Hubby and I both grew up in childhood homes that had dogs as pets. My family always had a Boston Terrier while I was growing up. Hubby had a German Shepherd.

When we got married 40 years ago, and we got our very first home, we immediately got two dogs. Yep, one was a Boston Terrier and one was a German Shepherd. From that time on until now, we have always had at least one dog, and often two at the same time, in our home.

40 years.

Well, this past Wednesday we became a ‘dog-less’ home. For the first time ever. Our very loved (cute, funny, sweet tempered, loving) pug Miss Daisy had failed to the point where we had to make the tough decision. She was no longer able to hold her pee for long. She was having accidents. She was waking me up often during the night, sometimes many times in one night. The last couple of days Daisy had stopped eating and she was throwing up liquid often. She had lived with diabetes for quite a few years. She had gone blind after both retinas detached and therefore was unable to move around easily.

So, the reasons were many. The time was right. But, it was an extremely hard decision to make, and I still second guess myself and wonder if we should have kept her around a little longer.

But Miss Daisy was high maintenance. She required insulin shots at each mealtime. We had to carry her outside to do her business. Her quality of life had dropped significantly.

Yes, we knew it was time.

So, after 40 years our home has no dogs in it. (Thank goodness we have two kitty cats that we love and that go in and out of the house, and another one that hangs out in our annex.) But our couch where Daisy laid and slept during the day is now empty. I still look for her in that spot. Our bed is not shared with any dog anymore – and we had let all of our doggies sleep with us throughout all the years. We spoiled them all.

At this point, just a few days into this new life, hubby and I are still adjusting. Life is easier – but it’s different. After taking care of Daisy for so many years we have decided to be without a dog, to be more free to do things we would like to do.

We have amazing memories with Miss Daisy and with all our dogs. They have all been important parts of our lives. They have made us be caring people and we loved them even when it was not easy.

Saying goodbye is definitely not easy.

Doggone it.

A song written by Nashville songwriters Aimee Mayo, Claire Douglas, Jared Johnson, and Tm Douglas – and sung by Tim McGraw, has some beautiful lyrics about the loss of a loved dog. Here are a few of the lines:

If there’s a spot of sun on the porch up there I bet you are lyin’ in it.

This king-sized bed has too much space without you in it.

…. So you waited for me when I got back

You were waitin’ right there.

Cause that’s what best friends do.

Doggone, I miss you.

And I know you will be waiting for me

At the pearly white picket fence and I’ll miss you ole’ buddy til then

Doggone it,

Man’s best friend.

Doggone it. Amen

The last couple of days I have felt sad, and truly at odd ends about the political scenes playing out. Yes, I feel this way because of the immediate actions of our new president, and of all the craziness he is causing, but mostly it is…

The messages and posts I see from his loyalists and MAGA people.

DISRESPECT and DISREGARD

There is name calling, the constant repeating of false information, and the unending comments with no respect or regard.

I was off line a good part of yesterday. It was a busy day and I was away from home. Once I popped on to Facebook in the evening a huge dread came over me as I read the back-and-forth comments on my original posts. They were mean. They pushed back. They were written like they were trying to ‘one up’ each other and prove the other person wrong.

I was already tired. I have had interrupted sleep a lot at night lately due to my old pug who needs attention. It was a gray and rainy day. I had experienced throughout the day people saying words and actions that were not kind. By the time I got home, I was worn out.

So, the Facebook comments put me over the edge.

I told my hubby that I really hated humanity sometimes.

Lately I feel like I am living on the edge a lot.

I am so tired of the years of the skewing of facts, and of all the lies. I am tired of the disrespect for each other, and especially for those who are in need in so many ways. I am tired of people not regarding their fellowman and woman. No regard. No respect. I’m tired of the blinders on so many eyes. Instead it is about being self-centered, and cocky, and using words that hurt.

I am tired of allowing the hurt. I am tired of hearing the words about mercy and turning them into something bad. I am tired of people thinking that this whole mess was somebody else’s fault.

