Saturday, November 16, 2013
Warning: Aging Female Up Ahead
Granny here,
Life is good, don't get me wrong, that is if you have the fortitude of a bulldozer and the attitude of a saint! But life can get harrowing at times when our strength gets weak and we let our guard down which we all do. But when you're getting on in years it happens a little more often than usual and then you find yourself feeling as if you were ungrateful for all the years the good Lord has blessed you with which isn't the case at all and I am thankful that He understands that.
Getting old is no fun let me tell you right off the bat. It is a challenge that you face everyday when your eyes open and you want everyone around you to understand that but they don't not at least until they hit age 60 or 65 then it begins to dawn on them that yep it's just like they said. But the problem here is that very little is said about all the "problems" the elderly face as time marches on for them. The elderly (80 and up depending on health) have a way of camouflaging what is really going on in their world because the last thing they want to give up is their dignity and self respect and they feel that every time they let go of something they have fallen a little further behind.
I'm not to the place that people call me elderly but I am far enough along to call me aged. I have a few years on me and that's why I know what a battle is lerking up ahead. Also I have an excellent teacher in the house with me, my 94 year old mother. She's a jewel and a very good teacher, if I can just grasp some of the fortitude that she posesses I will be well on my way to success with this old age thing. She is a trooper in every sense of the word, still trying to do all that she can for herself and is always looking for more to do.
One of the greatest battles in aging is the rejection that the aged feel because youth and old people don't usually mix too well, one is full of energy and stamina thinking they know it all and the other has lost their energy and stamina and have experienced enough to know that they don't know it all but would like to share what they do know.
The young seem to fear the elderly and I can understand that on one hand because when you are around the elderly you are around someone that more than likely could use your help and that puts the young in a position that most don't relish too much. No one wants to feel as if they are being used all the time and this is understood but on the other side of this aging thing is "that where you are they once were and were they are you will one day be."
It's true that the older folks need more help than the younger and they hate to ask for it as much as the younger hate being bothered all the time. There could be no greater blessing for an older person than to be able to take care of themselves until the good Lord calls them out of this life. If they could have any one thing it would be good enough health to provide for themselves until it was all over but that's just not the way it is. Like it or lump it the elderly will always need the assistance of the younger.
I have looked after my mother more or less most of her life, we have always been good friends, doing everything together and she has become very dependent on me through the years for those reasons. It's not that she doesn't have other children matter of fact she has 5 besides myself that would take as good a care of her as I do or maybe better but she is just so attached to me that she is more comfortable and secure living with me I guess. She teaches me something new almost everyday and she inspires me and others around her more than she will ever know.
I have a daughter of my own and I keep warning her of the challenge she is facing in the future when I get to the place that my mother is if God so grants it. I can only hope and pray that we get along as good as my mother and I do. That is not to say that we don't have our moments because we do but they are few and far between. Of course my daughter is not me and I am not my mother so that is another story altogether so I'm sure it will be different for the two of us but I hope pleasant just the same.
Oh, if we could only understand the plight of the elderly and find a little something that we would be willing to give them that would make their lives a little brighter, a little less lonely that would give them the feeling of worth that they loose as they age. Feeling worthless is an awful truth that goes along with the aging process, the older they get and the less they are able to do for themselves the more worthless they feel and after years of working for the family, caring for the children and being the rock of the home it is hard to give up their pride and admit they can't do it anymore no matter how badly they want to. That really hurts.
You may say there is little I can do but it's only a little that they're asking, a half and hour visit, a hamburger from McDonald's, a five minute phone call, a card in the mail, a little gift on the holidays. These things are momumental in the life of the elderly, they have so little left that anything that is given to them is appreciated beyond words. Never feel that you don't have the time to do one gesture of kindness to someone who is aging in your family or in the family of your friends.
The aging understand that the younger folks are busy living life to the fullest, busy getting and doing but don't get so busy that you don't have a moment to share with someone who has lived a long life and is waiting for that final breath to come when just one moment from you will add joy that you won't understand until it is your turn and believe me we all get our turn.
Think about it the next time you meet someone with a few years on them, conversation is the best gift, so don't be afraid to share with one of them. They have a lot to say and you'll be glad that you listened.
Granny here, just saying!
