WARNING: Reading this post could be hazardous to your sanity because it is a full set of rambling and reflection. I plan to find a way to focus on a topic in the future as I share life, humor, challenge, success, and just plain ol' me through my entries. A total disclaimer on what follows that it is pure rambling, but still it IS my life!
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How did I ever "allow" over one year from my first post to this one? Goodness knows, it was started with the best of intentions.....figuring life got "in the way" and I didn't even consider it a priority or something I wanted to enjoy at that point. Now I'm wondering about starting over.....maybe wipe out that long break from my first post to now?
Or maybe just chalking it up to what happens when a desire to do something is not followed through with action. Yep, dreams are great but they take effort, focus, commitment if growth is expected. Like I didn't already know that.....
A LOT has happened in the year+ though.....my body healed from a herniated disc as far as it could and Feb. 2013 brought surgery with an excellent neurosurgeon removing the fragments beginning to calcify on my sciatic. Some of the healing was a blur due to meds and fatigue, but I knew from Day 1 that the sciatic unending incredible pain was GONE! Two stages of recovery, one for 3 months seriously restricted, then 3 more months increasing my activities led me to healing! I followed all dr. orders and with the loving help of Jeff, family, dear friends, neighbors I healed and got stronger. I am now pain free......I pray I never take that for granted either! Pain free means JOY is back in my daily routine, my life, my vision for my future!
Joy should never be underestimated as part of what motivates us to be the best we can in all things! I know 2014 will be especially sweet as JOY is part of this year's journey! I have leaned on my faith at all times and God has opened all kinds of new doors, insights, opportunities, and time for reflection.
The year was not all joy and healing of physical diseases/injuries though. My dear friend April spent 3 years rising to the challenges of battling ovarian cancer with a 2%-3% chance of survival.....she lived with cancer while battling to not die from it. She taught all of us so much, and as a dear friend we walked, talked, sat, listened, cried, laughed, prayed together at every opportunity. On more than one occasion a light-hearted conversation while walking together led to silently reaching for one another's hands as tears joined our time together. Sharing deepest emotions, boundless faith in God's faithfulness, change of direction in dreams and hopes for the future.....it was a time of beauty only when I focused on what God was guiding us through. At some point, I'll be able to write more clearly about this experience and the time I joined her husband, all our dearest friends, and the caregivers of Hospice to pray, care for, and sing April to the gates of Heavenly peace. July 2, 2013 she left this earth and all the pain and suffering of her cancer, but carried a piece of our hearts to the arms of her Savior!
Finding JOY in my family has always been easy, but with 6 grandchildren it is non-stop! All 6 have very special personalities and we are very proud of their families....all are active in church, but more importantly all are developing their walk with God in such wonderful ways! This year they are in 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, pre-K, and preschool. The activities of school, sports, hobbies, interests, and family keep both families very busy and we are blessed with many trips to be with them. Sometimes we are there to help during challenges, sometimes to share in a joyful activity, sometimes just to enjoy family time! It will never be lost on me that I am blessed with 2 daughter-in-laws who welcome me into their homes.
The year also brought me fully into the work of Fischer Building Co. and while some of the work still keeps me checking notes for clarification of what is expected. If I can stay on top of what is needed and expected of me, I plan to also be able to carve out some time to pursue some of my own personal goals this year. To "earn my keep" though I hope to be better at my FBC responsibilities....not sure I'll ever stop asking questions though, so Jeff and I work all the time on our communication skills. Not an easy thing to work for/with your spouse, but we are excited that it IS becoming easier all the time!
Church, faith, community spiritual involvement - all part of my life too and so very important in keeping me remembering WHOSE I am! This last year I had to back away from various involvement as I healed and found my way through activity. I have found ways though to volunteer in some short-term needs of our church (like facilitating a Women's Bible Study) and I find great joy in Emmaus of the Albemarle service as a person who worships, praises, serves. I have been inspired and blessed in so many wonderful ways by others! As Treasurer, and now on a Leadership Team for an upcoming Women's Walk, I know God is busy in me and I pray through me!
