Signing Off

When I began writing this blog over three years ago, I was a bit unsure about sharing personal thoughts to basically...the WORLD! Of course, I exaggerate, but one thing that has surprised me is the number of people who have told me "I like to read your blog". Part of my initial hesitancy, was the thought that I was being a little "full" of myself for thinking that my ordinary life would be interesting at all. But, since I was enjoying reading blogs of others, I embraced the concept and became a blogger. It was the perfect time for me to start a blog as we were beginning a new life in one of the most BEAUTIFUL spots on earth! Needless to say, it was a very exciting & challenging time for us as we navigated our new world as retirees. And, much of what I had hoped for...a flexible job, a great church, new friends, grandchildren close by, volunteer work, travel opportunities, and a cute, down-sized home has come true. In fact, life has been so good these past few years, it's kind of scary to think of what is around the corner. It's now funny for me to think about how obsessed I was about the weather prior to our move. I remember scouring the PNW weather reports daily! Would it rain all the time?...would we miss the sun?...would the darkness be too depressing? I'm happy to report that the weather has been the easiest transition, with no, no, no to my worries. And, if we have a slew of bad weather days, I imagine 30 below zero winters or hot & humid summers, and I think, "this is okay"! Having dear friends in AZ to visit every winter helps, too!!!!

Where am I going with this? This year I wrote a blog about New Year's resolutions and the fact that I did not do them. I then decided to make my first bonafide attempt at a resolution...to write more faithfully on my blog! And, I have not come through! I'm not sure why I've stopped writing faithfully, but I think the "need" for me to hash through transition issues is gone because we've settled into our new lives well. It's interesting to see that some of the bloggers I follow are also writing less...life is busy for everyone and sometimes living life is enough for one day! So, I think, for me it's time to just be a blog reader, instead of a blog writer. Our minister recently said that everyone has a story and with 7 billion people in the world, that's a lot of interesting stories!!!

To be sure, I've had lots of ideas for blogs that I wished I had written about....my commitment to a regular exercise since 1981 and the transformational impact it has had on my life, the deep connection to our church and the progressive Christian message, being humbled by being asked to be the lay leader of our church next year (the next big challenge for me...way out of my comfort zone), my gratitude to NPR, CBC, and BBC for keeping me informed over the airwaves, how incredibly happy I am when I'm reading a good book, and my continued gratefulness for health and the love of family and friends. In 6/2015, if we are lucky enough, Bob and I will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. It is incredible to me that I am that old and yet feel so young. Since we never know what tomorrow will bring, I think it's always a blessing to feel that the present is the best time. I can't say I've always felt that way about my life, but I certainly feel that way now. So, while the "gettin is good", I'm going to sign off my blog. And to those who have been reading, I've appreciated the time you took to have a connection with me and my thoughts. Bye for now...

Sleep

They say you can't teach old dogs new tricks, but I beg to differ. For most of my life, I would literally gag if I took a sip of coffee. Then, about 15 years ago, with the advent of the Starbucks craze, I gingerly began drinking mocha's ( I laugh to think of the reaction to my first mocha at the Mall of America...I scrunched my face, saying "it tastes too much like coffee")!!!! Well, through the years, I drank more and more coffee, with less and less sugar and NOW...I LOVE COFFEE! I actually find this transition quite interesting. I don't attribute it to the caffeine as I like decaf as well, but I'm sure some scientist could explain how brains can be rewired from hating to loving a particular "taste" item.

What's an even more interesting change in my life, however, is the revolution of my sleep patterns. Until about 7 years ago, a nap was "like heaven" to me. I always felt guilty when, as a stay at home Mom, I napped when the boys napped. Even as a regular exerciser, I still seemed to need a daily nap. Along with my napping, I always slept great at night and could easily sleep for 9 hours!!! I really find that fact amazing in light of my current sleep patterns. As with my coffee change, I've thought a lot about how I could go from being a "sleeping queen" to a no napping, no more than 4hour at a time asleep, sleep pattern. One theory I've pondered is the fact that I now drink coffee, as discussed above. But, I tossed out that reason as I'm not affected much by caffeine. Another thought was leaving shift work. Working 3-11 from 1985 to 2000 definitely had an impact on my sleep patterns. I've come to the conclusion, though, that the BIGGEST impact on my sleep has been menopause. This common side effect "is what it is", but I am happy to report that LESS SLEEP = MORE ENERGY for me. I now find napping almost impossible and I rarely feel tired during the day. When I wake during the night, I listen to my little radio ( an indispensable gift from Bob) and eventually fall back to sleep. In fact, one of the ironies of our married life is that Bob is now the champion sleeper, a change from his troubled sleep in the past. I guess getting rid of the "worries of work life" will do that for some people.

So, all in all, I'm grateful for these changes. Drinking coffee has enabled me to "fit right into" the Northwest coffee culture. It's fun to find joy daily in such a small thing. My sleeping change has also been mostly positive as who wouldn't want more energy on less sleep? I know that change is the only constant in life, but I think this fact is often taken for granted. How nice when change happens for the better!

Victoria and Butchart Gardens

One of the places we've wanted to see since our arrival in the PNW was Victoria, which is the capital of the Canadian province of British Columbia on Vancouver Island. A few months ago I saw a Groupon for a "boutique" hotel in Victoria...a two for one night "romance" special. I had actually forgotten the "romance" part, so was pleasantly surprised to find flowers, wine, a cheese platter, and $50 credit at their restaurant when we arrived this past Wednesday. This Groupon deal was a deal indeed!