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Crazy World
Granny here,
Sorry this post didn't come through, computer went crazy as the world has and I don't know where my posting went, out in cyberspace somewhere i guess. Will try it again some other time. Not in the mood right now.
Granny here, just saying.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Wondering?
Granny here,
Just sitting here thinking about life, what a trip and to think no want buys their own ticket. We are sent on this journey by someone else without being ask and then when we grow up and have children we send them on their journey. Funny isn't it? Or should I say perplexing.
Been learning some things lately that I didn't want to know although being alert as I am I had my suspicions a long time ago. Life has a way of doing that to us whatever we hope won't happen it usually does. Murphy's law is always in effect. Disappointments are always just around the corner.
Learning to deal with all these things is the secret to a successful life I think. It's not what life does to us it's what we do with what life hands us that counts. I must say I'm not the greatest at dealing with issues but I have been successful a time or too. With the help of Almighty God and his favor I have come through some pretty rough waters in my life but no rougher than anyone else and not near as rough as some.
God has been so good to me and my family although we have had some disappointments and although there will be others down the road He will be there to help pick up the pieces. Life is rough sometimes there's no denying that fact but there is a God that is bigger than any problem that we will face down here. He doesn't always come and swoop us up out of the miry clay but he does give us the strength to trudge through it.
Everyone has to face demons in this life but sometimes we don't have to go out and invite them into our lives and that's exactly what we do sometimes. Mankind always thinks "it won't happen to me, I can handle it" when in fact they are about to learn a lesson that will teach them far more than they want to know. Sometimes we better leave well enough alone and be thankful that our life is as smooth as it is without taking things into our own hands and complicating our life until it becomes as twisted as a pretzel.
God is gracious and good and He is constantly giving us information, examples etc. to guide us along if we will only pay heed to what He is trying to teach us. When we watch others around us destroy themselves by their choices in life and then we choose to follow in their footsteps we have not learned what God has been trying to teach us and we will pay the consequences you can be sure of that. For every action there is a reaction and that equation has never changed and it won't change for you either.
Life is a wonderment for sure, questions abound and most without answers but even with all it's disappointments it can be a fascinating journey if we watch our p's and q's. If we use our experiences as stepping stones and not drowning stones we will prove ourselves wise and life will hold many delights for us even in the mist of disappointments.
To God be the Glory!
Granny here just saying!
Just sitting here thinking about life, what a trip and to think no want buys their own ticket. We are sent on this journey by someone else without being ask and then when we grow up and have children we send them on their journey. Funny isn't it? Or should I say perplexing.
Been learning some things lately that I didn't want to know although being alert as I am I had my suspicions a long time ago. Life has a way of doing that to us whatever we hope won't happen it usually does. Murphy's law is always in effect. Disappointments are always just around the corner.
Learning to deal with all these things is the secret to a successful life I think. It's not what life does to us it's what we do with what life hands us that counts. I must say I'm not the greatest at dealing with issues but I have been successful a time or too. With the help of Almighty God and his favor I have come through some pretty rough waters in my life but no rougher than anyone else and not near as rough as some.
God has been so good to me and my family although we have had some disappointments and although there will be others down the road He will be there to help pick up the pieces. Life is rough sometimes there's no denying that fact but there is a God that is bigger than any problem that we will face down here. He doesn't always come and swoop us up out of the miry clay but he does give us the strength to trudge through it.
Everyone has to face demons in this life but sometimes we don't have to go out and invite them into our lives and that's exactly what we do sometimes. Mankind always thinks "it won't happen to me, I can handle it" when in fact they are about to learn a lesson that will teach them far more than they want to know. Sometimes we better leave well enough alone and be thankful that our life is as smooth as it is without taking things into our own hands and complicating our life until it becomes as twisted as a pretzel.
God is gracious and good and He is constantly giving us information, examples etc. to guide us along if we will only pay heed to what He is trying to teach us. When we watch others around us destroy themselves by their choices in life and then we choose to follow in their footsteps we have not learned what God has been trying to teach us and we will pay the consequences you can be sure of that. For every action there is a reaction and that equation has never changed and it won't change for you either.
Life is a wonderment for sure, questions abound and most without answers but even with all it's disappointments it can be a fascinating journey if we watch our p's and q's. If we use our experiences as stepping stones and not drowning stones we will prove ourselves wise and life will hold many delights for us even in the mist of disappointments.