We were blessed this last year with celebrating our 40th Anniversary! Love is a verb that we are blessed with to a level I never ever dreamed of on September 15, 1973. Our trip to Savannah for over a week gave us time to reflect on our lives together, our present, and certainly our future. When Jeff shared a prayer of joy at our Pictionary Thanksgiving meal, he choked back tears praising God for the healing of my back and the joy we have in our lives again. WOW I am blessed by my soulmate, my best friend, my partner in this wonderful life on earth. A man of deep faith who keeps me laughing and blesses me endlessly!
I am blessed. I have challenges. I have faith. I have dreams. I have JOY! Come on 2014, let's see what's ahead!
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
First "Official" Month of Retirement
When July 1st arrived this year, it sort of slipped past me that it was officially the day.....until my husband Jeff said "Happy Retirement" to me that night. Hmmmm......summer for a teacher has always been so filled with down time, R&R, family visits, random days doing not much at all or doing all we can. So feeling retired in the summer just felt odd.
Even more unsettling was his wish to me, when I knew it was given out of love, but also with mixed feelings about this stage of our lives. Being the primary bread winner in our marriage is nothing new, but he was feeling like the only breadwinner and that can be tough to manage too! But we have worked our way through the many weeks since school got out, by continuing with the budget I set for retirement income and realizing not much (right now) has changed. Baby steppin' our way through it all for now. Together with God's guidance every step of the way!
I have also found many ways to make myself useful to Fischer Building Co. (FBC) with reconciling supplier quotes and charges (yes! saving him some money already) and pulling information together he usually would work on during the very late late hours of the night. This will be ongoing in my new role as his office assistant (still working on my official title.....).
As for ME......just ME.......I am making strides toward better health, literally. Walking 4-5 days a week and briskly too! Gives my mornings time to unfold before me and with energy high. A main goal is healing for my back - after a year of a herniated disc, which presses non-stop on my sciatic nerve. But we won't go there with blah blah blah about that, because healing is the operative word and I'm moving in the right directions so far! I have also taken on some new responsibilities with my Emmaus community and am excited to provide service to others this way. I have already read more books than I usually do the whole summer.....maybe because I spend NO time at all preparing for lessons, perusing websites, or thinking non-stop about teaching.
I am busy every day and looking forward to every day. As each one unfolds, I keep my blessings foremost in my mind and then gratefulness in my heart at the end of every day. A dear friend (thank you Mary Lambert) shared a phrase with me that she heard as she retired from teaching in NY and moved full-time to the OBX: "Retirement is merely finding ways to REcreate yourself."
REcreating......how exciting that sounds. I hope to embrace that as the summer continues and the Fall approaches.....my first in over 20 years of not walking into a school for those exciting days of a new year. I will find my new path........REcreating!
Even more unsettling was his wish to me, when I knew it was given out of love, but also with mixed feelings about this stage of our lives. Being the primary bread winner in our marriage is nothing new, but he was feeling like the only breadwinner and that can be tough to manage too! But we have worked our way through the many weeks since school got out, by continuing with the budget I set for retirement income and realizing not much (right now) has changed. Baby steppin' our way through it all for now. Together with God's guidance every step of the way!
I have also found many ways to make myself useful to Fischer Building Co. (FBC) with reconciling supplier quotes and charges (yes! saving him some money already) and pulling information together he usually would work on during the very late late hours of the night. This will be ongoing in my new role as his office assistant (still working on my official title.....).
As for ME......just ME.......I am making strides toward better health, literally. Walking 4-5 days a week and briskly too! Gives my mornings time to unfold before me and with energy high. A main goal is healing for my back - after a year of a herniated disc, which presses non-stop on my sciatic nerve. But we won't go there with blah blah blah about that, because healing is the operative word and I'm moving in the right directions so far! I have also taken on some new responsibilities with my Emmaus community and am excited to provide service to others this way. I have already read more books than I usually do the whole summer.....maybe because I spend NO time at all preparing for lessons, perusing websites, or thinking non-stop about teaching.
I am busy every day and looking forward to every day. As each one unfolds, I keep my blessings foremost in my mind and then gratefulness in my heart at the end of every day. A dear friend (thank you Mary Lambert) shared a phrase with me that she heard as she retired from teaching in NY and moved full-time to the OBX: "Retirement is merely finding ways to REcreate yourself."
REcreating......how exciting that sounds. I hope to embrace that as the summer continues and the Fall approaches.....my first in over 20 years of not walking into a school for those exciting days of a new year. I will find my new path........REcreating!
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