The Big Dig unearths Earth Angels

The Computer Studio "Big Dig" unearthed 20+ "Earth Angel" cards sent back in late 2010/early 2011.  All are precious, although the most treasured are ones from friends & loved ones no longer with us.

The card - on one side were two angel wings with room between for a message and/or name; on the other our address, already stamped - was sent with the hope of having a host of "angels" smiling down on us from on high (well, from the top of the Front Room walls).

 

2010 was a rocky year.  Out of the blue, was informed in August that the school where I'd taught for 5+ years was cutting staff & my services weren't needed.  

While this was financially catastrophic, it also seemed strangely copacetic - 2009-10 was a sublime teaching experience, one that was a perfect coda to my teaching years.  

As I wrote in the letter, "Strange as it might seem, I feel a strong sense of calm; an inexplicable sense of peace has been my response from the 1st shock to now.  'For peace has in it confidence in the Lord, that God leads all things to a good end.'  I really don't fear anything, with no worries about things to come.  Just like the passage says."

My prediction - "Actually, we have reason to feel fearless.  John & I look forward to many productive years, free to apply our best traits & talents to presenting opportunities." - has come gloriously true.  

Had completely forgotten that the inspiration for writing the letter was a chance encounter with Dick & Sally Brickman at the meeting of New Church minds that the Lemoles sponsored at the Philmont Country Club.  

As the unearthed letter describes, that brief connection  "Got me to thinking - if people invest money, time & energy in institutions  & organizations, why not in other people?  Such investments aren't tax deductible & dividends are less tangible, but they have the potential to be deeply enriching."

I look back at the last five years & realize that the loving energies - represented by the returned cards - & monies invested in us at that dicey time have yielded pretty good dividends.  This weekend, I am off to The Great Turning, Becoming Vibrant Elders in Our Evolving World, a gathering of all ages.  I'm signed up for my second Leading to Well-Being Conference & third National Center for Creative Aging Conference & Leadership Exchange.  Hopefully, will attend various other inspiring gatherings over the rest of the year - we will see.  

It's a joy writing my brace of blogs - Dream Reweaver, older2elder, Secrets of the Home, any my just-started, Tea Cup Tours.  Having such immediate contact, the ability to effortlessly share what's afoot on the eldering front & expansive living for all ages, was not even a glimmer in my eye back in 2010!

All the predictions mentioned in the letter have come true, even surpassed our every expectation.  Smiling, reading the ways we listed that people could help get us through that nail-biting time:

#1 - GIVE your caring support - return your signed card;  we're posting them throughout our home, helping welcome & open up unimaginable streams of prosperity.

#2 - CONNECT with us - a smile & a wave, a quick chat after church or at the post office or in the grocery store, Facebook "friending," or something more substantial.  Studies show a circle of caring friends is essential to making lasting changes in our lives!

#3 - LEND a hand - as basic as helping us lop off some totally dead tree limbs (the last came down in winter 2016!) or prune or plant;  occasionally loan Deev your oven for an hour or two (ours conked out <2016 - we still depend on our handy dandy portable oven>), or just offer advice on becoming better housekeepers & yardeners.

#4 - RECOMMEND Deev's tender loving senior care to friends looking to make life easier for themselves and/or loved ones.

#5 - CHIP IN -   we'll pay forward any financial support! (while this is our most urgent situation, it is far & away NOT the most important contribution you can make - see #1 & 2)

MEGA big smile, reading the closing paragraph, that is still as true today as it was back in 2010:
Wherever our paths take us, John & I will always sense we won the greatest "Life Lottery" ~ prosperous beyond measure, thanks to a loving partnership with each other & our Creator; by our Earth Angels, family who feel like friends & so many friends who feel like family;  and full confidence that we will always find the trust, strength & inspiration to build whatever presents itself along the way into something remarkable.

Looking forward to when The Big Dig is done.  The Computer Studio should be finished by the weekend.  Then onto similar endeavors in the Front Room, the dining room, the kitchen, den, basement, garage, master bedroom.  (Our cozy living room is great reinforcement for what the rest of the house will look like!)

A lot of work, but if our experience with the rest of the house is anything like what's happened with the Computer Studio, there will be some lovely surprises uncovered, memories recaptured, unforgettable moments recalled.  

