Lets talk apples...Infidelity...and other related subjects!!

A friend told me that recently they read that over 75% of married couples have an affair at some point in their marriage. Unbelievable!! So being the super curious person that I am I decided to inquire of someone more knowledgeable then myself....Google is one of the smartest men I know. What I found astonished me. I read that 80% of the multi-millionaires have extra-maritial affairs but they have decided to conserve during this recession and have cut back on lovers gifts. Good for them for doing their part in this down economy.

I also read that 53% of marriages end in divorce...since I beat the odds and was married for 45 years ....is it any wonder I never want to re-marry.
But I also read that only 3% of marriages arranged by their parents ends in divorce...so I guess I need to re-phrase that previous statement....if my parents want to arrange my marriage...I'll do it!!!

So trying really hard to find something Google had to say to brighten my day...make me laugh...or at least smile, I decided to inquire again of the all knowing Google man, and maybe another site would have more cheerful facts.

 Alas..he brought me apples. YES apples!!! For some unknown reason I was on a web page about apples, and that brought back beautiful memories of the snow apples I ate last winter while in Southern California. Beautiful deep crimson color...snow white flesh....tender, aromatic...sweet and tart at the same time. Oh if you've never had a snow apple..be sure and look for them this fall.

Thank you God for turning my attention from such dour statistics to such a great memory of those sweet tasty apples.

Don't worry....be happy!!

One of my favorite songs from the 80's....going through my head this morning...over and over and over.

Don't worry, be happy..in every life we have some trouble,
when we worry we make it double.
Ain't got no place to lay your head..someone came and took your bed
Don't worry...be happy!
Cause when you worry your face willl frown
and that will bring everybody down
So don't worry .....be happy!!

I went to bed last night praying for my family...well maybe it is called worrying. I didn't think I was worrying...but maybe so. I have three sisters and and two of them are out of work and the one sister that does have a job, her husband has been job hunting for over a year and their financial status is looking grim. I have friends that really took a tumble when their 401K was suddenly turned into a 101K. I watch the dour financial news on TV...I hear about our unemployment rate...I listen to talk show hosts talk about doom and gloom....and then I'm not sleeping again...which is just delightful!! 

So I have decided to use the TV remote and everytime doom and gloom is forcasted I will click to another channel.  I will love not being crazy-pants anymore about all this financial stuff. In fact I decided I'm not going to participate in this "recession" anymore. I am not going to fixate on the economy. I am not going to listen to all the in-depth coverage. I am not going to go to sleep each night worrying about everyone's job....about inflation....about stagnation...staycations...because my obsessive worry has NO EFFECT AT ALL ON THE OUTCOME. The economy doesn't call me each day to see how I feel about it. If I choose to think about something else like green beans or watermelon margarita's the economy doesn't get worse. It doesn't get better either. It fact I have no control over any of this. All I can control is how I choose to see everything. I have decided instead to think on the things instead that I like. Things that are in my realm of control..prudent spending...saving what I can...exercise to stay as healthy as I can...keeping my thought tuned into good things so I can sleep better at night. Things that are lovely and beautiful. Like flowers...and tea....and Goodwill shopping....lunch with friends and sisters....outings with family...the weather...the sun...Starbucks coffee...Sunday morning church...and laughing with my neighbor over the mutant zukes in our garden.

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praise worthy....think on these things. Philippians 4:8

Parkinson's update!!

No one I know wants to have Parkinson's disease, including me. But sooner or later life will put real challenges in front of all of us. It has been eight years since my diagnosis and I realize now that PD is not the end, but the beginning of testing my own mettle, and realizing that there are many things far crueler in this world than Parkinson's...and realizing that I just don't have time to feel sorry for myself.

Parkinson's is a battle. But it's a battle that energizes me and gives me purpose. I just started another PD clinical trial at OHSU and after just one day I was energized with a new purpose to do all I can....for as long as I can...help as much as I can...and remain as healthy as I can.

This study is conducted to determine the responsiveness of PD and the symptoms associated with it, with an intensive physical therapy exercise program. Is Parkinson's sensitive to change? This study is 70 minutes every day....four days a week for four weeks. They study my balance and gait before and then again after two intensive, supervised, exercise programs. They expect to see improvement in balance and gait performance. Then this pilot clinical trial will result in a larger trial to determine the most effective exercise for improved mobility in PD patients. I am so excited to be chosen to participate in this study. Today my physical therapist was consuled and asked if they could come and video me for a segment they are doing for public relations. I'm going to be a star...but don't worry...I won't forget my friends when I am rich and famous.  :)

view from the hill

Like everyone else I do wory about things...I worry about my future and the progression of my disease. Will my savings last long enough? Will my mental faculities be affected? I worry that someday all I'll be able to do it sit watching Oprah all day in between massages and sponge baths from Fabio, the hunky healthcare worker I keep dreaming about...so now that I think about it I guess it's not all bad.