I am tired of going out and being afraid to speak on subjects that might set someone off. I am tired of living where we fear retribution. I’m tired of people not trusting anyone. I’m tired of people disregarding the education and professional knowledge of experts. I’m tired of calling everyone a part of some dark conspiracy.

I am so tired of people not acknowledging that CoVid was real. That January 6th’s insurrection really didn’t happen. Those endless, mean, tweets that were real from our president. And that the testimonies under oath weren’t real. Videos weren’t real.

I am tired.

Really tired today.

It’s like banging your head on the wall over and over again.

The disappointment is overbearing sometimes. The pain I feel from the disregard and the disrespect. Yes, I experienced it as a rude awakening 8 years ago when this all started, and it just keeps getting worse.

I don’t know how we all will get through this. I want to stick my head in the ground. But I can’t. I’m usually strong willed, and I believe we must stand up for what is right for everyone.

But, not today.

I’m tired.

Tomorrow – I will wake up and maybe I will feel differently.

So much has been said. So much has been written – by me!!

Monday is a busy day. Most importantly, for me, it is the day to remember the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. I will be posting some of his immortal words from his speeches and sermons. We can never overlook the important strides he made in the civil rights movement and his constant message of peaceful change.

It is hard to believe that our young people only know of MLK Jr. now by what WE teach them. So, on Monday, the day to honor him, I hope that schools will continue teaching about him. I hope we flood social media with all we can about King and his profound words. We need to hear them.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day has also become a day of service. It’s a day to do something that can benefit a path to equality, to provide comfort, and to make a difference in another person’s life. Every Monday I am part of a group of ladies who meet and put together quilts that are given freely to those in need locally and around the world. I will be doing my part there THIS Monday.

Monday is also the final game for college football this season. It is the National Championship game, Ohio State taking on Notre Dame. Both schools are Midwest powerhouses. I will turn the TV on for the game in the evening, and I hope to see a close scoring game because that keeps it exciting to watch. I don’t have a favorite team (sorry Ohio family and friends) so I really want to watch the two best teams of the past year play each other closely.

Yes, I will turn the TV on for the game.

I will NOT turn it on earlier in the day. Monday is also the Inauguration Day of Donald Trump to become the president of the United States again. As I stated at the beginning of this musing, I have written much about how I feel about the man, and my disappointment in his re-election. So, I cannot watch Trump put his hand on a Bible and swear on it this oath:

“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

It is not just my opinion, it is proven fact, that Donald Trump has lied more than any other president, and truly more than any other person in a leadership position. I do not believe he will take his oath to heart.

I googled and the oath can also include these words “I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and the rich.” Somehow I doubt this line will be said.

“So help me God” is also often included.

For me, words matter. It used to be that a ‘man’s word was his promise.’ A man of his word was a man to be trusted. A man of his word was careful in thought, aware of what he said because it had consequences. A man of his word was honorable.

Trusted. Careful. Aware. Honorable.

I was texting with a friend yesterday about the FACTS of Trump’s past and I listed many things he has done, both in business and personally, that do not fall into the words above. Trusted. Careful. Aware. Honorable. I was able to list failed businesses and bankruptcies, defaults on loans, banks that now reject him, and with all of that came loss of employment for thousands. There are FACTS that he approved the coverup of payoffs, and he was found guilty in a court of law. There are FACTS that he sexually molested a woman in a department store dressing room and was found guilty of it in a court of law.

Trump was impeached twice, once for his involvement of an insurrection against our government’s certification of an election. The other time for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. That one alone should have been enough to make him ineligible to run for office again. Read the oath for the Office of President. He was found guilty of NOT protecting and defending the Constitution.

My friend in our texting yesterday asked me to wait and see… that Trump will do good things. Well, I believe a man with his past should not even have been given the opportunity to be president again – but here he is. Here we are. Monday is coming. And due to the man that he is, unprecedented, first to be a felon, first to run again with impeachments, we have stepped in to something never thought about before – even by our founding fathers and the writers of the Constitution.

So, on Monday I will be disappointed. Not in Trump. He is who he is. But in America. In us. I am disappointed in our elected officials who should hold the words of our Constitution above everything else. I am saddened by the lies, the power plays, the thinking that victory is above righteousness. That winning any way you can is now acceptable.

