What Are You Afraid Of?

What are you afraid of? I think that everyone fears certain things, like losing a loved one, health problems, war, loss of a job, the corona virus and yes I am afraid of all of those things as well.

But I think that something that I fear even more is not living. I don’t mean dying I mean not living while I am here on this earth.

What if you live your whole life without taking a chance and trying new things. I will have to admit I am the world’s worst about holding back and not doing things because I am not sure how they will turn out. I guess that is most people.

I love to have new experiences, travel, see new things and have adventures but I want the safety behind it too. And then there are some people who get their “living” from family and home and helping others and that is all they want and need. Can you have it all? How?

My daddy worked for more than 40 years in a local steel mill. Through his years he worked just about every job there. He never went on a vacation. Sure he took a week off here and there but he never went anywhere. We would go to the lake for a picnic and fishing or to the mountains but never overnight. His family meant everything to him and he felt like the best he could do for us was work and work hard. He worked hard every single day to provide for us. He had 7 kids and all he could think of I’m sure is providing for us. He never saw the ocean. He never flew in a plane. I think I remember in all my childhood he called in sick maybe once or twice from work. It was really something if he didn’t go to work. He retired when he was 65 and he loved it!!!! He worked in his garden and puttered around the house, and drove my mama crazy ha ha. But he loved being at home and he especially loved it whenever any of his kids or his grandkids came to hang out. He loved telling stories about his days at the foundry.

Sadly he passed away only a few years after retiring. I never felt like he had enough time to just enjoy life and all he could do without having to get up at 5:00 AM and go into that plant. Even if it was just working in his garden and his yard. The day before he died he told me that there was nothing in this world as important as his family. It doesn’t matter what you can buy or have, it all comes down to family. He was lying in his bed and I was sitting beside him. We both knew his time was near. He pointed into the kitchen where my mama was and he said ” we have been married for 52 years, Lisa always be good to people and love and take care of your family. There is nothing else that important”. He died the next day but I will never forget those words.

So with all that said I think I am afraid of not being the best person I can be, I am afraid of being lazy about certain things, I am afraid of not living every day to its fullest. I am afraid of not enjoying life while I can.

Oh!! One other thing I am deathly afraid of SPIDERS!!!!! I hate them!!!!!

What are you afraid of???

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

My Proudest Moment.

Hello friends,

This is day 5 of the blog post challenge. If you are following along I thank you and hope you are enjoying.

The sickness at my work place continues. Four people have had the flu, several have had colds, two have bronchitis and a couple of people have sinus infections. It’s not who will call out on any given day but more so who will be able to make it in. The whole flu thing scares the crap out of me because of Mark being on the immunosuppressants. I felt a little sick over the weekend. Mark had a terrible cold over the weekend but he is on the mend. Today I am feeling like crap. I hope it is only a cold. So far no temperature. I guess if I get a temp I will deal with it then. I headed home at 3:00 PM to put my jammies on and get in bed.

My most proudest moment is actually two moments. When I donated a kidney to my husband and when I witnessed the birth of my nephew Tyler and cut the umbilical cord.

I know that you have heard the kidney story a million times. If you haven’t you can check it out here and here. I think the reason I feel proud is that I know not everyone can donate a kidney even if they meet all the criteria. Some people just can’t do it. I guess more than proud though I actually felt grateful and blessed that I was a match and that my husband did not have to spend a minute on dialysis.

It was February 24th, 2011, the morning of the surgery, Mark and I were in the same hospital room and we were being prepped for the surgeries. I would be taken to the operating room first at 7:00 AM and the surgery for the removal of my kidney would begin. They would bring Mark down just a little while later and put him in an adjoining room. The doctor literally took the kidney from me and walked it over to Mark and they put it in him. I had never seen my father in law, cry he was so tough. He was a Korean War Veteran and very matter of fact about everything. The morning of the surgery we could have one person each go back to the prep area. Mark’s dad went with him and my Sister Sandy went with me. Just before they took me down to the operating room Poppy, Mark’s dad, came over and grabbed my hand. This is a man who never showed emotion of any kind. He had tears in his eyes while he squeezed my hand. At that moment I felt so proud to be able to do this for Mark. And I saw in his eyes what it meant to him for his son.

It was Dec 7th 2001 my niece was pregnant with her first child. It was a boy. It was a Friday night. It was cold rainy and foggy. My sister called to tell me my niece was in labor. The plan was for me and my sister to be in the delivery room with her. I would cut the umbilical cord. I was beyond excited. I have no children of my own and I had never seen a baby be born. Except on TV. I think my niece did this for me because she knew how special it would be for me. I was about an hour from the hospital so I took off. It was around 11:30 PM.

When I got to the hospital she was in labor. Me being me, I tried to tell her she wasn’t breathing correctly. FYI you should never tell a woman in labor this. Especially when you have never gone through it yourself. After I talked her into not throwing me out of the room, ha ha, we settled down to wait for the baby. Well I settled down in a chair and promised to keep my mouth shut. She continued having contractions.

