Benedict, What's His Name?

I've got loyalties folks! Real loyalties. Some of them may not be terribly reasonable, but honestly, you can call me "loyal to the core"!

Sometimes in my volunteer position, I get paired with someone I haven't met before, and that happened just the other day. Within 5 minutes of making this gentleman's acquaintance, I belted out the Jayhawk fight song, complete with long and confusing mascot-listing introduction. The reason I did this??? Well, he said he lived in Lawrence, Kansas, home of the University of Kansas (my alma mater) and the fighting Jayhawks!!!. Obviously stunned at my performance, he added that he knew nothing about Lawrence, as they had just moved there, only six months ago. Oh, I replied, sheepishly keeping my mouth shut for the rest of our hour together. 

I'm loyal to Kansas City, too. Just mention that there's nothing to do in such a flat, dull, minor city, and I'll be all over you. "Everything's up to date in Kansas City" with our marvelous museums, jazz and Barbeque. I'll talk about the two states, our vast metro area, 12th Street and Vine and the fountains! It's hard to stop me, once I get started.

And, I'm loyal to my Southeast Kansas roots. I'll praise that place and its surrounding strip pits, until the day I die. I'll tell you about Lakeside Park, the Band Dome and dragging the gut. I can expound for hours, on my lifelong friends and what a fantastic childhood we all had. It's my hometown. I'm proud of it. 

Now, what's wrong with being loyal? Not a darn thing. A lot of great people have been called loyal. No one is ever praised or remembered, for being disloyal. 

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Great Lord. You are ever present and ever loyal to Your children and Your creation. Our loyalty, to You, should be constant, in all of our endeavors.  Your steadfast love endures forever.

"Fly Me To The Moon"

Been anywhere by plane lately? Recently, I posted about my first experience as an airplane traveler. I remembered being so excited, almost nauseous, in fact. The experience was amazing and one I will remember for a lifetime.

Okay, so plane travel today, is not what it used to be. Tax money can build all of the eye-popping terminals, flashy art work and automatic flushing toilets, we can afford, but plane travel is totally uncomfortable and increasingly annoying.  I can safely say that I hate traveling by air.

Let me list a few of my complaints. 

• I am only 5'2' and I don't have enough leg room to cross my legs, once seated. Seriously, wiggle room is non-existent. What about folks over 6 feet tall and weighing over 200 pounds??????
• Four armrests, divided by three people, really. That just doesn't compute
• Sardines are more comfortable in a can, than airline passengers are, entering, exiting and seated in the cabin. And, we willing pay thousands of dollars, for such abhorrent treatment.
• Only one employee, out of the several dozen, said anything pleasant to me. That's not a good percentage. What ever happened to "Fly the Friendly Skies of United."??????
• Who teaches airline employees to use their voice amplification systems?  Or maybe their equipment is just way too cheap to amplify without distortion? I might as well have been listening to Jimi Hendrix!!!!!

Bottom line, I got there and back. I did not have to walk or drive myself. I have written that we should be thankful for the small things in life. I am certainly thankful to be back home.

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Dearest Lord. Thank you for safe travels. We are blessed.

I Did It!!!!!

 My six year old grandson has recently acquired his life-long wish. He can now snap his fingers....both hands. He has been trying to acquire this skill for at least 5 of  his 6 years! His desire to make finger noise has rivaled that of NASA trying to reach the surface of the Moon, or Lewis and Clark attempting to reach the Pacific Ocean. Snapping, for the present, is clearly his crowning achievement. He is so pleased with himself and he now wakes up snapping, and does it, constantly, all day long. 

Wouldn't it be wonderful, if we jaded adults could feel just a teeny bit of this type of  pride, at some new accomplishment? Or, for that matter any accomplishment. After all, some of us have reached an age when we should be thrilled with almost anything we succeed at doing!

Like, how about WOW! I woke up this morning! I am going to have a great day and do something meaningful for myself and others. I will try to live this day, to its fullest.

Oh Yeah. Celebrate the little things. Quit complaining.

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All powerful God. We are thankful for fingers that can still snap, at least sometimes. We are blessed every minute, with the breath that you give us. You are our refuge and our strength. 

Learned Lessons

 I"ve been away from my home base for a couple of weeks. My "in-town son" and his girls kept an eye on the house and yard for me, while I was gone. They even stepped up and mowed the front yard. When I arrived yesterday, the house did not look, as I had feared, like it had been abandoned and neglected. Allowing your children to reach adulthood, is rewarding, most of the time.

That acknowledged, Nanners, the yard girl, around 5 o'clock, changed out of her traveling duds and put on her mowing attire (everything she does requires an appropriate outfit) and fired up John Deere. She was feeling adventurous, so she threw him into fourth gear (gear #3 is safe and slow) and began mowing. It didn't take long, because Nanners and John were speeding along. Only scared themselves, by getting a bit too close to the drop-offs, a couple of times. But, that's par for the course. 

Today, Nanners will finish the job by trimming with the weed-whacker. For that job, she will don yet another outfit. This job requires long pants and closed toe shoes and socks. A year or so ago, the yard girl managed to mangle her naked left leg pretty good. She tripped and on the way to the ground, failed to let go of the trigger. Not doing that again!!!!! Shred the pants, girl, not your body.