I will not watch. I cannot watch. I truly have an emotional and physical reaction to the man. We have stooped so low. I worry about the days and years ahead. What will happen to women? Who will get judged for being unworthy? What will our children be seeing?

An interesting side note: This morning I watched a news piece on the “Today” show about the clean up work starting in the LA area in places where the wildfires decimated neighborhoods. The crews doing the work are made up of all kinds of Americans. Volunteers. Black, white, Hispanic, young, old. They are the ones not getting the glory – and their work is hard and it will go on for a long time. The same is happening with all those in the North Carolina mountains, and other places around our country hit with natural disasters. Think about who these wonderful people are.

Monday is a day of public service. A day to volunteer – and to thank a volunteer. A day to think about equality for all, and how we can move forward working on making this country wonderful for ALL AMERICANS.

And, it’s about watching a little football.

I am sitting here watching the coverage of the incredibly horrible wildfires in the Los Angeles area, and I’m hearing such heartbreaking stories, and I then go on Facebook and I see two different worlds.

One world is about people feeling the pain of those affected, and of sending up prayers, and sharing ways to give, to help those who have lost their homes and all of their possessions. These people are expressing sadness, and are looking for ways to help.

And then…. There is the other world that is those who are jumping on a political bandwagon, already blaming the elected officials, and thinking that this horrible disaster is because one side didn’t seem to care enough. It makes me sick.

I am so disgusted and sad because EVERYTHING has become a divided political issue in this country. Even this, a horrible natural disaster of extreme dryness and strong winds spreading fire storms, has quickly turned into one side against the other. Instead of all Americans feeling empathy about other citizens going through such a life changing event, it is about who should have known better, and how some didn’t do their job, and…. Whatever….. it is so inappropriate…

If you can’t do that, then please, just stay off of social media. Because, really, you don’t look like a good person. You are showing us all how you have a hardness in your soul, not thinking about the incredible pain of others, and that you are too caught up in political games. Supporting a man with no soul.

It is sick.

STOP IT!!

Please. If you are going to to go on social media, at least show that you are a caring person and post something about feeling bad for those so effected, and offer ‘thoughts and prayers’ (like you do for gun violence) and have some caring for others.

Get over yourself.

Look inside.

I don’t know. How is it that some Americans have gotten so callous? Why are some so into themselves that they have to post heartless comments?

Thankfully, natural disasters bring out the helpers. Some instinctively jump right in, and they do what they can to help strangers, and they don’t think twice about it. Mr. Rogers’s mother said to look for the helpers. They are there.

But, others immediately jump in and make accusations. They blame. They find what went wrong.

Ugh. Go away.

Really. Who are we??

First off: my blog, my thoughts, my place to ‘get it out’ to keep myself sane.

Today is January 4th and in two days we will be remembering back 4 years ago on that January 6th when Congress prepared to certify the results of the presidential election. It’s been 4 years since our president at the time, Donald Trump, after months of denying the election results, bad-mouthing and accusing people, filing lawsuits, and more, used a ‘last resort’ in his mind. He encouraged his most dedicated (and one could say most gullible) MAGA followers, along with white supremacy groups, to come to Washington. The days before Jan. 6th he, along with others on social media, told his people to ‘stand down’ for something really big.

And many came from around the country. The eve before, on Jan. 5th, Pres. Trump looked out his White House window and saw the crowds forming, and heard chanting.

Then the morning of the 6th he was the main speaker at a rally held between the White House and the nation’s Capitol. He told the group to ‘stop the steal’ and the mass of people moved up Pennsylvania Avenue with the intent to halt the certification. All of Congress was in the House chambers while Trump’s people fought the police outside, broke through barricades, and smashed in doors and windows of the center of our democracy, the Capitol. Officers were injured. One later died.

One of the people who participated in this Insurrection, in her attempt to stop the proceedings of our government, was shot and killed inside. Others there stole papers, and furniture, and they destroyed items, and parts of the walls of this sacred building.