To God be the Glory!
Granny here just saying!
Monday, October 7, 2013
Society Disconnect
Granny Here,
Lately I have become disgusted with a lot of things and one of them is the social media that has eaten up our world until we have become a facsimile of our former selves.
We have become social zombies that have no intellect for conversing with one another without the aid of technological devices that have multiple choice buttons for us to entertain ourselves with while communicating with the zombie on the receiving end.
I shutter to think what this world would be like if electricity ever becomes the target of our adversaries. Within twenty four hours we would become confused, deranged, and unable to fend for ourselves with the aid of all our gadgets.
If you think this is silly talk just take a look around you one day and tell yourself what you see. Everyone or most of society under the age of 70 has at least one gadget but probably two or three that are their constant companions, it is their drug of choice.
They have the trusted cell phone "don't leave home without it", their ipad which stays by their side as if it held all the secrets of the known world and that's just the beginning. Then there are the laptops, the ipods, the bluetooths, hip style, ear style, what has this world turned into?
These technological wonders now have their own stores, only for them, full of the latest drug that will set your world on fire, that will eat up your hours faster than a clock can produce them. Why, without this marvelous laptop I wouldn't be able to complain in this fashion, how sad!
What's worse before you learn how to use your latest gadget they have produced another one that makes it look like a toy and we just keep saying "I want that one, no I want the new one coming out", when will it end? When we completely stop talking to each other, when we find ourselves feeling attacked when we're in the room with another human being asking ourselves what do I do now?
It's a sad day for our society when parents have given in to such nonsense and have to text their children to get them to the dinner table if they are so lucky to find them within the perimeter of the home. And the ludicrous practice of allowing these gadgets into the schools. What educational monster thought that was a good idea.
When I went to school (and I won't say how many years ago that was) writing a note to a fellow student was an offense that got you sent to the principals office. But not today when the students call the punches, when cell phones and ipads, laptops and all the other gadgetry is as welcome as any school child and most of the time furnished by the school system itself. When will society wake back up from this technologically induced coma that has be thrust upon us by some mastermind that has over accomplished what he set out to do. We are hooked!
I understand that with every era of time and invention some of us become intimidated by them but this time we have gone too far. When progress alienates us from one another, when it replaces affection with complacency and dissolves our concern for each other I must say I do become intimidated.
I have never nor will I ever come in contact with a gadget that makes me feel the warmth that I feel when my daughter or grand-daughter comes walking in my door, when they sit down at my table to eat food that I have prepared for them. When we sit for hours and talk over the things that bother us, when we have our therapy sessions without realizing that we are helping each other with our conversation. No gadget can do that!
No gadget with give me the contentment of feeling warm arms around my neck from someone that loves me and I love them. I'm afraid those days are slipping away from society and we are to the point that society doesn't want those moments anymore, people have become an intrusion on our time, our time that is spent immersed in screens, games, gossip, filth, porn and advertisements.
Remember the old saying "what goes in comes out"? Well we have become a social trash can! Our society has become the inner space trash station and we are bombarded with it from all sides. We cannot dart enough to avoid it but we can make the choice to be in control of it.
We no longer live in the infamous fish bowl but we have been thrown into the tank and it's a big one. Swim as we may this channel will be long and hard but don't despair there are lifeboats along the way if we "choose" to get in them.
We must take a good long look at ourselves and decide if we own the gadgets or do they own us, will we give in to the drug of technology or will we take our modern day drugs as the doctor prescribes in small doses?
As for myself, I'm kinda fed up with the scene. I'm sick of seeing everyone's petty comments of their everyday mundane activities as if they had nothing else to do except let the world know that their dog can jump through a hoop or that they washed their hair that day.
Have we become so wrapped up in ourselves to think that we are so important that other people are waiting for the news that we went to the beauty shop today or that our child got an A on their report card.
We have become a society that is so disconnected from each other that we feel threatened when we come face to face. Our space is being invaded and we don't like it. It's a sad day indeed and now I fully understand the old saying "back in the good old days."
Granny here, just saying!
Lately I have become disgusted with a lot of things and one of them is the social media that has eaten up our world until we have become a facsimile of our former selves.
