Grannies, Grannies, Grannies and Mimi

Boys, boys, boys -- I gotta tell you boys keep you hopping. I spent the week picking Connor up after his Lego class and keeping him until Mom got off work. How can two or three hours feel like seventeen? We had Star Wars crashes. block crashes, dinosaur crashes, crayola crashes, Connor crashes especially when he gets his foot stuck in the theater seats, or topples over from his stool, or trips over shoelaces. I ask you what keeps them alive until they grow up?

One day I couldn't fill him up, he ate dinner; mac and cheese, corn, orange, boiled egg, popcorn, candy, beet/strawberry juice, cookie, grapes, cereal bar, plus all the left over lunch that he didn't eat at school that day including a sandwich and apple slices, all in the two to three hours at my house. The next day he sniffed his displeasure at all offers of food.

He corrected me on all the errors of my thinking like the correct way to build and play "cootie," the real difference between a Storm Trooper and a Snow Trooper, that reading for fifteen minutes included the time it took to find a book, open a book, find the correct page, wiggle around on the couch to get comfortable and then and only then proceed to read. This granny wasn't fooled. He reads beautifully by the way, but oh my, he forgot his math homework. How convenient.

And as for grannies, they were everywhere in Oklahoma when I visited. It was a granny state of mind up to and including the new granny, er Mimi. Grannies made sure of rides, money, dinners, vehicles, and talks, laughs, and advice. It was grand to watch in Oklahoma but a little harder to herd my own growing grandson. Jeff does a great job being a grandpa, Tal does a great job being a, well, a Tal, but I have trouble keeping up. I have learned I can't do it everyday. Whew!

Now that I am retired and have learned that my advantage insurance pays for it, I have joined Silver Sneakers at the YMCA. Yeah, I know, cra cra crazy. I've been three times, had a tour, was introduced to all the machines and how to use them, learned the difference in all the classes; water, classic, circuit, yoga, cardio, what times the pool and the exercise room is open, where the hot tub and sauna are located and which are open all the time and which are limited. I'm not saying I'm going to change much, but I do have a goal to move. Roger again told me if I went to the Y and actually got out of the car it was a successful trip. Smart arse kids.

Even though I think Silver Sneakers is an insipid name, the actual experience has been very nice. Lovely people, kind instructors, pleasant environment, not too intimidating, and FREE. I have a very hard time joining in with a new type tribe of folks so I don't know how far I will travel this road, but I have taken my first step, steps, after all I did bike five minutes today and Jeremiah said "good job."

Another week of retirement come and gone. Busy, busy, busy. How did I ever have time to work? I have heard that over and over and over from various siblings, Now I ask, "How did I ever have time to work?" Aging isn't graceful, it's a bumpy kind of road. An all-ten-doctor-appointments-are-made kind of road. Ask Jerry about his teeth-hearing aids-glasses scenario.

Ian has painted and decked out the new bathroom, you won't recognize the navy wall and teal-ish towels. Beautiful.

Easter Sunday came and went without a hitch. Everyone ate too much: Kahlua Pig, Hawaiian cornbread, fried rice, green antioxidant salad and pie -- just to keep it balanced. Ian made an emergency run to the store for egg dye and then proceeded to let Connor dye all the boiled eggs and then all the un-boiled eggs to boot. Sometimes you just can't stop dying eggs. Connor had fun and called Ian "The Best."

You can have a really good life NOT following your passion. Have you noticed how Julia takes on the world? Dabbler deluxe not following a passion, but dabbling in life to its fullest. Besides having a lovely home, lovely couch and lovely bed, she has dabbled with welding, community theater, photography, stitchery, candle making, bird watching, recycling before it was cool, volunteering for The Crystal Bridge activities before it opened, motorcycles, doll making, doll house, gardening, ballet, yoga, hiking, biking, running, and travels. I for one can tell you traveling with Julia is fun and fulsome. And reading, did I leave anything out?

My thought of the day; continue with a messy mind; day dreaming, playing, collaborating, expressing, or sitting in solitude.

I just talked to Jean and Kathy -- trips they be looming.

Here is to a fulsome life, aging gracefully or not.