Cameras in and around the Capitol were on and allowed us all to see what was going on with our own eyes – as it happened. President Trump sat in his private dining room in the White House and watched it unfold on a TV. He did nothing for a couple of hours, even though he was the president and these were the Congressmen and women of the United States under attack. His own Vice President was there also.

Since that day we have had hundreds of eye-witness accounts, and a special committee was convened to gather all the information leading up to January 6th, and about the events of the day. The committee determined that President Trump should be impeached because of his actions in the set up to the Insurrection, and also due to his negligence of defending our nation.

The actions of the Insurrectionists did not stop the certification of the election because Congress, together (one of the rare times Reps and Dems did something together), made sure the process was completed later that night and VP Mike Pence signed off on the accuracy of the vote.

The next day many Congressmen and women, from both sides of the aisle, spoke publicly in the House chamber about Trump’s involvement, and about the fear they experienced during the attack.

But…. After that day the tide turned, and political ‘smear games’ started, and the political division showed up again, and many backpedaled about what they experienced.

4 year later here we are. We are still hearing from Trump and his leadership of the Republican Party, including the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, that the election results were wrong. They are still not willing to admit the defeat.

And, since then all kinds of conspiracy theories have been spread. Lies. Trying to downplay what happened. I actually heard just recently from a Trump supporter that she thinks the Insurrection was ‘acted out’ like it was a big performance, and it was the Democrats who were responsible for it. Holding Trump flags. Wearing MAGA hats. Totally false. But she believes it.

America watched. We saw what happened. Many of those involved have now been tried in a court of law and found guilty, and they are now serving time for acts of Insurrection. I believe they should not be pardoned. They were guilty. They need to serve the time.

On Monday, 4 years after, I hope the media, ALL the media, again show the videos from that day. We need to be reminded of the mob that climbed the walls, broke through barriers, broke into the Capitol, hit police officers with flag poles and other weapons. They hung a noose for the Vice President. They chanted, and looked for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and ransacked her office. Some reports said that human feces was found smeared on the Capitol walls. People acted like animals. Determined to do the job for Trump. They were so devoted to him.

I will never forget that Donald Trump was totally in on what happened. He helped plan it, he urged people on, he then sat back and watched it on his television set, safely in the White House. His staff came in and said he should call the insurrection mob off, but he waited. He was the President of the United States. He sat back and enjoyed watching what was happening.

And, heaven help us, he is about to be president of the United States again. It is beyond me to understand how half of the people in this country felt that his planning of the insurrection, his actions, and his denial about it all, was acceptable, that it didn’t matter to them…. He was a human being watching, but also a narcissist, a politician, and the leader of our country.

So: where is our decency? How can we allow physical attacks on our legislators, on our amazing Capitol building, on our democratic system of laws, to happen? Yes, the Insurrectionists are serving time but NOT the master minds. Not THE ONE who could have stopped it. But, he did not want to stop it.

And so for me, it is inexcusable.

Teflon Don.

He abuses power. He acts illegally. He allows others to take the fall for his doings. He has no remorse.

And he is our next president of the United States.

I thought it would be nice to make a list of what has been good to me, for me, and near me, as I finish the calendar year today. Bye bye 2024.

Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly…

THE GOOD – in no particular order.

The birth of my 4th grandchild. 💖 Welcome Charlotte Amelia!

Good health for hubby and me.

Seeing Tim live in concert twice. 🤠 🤠

Being Madelynn’s bedmate.

Reconnecting with Paula in Nashville.

“The Women” by Kristen Hannah

The grandboys’ first school holiday concert. 🎄

Facebook and FaceTiming.

Riva-side sunsets

Authentic Lainey Wilson

Chardonnay

“Shaking Off Gravity” by Lucinda Shirley 📕

Tim McGraw’s “People Like Us”

My Cameo video from Deano Brown and the girls who sent it to me.

Daughters 💖 💖

The Holy Spirit sticking with me.

Lifetime bestie Sue

Book club discussions

The sounds of Handbells 🎶 🔔

Dolly Parton and The Imagination Library

Babies

South Carolina Gamecocks football

Linedancing and linedancing ladies.

My garden 🌺

Seeing Willie Nelson in concert.