We have become social zombies that have no intellect for conversing with one another without the aid of technological devices that have multiple choice buttons for us to entertain ourselves with while communicating with the zombie on the receiving end.
I shutter to think what this world would be like if electricity ever becomes the target of our adversaries. Within twenty four hours we would become confused, deranged, and unable to fend for ourselves with the aid of all our gadgets.
If you think this is silly talk just take a look around you one day and tell yourself what you see. Everyone or most of society under the age of 70 has at least one gadget but probably two or three that are their constant companions, it is their drug of choice.
They have the trusted cell phone "don't leave home without it", their ipad which stays by their side as if it held all the secrets of the known world and that's just the beginning. Then there are the laptops, the ipods, the bluetooths, hip style, ear style, what has this world turned into?
These technological wonders now have their own stores, only for them, full of the latest drug that will set your world on fire, that will eat up your hours faster than a clock can produce them. Why, without this marvelous laptop I wouldn't be able to complain in this fashion, how sad!
What's worse before you learn how to use your latest gadget they have produced another one that makes it look like a toy and we just keep saying "I want that one, no I want the new one coming out", when will it end? When we completely stop talking to each other, when we find ourselves feeling attacked when we're in the room with another human being asking ourselves what do I do now?
It's a sad day for our society when parents have given in to such nonsense and have to text their children to get them to the dinner table if they are so lucky to find them within the perimeter of the home. And the ludicrous practice of allowing these gadgets into the schools. What educational monster thought that was a good idea.
When I went to school (and I won't say how many years ago that was) writing a note to a fellow student was an offense that got you sent to the principals office. But not today when the students call the punches, when cell phones and ipads, laptops and all the other gadgetry is as welcome as any school child and most of the time furnished by the school system itself. When will society wake back up from this technologically induced coma that has be thrust upon us by some mastermind that has over accomplished what he set out to do. We are hooked!
I understand that with every era of time and invention some of us become intimidated by them but this time we have gone too far. When progress alienates us from one another, when it replaces affection with complacency and dissolves our concern for each other I must say I do become intimidated.
I have never nor will I ever come in contact with a gadget that makes me feel the warmth that I feel when my daughter or grand-daughter comes walking in my door, when they sit down at my table to eat food that I have prepared for them. When we sit for hours and talk over the things that bother us, when we have our therapy sessions without realizing that we are helping each other with our conversation. No gadget can do that!
No gadget with give me the contentment of feeling warm arms around my neck from someone that loves me and I love them. I'm afraid those days are slipping away from society and we are to the point that society doesn't want those moments anymore, people have become an intrusion on our time, our time that is spent immersed in screens, games, gossip, filth, porn and advertisements.
Remember the old saying "what goes in comes out"? Well we have become a social trash can! Our society has become the inner space trash station and we are bombarded with it from all sides. We cannot dart enough to avoid it but we can make the choice to be in control of it.
We no longer live in the infamous fish bowl but we have been thrown into the tank and it's a big one. Swim as we may this channel will be long and hard but don't despair there are lifeboats along the way if we "choose" to get in them.
We must take a good long look at ourselves and decide if we own the gadgets or do they own us, will we give in to the drug of technology or will we take our modern day drugs as the doctor prescribes in small doses?
As for myself, I'm kinda fed up with the scene. I'm sick of seeing everyone's petty comments of their everyday mundane activities as if they had nothing else to do except let the world know that their dog can jump through a hoop or that they washed their hair that day.
Have we become so wrapped up in ourselves to think that we are so important that other people are waiting for the news that we went to the beauty shop today or that our child got an A on their report card.
We have become a society that is so disconnected from each other that we feel threatened when we come face to face. Our space is being invaded and we don't like it. It's a sad day indeed and now I fully understand the old saying "back in the good old days."
Granny here, just saying!
Monday, September 9, 2013
The Highwaymen
Granny here,
Will somebody in Bradley County please teach the highway department how to use signs?
I have had two instances where I have gone down a street just to find out that it was blocked and no signs had been posted to inform the public. The other day I was going to across over Durkee Rd. from Benton Pike to 64 highway and I turned down Durkee just to find out that the road was closed and the man was telling people to turn around and go back the way they came. Have they not heard of "Road Closed" signs in the highway department.
