Everyday is Thanksgiving

I wish I had begun this blog before Thanksgiving, as I have so much to be thankful for, so maybe the next few days before Christmas I'll continue with things I'm thankful for.

As you read my posts you will find I have not yet filled in anything about "me", because I think as you read you will learn a lot about me and then I'll add it in the proper place. Who was that cartoon character who said: "I yam what I yam and dat's what I yam"? Well that pretty well holds true for me too. I yam what I yam. I live with my wonderful soul friend, Bette. (Pronounced Betty, not Bet). She and my husband Jim,and I have lived together for just about 25 years. I have been married to Jim for half a century plus. And yes, that's as long as it sounds. We willingly share our home with three Miniature Pinschers and one Manchester Terrier; all but one rescued from unhappy lives. They are Alexander the Big (Alex), Radar, Penne, and the new Manchester, Arielle

Today is a happy day! Days that start happy are so very wonderful because they usually end up happy. For me it began by building a fire in the firepit on the deck early. It was a bit too cold to sit on the deck, but our living room is on the back of house facing the deck, with big sliding glass doors. So for us to sit inside watching a fire is almost as wonderful as sitting outside by the fire. So we sat inside sipping coffee and had an unusual breakfast which is very common in this household--hotdogs, fresh baked bread dripping with melting butter, hard boiled eggs, steaming hot coffee and a wonderful fire with the dogs gathered round just waiting for us to maybe drop a crumb. God, Bette, dogs and fire--wonderful. Jim always sleeps late so he misses most of the best times.

When the morning isn't rushed through it's like time slows down and a warmth within begins fueled by hot coffee, laughing at the dogs' antics and looking at all the fall flowers and plants still on the deck; golds, browns, and touches of pink and red still remaininig in the flower beds as zinnas and impatiens valiantly try to keep blooming, and here and there wonderful red leaves in the trees trying to hold on a while longer. Yes, this was a very happy beginning that lasted until noon!

Mornings like this give plenty of time to ponder many things. How can Thanksgiving be past, Christmas just days away. How did 2009 arrive and vanish in a blink. Life is whizzing by so quickly and I am on the tail end of the whip-- just like the childhood game of crack-the-whip, and soon I shall go flying of into the heavenlies. Do childen still play that game?

I certainly do not mind heading to heaven because I know the way. And sometimes I almost long for it. Growing old for me has been very painful. I certainly never minded growing old, but somehow pain has become so mingled with the aging process with every day just little more pain ahead sometimes it is hard to want to face it. My friends call me the bionic woman as I have 4 sets of hardware and 8 screws in my back. I've got a neurostimulator implanted in my spine from my shoulder blades down to the end of my tail bone and I have a battery implanted into my left buttock--and I have a remote control to turn me on, which always gets a laugh from new folks who discover that, and I have had a knee replacement, and am a two year survivor of breast cancer after 4 surgeries. So I am well acquainted with pain.

Yes, I do believe God could make it go away. But that is not his way (although sometimes he does). I came to grips long ago with the fact that God allows life with our teens to reach such a time of stress for both us and our children because if everything was always perfect they certainly would never want to leave home and start a family or profession or travel of their own. So life gets uncomfortable and for some downright unbearable and the children move on and we move on, until someday when their own life becomes unbearable they begin to understand, particularly those that have children of their own.

And I also believe that God allows the same for old people who love him. If my life were this wonderful(and it is) and pain free I would never, ever want to leave my wonderful soul friend, and our great dogs, and even though I seldom see them I would long to stay to see my grandchildren grown and even have grandchildren, and I would long to be here long enough for my son to understand about the anguish of teen years and sorrow of parenthood, (yep, I'd love to see that--"payback") oh, yes, Jim, I'd miss you too. And my wonderful garden of flowers, especially my pink garden, and the dozens of potted plants on the deck and in the yard. but I am ready to leave this pain behind.

Are there flowers in heaven, trees? I hope so. I'm a Seed Saver (genuine card carrying one), so maybe I'll have Bette tuck some seeds in my pocket when I go,so I can sow a few here and there among the clouds and plant a garden if God approves. From what I understand we will be eating fruit off those trees he tells us about in his Word.

I do know one thing. I will be totally pain free for the rest of whatever and however long eternity really is. New body! How wonderful! No pain! How wonderful!
God. How awesome! Part of the family. Amazing! Joint heirs with Jesus. My big brother!

On this happy day for which I am thankful, I close with a Chinese Proverb I picked up somewhere:
IF YOU WOULD BE HAPPY FOR A WEEK, TAKE A WIFE,
IF YOU WOULD BE HAPPY FOR A MONTH, KILL YOUR PIG,
BUT IF YOU WOULD BE HAPPY ALL YOUR LIFE--PLANT A GARDEN.

Yes, Happiness is to know