Choices

In my "DAY" job I am often in a place of providing counsel or advice. It is a place I feel I fit - not because I have done it all right but because experience has provided me with a lot of "doing it not-right" situations.  You know - those times when you disappear from the journey on the right path and veer off on one that is full of  manholes - deep pits just waiting for you to fall into them.  It is a strange wisdom that comes from falling - one part embarrassment and one part illumination.

Since I am old, or so my grandson says, I have had my share of falls - in every stage from teenage angst and puppy love to adult choices like education, marriage and divorce.  I have to say the map is so obvious from this viewpoint!  But back there - in my twenty's and thirty's and forty's and fifty's - the trek was uphill, the curves were often hidden and the signs that said "Falling Hazard - Slow Down!" just didn't jump out at me until I was looking back over my shoulder.  By that time the embarrassment or pain or sheer terror had taken hold and the lesson needed to be learned.

Life is Serious - now BREATHE!

All too often I take life very seriously like it is mine to hold on to, to count and quarter, measure and maintain like some kind of special model ship or shiny crystal butterfly.  It is a fact that many of us feel that we can protect the essence by hiding it behind carefully constructed walls but in the end we smother the joy of really living. Breathing freely - exhaling as well as inhaling - is truly living.  Have you ever held your breath in nervous anticipation of something - good or bad - then exhaled in relief or acceptance?  I see this holding of my breath as an unconscious way to control something that is inevitable. You can, for a moment, control something but, in the end, life takes over and so you too must exhale.

They Say It's Your Birthday....

The numbers keep creeping up and I am so grateful for each and every one of them!  Today I am celebrating sixty three years of living; four super awesome daughters (and that is ALL for that number!); ten amazingly wonderful grandchildren; twenty three years employed in a field I love; twenty three Likes on my new Boomer Pot of Gold Facebook page; 75 views on one of my Blog posts and ONE wonderful Love of my Life (that number I will keep at 1!!).

Good health - mentally, physically and spiritually - makes my world go round....and round!  I am so excited to feel so good - I just can't help but share that with anyone who will listen. Weight loss has made a huge difference in how I feel in all of those areas but the benefits of digging deep into the whole health picture is what pushes me over the top.  Sorting out allergies and the whole gluten intolerance thing was a big score.  Adding walking into my routine replaced a lot of mindless TV watching plus increased my serotonin, built up muscle and got me outdoors to just enjoy life.  This summer I added a bicycle to our vehicle collection and Wow - do I love the wind on my face (better in August and September but don't give up on me October - I will spin through you at least once too!).

Since starting my journey, I have walked the streets of Havana; climbed a mountain to sit mesmerized by the tea terraces in China; walked through miles of night markets in SE Asia; and, swam off the coast of Bali.  I would never have attempted any of this without the amazing "numbers" in my life.

To all out there reading and sharing my blogs - thank you!  I write selfishly from my own passion to express myself with words and the occasional photo but to be able to share my wanderings through the valleys and over the mountain tops (literally and figuratively) and maybe make one little difference in someone else's very human journey sends me all the way to the moon and back! I would love to take you there with me! Just keep in mind that these feet are truly made of iron so I always land back on earth with a thud and a big dose of humility!

And from my generation to yours - a little Paul McCartney - LET'S DANCE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pov2sK_C3sY

You say it's your birthday

It's my birthday too, yeah

They say it's your birthday

We're gonna have a good time

I'm glad it's your birthday

Happy birthday to you.