The Beach Kids

If I could choose just one place to be right this minute....it's the ocean!!

To me the ocean is symbolic of life. The power of eternity is seen in the endless horizon. The ocean brings me peace. I have often sat in the sand...gazing at the ocean with tears dripping down my cheeks, mourning the loss of my husband and shortly after the loss of my mother. I have sat ocean side many times throughout my life contemplating life's numerous challenges. For some useen reason the sound of the crashing waves around me...their rymthic pulse gives me peace in my soul. Just watching a sunset on the ocean horizon is magical and unique and there's just something indescribably romantic about it. God is never closer to me than when I'm oceanside gazing at His creation!

All that being said I now need to flip to the other side of the story. The story of The Beach Kids. Fifteen years ago my sister and I started our annual tradition of taking our grandkids to the Oregon coast for a week every summer. They soon dubbed themselves The Beach Kids.  Our first trip we had only three children and since then we have had as many as ten. It seems each year lately we loose one or two kids to the call of their teenage friends, sports camps or jobs. This year we had three teenages...two seven year olds and two nine year olds.

I didn't see a sunset...because by the time the sun would set I was nodding off in my chair.  Here is a brief snopsis of each day:

The sea gulls would start with their noise making at the crack of dawn and the younger kids would follow suit shortly after adding their noise to the medley. Soon the teenagers were up contributing their noise with music...wrestling...slugging...and teasing the little kids.

Then comes the food..or maybe I need to say there goes the food. Oh my Goodness...do they ever eat!! My sister and I have a deal...I do the cooking and she cleans up. Well I figured it out that I cooked 20 meals...fixed 231 snacks...handed out 36 bottles of water...and numerous popsicles and graham cracker treats

                                                                                 

I saved numerous kids from their teasing older cousins and siblings...I intervened in arguments regarding the nighly movie choice...I played with them on the dunes so many times that my calves now feel like someone has pounded them with a baseball bat....I marched on the sand with the little kids playing follow the leader...I helped build sand castles...I judged their castle contest...I played in the surf for two hours with seven kids...I helped bury Peter in the sand for teasing the little kids. I helped the girls build a fort.
I carried sand toys back and forth too many times to count and next year I am going to make a
few voice recordings before I leave.

 #1 Peter stop teasing the little kids. #2 Brush the sand off your feet before coming in the house. #3 Your hungry..how can that be? #4 Peter stop teasing the little kids.
#5 Yes you can have another snack. #6 Peter stop teasing the little kids

I brought home sand in my pockets and sand in my ears but I also brought more memories of another year of The Beach Kids. Yes I love the ocean..the sound...the sights...the feel...the smell. But most of all I love The Beach Kids.

I think I'm engaged!!

What a fun weekend I had!! Bluegrass music...great visit with fam....yummo food...and a marriage proposal. Anyway I think it was but since I had only know this gentleman for 15 minutes when he proposed, I'm really not sure if that's what it was.

Before my husband or 45 years passed away he gave me lots of advice on being a widow. He gave me financial advice, spiritual advice, political advice...lots of advice on what to do and what not to do...like never ever hide the remote control again...but he never did tell me don't get engaged to a man I've only known for 15 minutes.

I will call my fee-aunce-say by the name of Wally to protect his identity and his three grown children. Three beautiful children I might add. Two of them he is certain I will enjoy meeting but the other one is rather difficult. He has numerous grandkids and so do I so before we get married he informed me that there would be lots of adjustments to be made on both sides. That is the one thing that can pull a couple apart is the things that they don't get settled before they tie the knot.  He is financially stable and hopes that I am also. He lives in a small town an hour's drive from me and since that is such a long commute he thinks it's wise to get most of the hurdles out of the way right off the bat.

My fee-aunce-say is a charming gentleman but I think he is rather hard of hearing. After sitting down next to me and starting the conversation with, "I hear your a widow lady" and then his next question was, "you want to get married again"? The first time I said, "No... I'm not interested in getting married again".
Soon I realized that I needed to be firm with him or go shopping for my wedding dress because he either didn't hear me or I was being ignored. Not a good thing for my fee-aunce-say to start our relationship right off the bat by ignoring me. He asked me how old I was and then told me he was soon to be eighty-four....but don't let our age difference be a stumbling block. He's pretty active!!

Well after our 15 minute conversation my new friend picked his cane up off the ground...said goodbye...and headed to his car.

I didn't even get a ring...but I met a new friend and a person can't have too many friends.