I took an unexpected vacation the past few days. As I lay konked out on my couch or in bed, I had to analyze what was going on. It took me several days to figure out the sudden overwhelming fatigue. I'd been to Urgent Care because I woke up to a voluminous (another V word!) …
Category: memoir
Life at 82: U is for Unencumbered
Thank you, WP, for the U word today! Early on, she posted the following comment on my theme of Life at 82. I replied I may use it. What she writes is very true for me. If you are older, I'm sure you will identify too. I’m in my 77th year. Is that close enough …
Life at 82: T is for Travel
Participating in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge Less than a year ago, the far east was my limit in travel. I was still looking at cruises that folks tack on to their Australia trips. Go up north a bit. See what I could see in my lifetime. Travel booklets arrived every day, …
Life at 82: S is for Story
Participating in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge Early on when I started this blog (2010), I often wrote about the importance of telling your story. I said if you don’t, your words will die with you. I still feel that way, only more so. Since I retired from teaching nursing in 2000, …
Life at 82: Q is for Quote
After posting a few quotes on Life this past week that are newly meaningful to me, I naturally thought of using Quote for the letter Q. That brought me to a favorite Biblical quote that also refers to our lives. Background: In my graduate research, I studied the meaning of leisure for older persons. I …
Life at 82: O is for Oliver
I've rarely been able to understand poetry--the mystery of the meaning of the words and their fragmentary arrangements. But I've learned in several classes since I retired, that I don't have to understand every word. That sometimes reading for the feel, sounds, and rhythm is enough. For someone like me who is left-brained, logical and …
Life at 82: N is for Nothing
Nothing. When I woke up yesterday, I decided to do nothing. After a packed and scheduled week, I rationalized that I owed it to myself to do nothing. I almost succeeded. To do nothing, I soon found out, I had to do something. I could not just lie in bed with my eyes shut. Keeping …
Life at 82: K is for Kinship
Being back in Grand Rapids, MI, this week elicits several feelings of kinship--an appreciation of similar origins. Like visiting my sister-in-law, Kay, yesterday. We are the oldest and youngest of my sibling clan, and the other eight have passed away. So a special visit for sure. Then stopping at my parents' cemetery yesterday brought tears. …
Life at 82: J is for Joy
Here I am with two of my sisters, Rose and Esther, during happier times. They have both passed away. It was Rose, as an experienced widow, who told me when Marv died that I must find joy in my life every day. She said Joy would not come looking for me. I must look for …
Life at 82: I is for I
I is for I as in me. I may have begun to learn that I must curtail my traveling a bit at 82. Yesterday I endured an 11-hour day flying day with one nearly three-hour layover at O'Hare. The day included three gate changes, including a concourse change, at O'Hare, a $24 lunch of a …
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