Here's my bucket list:
1. Learn how to load, clean, aim and fire a weapon.
2. Hot Air balloon over/through the fjords in Norway.
3. Complete a 5K (even if it takes me two days).
4. Learn how a car engine works.
5. Live long enough to celebrate each grand daughter's life choices.
For the more practical part of the list:
1. Install a water softener.
2. Get a dish washer that really does clean silverware.
3. Dig a basement or move to a property that either has one or is in itself an underground abode.
4. Find a lawn service that does the landscaping...cheap.
5. Complete this degree before I, well, you know.
6. Figure out why I'm here and where I'm going.
Now for the sappy part of the list:
1. Reconnect with sisters.
2. Learn to keep my mouth shut.
3. Learn how to celebrate my daughters.
4. Show up with flowers at my parents' graveside some Memorial Day.
5. Win some sort of "Wife of the Year" award.
And more, but for now, that's what I think about it.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
I have officially become an old person. I realized this last evening when a grand daughter and her boyfriend came to dinner.
Dinner itself, chicken Alfredo, was a hit, delicious and decadent.
After the meal we sat around talking about their trip to Europe with the college they attend. They leave this week. My husband and I recounted some adventures we had had on our trips abroad.
About the third story it occurred to me that we had told these stories before, perhaps at a Christmas or Thanksgiving family get-together. I wondered how many times we might have told these stories. And then I hoped that they were similar in detail at each telling.
Gratefully, my grand daughter has been raised to extend grace to others and sat attentively listening. Only once, when I asked her directly had I told her this story before, did she admit that she had heard it before. She did not say how many times.
And so age has taken its toll.
Seemingly though, after living so many decades one would think that a person would have a larger arsenal of life events to pull from when making sparkling conversation. Apparently not.
And that's what I think about it.
Dinner itself, chicken Alfredo, was a hit, delicious and decadent.
After the meal we sat around talking about their trip to Europe with the college they attend. They leave this week. My husband and I recounted some adventures we had had on our trips abroad.
About the third story it occurred to me that we had told these stories before, perhaps at a Christmas or Thanksgiving family get-together. I wondered how many times we might have told these stories. And then I hoped that they were similar in detail at each telling.
Gratefully, my grand daughter has been raised to extend grace to others and sat attentively listening. Only once, when I asked her directly had I told her this story before, did she admit that she had heard it before. She did not say how many times.
And so age has taken its toll.
Seemingly though, after living so many decades one would think that a person would have a larger arsenal of life events to pull from when making sparkling conversation. Apparently not.
And that's what I think about it.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Often people just do not know what they are talking about.
Opinions based on second- and third-hand information from the Internet, TV or other media abound. Sometimes a casual chat overheard between friends is taken as truth and judgments formed based on that.
Case in point.
Rob Bell's newest book Love Wins.
Pilloried in much of the Christian media an unbelieving world thinks, "What's the big deal?" or worse, "If that's how Christians treat each other, then I'll take my hedonistic life surrounded by people who affirm and encourage me." Cautiously some have defended Bell or at least if not his position, which is nebulous at best, at least his right to have an opinion.
Criticism began before the book was published. Piquing my interest I could not wait to get my hands on a copy, before bonfires flamed with Love Wins as the kindling.
It concerns me that many who spoke out about the book, mostly against what they thought was it's premise, had not read the book. Perhaps they had heard or read an interview with Bell and formed their opinion based on that. It further concerns me that like lemmings, we are being told not to question spiritual things and further that questioning may call into question our own doctrinal solidity.
Not question? Not have open, honest dialogue? Accept like children what is presented without asking? One does not have to look too far back into world history to know where that kind of rhetoric led.
Okay, time to step off my soapbox. Love Wins is not great literature; Love Wins does not answer the questions one would expect from the title; Love Wins is quintessential Rob Bell as he ponders on paper the unanswerable question, does love win?
And that's what I think about it.
Opinions based on second- and third-hand information from the Internet, TV or other media abound. Sometimes a casual chat overheard between friends is taken as truth and judgments formed based on that.
Case in point.
Rob Bell's newest book Love Wins.
Pilloried in much of the Christian media an unbelieving world thinks, "What's the big deal?" or worse, "If that's how Christians treat each other, then I'll take my hedonistic life surrounded by people who affirm and encourage me." Cautiously some have defended Bell or at least if not his position, which is nebulous at best, at least his right to have an opinion.
Criticism began before the book was published. Piquing my interest I could not wait to get my hands on a copy, before bonfires flamed with Love Wins as the kindling.
It concerns me that many who spoke out about the book, mostly against what they thought was it's premise, had not read the book. Perhaps they had heard or read an interview with Bell and formed their opinion based on that. It further concerns me that like lemmings, we are being told not to question spiritual things and further that questioning may call into question our own doctrinal solidity.
Not question? Not have open, honest dialogue? Accept like children what is presented without asking? One does not have to look too far back into world history to know where that kind of rhetoric led.
Okay, time to step off my soapbox. Love Wins is not great literature; Love Wins does not answer the questions one would expect from the title; Love Wins is quintessential Rob Bell as he ponders on paper the unanswerable question, does love win?
And that's what I think about it.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Mother's Day 2011
Mother's Day 2011.
Church and then family. The men had arranged to pick up a family dinner from a local restaurant: roast beef, chicken Alfredo, mashed potatoes, corn, rolls, banana-nut bread, and salad. Dessert was a plethora of cheesecakes, layer cake, pie and ice cream. Delicious.
Sitting around the table the nine of us laughed and fondly remembered family events of the past and caught up on current happenings.
It was a good day.
A friend of mine told me that she had been alone during the day, while her son, who lives close-by text her a Happy Mother's Day. I thought he should have shown up at her house with flowers and reservations made at her favorite restaurant. She put on a brave face and was happy for the phone message.
As I considered and reviewed my own day, with two loving and lovable daughters and four exceptional grand daughters, a great husband and son-in-law, I knew that their presence was sufficient. No gifts needed.
But like tips in a restaurant, appreciated.
And that's what I think about it.
Church and then family. The men had arranged to pick up a family dinner from a local restaurant: roast beef, chicken Alfredo, mashed potatoes, corn, rolls, banana-nut bread, and salad. Dessert was a plethora of cheesecakes, layer cake, pie and ice cream. Delicious.
Sitting around the table the nine of us laughed and fondly remembered family events of the past and caught up on current happenings.
It was a good day.
A friend of mine told me that she had been alone during the day, while her son, who lives close-by text her a Happy Mother's Day. I thought he should have shown up at her house with flowers and reservations made at her favorite restaurant. She put on a brave face and was happy for the phone message.
As I considered and reviewed my own day, with two loving and lovable daughters and four exceptional grand daughters, a great husband and son-in-law, I knew that their presence was sufficient. No gifts needed.
But like tips in a restaurant, appreciated.
And that's what I think about it.
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