We left Wednesday around 9am and sailed through the border (those Canadian border people never crack a smile). We made it to the BC ferry with plenty of time to spare (of course anybody who knows us, knows that's always the case with us)! We strolled through this little ferry mall and relaxed with a cup of coffee. The ferry itself was a bigger and newer boat than the ones in WA. It was smooth sailing through beautiful island scenery. They had nice (expensive, too) food on board and we enjoyed a lunch of egg salad and "delish" clam chowder. One and 1/2 hours later we arrived at Swartz Bay and traveled about 30 miles to Victoria.

Our hotel was lovely and within walking distance of the downtown shops, restaurants, museums, and Inner Harbor. It was nice to "people watch" as we strolled along. Victoria was larger than I expected. It has a city population of about 77,000, but I guess since it is the capital of the region, it has a bigger feel to it. Although many people had told us to expect a very pretty city, I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. Still, it was fun to explore and be in another country!

Thursday was the highlight of our trip with our visit to Butchart Gardens. Bob and I LOVE botanical gardens. In fact, our favorite spot in St. Louis was the lovely gardens there. The Buthchart Gardens did not disappoint and we thoroughly enjoyed our day there. It was raining on and off, but they have these cute see through umbrellas (it is the PNW mind you) that kept the rain off me and it did not ruin the day at all. In fact, we loved these gardens so much that we decided to get a year pass and can't wait to go back. We can do this trip in a day (a long day for sure), but it will be a fun adventure when we return again!

These kind of little trips really hit home how lucky we are to be early "retirees"! It's such fun to take off and have no responsibilities for a few days.

Chilled to the Bone

Ten years ago we were living in Northern Virginia and working in Washington DC. Pete was also working in DC for Congressman Jim Leach at the time, his first job after college graduation. My Mother was alive as well as Bob's Dad. Steve and Pete were not married and we had no grandchildren at the time. Bob was two blocks away from the White House on that fateful day and Pete was across from the Capital. I was home, as I was not scheduled to work. So much has changed for us in the ensuing years. We've lived in three more houses and two more states. Bob has retired, our sons have married, we have three grandchildren, and our parents have passed. For us, all the "normal" things have taken place.

Of course for the many who lost loved ones on 9/11 and in the two wars we've waged, life will never be "normal" again. Certainly most of us did not feel normal during those first few hours when we couldn't comprehend the evil that was taking place. It was such an emotionally draining day as the tragedy unfolded before our eyes. I remember feeling "chilled to the bone". It was a relief indeed when I saw Bob finally walk in the door and got the call from Pete that he made it home. We were lucky to only have witnessed, but not truly suffered during this time in our history.

Today our church had a 9/11 memorial service and we had two Muslim guests share their stories. We worshipped together with them, each respecting each other's religious faith. Throughout history there have been so many horrible things done in the name of "religion". Today something good happened at our church as we prayed for peace, exchanged hugs, & shed tears. We ended with a blessing of the children, most who weren't alive ten years ago. Let's hope and pray that they never have to witness a day like that in their lifetimes to come.

Everything We Hoped It Would Be

Next week we will mark three years since we've arrived in the Pacific Northwest. It was an interesting dynamic choosing a place to retire. We thought long and hard about whether to to return to the known (Iowa City) versus embarking on the unknown (B'ham). We had lots of hopes and fears once we made the final decision. Would we like it? Would it rain all the time? Would we find nice people to meet? Would retirement prove to be meaningful, etc, etc, etc.........and the answers are yes, no, yes, and yes! I'm happy there are more yes than no's, as it reflects how happy we've found ourselves to be. We're incredibly grateful for our health, for without that, so much of what we have experienced would not have been possible.

We've both found volunteer projects that take lots of time and energy, but they have energized us as well. I've been lucky beyond measure to find a great flexible, very part time job as an oncology nurse. Oncology nursing is one of the greatest blessings I have in my life and I'm so glad I can continue to practice in this field. We've become involved with an amazing, dynamic church and have met amazing, dynamic people there. I've found a great yoga community that has been transformative for me. We've begun to form new friendships, but keep connected with dear, old friends as well. We've explored our new surroundings with gusto and never take for granted the beauty that surrounds us. We've traveled to visit family often and cannot begin to describe what fun it is to be relatively young grandparents. Although we've lost all of our parents, we are relieved that their suffering is over. We've downsized to our "little house" and found it freeing to rid ourselves of stuff we didn't need anymore.

Since I'm always waiting for "the next shoe to drop", I sometimes worry about how I will respond when that happens. I hope I will have the strength to manage it well. The cancer patients I've cared for along the way have been great teachers when it comes to grace with suffering. I hope I can draw from their example when my time comes to face difficulties ahead. For now, I relish each and every day. Thankful, thankful, thankful indeed.

Canada Memories

Jasper Tramway


Jasper National Park


Icefields Parkway


Icefields Parkway


Only "Wildlife" We Saw


Beautiful Dining Views


Lake Louise Beauty


Lake Louise


Carol Loves Inukchucks


Top of Tunnel Mountain in Banff

Iowa Fun

Puzzle Fun with Papa Bob


Lizzie Likes Puzzles, too


Lots of fun at Jan & Mikes


Nails done


Carousel Time with Hannah


Ice Cream treat at Texas Road House


School Begins


Cute as a Button


Love that Carousel


Playing at the Mall