Tooting the flute.

Cafe Francais ☕️

Spring weather

Live music experiences

Putting my voice & thoughts in “Marla’s Musings”.

THE BAD – also in no particular order.

The passing of my dad. But, also good. He lived a long life and was ready.

Trump re-elected, and all that goes with it. 🤢

Miss Daisy’s slow decline with blindness and diabetes.

The division in the Christian churches.

Hurricane Helene in the Carolinas.

TV talking heads

THE UGLY

My piano practice sounds. 😬

Cat throw up.

Orange

It was easy for me to find the ‘good’ from this past year and to list them here. Thankfully, I was fortunate and I had many, many more good moments and people in my life vs. the bad ones. I thank God, and I count my blessings. It’s important to think about what counts. It’s also vital to know that if the lists change and I find more bad stuff comes into my life, I will not be alone.

Make your lists.

Here we go. We have less than two days to think about if we want to make resolutions, and if so, what they will be.

Are you thinking about it? Do you have any in mind?

I have a couple ideas to help start out the new year, to personally improve, and to find positive outlooks for myself. Obviously, as I look forward into 2025, I am excited for more family time together. I wait with anticipation about any and all events with our daughters, their spouses, and the grandchildren. As I think of the coming year, I pray that they all stay healthy, and active, and that I do too so I can continue to enjoy them.

Another year has passed so I need to step up on my physical care better. I have slacked this past month due to all the holiday events on the calendar. My weekly linedancing stopped for a few weeks. I have gotten out of the routine. I’ve been busy and it is too cold to be outside and do other forms of exercise. (I know my hubby will say I still can get out there. Ha.) But, I realize that I have gotten out of the habit of keeping myself moving – and I need to get back to it. It’s a 2025 resolution.

I must always MOVE!

So, this resolution is to make it to linedancing at least once a week. I will also either go a second session each week, or go for a long walk. I need more physical activity in general so I need to step up my game! I pledge to have 2 good physical activities each week.

I need it for my body, but I truly also need it for my mind. I need the uplifting music and the endorphins that dancing brings!

Although I have had a lot of music events in December, I have left my ‘piano practice’ by the wayside and I need to get back to it again. This too is especially for my mind. I gotta work the brain! In a few weeks band practice and my handbells rehearsals will start up again. Those activities are good for both my mind and soul.

At the age I am now I find that my resolutions are ‘continuations’ of what is good for me. One joy is the live concert experience. I have written about it before, and how I love seeing incredible talent, hearing moving music, and sharing it all in a group of like-minded people. Sometimes it seems easier to stay home, or to just stay away from crowds, to not make the effort involved. But, I resolve to continue going to concerts as long as I can. Age is a number. These experiences have no end date…. Well, for now anyway!

Never let go of MUSIC.

This year ahead will challenge me. I know sometimes I think of politics too much. It’s partly because in this stage of my life I have more time to keep myself informed about it all, and I also think about what the future will bring for my family. The US has so many possibilities. But, of course, as you know as a reader here, my dislike of Trump both personally and professionally is no secret. I know there will be times this coming year when I will be extremely disappointed by Trump and the country’s leadership. I pray that he and his administration don’t send us backwards and add to the hardships of so many Americans. My resolution about it is to speak kindly while I stay true to myself.

I will continue to read. Recently I have added doing daily crosswords and other word games, via the New York Times app. For years I religiously tried my hand on daily crosswords, until we stopped getting a newspaper. But, thanks to the NYT app I am back at it, along with a few other games,

I have to work the MIND.

I think this will be my motto for 2025:

Always MOVE. Never let go of MUSIC. Work the MIND!

Welcome to the world of e-cards and greetings!

I decided to go this route instead of snail mail Christmas cards this year. Instead, the money I would have spent for them will go to a local charity that provides emergency funds for rent and utility bills.

CHRISTMAS 2024

Blessings to you this holiday season.

Stan and I have had a really good year. Our 40th year married! It is hard to believe that we are here, but yet we are so very thankful and appreciative to everyone throughout the years who has impacted our lives.

