Sunday, September 23, 2012

ONE HUNDRED

100 seems like a small number in relation to our national debt of $16,000,000,000,000.
I cannot even imagine a 'Trillion' of anything.
In fact, creating a pile of 100 of anything became daunting to me.
I counted 100 Nasturtiums but realized
that this was not the best way to see 100.
That was the request from my cousin.
 Her mom, my aunt, turned 100 years old on Sept. 15.
That's a HUGE milestone for humans.
So, why not ask everyone to send a picture of 100 of anything.
At the very least, we could send a couple of cards so that she could obtain 100 cards.
That was the easiest task of all since my aunt knows and keeps in touch with well over 100 people in her life.
I imagine she received far more than 100 cards.
Pictures of 100 of anything were also compiled.
There were cheerios, flower petals, stones, marshmallows lined up to look like 100.
Dozens were digitally compiled into a slide show.

I could not wrap my brain around compiling anything except 100 Thank You notes, since my aunt has always been a huge influence in my life.
She took my sister and I under her wing at a very young age and encouraged us to become the best Girl Scouts we could be.
My old badge sash
Girl Scouts also celebrated their 100th birthday this year.
My aunt was a Girl Scout leader for years as she raised her own daughter.  She even earned her Eagle Scout Badge which, when I became old enough to earn it, no longer existed.

One would think giving 100 thanks would be easy.  I am already giving three 'thanksgivings' a day on my other blog: dailygracesfromgod.blogspot.com
After the first couple of pages, I had to think.
My memory became muddled.
As they say, long term memory is easy.
It gets harder to remember the more recent events in our lives.
For sure, I managed to write down 100 thank you notes and place them in a pretty cover.
Off they went to my aunt.
 Of course I added pictures.  That was the most fun.

There she is, responding to her
sister's question in the middle
of her one of her 10 oratories of
 her life story.
  
We also managed to visit my aunt on her big day.
Here she is, standing for ten minutes at a time, telling the story of her life.
This was totally amazing because she did not use her glasses, does not wear hearing aids, uses no cane or walker, and stood by herself without microphone as the rest of us sat in lawn chairs listening over the din of loud music down the block.
She just talked louder and became more animated.
In comparison, her children and nieces and nephews seemed to have more ailments than my aunt!
She was as perky as ever!
10 Balloons were released after my aunt 'released'
stories of every 10 years of her life.
I think she will live another 10 years at least.
My aunt with her GREAT Grand son!
Greg was the 'master of ceremonies'.

She is astute, alert, filled with incredible information, and ever present in dozens of peoples' lives . . . daily.
Reason: the computer.
My aunt has always been on the leading edge of technology.
She has never feared a new invention.
She had an Apple computer before many of us knew what it was.
She now has the latest Apple and a touch-screen PC.
Reason: Although she much prefers Apple, more software is created for the PC.
Aunt Helen took a moment out from the party
to show us her latest work.  AMAZING!

Can you see the two computers?
Latest in computers but notice in the bottom
right corner - an old TV which she rarely watches.
She needs the latest software to continue her genealogy work, which she has done for well over fifty years.




100 years brings more than 100 changes.
My aunt has floated through endless changes and challenges.
Her attitude is positive to a fault and has carried her well into the 21st century.
 To be 100 is a gift.
 My aunt, at 100, is the greatest gift I could ever have.
 I share her with 100s.
Yet, she seems as if she were attentive only to me.

Oh to be 100.
Oh to be attentive and caring and savvy with the latest technology in order to maintain that pastoral care she gives to so many.
Who knows what the next 100 will bring but she is on the 'edge' of a whole new world where the 'average' may be 100.

I linger with thoughts of her and wonder if I will be able to remain attentive to others and savvy with the latest technology so that I can reach beyond my comfort zone.
Hmmmmm, I guess writing this blog is a beginning.
I pray I can be half as giving and caring and attentive as my aunt if, by God's grace, I even reach 100.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

PREFERENCES


Each of us has different preferences that dictate our lives.
 Some of us prefer summer over winter.
In the summer, some prefer to linger in gardens on a hot day and others choose to enjoy air conditioning.

Sometimes, our preferences mean making tough choices.


If we choose to linger in a garden we might have to wander in some else's yard or walk down to a local park.

We may choose to be uncomfortable and sweat a bit in order to admire nearly transparent roses.

We may have to compromise with the natural elements like the hot sun and don a hat and sunglasses and slather sunscreen on our exposed skin.

 Sometimes we choose where to live according to our preferences.

