma'am and then you realize you are actually ten years older than she is.
*Your children begin to whisper to one another and laugh at your cluelessness.
*The insurance commercial on television for Silver Care burial plans now include your age range
*You just received a free copy of an AARP catalog in the mail

But wait, it gets even better.

* People begin to ask how many grandchildren you have
* Strangers ask what were things like when you were young
* A new doctor comes in to meet you and you wonder if he's 12 years old
* Songs you think are still cool are being played at the senior center

For those over 40 years of age...share some of your own joy!!

For those of you who are younger, your time is coming LOL

Time is a Funny Thing

Time is a funny thing, it is a phenomenon that occurs but in itself is not tangible. We are aware of it only because of environmental change yet we attempt to manipulate it in so many different ways. Daylight Savings means we move the hands of the clock forward or backward depending on the time of year. We attempt to turn back the hands of time on our faces and bodies by using all available methods and hope for the fountain of youth to come in a tiny pill. We cram as much work as possible in any given day, and get mad at technology when it moves at a slower pace than we hope for. We use methods of transportation that move us across the country in a few short hours and are frustrated by those who move slow on the roadways.

Chat messages and texting allow us to send and receive information in the blink of an eye, while ATM's, fax machines, and streaming video bring other forms of information instantaneously. Isn't it funny how at some point in time almost everyone longs for a time of the past, a time that was once wished away, a time we were so hurried to move through.

Your assignment: Stop for just one moment in time and enjoy just "being here."

Beauty Abounds

Our brain searches for things that are pleasing to the eye, things that are symmetrical, harmonious, and youthful. Once these attributes are found we often define them by using the word "beauty." We recognize beauty most often as a human characteristic and tend to leave all other discovered forms of beauty to artists, poets, and photographers. Most will go about their daily lives not attending to other forms of beauty, beauty that abounds in every place and everything around. Perhaps happiness could be easier to attain if we did stop to notice and appreciate these other forms of beauty that fill our lives every day.

At this time in early Spring there are but two lonely hyacinth bursting through the ground near the front porch. They return each year, sometimes even pushing themselves through the remaining snow and ice. They grow rapidly and lead the way for all others that follow. They brighten the ground with color and life when most others still wait in dormancy. Their lives are short-lived, but during the time that they are with us, they burst with delicate fragrant petals unlike any other and continue to delight me year after year, if only for a fleeting moment in time.

Your assignment is to go out into the world and find a little beauty. Describe that beauty with as many words as you feel necessary. You may find beauty in places you hadn't imagined, in the face of a toothless child singing to himself, in a single dead leaf still dangling on the branch of a tree, or in the lined face of an elderly man holding the door for someone.