Up until a year and a half ago, I had never ridden the Deere, or weed wacked. I've tackled  these jobs, along with a few others, because I'm the only one here to do them. And, in spite of my complaining nature, I'm sort of enjoying it. If taken at a leisurely pace (and I am not one to do anything, at a leisurely pace), yard work is satisfying. Once done, I can stand by and admire my work. It's finished until the next time! 

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Lord: Change is enlightening. You have given us the ability to adapt and although we sometimes struggle with making changes, with Your all-powerful help, we can do many things. Remind us to listen to Your guidance and give us strength. We praise Your Holy Name.

"Up, Up and Away"

 As a child, I was able to do something, new, unusual and very exciting, that no other kid in my fourth  grade classroom, had ever done. I got to travel, all the way to California, via airplane.

Have you ever flown in, or seen a DC 3?  Well, that's how my mother and I traveled to Southern California, leaving from the Pittsburg, Kansas Airport and flying first to Wichita and then into Los Angeles.  We flew Ozark Airlines on the first leg and then probably TWA, out of the much bigger than Pittsburg, city of Wichita. Back then, Wichita was quite a hub and the home of Boeing, the manufacturer of most of the U.S. commercial airliners.

The DC 3 was quite a bit smaller than any of today's aircraft and boarding was done from near the tail end, which was the lowest point on the plane.. The fuselage of the plane was slanted because the DC 3 was a "tail dragger". Don't even try to explain that term to a young person.

I don't remember much about the flight. Characteristically Nancy, I do remember what I wore. It was a two piece suit, which was made of tiny checked brown and white material. The skirt was pleated and I wore white socks. I hope I wore Mary Janes, but knowing my mom, I probably wore those God awful brown oxfords, that I hated. Everyone dressed up for flying in the 1950's.

Anyway, I do remember all of my friends asking about my California adventure, and whether I got to visit Disneyland (It had just opened.) I didn't. After paying for the flight, Mom thought the amusement park was too expensive! Any idea how much admission, to the new park was, in 1955? One dollar.

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Great and all powerful Lord. You have given us the ability to adapt to change. Growing old gracefully isn't easy, but necessary. Grant us mercy and give us grace.

"Ain't It Funny, how time slips away?"

 How many times have we all thought and even said out loud, "Wasn't it only yesterday. when......."? Why, heck no. Whatever you were thinking about or mentioning, in truth, really happened about 30 years ago, or maybe even more. I know that I am not alone in wondering.....Where did the time go??????

Today, whilst perusing the majestically informative posts of Facebook, I happened upon a picture of Dhani Harrison (He's the son of the late Beatle, George Harrison.), that noted his 45th Birthday. Wait. How can that be? Wasn't it only 20 years ago that I was screaming at the TV set, at his father and the... only 20 years ago........Wait. I, myself, have children much older than 45. Paul McCartney has 8 grandchildren who refer to him as "Grandude" and I have 13 grandkids who call me, occasionally. And, OMG, Paul is 81 years old! (I only mention Sir Paul, because well, he was always THE ONE, you know!!!)

Well, I'm coming to grips and gradually getting over my amazement, at how old I am, and how long I have actually been alive. I am beginning to mellow out and actually acknowledging some truth about about my aging self........

                    #1. I am probably never going to act my age

                     #2. I am more comfortable with who I am, right now, than I have ever been

                     #3. I like electric blue nail polish. on my toenails

                     #4. If I feel like singing aloud....very loudly, in my car, when I am driving alone. I will.

                     #5. I am still a work in progress.       

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Great and All Knowing Lord. I am grateful for my many blessings. Use me to improve Your World.

Dos (As in the number two)

It dawned on me yesterday, that not only am I aging, my language is aging. also. In other words, I am as old as dirt and so is the way I talk.

Take for example, my aforementioned volunteer work. Yesterday, I caught myself telling a couple of teenagers that the museum's main galleries are laid out in a counterclockwise pattern. Well, how stupid of me. Those kids had no idea what the word counterclockwise meant.....let alone clockwise. Kids, these days, are not taught how to tell time, on a clock with a face!! Digital is what they know, and nothing goes "wise" on a digital clock.

I'm also going to stop pointing out the picture of famous Missouri son, Harry Truman, to museum visitors. Most folks, under the age of 70, don't know who he was and why he is famous. And, furthermore, even young Kansans don't know that Eisenhower (another soldier from WWI and II) came from their state.

OMGolly, what about the Roman Numerals that I just wrote. Sure, everyone can tell how the Roman Numerals, one, two and three are written. But, what about beyond that? Can you translate MCMXVII? Actually, I had to think a while, about that one.

There are numerous documents in the museum, that are handwritten. Thank goodness they are usually accompanied by printed translations, because there is a time, in the very near future, that the ability to read cursive will become non-existent. 

Please, don't think that I am against change, in our language. I have difficulty reading "Old English", with all its V's and U's. And, furthermore, I've never even met anyone who can decipher Hieroglyphs?

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Great and All Knowing God: Your world is ever changing. Show us how to adapt. Make us aware that it is not all about us.  Show us how to impart our age-related knowledge without becoming preachy and demanding. Grant us wisdom. 

BTW...if you could read this post...........you are old, too!!!!!