Around 4:00 AM things started getting real. Baby Tyler was born at 5:32 AM on December 8th. Just as he was about to be pushed out I took one look at that tiny head appearing and promptly passed out. Luckily I regained consciousness in time to cut the umbilical cord. The nurse said all the excitement and standing for so long probably caused my knees to buckle. But let me tell you that precious boy being born is the best thing I have ever seen in my life. What a miracle!!! It changed my heart forever. I was so proud to be a part of him coming into the world. I think the doctors and nurses that get to see this every day have the best job in the world.

A picture of Tyler and his mom when he was just a few months old. I was spending the day with them and took this picture. It will always be a favorite of mine.
These older pics are not the best quality this is before the great cameras on cell phones.

This is at Tyler’s 18th Birthday party. This boy holds a huge piece of my heart. ♥️ ❤️

So I have a couple of proudest moments and hope to have many more through the years. What is your proudest moment?

Always remember

Love your day your way

What Is Your Dream Job?

Today is day 4 of the blog challenge I will get to that in a minute. It is hard to think about much more than what is going on in our nearby Nashville area.

Yesterday I woke up at 5:00 AM and started scrolling through my phone. It was raining really hard, just the kind of morning you want to stay in bed and think of a reason not to go to work.

I started seeing news reports of bad storms in the Nashville, Cookeville area. Tornadoes had touched down overnight. This is about 3-4 hours from me. We had had some rain during the night and a little wind but nothing like what I was reading about.

By 9:00 PM last night the devastation was overwhelming, the pictures were heartbreaking but the unspeakable was that the death toll was up to 22 and 77 people were reported missing!!! These precious people were probably sleeping in their beds when the tornadoes hit. They had no idea what was coming. They had no idea that was their last night on earth or with loved ones. But unfortunately or maybe fortunately that is the way life works. We are not promised another minute.

It has left me feeling so down and heartbroken. It makes me realize how very precious life is. So pull your loved ones close and tell the people in your life how much you love them and value having them in your lives.

What is your dream job? Maybe you already have it. Maybe you had it and have retired from it or maybe it is still an elusive dream.

When I was a little girl I loved watching talk shows. Go figure, that must be why I like to talk so much. Do you remember the Merv Griffin Show and The Phil Donahue Show? I loved watching those. Now that may not seem strange to you but I was only about 8 years old. Me and my brother would fight over the T.V. in the afternoon after school, yeah we only had one t.v. however did we manage? He wanted to watch cartoons or something like that and I wanted to watch talk shows. I was probably about 8 or 9 at the time. He was 6. I also loved watching 20-20 and the Today Show and Good Morning America. I wanted to be a Newscaster. I thought that would be the most awesome job in the world. I don’t know why. Especially at only 8 years old. Maybe it was sitting behind the news desk delivering the news to people everyday. Maybe it was having an in on what was going on first thing every morning or in the evening. I am not sure but that is what I wanted to do. Still do. I would love it!!!! It probably has something to do with getting paid to talk haha.

Dreamstime photo

Another profession that I would have loved was being in the Circus. I will never forget the first time that I went to the circus as a child. What did I want to do in the Circus? Fly through he air with the greatest of ease? Nope. Be a lion tamer? Heck no. Be a clown? Interesting to me, but no. The first time I went to the Circus I was very young. I don’t go any more because of the treatment I feel that the animals endure. But that’s another story for another time. As the lights dimmed and I clutched my popcorn and could barely breathe I was so excited, I heard a loud thundering roar and a voice yelling, Ladies and Gentleman, Children of all Ages. It was very exciting!!!! I saw a man with a top hat in a cart being pulled around the arena. The Ringleader!!!! how cool. That is what I wanted to do in the Circus. I wanted to be the Ringleader. You probably see there is a pattern there with talking and even yelling. Yep says so much I think.

So what was your dream job? Do you have it? have you had it?

No matter what,

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

My Favorite Quote

It is really hard for me to narrow down my favorite quote. I have a lot of favorites. But I think if I had to pick one I would choose this quote by Emily Dickinson. I know that often when I feel alone and scared it is a quote that comes to mind and makes me feel better.

Photo Credit my sweet friend Pam J. Randolph

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all.

This is actually only part of a poem but I love this stanza and I use it a lot when I send a card to someone who is struggling for one reason or another. Several years ago my brother was sick and had been for a long time. I knew he often felt like just giving up. One year I sent him a Birthday card and I wrote this quote in it and he called me and told me how much it meant to him and reminded him to never give up hope. Sometimes hope is all we have.

There are only theories about what Emily Dickinson was thinking about when she wrote this poem. She uses a metaphor to describe “Hope”. Hope in this poem has feathers and it can perch in the human soul almost like a bird.

In this poem Hope is feathery, it can sing. It sits on a perch and sings continuously. But the song has no words that anyone truly understands and maybe words aren’t needed.

Hope is strong. It never stops.

What is your favorite quote?

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!