Are You Going to Hell?

Note: I have decided to unfriend or block friends on Facebook because of their political beliefs. It is a very unliberal thing to do I know. I don’t know how to have a conversation in a world with so much hatred. Am I going to hell? Maybe. We will see. Here is the story.

I had an interesting exchange with a Facebook follower. She and I have known each other for many years. We played golf together in Oregon. We sat together with the same group for lunch and had conversations revolving around stuff that had nothing to do with life or politics.

After this last election I began to see that she was as out spoken and firm in her beliefs as I was and we did no agree. But, I also saw that even though we are different, we truly do want the same things. Our differences are in how we go about getting to a good place. And our tolerance for those that disagree with our beliefs are tenuous to say the least.

Recently I shared a quote made by our new congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Ortiz. Ms. Ortiz is probably a socialist and her group of supporters may have the idea of taking down everything to build a new society in the United States. It is very appealing to them. Maybe they have nothing to lose...who knows. I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS INTERESTING. I DID NOT INTEND IT TO BE A THREAT TO ANYONE’s BELIEFS.


But I digress...the part of Ms. Ocasio-Ortiz’s statement that touched a nerve with my Facebook follower was the part about "dark money". I really don’t understand what that is all about because in my world illegal is illegal no matter who you are. Two wrongs do not make either party right.

"What is George Soros funding?" she asked. I did not know so I looked this man up.

This is what Wikipedia said about Soros (including footnotes):

Soros is a well-known supporter of progressive and liberal political causes, to which he dispenses donations through his foundation, the Open Society Foundations.[15] Between 1979 and 2011, he donated more than $11 billion to various philanthropic causes;[16][17] by 2017, his donations "on civil initiatives to reduce poverty and increase transparency, and on scholarships and universities around the world" totaled $12 billion.[18] He influenced the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s,[19] and provided one of Europe’s largest higher education endowments to the Central European University in his Hungarian hometown.[20] His extensive funding of political causes has made him a "bugaboo of European nationalists".[21] Numerous American conservatives have promoted false claims that characterize Soros as a singularly dangerous "puppetmaster" behind a variety of alleged global plots, with The New York Times reporting that by 2018 these claims had "moved from the fringes to the mainstream" of Republican politics.[22][23][24][25][26]

Please note that he helped bring down communism in Eastern Europe and supports education through a foundation. HOWEVER, when I went to check on this foundation I found it was private, unrated and indeed called "the least transparent" of all those around by some groups. Here is another incident where you really can’t believe Fox or The Daily Kos because they, like the rest of us, DO NOT KNOW!

I am all about taking the middle road...now days it is not the road traveled the most obviously because the question that came back at me was "What is the middle? Do you know?" I interpreted that to be an honest question, not sarcasm. PBS or BBC seems to be the one that comes to mind.

But, in this day and age where my Republican friends (and yes I do have those) cannot even talk with me about our world, I am very careful. I love my friends a great deal.

So, the beat goes on. Do you think we can survive another 4 years of what we have now? I do but it will not be fun for anyone because that place in peoples mind that tell them that they are right and those that don’t agree are going to hell is a very frightening place to be at least for me.

What do you think?

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Following the Cow Path

The Path of Least Resistance

I’m sure you know why roads are as windy as they are. Back in the beginning when the world was younger, people walked or rode an animal. They took the path of least resistance. Hence the winding road across the landscape. Houses grew up along those path and communities and farms grew but the path remained the same. Streets and back roads followed in that same manner making the villages and countryside that grew around them look like jigsaw puzzles.

Times have changed but in a way that is the how we all live...taking tha path of least resistance. Humans have not changed it seems.

My husband and I are not alike in anyway. We have moved out lives around each other and live a twisted and windy life.

I had never really seen that in us until just recently. We bought a townhouse last year and built a new life here in a townhouse development in Tucson. The floor plan is different, our small backyard is not the same as anything we have ever had. And the list goes on.

My husband has always been very ergonomically correct. He never pushed his golf cart one step further than he had to. He figured out the direct route right away. I always admired his way of doing things in that regard.

I am all about the esthetics. I never have considered whether a piece of furniture was in the way if it looked good in place. If we had to walk around the end of the couch to get to the back door, I thought that was okay. You can see how my ergonomically correct husband might be put out with that way of doing things.