As the years go by we realize that many have encouraged us, and have believed in us, and now the younger ones look up to us as role models. We are proud of this milestone. Cheers!

Not only did we celebrate a big anniversary but we also celebrated a new decade for Stan. In October we had a wonderful birthday party with our daughters and their families here at our ‘riva-side’ home.

Daughter Lauren and Ryan joined us, along with their twin sons Logan and Roman. The boys are now 7, in 1st grade, and they all make us continually proud. Lauren is a preschool teacher at a Garner, NC Methodist church. Ryan is a project manager and recently became a VP, for Shook Construction. They have busy lives with work and school, and value their family time together. A highlight was taking the boys to DisneyWorld in October, right before their Halloween/birthday celebration.

Daughter Kristen and husband Jeffrey have daughters Madelynn, age 3, and Charlotte, 9 months, and they also have very busy lives with full time career work and prioritizing family. Kristen is a partner at Elliott Davis Accounting Firm in Charlotte, and Jeff works in forecasting and bank development for Wells Fargo. (Don’t quote me. I probably have his title wrong.) This family is also very busy juggling work and family time.

Stan has taken up pickleball to keep physically active. That and his new-ish hobby of motorcycles & dirt bikes, will help fill his time once he officially retires at the end of March ‘25. He also tried his hand at a vegetable garden and had an abundance of peppers, some tomatoes, and more. He also tends fruit trees on our property. If only we can keep the squirrels from feasting before we do! They loved the corn and tomatoes.

Me? I still enjoy my music endeavors, playing flute with the community band, and handbells in two church groups. I also continue to do my little part in a church quilting group. I’m still in a Book Club with ladies I have known for years now. We have great discussions. I love tending my flower garden. I did a Tim McGraw ‘mini tour’ with my daughters in the summer. I met up with a girlfriend in Nashville and I finally got to see a show at the Grand Old Opry.

Dad passed on after 97 years of life. He was more than ready and I am fully confident that he is experiencing heaven in its fullness, back with our mom and his parents.

Best by far this year has been all the times we have spent with our grandchildren. I will post a few pics here of those times. If you are my Facebook friend, you have seen them. I share them there, and I invite you to find me there.

2025 will be an interesting year ahead as our politics is concerning. I pray for us all that we don’t feel hardship from the choices made, and that we continue to strive for love for all, peace, and unity.

As we get ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, I pray that Christian love will lead us, and that we may be examples for everyone. Our children and grandchildren are watching. The whole world is watching.

Love came down at Christmas. Unto you a child is born.

Pictures:

We are just days away from celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, who turned the world upside down during his life here, especially his last three years on earth. This is the time each year that we focus on this baby arriving, God’s own son, who came to earth to CHANGE us all with messages of love, forgiveness, and eternal life.

Love. Without stipulations. Love. Without a ranking order. Love. Without judging. Jesus taught it all his life. Love the Lord your God. Then, love your neighbor as yourself.

We hear the message. We sing the songs. We praise the Father and the Son. We say Alleluia!

Christmas is about sharing the love. Feeling it and giving it. It’s about hope. Peace.

When I attend Christmas Eve services I get the tingles, as I think of the unity that happens at that very moment. The beautiful candlelight glow that fills the church. Love is felt in the building, and beyond – into the community, and all around the world. The glow is everywhere. The light is shining in the darkness.

A baby child born so long ago that still makes a huge significance on us all. It’s pretty amazing. He is the ‘Christ” in Christian. He is voice of peace. Turning the cheek. Helping those who need help. Spreading kindness. The example for us all. The teacher.

We are living through a weird time in the US right now where being a Christian is questioned – by those who are not, and by people like me who are. Yes, there are different denominations and with them come various emphasises, especially on parts of the Bible. There are diverse interpretations. Yet, the birth of the baby Jesus is always the central part for everyone.

I have said before that I feel that because Christmas Day comes every year maybe we don’t always pause enough, to feel the LOVE, to focus on the importance of the baby. We get caught up in everything else – the shopping, the decorating, the gatherings, etc. There is plenty to distract us. Right? Every year I personally struggle with my own heart and I ask ‘do I do enough?’ ‘Do I get it?’ Do I understand?

