Expecting my fifth grandchild - a girl! But then other nieces and friends are having girls too. Being retired, I love spending time with my grandchildren! I help out as much as I can. I got inspired and wrote a poem. Everyone whose read it likes it. What do you think? Should I take out the part on the poop and pee...
I want to celebrate that it's been a year since I retired! What have I have liked most about this time of my life? Accomplishments, is that what is the most important? At first I was addicted to Pinterest. Now I don't pin too much, mostly use it as a resource. In the Spring, I got so busy with selling my dvd Learn to Swim with Miss Bea with a facebook page, another blog, and my Amazon sales that kept me so busy! Now I am taking a break from that. (Except I have an idea to put a special 2 for one sale for the Holidays!)
The garden and the beach, the birth of grandchild number 5, and being with my kids and other grandkids and husband...
Isabella
But still, everyone asks, what are you doing with your time now? My kids and grandkids love to say that Mimi and Papa have nothing to do! In this blog, I have written about some of what has been important since my retirement. I think that when I feel uncertain or anxious at times it is when I try to measure my life, when I try to put a value on it.
5 grandchildren! Love, love, love!
I am not afraid of time passing. I am sometimes afraid that I am "wasting" it. How can it be?Time is mine and no one can take it away from me because now I choose what to do with it.It has become more valuable because it is all mine.No other person is directing me.Since I choose what to do with my time it I feel responsible never to waste it.
Last week I didn't have any commitments to my kids and grands, and I realized that I had so many choices of things to do but I wasn’t wanting to do any of them.All were things on my list, a list that I had made!Reading them I found that I didn’t want to do any of them! And I didn't! God gave me this time to relax and enjoy and I'm giving it back to God!
Caroline at the park
As with many other retired folks, "the worth of time" has been on my mind for that last months... Bob Lowery in Satisfying Retirement says, "More than ever, I appreciate the eternity present in this, and every, holy instant."
Micaela
In her magazine of Sept. 2011, after she stopped her daily show, Opra wrote about her frustration with time as she struggled to start her new TV station:
“Everywhere I turn, new beginnings and big changes abound for me.The inevitable truth is that everything changes.We’re not meant to look the same or act the same year in and year out.Growth brings new potential.And I know for sure that when you’re open to receiving them, the possibilities just keep on coming.”
Andrew, Lauren, Isabella
My father loved the song, Turn, Turn Turn by the Byrds with the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes and we used to sing it for him with my sister playing in the guitar. I even learned to play it on the guitar. But now that I am retired, the words have a different meaning.
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
In AD Chronicles by Boede and ThoeneCantor explains the words of Solomon to Lily, to look at time as God sees time eternally. From the book about the lepers, page 222:
“Fear not…Fear nothing. Fear no man... From the earliest days, the Lord has taught his ways to Israel through the prophets.We can understand any event through the language of God’s Word… We may only see a fragment of his plan and misunderstand… and always, the events continue to unfold beyond our short lifetimes...
See that?The light from that star began its journey to your eye perhaps ten thousand years ago.So it is with everything set in motion on this earth.Solomon wrote that in each life there is a time for us to be born and a time to die.There were twenty-eight things Solomon wrote as the Times in our lives between birth and death.But I tell you the truth: When we follow and believe the master plan within God’s Word, we are beyond the reach of time…
Every step is marked out for you… just walk.What you and I do now for God is like the light of that star.To someone yet unborn you are a distant star.What good you do now may shine forth, yet it may not be seen or received by anyone during your lifetime.But then your act of kindness will someday change the destiny of someone far in the future.A thousand or two thousand years from this moment.What we do now matters eternally.The written Word of the Almighty lets us study and see how the eternal picture is unfolding through generations.Whatever we suffer now?We can have faith that, in the end, even our suffering will be golden thread in the eternal tapestry….
Our destiny is already recorded in the Book… Everyting matters.Every word, Deed. Thought, Prayer.Fear not!It is time that makes us fear.Fear of running out of time.There is no time where we are going… The prayer we pray today…we think God does not hear?It may yet be answered for our grandchildren, or their grandchildren…
God is the God of the living, not the dead.No matter what happens in this life, Fear not."
Just live and laugh, like Micaela my newest niece!!!