Once I hooked into what was going on, I realized that I just needed to put the furniture in the room and see where it ended up. If the chair kept moving across the room that is where it needed to be. Our deck now has the two chairs close to a fire pit table and not in the corner with flowers around it. I thought it looked beautiful when in actuality it did not function like it should.  It is just fine. In fact, it is better, more ergonomic and we both like it.

Lessons learned:

• Remember, if you are going to share a space whether it be at an office or at home, compromise is the key to a happy life.
• Happy wife, happy life is not necessarily the best way.
• If you think a dog would be better, I am so sorry. Get a dog and see what I mean.

I know that there more lessons in life here. What do you think they are.

Have a wonderful day.

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How Old Would You Be If...

...you. did not know how old you are? Good question don’t you think. In my age group the conversation often turns to aging, old age or an "organ recital" (you know, a conversation about how your bodily parts are working).

Is that normal? Do we often talk about some malady because that issue is one expected of a person in our age group? Do 30 year old people do the same thing about tiny wrinkles around the eyes or the loss of athletic power? I suppose so.

As a result, I often wonder how we arrive at the determination for how old we should be. Do we derive that image in our minds because of where we are raised or who we associate with? I wonder.

In at article written for the New York Times back in 2012 called "The Island Where People Forgot to Die" the author, Dan Buettner, talks about a Greek Island where men live to an astonishingly old age ( 90, 100, and older). He relates a story about how something on that island and in other places around the world happens to humans and they simply "forget to die". Buettner was writing for National Geographic at that time. The team he was working with had discovered the phenomenon of "The Blue Zone".  I was amazed by the whole story. Note: In San Diego, California Seventh Day Adventist women have a very long life span. That area is another Blue Zone studied by National Geographic.

It seems that the life style and food is entirely doable. They get up when they want, take a nap if they feel like it, work, play, drink wine (even with breakfast) and most importantly visit with neighbor in the evening almost everyday. Is that the secret? No one knows. But the truth is they are very happy content people for the most part.

I think it could be that they live so long because they forget about age. I think that the lesson here is that it really doesn’t matter how old we are or how long we live. If we are miserable and unhappy we might not live as long but it will seem that like forever. If we are happy, we might live forever but it will pass in a flash. We may simply forget to die because we have things to do.

So when I read the story about that island called Ikaria, Greece situated on the Aegean Sea my measuring stick changed. What if I do live to be 95 or 102. The island could be calling not only me name but yours too.

When I read that article, I realized how much of our life we waste waiting. Thought crossed my mind that, if I lived to be 100 for example, I had a lot of time left to do things. I actually could do some of those things that I have dreamed of or I could create new dreams and do those. I felt, well, younger somehow. The perspective was different.

So, how old would you be if you did not know how old you were? Interesting huh!


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Are You Afraid to Show Your Face?

Living as I do, in the way back machine, you have to know that almost everything that I have done, I have done forever. Blogging has been an avocation for over 10 years. That is not important until you begin to think about what has changed in all those year. Then that short period of time can seem like 100 years in a human's life.

Now, answer this question...were you afraid to show your face on the internet 10 years ago? Would you have created a video so people could see how you look and act...wrinkles, double chins and all? Would you do it today even though you would not have done that a decade ago? What would have stopped you?

Me today, no makeup and I don't recall
combing my hair. Yikes!

I was asked to do a video interview many years ago by a fellow blogger and a podcaster. I suppose that in this day and age that same type of thing would be done on You Tube. I don't know.

When I respectfully declined, she told me how good I looked and my words in my blog sounded reasonable and I seemed to know what I was talking about. I was flattered but still said no.

She had no idea how long it takes me to gather my thoughts or even take snapshot to use online. It is not easy!

The real me on a bad day taken in 2018!

Me on a good day take maybe 3 years ago.

See, I have this image of myself: confident, perfectly combed and made-up, smart, outgoing. But, if I were to let the whole world see the "real" me, there might be someone that did not share my opinion of myself and say so out loud. I'm just not that tough and I am easily angered.

Maybe someday I will venture out into the video world but not quite yet. I know...tic toc tic toc...I am not getting younger. This could be the year when I will think up something to say that you will want to hear, have a good hair day so you can stand to look at me. We will see.

So, are you afraid to show your face? Where you afraid when you first started blogging? I am interested.

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PS In my defense I need to tell you that I cannot let men follow me on Facebook if I do not know them. I have had some really bad experience that totally creeped me out! That may be what is stopping me.