There was a sign that said road work but no where did it indicate that the road was closed so they were letting people just keep coming and then making them turn around and go the other way, go figure, has intelligence and common sense took a permanent vacation around here. I see more evidence that that could be the case everyday.
Several times I have see signs that say "one lane traffic" but they never tell you what lane is closed up ahead. Is this too much trouble or do they not care that traffic could hit them where it hurts and it could be avoided by informing the public a little better of the conditions on the road ahead. One can never be over prepared especially on the highway.
Seems that there are an abundance of signs where we need them least and a shortage of ones that could prove to be life savers.
But we do live in Bradley County, Tn. don't we!
Granny here, just saying!
Will somebody in Bradley County please teach the highway department how to use signs?
I have had two instances where I have gone down a street just to find out that it was blocked and no signs had been posted to inform the public. The other day I was going to across over Durkee Rd. from Benton Pike to 64 highway and I turned down Durkee just to find out that the road was closed and the man was telling people to turn around and go back the way they came. Have they not heard of "Road Closed" signs in the highway department.
There was a sign that said road work but no where did it indicate that the road was closed so they were letting people just keep coming and then making them turn around and go the other way, go figure, has intelligence and common sense took a permanent vacation around here. I see more evidence that that could be the case everyday.
Several times I have see signs that say "one lane traffic" but they never tell you what lane is closed up ahead. Is this too much trouble or do they not care that traffic could hit them where it hurts and it could be avoided by informing the public a little better of the conditions on the road ahead. One can never be over prepared especially on the highway.
Seems that there are an abundance of signs where we need them least and a shortage of ones that could prove to be life savers.
But we do live in Bradley County, Tn. don't we!
Granny here, just saying!
Friday, September 6, 2013
Must Be An Contortionist to Use Bathrooms
Granny Here,
My grumble for today is becoming all too common, the placement of bathroom paper dispensers in public restrooms. What made the brilliant mind that designs public restrooms think that we like to stand on our heads to get a piece of toilet paper anyway? This is becoming very frustrating to more than just me I'm sure and I just have to take time to blow off steam about it.
Every bathroom in this city I'm sure I have frequented more than once since I hold the record for visiting public restrooms and I'm telling you that one of these days they are going to hear a blood curdling scream come from within those walls because I have fallen out the door trying to stand on my head so that i may have the privilege of obtaining a piece of that fluffy white stuff they call toilet paper.
Anyone in their right mind would know that the paper dispenser doesn't have to be three inches from the floor we are not all little people in this world and they are the only ones I can think of at this moment that will appreciate the placement of said dispenser. But for the rest of us our blood pressure can't take much more of standing on our heads and carrying a roll on our person is out of the question but I guess one could get away with some tissue.
I haven't found one bathroom in the city of Cleveland that has a paper dispenser located in a convenient, easy to reach place without twisting my body into some form of pretzel shape to get the necessary paper and pretzel shapes are not my thing let me tell you at my age it's a little difficult.
May the force that is suppose to be with us please get the message across that most contortionist are in the circus somewhere not holding up in the bathroom at Wal-Mart!
Granny here, just saying!
My grumble for today is becoming all too common, the placement of bathroom paper dispensers in public restrooms. What made the brilliant mind that designs public restrooms think that we like to stand on our heads to get a piece of toilet paper anyway? This is becoming very frustrating to more than just me I'm sure and I just have to take time to blow off steam about it.
Every bathroom in this city I'm sure I have frequented more than once since I hold the record for visiting public restrooms and I'm telling you that one of these days they are going to hear a blood curdling scream come from within those walls because I have fallen out the door trying to stand on my head so that i may have the privilege of obtaining a piece of that fluffy white stuff they call toilet paper.
Anyone in their right mind would know that the paper dispenser doesn't have to be three inches from the floor we are not all little people in this world and they are the only ones I can think of at this moment that will appreciate the placement of said dispenser. But for the rest of us our blood pressure can't take much more of standing on our heads and carrying a roll on our person is out of the question but I guess one could get away with some tissue.
I haven't found one bathroom in the city of Cleveland that has a paper dispenser located in a convenient, easy to reach place without twisting my body into some form of pretzel shape to get the necessary paper and pretzel shapes are not my thing let me tell you at my age it's a little difficult.