Being retired, I am watching all the Olympics that I want. I am recording the three channels that I get. In 24 hours this weekend I recorded 36 hours of competition and commentaries. Of course I fast forwarded much of it... and I had the remote control to watch all I wanted!
Don is begging me to watch something else with him tonight. Before he went outside earlier, he said, "I'm tired of the Olympics!" :(
But I cannot tire of the swimming and the gymnastics! I was so involved in the tennis that when my sister called she did not recognize my voice!
I love hearing the stories from the different cultures and backgrounds and the obstacles and hardships that many of the athletes have had to overcome to be there. Did you know that Ryan Lochtes has a Cuban mother with a background much like mine. In this Interview with his mother she tells how he loves the Cuban food that his 91 year old Cuban grandmother prepares for him.
No matter the age, the competitors give their all. The oldest male participant is 71-year-old Hiroshi Hoketsu of Japan who guided his horse, Whisper in the dressage test at the equestrian arena. This quote is from an interview with him: Faced with the inevitable question of whether this would be his last
games, or whether he intended to return at Rio aged 75, he paused for an
instant. "No. I want to but I don't think I can because it's very difficult to find a horse to bring me to Brazil," he said. "My present horse is too old for that." Present. A small but significant word.
I think that the sports that we like to watch the most are those that we have tried ourselves. Today the synchronized swimming started and I love it because I did some of that 30 years ago.
I also get hypnotized by the sports that are so amazing! - For me, the speed of ping pong, the stamina required in long distance races, and the awesome height and trapeze ability with the trampoline and the uneven parallel bars.
I wish they had shown more fencing, or did I miss it?
My least favorite Olympic sport? Women's weight lifting!
One more week of Olympics left!!
How about you? What are your favorites and what is your least favorite? Let's not comment on the commentaries or the announcers or the fact that we had to get used to watching a competition where we already knew who won! That was a new one to me!
I went for a mammogram today. I don't know why I made the appointment for so early but, I had to set the alarm and be there before 7 am. When I arrived there were several ladies there already and everything around me was business and busyness. After I finished the paperwork, I had time to look at all the people working and/or going to work in the hospital. I said to myself, "You are not one of those people any more!" I no longer have to be on a schedule to do things that someone else determines that I have to do. I am appreciating it!
I also found myself appreciating each and every person that I dealt with today for what they do. All were very competent, from the receptionist to the person who registered me, to the technician who took the X-rays. You got to be gifted to squish boobies all day!
I felt the same way yesterday at the dentist office, when the hygienist said after looking at my teeth, "You did such a good job, there is so much less plaque on those teeth!" (Referring to the inside of the bottom front teeth.) I said, "How do you remember the change with all the people you see?" I told her she is gifted in her job! I would never want to be looking at people's dirty mouths every day!
What a joy it is when you meet with people who are doing the work that they are meant to do. God gifts us in so many ways and it is a privilege to be treated by people who know what they are doing.
Oh, I know that many times we meet with people who are in their wrong profession, or are tired of their work and burnt out, or are stressed by other things, but that did not happen to me; not this week.
Thanks to all the people that are out there working! Those of us who are retired need you!!! :)
My latest job - changing my videos to dvd's. Having fun watching old family movies and the movies I took on my travels.
This is the biggest fish I caught in the river. We had to return it to the water. It was 26 inches - too big to keep!
We were in St. Simons for more than a week and went to the beach and fished. I got lots of sun - love it! It was cool but not cold thank goodness!!
One night while watching TV next to each other, Don rubbed my legand out of nowhere said, “What are these spots on your leg?”I said, “I’m getting freckles!”I’ve always wanted freckles and have noticed that in the past few years I can see some on my arms and hands and on my legs!I love being in the sun and that is how you get freckles, right?Anyway, I know that they are “age” spots and that people would say that I should use sunscreen.I am always careful not to get sunburned, and being Cuban it doesn't happen very often.I had osteoporosis and now I don’t. I take medication and have made a conscious effort to get my vitamin D from the sun.Now that I am retired, I try to be out in the sun for around half an hour on the days that I can.I take calcium and a multivitamin and do my walking and exercises.I am going to enjoy the sun and my freckles.I will use sunscreen when I am a long time at the beach and when fishing but am not going to get upset about some beautiful freckles!
Don't worry about me. I plan to stay healthy for all the things that I want to do for myself, my family, and whatever God wants me to do for a long time!