To all our Earth Angels, past present future - thanks thanks & more thanks!

Credits:
planetware.com
allfreedownload.com
peacemealproject.com
newbeginningswithgina.com
multilinkearthworks.com
clkr.com


 



 

Getting to giddy

Jen Sincero writes about waking up "crying tears of giddy disbelief that you get to be you."

My joy isn't simply that I finally know how that feels, but that so many in my circle of friends & pleasant acquaintances & practically strangers, young & old, seem to, too.  That's amazing!  Is there something in the water?  Gotta wonder.

 
When John was first introduced to my little hometown, he marveled at the number of apparently stable, downright happy relationships he kept seeing around us.  In fact, he sort of blew them off - figured they were for show, that smiling faces concealed seething reality.  Probably took him a good ten years to finally accept that what he saw was at least a pretty decent version of reality.
 
Mind you, there's a lot I can find fault with in my little hometown. And it's impossible to be on Facebook & not know there are people who feel aspects of it have caused them great harm.  I certainly had my painful moments with certain institutions & individuals, but came out of it the wiser for my traumas, with a certain peculiar grounding that seems rooted in whatever it is permeates my beloved boro.  

Whatever it is, am grateful for the opportunities & challenges it helped nurture from my youngest years to my current titter tottering toward old age, for helping expand my capacity for giddy tears of disbelief that I get to be me.

To my friends with strong, stable partnerships, terrific kids, jobs they care about, lives that bring meaning to themselves & others - y'all deserve giddy tears of disbelief that it all happened to for through you, because it really is rare in today's world.  

If you're not there already, 

what needs to change to get you to giddy? 

If happiness is a big brother...

... Then getting a phone call last night from Peter setting up dinner on Thursday has got to be BLISS!  Not just for the call, which is becoming a Sunday night staple, but because of the why behind the dinner date.  March 3rd - our brother Ian's birthday.  If he was still with us, Ian would be turning 68.

Mom always described Ian as Peter's "boy of boys."   Ian & I were closest in age & apparently temperament, but he was Peter's heart. I can't begin to imagine the impact his death - which happened when Peter was in California - had on our oldest brother.   

Peter always called Mom on 03/03.  Am honored to join him for dinner & a remembrance, getting together over great Chinese take-out & sharing Ian stories with the person who's uncannily like the lad ~ my John.

Bliss! 

 

Credits:
cafepress.com
pureleighliving.wordpress.com

 

 

The irony of The Nine Tailors

On that last visit with Mim, we left Peter talking with her while John & I hightailed it, at her request, to where she'd been living.  There were some books she wanted - Helen MacInnes! - and other things she wanted to ensure came to me.  What a surprise to find a dvd with three Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries - my guess is it would have been my Christmas present.  

Just came across it again.  Discovered that it includes The Nine Tailors.  How ironic!  One of my first Ah ha! moments in my family relationship came about thanks to watching that when it first aired on PBS, back in the 1970s.

I was curled up on the couch, watching, when Mim came into the living room.  She took one look at Ian Carmichael, made up to look in his twenties, and made a scathing comment about how ridiculous he looked.  

In one of the first instances of not automatically agreeing with Mim, I made so bold as to say we had to give them a wide berth in attempting to age the 50+ year old actor.  Mim got immediately defensive, rebutting with, "I didn't say anything."  

But she had.  And she had made what was a typically Mim comment - mean & nasty, when nothing need be said at all.  Then denied ever saying it.  

How many times had Mim said something harsh about something or someone, only to deny deny deny if I took exception to the bit of nastiness?  Countless.  And I always ended up feeling like it was I who was off base, wrongly impugning my sister's character.  

What was so unusual about the episode involving The Nine Tailors was that I'd been audio taping it - this was before the days of even beta max.  The entire exchange was caught on tape.  There Mim was, being unnecessarily critical about a character she knew I enjoyed, there I was taking exception to her slam, and there she was again, arguing she'd said nothing.

That might not seem like much, but it was wildly enlightening to me.  I wasn't crazy, she could be unreasonable mean & completely deny it if held to account.  

And here I am, with the very episode playing on my teeny dvd player, as I dig out the computer studio.  Watching it, thanks to Mim.  What a lovely, sweetly ironic full circle.