May the force that is suppose to be with us please get the message across that most contortionist are in the circus somewhere not holding up in the bathroom at Wal-Mart!
Granny here, just saying!
Monday, September 2, 2013
Scott, My Rock
Granny here,
Years ago and so far away or at least in time I met a young man that changed my life forever. He was so cute, a James Dean sort of guy, shy, obscure and gentle. That was the one word that described him best, gentle. He was also kind and considerate and very thoughtful of other people always thinking of others. His name was Scott Smith, to all his friends which were many he was just Scotty.
We were married 48 years and 12 days, he died just 12 days after our anniversary on this date Sept. 2, 2007. He is so absolutely, positively in every way missed each and every day of my life. There is not a day that he is not in my thoughts and memories, there is just so much to remember about him how could I ever forget him.
I was 13 years old when I met him and from that day on he was the Rock that I stood on, the Rope that i held too, the Link in the chain that held everything together. He was as stable as they come, not afraid of much although he did have a fear of facing situations that required reading, writing and arithmetic, seeing how education was not his forte.
He was handicapped when it came to education but that didn't stop Scotty, he faced anything in life that came before him, working a job in a factory to support his family although it placed him in situations sometimes that he thought he wouldn't get through but somehow he did. He faced every challenge he had to and managed to accomplish more than college educated people that we knew. A failure, never, he was as successful as any other achiever in his community.
Scotty never thought much of himself, he always felt inferior to everyone because of his handicap but he was never inferior, compared to some he was Superior. He loved everyone around him, his family most. His children were the air that kept him breathing, I was the keeper of his home and he respected me for that. Together our goal was to make a loving home for our family and I hope we accomplished that, to love one another and we certainly did that and to love our children with a love that would embrace them all the days of their lives.
Scott left us without warning, God gave him a gift that we may never know and that was a painless exit from this life into the next. He left us in good standing with much to remember him by, his love, his warmth, his tenderness, his caring, his sharing, his consideration, his gentleness. I could go on and on about this gentle giant that made my life much easier by (along with my Savior Jesus Christ) being my Rock, my Fortress, my Strong and Mighty Tower, he was my Scotty and oh, how I miss you.
Granny here, just saying!
Years ago and so far away or at least in time I met a young man that changed my life forever. He was so cute, a James Dean sort of guy, shy, obscure and gentle. That was the one word that described him best, gentle. He was also kind and considerate and very thoughtful of other people always thinking of others. His name was Scott Smith, to all his friends which were many he was just Scotty.
We were married 48 years and 12 days, he died just 12 days after our anniversary on this date Sept. 2, 2007. He is so absolutely, positively in every way missed each and every day of my life. There is not a day that he is not in my thoughts and memories, there is just so much to remember about him how could I ever forget him.
I was 13 years old when I met him and from that day on he was the Rock that I stood on, the Rope that i held too, the Link in the chain that held everything together. He was as stable as they come, not afraid of much although he did have a fear of facing situations that required reading, writing and arithmetic, seeing how education was not his forte.
He was handicapped when it came to education but that didn't stop Scotty, he faced anything in life that came before him, working a job in a factory to support his family although it placed him in situations sometimes that he thought he wouldn't get through but somehow he did. He faced every challenge he had to and managed to accomplish more than college educated people that we knew. A failure, never, he was as successful as any other achiever in his community.
Scotty never thought much of himself, he always felt inferior to everyone because of his handicap but he was never inferior, compared to some he was Superior. He loved everyone around him, his family most. His children were the air that kept him breathing, I was the keeper of his home and he respected me for that. Together our goal was to make a loving home for our family and I hope we accomplished that, to love one another and we certainly did that and to love our children with a love that would embrace them all the days of their lives.
Scott left us without warning, God gave him a gift that we may never know and that was a painless exit from this life into the next. He left us in good standing with much to remember him by, his love, his warmth, his tenderness, his caring, his sharing, his consideration, his gentleness. I could go on and on about this gentle giant that made my life much easier by (along with my Savior Jesus Christ) being my Rock, my Fortress, my Strong and Mighty Tower, he was my Scotty and oh, how I miss you.
Granny here, just saying!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)