Hello Fellow Blogger...Are You Out There

Belonging to Women of Midlife has been and still is one of the best "blogging" related steps I have taken so far. After all I do write to be read as well a fulfill a need to express myself.

Those women are 50+ and I am 75+ so our paths do not necessarily cross very often. Our live are different as are our interests.

I really don't find "style" or "recipes" very interesting. In fact, a lot of the woman than began with that group have dropped out of the blogging life.

But, because I wrote a blog that covered a plethora of subjects, the beat goes on around here. The interesting part of simply growing up or even old is what I know about. That is what I write about. Actually life is funny, fill with stories and of course, feeds my need to express my opinions.

I suppose that those people that are really serious have moved on to writing book or have found a steady income doing something else. I have chosen not to do either.

Remaining interested (in blogging) and interesting is still the challenge for me. But that is not the only problem...I am getting lonesome for people that share my life style.

Where are those people? You tell me. It could be that AARP is the answer. I have never been a fan of living with old people even though I seem to have found that things work out that way for me. Reading about interesting people's lives is a lot of fun.

I am interested in:

1. humor
2. travel
3. family
4. stories
5. opinions
6. learning
7. snowbird lifestyle

Can anyone help me? If you would like to be added to a blogroll in my sidebar so I can visit you over and over, let me know and consider it done.

Have a wonderful day!

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Dying: The Subject We All Avoid

This lady was very old and could
barely walk but she put on all her jewelry
and traveled around the west. I was
 fascinated with her attitude.

Aging is not easy. Getting old is a frame of mind. Young people try to wrap their mind around what to do and what it is like but fail. Old people like to ignore it. It is the subject we all try to avoid but sooner or later must face...dying!

My husband and I lived in a RV Resort in the winter for many years. We and our friends gathered very much like college students to reconnect and party or dance or play golf. We laughed and had happy hour every night. It seemed that we lived so close that we wanted to yell "Good Night John Boy" when we went to bed.

It was a very happy time, all-be-it much too short. But it did have to come to an end.

Year before last my husband and I decided to leave the park and find a small home with families and children and traffic. We were not ready to live with ghosts.

Within that time almost everyone in our RV neighborhood was gone. Some did not return because of ill health or simply by choice. Some died...one friend committed suicide. One couple in their eighties divorced. Some, like ourselves, found a new place to visit in the winter.

But in the end, the reality was that our community of people was gone. New owners have moved in and not one original owner was left. The specter of the ghosts was too much for us.

In the end, our family members are
 our "real" friends. We count on them.

Aging is not easy but getting old is a frame of mind. You can move on if you are not ready to sit down and watch the world die around you.

And is is a subject not even I want to discuss. No candy glazing can change what reality is like. I miss those friends and neighborhood community.

I do need for you to know that I have good memories and my husband and I are continuing to grow and built new communities of friends. Many of our old friends remain close so that is good. We are happy.

Many of our friends are our children's age.
They are very important to us.

So, what do you feel about the way your life is going? Have you sat down to wait it out or are you going to make a few new beginnings?

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But what I love most of all is watching the
children take on the big tasks...like eating
the whole drumsticks in life.

AARP Listen up! Here is what I see!

I was in  the lab yesterday getting my blood drawn. My A1C has been creeping up and so we keep track of it.

While I was waiting for the tech, a beautiful straight tall lady walked in and sat in the chair opposite. I sized her up and judged her to be younger than myself by 10 years. I am 77. Imagine my surprise when she revealed that she was 81.

See this is not that unusual anymore. I am learning to figure it out. The definition for old is changing so rapidly it is amazing. The idea that people will work longer and be healthy for years more has become a reality.

It is those people that have "worked" and I mean "worked" at jobs lifting boxes, digging ditches and wearing out their bodies more in one day than someone like me did in my whole life that are breaking down. A bad back or worn hips, knees or even hands is coming back to haunt them.

The other trend that I am seeing and hearing about is medications issues. So many old people are telling me that the mistakes with meds is making them sicker that they really are. My neighbor was on medication to lower blood pressure...his blood pressure dropped so far he could not walk. Another med he was taking also was causing problems. An man at the golf course in Tucson....well you get the idea. I personally had to quit a statin because it was poisoning me.

I'm sure that AARP has some wonderful statistics about aging. I only know what I see in my life with around me. What has been your experience?

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I like the writing over at Aging in Place. This piece about the dangers of removing all risks was especially interesting.