"With A Little Help From My Friends"

 I've made a whole lot of decisions, in the past 9 months. Thank the Lord, I have been offered lots of thoughtful and experienced suggestions, from friends and relations, about the most important ones. Decisions regarding money matters and major life-style changes are best made, I am discovering, by asking for the opinions of others. Then, I can sort those out, settle on a decision and move forward. 

Clearing out the clutter, of a lifetime in one house, has been difficult, but I now have numerous empty shelves, three sparsely furnished bedrooms and a relatively clean basement. Thrift stores and the municipal trash service have helped me downsize, in a big way. However, there is more to do.

The biggest obstacle currently standing in my way, is the collection of more than 50 boxes of photographic slide trays, each one full of Kodak slides! I know I should go through all of them, but I can't seem to arrange the time to do it. Okay....I know it's not the time, keeping me from doing it. It's the memories, of course. The slides cover a period, beginning in 1965, through the early 2000s. They've been in their individual storage boxes for decades, and no one has looked at any of them, for at least 20 years. Now, is the time to make a decision.

Or maybe not. You see, I still have the big box of slides my husband inherited from his parents. (Slides were a family thing.) I really don't know how many thousands of slides, are in my possession.  But, I think I owe it to future generations, to do something.

What should I do, with the slides?

a. Sort through, all of them, and have the remaining photos put on a disc or something.

b. Throw all of them out, without looking at them.

c. Leave them for my children to deal with, after I pass on....Suggestions, anyone? Please, let me know.

Good and all knowing God, You are my strength and guide. Help me make the best choices for my journey through this life.

Going Rogue

 Remember, as teenagers and way beyond, when we used to call our friends and ask them, "What are you going to wear (to the party, prom, dinner party, or a luncheon)? I haven't done that in a very long time, and I wonder why?

Have we aged into becoming confident that we can choose just the right outfit and look appropriate in whatever we wear? Maybe. Or, do we just not give a hoot, how we look! Unfortunately, I think it is, predominately, the later.

Whatever happened to trying to look our best? Years ago, folks used to dress for dinner. Even if they were "dining in". Go to a sit-down restaurant, these days, and you can only count on someone wearing shoes and a shirt! Well, we should be grateful, for the small things, I guess. 

I have been taught to wear "my best to church". Many of my ensembles came from K-Mart, but my clothes and I were clean. Now, we're a "come as you are" kinda denomination. Somewhere along the line we got "God loves you no matter what" confused with "Saturday's yard-work outfit is good enough for Jesus!"

Our idea of "dressing for the job" has evolved into Casual Friday, every day of the week. Teachers, these days, wear holey jeans and T-Shirts (women and men) to instruct our young folks, No wonder those kids are losing respect for their teachers and other authority figures. Why try to learn anything from someone who comes to work looking like they are unprepared and just rolled out of bed? Kids cannot distinguish a teacher from the guy on the corner, with a Homeless sign.

I know I'm sounding critical, but I swear I am not asking for much. Use a comb. Be clean. Wear something that fits, for Pete's sake. Show up like you meant to be there!

Mirrors, in homes, must be going the way of analog clocks. 

Dear God. Forgive us for being such slobs. We honor our environment. We care for our pets. Remind us to care for ourselves. We are created in Your image and we honor You, when we do and look our best. 

We Aren't in Charge

 I'm going to step out of the air conditioning, on this 100 degree day, and take a bold stand, on the truth of climate change. It's my humble opinion that, yes, it's hot, but we can't do a darn thing about it.

That duly noted, I can truthfully say, that I try to recycle everything, that I possible can. I lug out, my tub of plastic and paper, every Trash Day Tuesday. I rinse, save and recycle my glass trash, when my bin gets full. However, I do have to drive my gasoline powered car to the recycle bin, at the nearby grocery store.

 I am not wasteful. I try to buy only things, that I need, and I take what I don't need to the thrift stores, for use by others. I am careful with my use of energy. I keep my lights turned off during the day and I keep my curtains closed, to shut out the heat. I would rather die, than litter!!!! I care about the environment. We all should.

This is what I believe. We've had hot summers, before. I remember trying to fry an egg on the sidewalk, in the fifties (nineteen fifties...sixty years ago). If I remember correctly, it actually cooked. Weather is cyclical. We can, forever, worry about, complain about and talk about it. But, we can't control it!

Hey, sometimes it rains. If we could control the weather, it would never rain on any parade, any where, any time! It snows and we, in the Midwest, have tornados. Seriously, who really thinks we can control those things. Have you ever witnessed the power of tornadic winds? Sorry folks, but all of the shut down pipelines, wind farms and electric cars that we can manufacture, cannot stop a tornado. 

To my Water Loving Friends. If you build, right on an ocean, chances are, the ocean is going to, someday, ruin that house, built upon the sand. If you build in a flood plain, I'll guarantee, you are going to need an Ark.

Weather happens, just like "you know what" does.

Dear God. You and only You have the power. Remind us that we have choices and we should also use common sense.