For instance, I love summer all year long but my husband now barely tolerates summer and relishes long, cold winter days.
His 'outside' time is my 'inside' time.
 He breathes deep and seems to come alive on crispy-cold days.

 I burrow into a warm corner of the house and prefer to park myself there until Spring.
Because I love my hubby and he loves me, we have compromised over the years.
 We met in Seattle, where it is not too cold in the winter and is nicely cool most of each Summer.
  We moved to Northern Virginia, quite warm in the summer with no cool breeze, and crispy-cold only a few months a year.
Both places offered enough for us to compromise our preferences quite well.







Then we moved to Florida.
I began to love the heat and my hubby tolerated it quite well for several years.
The very hot summers brought with it soft sea breezes.
Winter was cool enough for him and just right for me.
 I most certainly benefited the most from living there.

After several years it was his turn to name his preference.
He chose a Pennsylvania mountain range that not only offers cool breezes in the summer but sweeps cold gusts that rattle our home almost constantly for eight months a year.
Yes, this summer is hot . . .  too hot for hubby.
This year is unusual.
It has been like Florida with never ending humidity.

Yet, a cool summer breeze gently frolics through our little screened porch where I park myself for hours each day when I am not in the garden.
My precious hubby parks himself in the coolest part of the basement when he can and, if given the option, would linger there until the first sign of frost.

As the days become shorter and nights grow colder I linger outside a a little less each day.
Hubby, in anticipation of the months ahead, seems to awaken from his sleepy daze in dark corners and begins to jog more frequently.

We will soon exchange a single sheet of bed covering for a down comforter with a coverlet on top of that.
As days grow dark and north winds howl, I get double the covers as he tosses them my way.
Because we create options we manage well.

Neither of us declares a 'mandate' by telling the other to accept that which is intolerable.
We adjust, knowing that we live in an imperfect world.
We work with each other instead of against each other.

I have yet to hear, "You cannot have more blankets on a cold winter day."
I have yet to tell my precious partner in life, "You must be covered in as many blankets as I use."
In the same way, I cannot demand that hubby keep the heat up high on a blistering cold day.
This is uncomfortable for him as well as poor economics.
 In fact, we both choose to keep the house at 68 in the winter.
We have high ceilings and his office is in an open loft at the top of the stairs.  What little heat we enjoy (68 does not seem that warm) goes right up to him.  It's really about 72 for him, which he thinks is just right.

 My best option is to wear wool socks and a thick wool sweater with heavy sweatpants.
 I also opt to go to a sweetly decorated, cozy corner of the basement where I can turn the heat up without much extra cost.
 We simply switch places between summer and winter.
 It works.

Preferences.
Who is winning now?
Because I choose to remain with my forever partner in marriage, I am willing to compromise in the winter as he does in the summer.
Because I mention ideas and do not mandate alternatives, we came up with a nifty plan to help each other through the toughest months.

There are many other preferences we lay aside because we have invested in each other.
We have a "vested interest" in compromise and, over the years, have gained a great return on our investment in each other.
Mandates are out of the question.
Patronizing is not acceptable.
Demanding that one come over to the other side is inappropriate.
Compromise is the only way we continue to thrive as a devoted couple.

I wonder if our nation is dealing as well with its commitment to fellow citizens.
As citizens, we are all 'bonded together' under the rules of the same constitution.
The United States of America, the government OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people, is just that.
We are called upon to govern ourselves.
We state our preferences by voting.

We often have to compromise if the 'vote' for our preference is outnumbered by another's vote for a different preference.
Together, we are called upon to maintain the unity of one nation as a governing body.
Mandates are out of the question.
Patronizing is not acceptable.
Demanding that those who disagree come totally over to the other side is inappropriate.
We must all work together to compromise, to work with each other's preferences as best we can.

Our founding Fathers left ample room for individual preferences as we live together as "ONE nation, under GOD, INDIVISABLE, with liberty and justice for ALL."
We have fought many wars and too many have died to maintain our freedom.
We must work together, every day, to maintain our freedom.

 We can do this with compromises in compliance with our Constitution.
Our job, as a nation, is to read and digest the actual words of our Constitution.
Our nation has twisted the words and intent over the years.  Transcript of the Constitution of the United States - Official Text
Our preferences do not mean . . . 'all or nothing'. . . 'my way or no way.'
It is OUR way.
The bond of Marriage would not last a minute if preferences were ignored, mandates were dictated, and compromise was out of the question.

As a nation we are called to bond with each other as we live side by side, knowing that FREEDOM means working at compromise as we seek our own preferences,