"With God's Grace Our Worst Past
Becomes Our Best Future"
Becomes Our Best Future"
Photo by Aleix Ventayol on Unsplash
Sometimes I feel as though I’m living life like preparing a seven-course meal on a four-burner stove. Hey, I’m supposed to be retired. Yet, projects keep falling on my head like the raindrops of the song. And like the song, I’ll never stop the rain from falling by complaining. Instead, I’ll choose to be grateful for the challenges.
I remember those holiday meals, big crowds, and multiple side dishes. No Christmas dinner was complete without green bean casserole, candied yams, cranberry sauce, ham, turkey, creamed-corn casserole, broccoli, mashed potatoes, and gravy … just to name a few. Let’s not forget the lineup of pies, cookies, puddings, bread, and candy.
Somehow I managed to get everything on the table, hot and bubbly, on time. A delicate balancing act of simmering, warming, crockpots, microwave, and patience.
I’m not an organized person, so I cooked by the seat of my pants … but I did have a menu to go by to buzz me when I had to start the next side dish project or take the pie out of the oven or cool the pumpkin pie.
I’m realizing my senior years are like those holiday meals. Some events need to be attacked in slow-motion … a little at a time, each day. Some tasks need to come to a slow boil and then simmer. Others are put in a crockpot or on bake. Timing is everything.
We don’t do the big dinners anymore, but I find my retirement job is more demanding on an addled brain than I could ever realize. And so, I go back to the skills I learned from those family get-togethers.
I make a list … sort of like a menu … and then determine what goes on the burner of my fast to-do list and what can simmer as well as what can be chiseled.
And I’ll keep singing the song as I go along, walking in a writer’s wonderland
Photo by Tapio Haaja on Unsplash
THE YEARS THE LOCUSTS ATE
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CATHEDRAL STATE PARK, WEST VIRGINIA
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PRIME OF MY LIFE
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FULL CIRCLE
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GREEN STUFF AND HUBS
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NOEL: THE CAT WHO CAME FOR CHRISTMAS
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GREEN STUFF MAGIC
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WHEN GRANDMA FORGETS
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HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF BLUE ZONES?
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FIVE WAYS SENIORS CAN BOOST THEIR IMMUNE SYSTEMS
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IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM JOIN 'EM
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WALKING IN A WRITER'S WONDERLAND
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CREAMING
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LIFE IS THE ADVENTURE
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QUITTING MY DAY JOB
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ADAPT OR DIE
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SAY THANK YOU TO OUR FRIENDS IN BLUE
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THE SWEET COUPLE HOLDING HANDS
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SURPRISE! SURPRISE! SURPRISE!
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FROM FICTION TO NON-FICTION AND BACK AGAIN
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WHO SAID GROWING OLD IS FUN?
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AND NOT TO YIELD
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MY CULTURAL DISCONNECT
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WHAT IS RETIREMENT
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LOOKING UP OR LOOKING AWAY
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SEEKING GOD
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HOW OLD ARE YOU
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IT'S NOT OKAY
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EMBRACING MY INNER BOOMER
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THE RACE FOR LILY
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GRANNY ALICE
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RESILIENCE
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LIVING WITH CHANGE
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WHEN THE GROCERY STORE CLERK HAS TO CHECK YOUR AGE
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THE IMPORTANCE OF CREAMING
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FRIENDS AT ANY AGE
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IDENTITY CHECK
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IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM, JOIN 'EM
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MY POSSESSIONS MATURE ALONG WITH ME
1/13/2020 1:00:00 AM by: MARIE WATTS
EYES FRONT
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THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING'
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SANTA'S RELUCTANT HELPER
12/23/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
THE PURSUIT OF WEALTH
12/16/2019 1:00:00 AM by: DEBRA COLEMAN JETER
VANQUISHING THE CHRISTMAS BLUES
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GRANDMAS THEN VS GRANDMAS NOW
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TECHNO BLUES
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ADAPT OR DIE
11/18/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
CREAMING
11/11/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
When our Get Up and Go Gets Up and Goes
11/4/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
LIFE IS THE ADVENTURE
10/28/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
MY LIFE AS A BARCODE
10/21/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
THE QUEST FOR THIN
10/14/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
THE AMERICAN DREAM
10/7/2019 1:00:00 AM by: ANGELA BREIDENBACH
FROM GOLDEN YEARS TO GOLDEN BELLS
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THE CHORDS THAT BIND MY MEMORIES
9/23/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
JUST BE STILL
9/16/2019 1:00:00 AM by: MARTIN WILES
PRINCE CHARMING, SPIDERS, AND CHEMO
9/2/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
GRAY IS GRAND
8/26/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LOREE PEERY
A GOOD QUESTION
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LOVING THE BABY BOOMER GENERATION
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MAKING PRETTY THINGS
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ARE YOU TOO OLD TO BECOME AN AUTHOR
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ENJOY THE MEAL
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IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME
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KEEPING IT FRESH
7/8/2019 1:00:00 AM by: WANDA O. HOT
OVERFLOWING WITH BLESSINGS
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HAVING THE PRIME OF MY LIFE
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GOLDEN GIRL
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WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW
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Food, Families, and Fond Memories
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FOR THOSE OVER FIFTY-FIVE
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NEXT GENERATION
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Mimi and Bop
5/6/2019 1:00:00 AM by: Melissa Henderson
NEVER TO OLD TO START OVER
4/29/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
THE WRITER'S CALLING
4/15/2019 1:00:00 AM by: SHERRI STEWART
PLAYING THROUGH THE FOG
4/8/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
SOMETIMES WE JUST NEED TO TURN OFF THE GPS
4/1/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
DON’T CALL HER MA’AM
3/25/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
When Your Past Looms Longer than Your Future
3/18/2019 1:00:00 AM by: Debra Coleman Jeter
OUR MCDONALDS
3/11/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
BORN TOO LATE
3/4/2019 1:00:00 AM by: DIANNE BARKER
PERSPECTIVE
2/25/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LISA LICKEL
IS IT THE BEGINNING OR THE END
2/18/2019 1:00:00 AM by: KATHLEEN NEELY
MY TO-DO LIST
2/11/2019 2:16:00 PM by: SHERRI STEWART
ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING
2/3/2019 9:07:00 PM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
MAMA, I CAN'T TAKE A BATH THERE'S A FISH IN THE TUB
1/21/2019 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
EAT RIGHT NOW LIVE LONGER LATER
1/14/2019 1:00:00 AM by: Jude Urbanski
AM I STRESSED?
1/7/2019 1:57:00 PM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
SHOULD VS WANT
12/31/2018 3:58:00 PM by: LINDA WOOD RONDEAU
I'LL BE ALONE FOR CHRISTMAS ... YOU CAN COUNT ON ME
12/24/2018 1:00:00 AM by: Julie Cosgrove
THE ONLY CONSTANT IS CHANGE
12/17/2018 1:00:00 AM by: LINDA SHENTON MATCHETT
LIVING WITHOUT REGRET
12/10/2018 1:00:00 AM by: Grant Ferguson
GROWING UP CAN BE FUN SO IS GETTING OLDER
12/3/2018 1:00:00 AM by: ELLIE GUSTAFSON
SOARING WITH BROKEN WINGS
11/19/2018 1:00:00 AM by: Linda Wood Rondeau
NEVER TOO LATE
11/5/2018 8:33:00 PM by: DIANE TATUM
The Not So Good Good Old Days
10/22/2018 1:05:00 AM by: Linda Wood Rondeau
