HAVE NO REGRETS.......

WHEN YOU WERE BORN, YOU CRIED AND THE WORLD REJOICED....LIVE YOUR LIFE IN SUCH A MANNER THAT WHEN YOU DIE THE WORLD CRIES AND YOU REJOICE.......We worry so much about things that never happen.....thank goodness......what do you worry about and how do you handle what seems to loom in front of you?  We can always reframe those problems, chop them in small pieces and handle the small pieces a bit easier.  A painting in an ancient temple depicts a king forging a chain from his crown and nearby, another scene shows a slave converting his chain into a crown.  Underneath the painting is the inscription......"Life is what one makes it, no matter of what it is made."

You may have been given certain "ingredients", just as a baker may find the staples of flour, sugar, and oil in his kitchen, but what you create from the talents and genetic propensities given you is......up to you!  Live your life this way....Not---How did you die?  But how did you live? Not what did you gain....but what did you give?  Not what did the sketch in the news paper say-----but how many were sorry when you passed away!  I just have faith that everything will work out for the best the years I have left.  Had a quiet Sunday......a little trip to Costco and got some Christmas shopping done, now for a quiet evening......ALONE!

THE GRANDMOTHER THEORY.........

Everyone knows grandmothers pass along the most valuable family possessions..........receipts for turkey stuffing, chocolate chip cookies and jam.  But now it seems reasonable they may be passing along a lot more than originally thought......It seems the genes of the long-lived grandmothers get passed down to succeeding generations.  After all grandma's also get blamed for your cancers, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis and big hips........

When you write a story....you embroidery it with bright colors for interest and excitement......Just look at a picture and a whole story of your own develops......even though someone else's may develop a  whole different story about the picture.....I picture an old folks home......We all pray we won't eventually end up  in "Formaldehyde  Alley".......You know where a dozen wheel chairs filled with various forms dotted the room like drooping house plants......waiting for a little attention.   The smell in Formaldehyde Alley absolutely has no words to describe it.....even the farm I was raised on smelled better.   There always seems so few helpers to take care of so many poor souls.....and they don't seem to ask for much......just some one to care.  When I left the one my Uncle Lester was in I was so depressed.......I guess home is where everyone's story begins.....but some are not as lucky as I am to have a home to write a story about!

I just hope I can leave good things for my grandchildren as I love them all so much......but I also hope I have left them with the strength to handle whatever fate hands them.

TELL ME A STORY.....

The blank pages invite me to share, invent, play, create, reveal big or little parts of me......I love to Journal....

My many journals are truly joys to me......they are my map of me.......

It doesn't matter what I write in my journal, it is mine.  There is no right or wrong,.....good or bad....it just is.

I am free to talk about EVERYTHING and NOTHING!

A journal helps us search for our real self.  What do we really think, what do we really feel, what do we really see?  Tell all to those empty pages.

My journal is my witness, a teacher, a therapist, a trusted friend, a silent listener.........

"Our stories are seeds of our deepest longings and wishes.....they are metaphors of our life left printed for others to enjoy........or not!"

Looks like a long quiet weekend......LABOR DAY

CHAPTER #35.....around the world cont.

CABO SAN LUCAS, MEXICO.......been there a couple of times with the children and Don, but my last trip there with Ann, Bonnie and Pauline was the most fun.   We stayed at the Las Glorias.......the big red hotel on the beach where we could see the boats and fisher men and the beautiful water.  We hit all the markets and stores and the fun bars .......enjoying margaritas and the mariachis.......  We took a glass bottom boat ride

, went whale watching and enjoyed the beach.  The people are friendly and the food good.  One day we took a bus ride across to LA  PAZ, MEXICO a famous big fish......fishing village on the bajo.  We got on this rickety bus with many Mexicans and their chickens, bags of food and many weird smelling things and had an interesting trip over.   It is a pretty place with a great walk along the beach and the sunset was unreal. Maybe some day I will go back there and enjoy more beautiful sunsets......but any place in Mexico is a dream to me.....no matter how poor, how rural, how slow or backward......I just love Mexico.

CHAPTER #35.....around the world cont.

PUERTO PENASCO, MEXICO..... is a quaint little Mexican village......kinda fishing but mostly tourist.......many Americans who go down for the winter months for some fun sun.  Ann and I drove down for a week......my first driving trip in Mexico and I have to admit I was petrified most the time, but it was Ann's car and she was driving and wasn't fazed by it all.......We stayed part of the time at the Holiday INN which had a good breakfast and a fun happy hour......then to save money on Ann's budget we moved to a place that is hard to describe......well in fact I won't even go into it......but take my word it was bad.   I had a friend who went down every winter and so I looked Cleon and Dave up and we spent a couple of fun days with them.   One day they took us shelling........gathering pretty shells and one night they invited us over for a big bonfire on the beach with some of their neighbors.....We enjoyed the shopping and the cute places on the beach to eat.  I bought my wonderful Mexican fountain and Ann bought several pots so we came home loaded......the nice part of driving.  We stopped to view the LONDON BRIDGE in Lake Havasue on the way down and took in the largest yard sale.....where we could have spent many days, but they did not have a hotel or any rooms there.  Yes Rocky Point was a fun trip and I am glad Ann talked me into it.

MAY WE HELP YOU?

 IT IS WHAT IT IS......And denial ain't just a river in Egypt.........The most intimate connection in your life is the one you have with yourself.  Dishonesty in this relationship is at best counterproductive, at worst catastrophic.  If you want your life to work, tell yourself the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  We all engage in denial whether occasionally or habitually, often without realizing we are lying to ourselves at all.......and then there are times you know you are in denial......like when everyone in town knows your husband is messing around and your gut tells you he is, but you don't want to believe it......denial?  I am sure we all have been in denial about something in life at one time or another.  I am not getting fat.......my closet just shrinks my clothes.....oh yes.

Shirley and I took in a movie and ate afterwards today, Patty is coming over for coffee in the morning and Karrie and I are driving down to Provo Thursday to have lunch with Annie and let me see her dorm room.......and another week slips by!  Had two neat letters yesterday from our missionaries.........and Sherrie on cloud nine because the T J MAXX opened in Vernal!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE AND ANDREA

Mike Happy Birthday ......I love you no matter how you look!  The latest  "Fiddler On the Roof!"  Also Happy Birthday to your cute wife Andrea......how convenient to both have a birthday on the same day and get it over with.  I have so many fun memories of our good times in the past.

Happy Birthday you two......so many fun times ahead of you......Hang in there.