Monday Musings

Hosted by Barbara at Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers

One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began . . . ~Mary Oliver

Pretty Bowls and Crystal Glasses

When I asked Am to unload the dishwasher today, she told me how pretty a glass she was unloading was. I told her it was a Princess House Heritage Crystal Glass and she immediately put it down and backed away from it like it was Uranium or something. I asked her what was wrong and she said she was afraid she'd break it, so she better not touch it. I laughed and said don't worry about it, we use them every day. We even break them now and again. Then I asked her to put the beans in the oven and she looked at the bowl and said, “You really want this pretty bowl in the oven”? Again I laughed and said yes. Then I asked her if she had ever heard of Erma Bombeck and she said no. I had to share this with her. See many, no, most of you know me as just a fellow blogger with a positive attitude and generally friendly demeanor. What you don't know is that I too suffer from a terrible debilitating disease that requires constant maintenance, positive attitude and a stress free life as well as a preservative free diet to stay even close to healthy. To look at me you would never know I was sick, but for that all I can say is thank you as I have worked hard to maintain that appearance and attitude, because it wasn't always that way and it was hard work to get this healthy. I also know though how tenuous life is and how quickly it can change so for that reason I post this tribute to Erma Bombeck as a reminder to us all to burn the pink candle, use the pretty bowl and crystal glasses for everyday.

If I Had My Life To Live Over by Erma Bombeck

The following was written by the late Erma Bombeck after she found out she had a fatal disease.

If I had my life to live over, I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television - and more while watching life.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."

There would have been more "I love you's".. More "I'm sorrys" ...

But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute... look at it and really see it ... live it...and never give it back.

Monday Musings

Hosted by Barbara at Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers
Do what you feel in your heart to be right.
You'll be criticized anyway.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) American columnist, lecturer and humanitarian.

Thought for the Day

You need to make up your mind whether you are going to add to the ugly in the world or Add to the joy in the world.
If you need more incentive see this story.

Happy Independence Day!
"Posterity - you will never know how much it
cost my generation to preserve your freedom.
I hope you will make good use of it."
~John Quincy Adams

Thought for the Day

You can't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.
~Author unknown

Thought for the Day

You can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle these five things:

• A rainy day
• The elderly
• Whiny Children
  
• Lost luggage
• Tangled Christmas tree lights

And don't forget to see how your dog handles them and follow their (the dog) instincts!

Monday's Musings

Hosted by Barbara at Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers

DEFINITION OF A VETERAN

A Veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to The "United States of America", for an amount of "up to and including my life." That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.

- Author Unknown

Monday's Musings

Hosted by Barbara at Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by each experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) American columnist, lecturer and humanitarian.

Monday Musings

Hosted by Barbara at Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers

APPLY THIS SIMPLE RULE TO YOUR CONVERSATIONS:
If you wouldn't write it down and sign it, DON'T SAY IT.
~George Wither

Monday Musings

Hosted by Barbara at Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers

"I tend to get tied up in the preparations of life.
I am just learning to find joy in the moment.
It is never too late to be who you might have been.”
~George Eliot

Hump Day Humor ~ Pondering Higher Education & Life

hosted by Meredith at Mercedes Rocks

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.

She said, 'Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?'

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, 'Of course you may!' and she gave me a giant squeeze.

'Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?' I asked.

She jokingly replied, 'I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids...'

'No seriously,' I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

'I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!' she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.

We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop I was always mesmerized listening to this 'time machine' as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.

Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, 'I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.'

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, 'We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

There are only four secrets to staying young: being happy, achieving success. laughing and finding humor every day… You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets.

The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.'

She concluded her speech by courageously singing 'The Rose.' * She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.

Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be…

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY.
GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL!

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.
If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

*Some say love it is a river
That drowns the tender reed
Some say love it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed

Some say love it is a hunger
An endless aching need
I say love it is a flower
And you it's only seed

It's the heart afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of waking
That never takes the chance

It's the one who won't be taken
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying
That never learns to live

And the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong

Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snow
Lies the seed that with the sun's love
In the spring becomes a rose

Monday Musings

Hosted by Barbara at Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers

Live every day as if it might be
the last so you'll have no regrets.
~Barbara

Monday's Musings - Kindness

There's a new meme in town.
My good friend Barbara would love to see you and have you join in.
She's made buttons to choose from.
So head on Over to Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers to join the fun.

You cannot do a kindness too soon,
for you never know how soon it will be too late.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson*

*(pg 25) Highlighted in Yellow A short course in living wisely and choosing well by H. Jackson Brown Jr., author of Life's Little Instruction Book and Rochelle Pennington

Monday's Musings ~ Kindness

There's a new meme in town.
My good friend Barbara would love to see you and have you join in.
She made my header and this great button to match.
She's made more buttons to choose from.
So head on Over to Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers to join the fun.

Remember the nicest thing you can do for yourself is to do something nice for someone else.
~George Burns*

*(pg 15) Highlighted in Yellow A short course in living wisely and choosing well by H. Jackson Brown Jr., author of Life's Little Instruction Book and Rochelle Pennington

Monday's Musings ~ Kindness

There's a new meme in town.
My good friend Barbara would love to see you and have you join in.
She's made buttons to choose from.
So head on Over to Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers to join the fun.

Never underestimate the power of a kind word or deed. It takes so little to make people happy - just a touch, if we know how to give it, just a word fitly spoken, or a slight readjustment of some bolt or pin or bearing in the delicate machinery of a human soul.
~Frank Crane*

*(pg 8) Highlighted in Yellow A short course in living wisely and choosing well by H. Jackson Brown Jr., author of Life's Little Instruction Book and Rochelle Pennington

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

I saw this on the chalkboard of a roadside cafe this morning as we began our journey and thought it was so funny that I had to share.

DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE THE WORLD
IS A CAR WASH AND
YOU'RE RIDING THROUGH
IT ON A BICYCLE?

Monday's Musings ~ Kindness

My good friend Barbara gave me a spring makeover last night when she made my new header and then surprised me with this great button to match. So my first few quotes for this meme will be about kindness in hopes of reminding us all how important it is to have kindness in our life and to give kindness to others.

There's a new meme in town.
She would love to see you there and have you join in.
She's made many more fun buttons for you to choose from.
So, head on over to
Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers
to join the fun.

Make it a habit to do nice things for people who'll never find out. That best portion of a man's life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.
~William Wordsworth*

*(pg5) Highlighted in Yellow A short course in living wisely and choosing well by H. Jackson Brown Jr., author of Life's Little Instruction Book and Rochelle Pennington

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep.
~Scott Adams in The Dilbert Principle (Collins)

Food for thought

I don't know where it originated, but one of my dad's favorite sayings was,
"You cannot have a battle of wits with an unarmed person".
Always makes me think and try to stay informed.