Lesson #25 – “The Times They are A-Changin”

       

“Come gather ’round people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters

Around you have grown

And accept it that soon

You’ll be drenched to the bone

If your time to you

Is worth savin’

Then you better start swimmin’

Or you’ll sink like a stone

For the times they are a-changin”

Bob Dylan

Change is all around me.  I can feel it in my bones.  Is that lyrics from a song?  Anyway, the times they are certainly changin!  This feeling of change can be quite overwhelming. Anticipation of the changes is a bit nerve wracking for me I admit.  For me it can be stressful and can even cause panic!  Don’t ask me why….it just can.  Others react better I know.  Surely, it has something and everything to do with the aging process.

Someone once called me a homebody and he didn’t mean it as a compliment!  I was, in fact, insulted by him calling me this….as if it were a curse word.  But, the older that I get I realize that I certainly may be a homebody.  It’s NOT a bad thing at all.  I love to be at home puttering around doing this and that and doing nothing at all.  Am I wasting my time?  I think not.  I can read a good book in total silence, watch a TV show that I am embarrassed about watching in front of my husband because it has no benefit to me or my mind.  I can also plan how to change up that room or to roam the internet searching for a great pair of boots that I will never buy or to look at what’s on sale at my fav stores or, maybe, for nothing at all!  I can eat a huge amount of popcorn and drink as much diet soda (and not healthy H2O) as I like……so there! My point is change outside my four walls is easy and I can take it.  Safe in my surroundings I suppose.  When it comes to change coming through my front door …..well, that change is daunting!

I know what you are thinking!  Change is a good thing and it certainly is and I understand that.  It doesn’t make it easier for me.  I have had a lot of change in the past year or so and I believe I have handled it quite well, thank you very much.  (Head pat here!)

This next year change will bring many happy times for our family.  My daughter is moving into a larger home but saying goodbye to the home she brought her babies home to.  I remember like it was yesterday how difficult it was for me to move from my ‘baby homes’ to another part of the country.  It is sad and happy at the same time.  My son and his fiance’ have set the date for their marriage and the plans for the merriment are in motion.  Relatives are making plans to change jobs and perhaps a State change as well.  Who knows?  Friends are making changes left and right.  Selling their ‘raising children’ homes and buying smaller sparkly new ones.  Another friend moving back from whence they came.  Others building back a new and improved home washed away by Sandy.  A new baby is acomin’ very very soon.  Lots of excitement going on.  So many things changing around me.  More changes that I don’t even realize now other than I can just feel it. Hold on to my hat I say!

Bob and I are actually planning a move for ourselves FINALLY!  We had agreed to decide what we wanted a year or so after selling our ‘forever’ home.  It has been one year, three months and two weeks since we closed.  (I think that’s right….but who’s counting?)  My husband recently said to me that if he didn’t have ‘his’ swimming pool 40 minutes away, he would have gone bezerk months ago!  I haven’t gone bezerk but I have thought about going. I believe I have made a friend with my surroundings and actually like puttering around this poor little summer shack.  I have made peace with it. Good Lord!  I am a homebody!

We need to be closer to my children and grandchildren to be really happy.  We have decided to head back home and this time in earnest.   Speaking of being earnest, we actually were in the earnest money phase of buying one of those small, new sparkly homes. Be that as it may (don’t you just LOVE that saying….be that as it may)…..not sure exactly what it means but I love it……Again, be that as it may, we have a long list of new builds and other homes to look at so when we have a realtor who wants to go along for a long ride, we shall begin.  My anxiety level is rising as I write this.  I am certain by the end of this year we will be in our own new home closer to my children and grandchildren.  I’m certain this time!  Really! I will report back.  Change….ouch. Press on.  Anxiety level be damned!

Times they are a-changin’ for all of us.  I suppose the stars are aligned for change this year.  Exciting and the air is alive with anti…………ci………paaaaa……tion…..Personally, politically, etc. etc.

The dictionary says “Change” means ‘to make or become different’, ‘to make a new decision different from an old one’, ‘to improve’, ‘to exchange one thing for another thing’.

“Your old road is

Rapidly agin’

Please get out of the new one

If you can’t lend your hand

                           For the times they are a-changin’ ”        Bob Dylan

Amen to that!  Cheers to change in all our lives.

I just have to get out more.

Leigh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lesson #24 – A New Year And A New Beginning

We were never fans of New Years Eve and the tradition of making resolutions.  Many years we spent the evening with close friends and during the kids’ growing up years, we would actually go to bed early and set the alarm for Midnight so that we could say “Happy New Year”, kiss, and go back to sleep.  Growing up, my parents called me at home to wish me a Happy New Year from a party they were attending.  This year was no different although we had the pleasure of my daughter and her family here for the night.  We did, however, go to bed quite early but my husband and I did resist going to sleep and stayed up to watch the ball drop and wish each other a happy new year.

Our holiday season was not what we had expected when I wrote last.

We lost my husband’s Mother this year very close to Christmas and I know every year will be a reminder of how very sad we are to lose her and she will be missed always.  She kept the family together as most mothers do.  I know that she will be with us forever in spirit and there will be a time when we will have a grand heavenly family reunion.

The passing of a loved one just brings our thoughts to where they always need to be.  It’s not about finding the exactly perfect gift (or buying gifts for that matter),  decorating the house inside and out, buying all the food and exhausting ourselves to have just the perfect holiday season.  The week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is a rest period normally for us and this year is no exception.  We needed the week to rest both our emotional selves and our physical bodies.

Not only during the holidays but every day should be all about the love of friends and family near and far.  If we can’t be together then keep in touch so that we are in their lives.  The holiday is also about my Christian faith and the birth of our Savior.  No matter what our faith, we seem to turn to our beliefs when the going gets most tough.

I know I said I am not a fan of resolutions, however, this year I do have one which I plan to keep.   I plan to thank my loved ones for the blessings and happiness they give me no matter how large or small.  As we get older I think I, at least, appreciate more and take little for granted.

It’s a new year and I look forward to the possibilities this year will bring that will be new and exciting.  Another year, another birthday…..woo hoo!  Hug more, love more, smile more, laugh more.  Enjoy, appreciate, savor, look forward to every day and tackle it.

A new beginning!  There is comfort in that.

Happy New Year!

Leigh