Will this feeling of love continue?

I can answer that. No. After Christmas Day we all tend to go back to our secular lives and everything else comes back to us. We are busy. We are working. We get tired. We get opinionated. We forget about God’s son that came to show us all ‘the way’ and we prefer to live by our egos.

I worry about the coming year here in the United States. I wonder how the large community of Christians can see things so differently. Where is the love??? How can following Jesus seem so different among us?

Christmas puts everything that Jesus came to show us, and to tell us, right smack in front of us. We celebrate him – but do we really ‘live’ the love??

I have been busy lately. I always am busy at this time of the year with many music events that I am either involved in, or go to see and enjoy. But, yesterday was Dec. 15th, my birthday 🎉 , and so I want to take a moment now to reflect back and to think of the year ahead.

Looking back it has been a wonderful year for me personally. I continue to be blessed with good health, and with family I love, who happen to love me back! 😊 I am blessed. I’m blessed because it is not my doing that has let me have such a good year. I put my trust and faith in God, and I am then (almost) free of worry and heartbreak. I still have my moments but they are temporary.

This year I saw the arrival of my newest grandchild, another beautiful little girl. 💖 That rounds out the list to 4, two boys and two girls. I am happy that hubby and I live close enough to be with them often, to experience special occasions with them, and to see the joy on those young faces!! This Thursday I am going to the twin boys first grade school holiday concert and I can’t wait to watch! We will be spending Christmas Eve and Day with the little granddaughters.

I know I speak of the grands first, but I also truly love the time together with our adult daughters and their husbands. As I said above, I love that we are still a big part of their lives. I admire the families they have created. I laugh when with them a lot. And, they make me very proud.

Yesterday, my birthday, I participated in two musical events. Tis the season for sure! 🎄 🎶. I enjoy being a part of groups that come together (with lots of rehearsing – ha) to bring music to others. Music is the international language. 🌎 Music lifts and brings people together. Performers feel like family. And, often, concert goers leave a musical event feeling connected with one another. 🎵 🎵

Looking back on this year, the only challenges for me have been those dealing with politics and sad, world events. We live in a place of such division, and so many disagreements. 😢 I realize I am “in” it and not standing by and watching. It’s hard for me to not feel, to not express myself, and to not try and pass along my point of view. For those who I have made mad, or who might even want to call me names 😬, I apologize. I say what I say – and I hope I at least say it with kind words. My intent is never to demean, or embarrass, someone.

The year ahead – my last of this decade (!??!?!?) – will be a continuation of the last one. I don’t expect any big differences. Well, I take that back. Hubby is officially retiring (for the second time) at the end of March. He will have more time to pursue what brings him contentment (and that is definitely staying active). We have an ailing dog that keeps us close to home, but the year ahead might free us of her constant care. Or, maybe not, we joke that Miss Daisy will outlive us all! 🐾 We love her. But just like a senior person, she is a lot of work, and needs constant checking, medicine, etc.

I plan to keep ringing handbells, tooting my flute, and dancing! I plan to keep reading. I look forward to my garden awaking in the spring. 💐 I think about what might be something new to peruse. I still quilt with a group of ladies each Monday. My participation offers me some creativity (I take the fabric squares and put them together in a hopefully pleasing design), and the quilts are gifts of love from us to those in need. I guess I have from now until New Year’s Eve to think of something else that might “float my boat” but also keep others above water. The possibilities are endless.

So, this birthday yesterday didn’t hurt. I sometimes can’t believe that I am here, at this age. I think how getting here went so quickly…. Until I start looking back on all the years of living, the people, the places, the events, the experiences. Timehop is an app, but it’s a daily trip down Memory Lane. I don’t go a day without checking in with it. It makes me smile. Pictures and videos. Priceless moments.

So, today is the first day of my new year. 🕰️ As Tim McGraw sings “live like you are dying!” Think about, and ENJOY, every day as it might be the last. I also have a little sign in my bathroom that say “Live your life and forget your age.” I do that pretty well.

Here’s to each day!!!

❤️ 🗓️ 🎉