And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. ~ Abraham Lincoln

There is a Garth Brooks song called “Pushing Up Daisies” that has stuck with me ever since I heard it years ago.  An excerpt:

There’s two dates in time
That they’ll carve on your stone
And everyone knows what they mean
What’s more important
Is the time that is known
In that little dash there in between
That little dash there in between

Are you living in the dash? 

My church is starting a series of services centered around the idea of living as you only had one month to live. Would you change how you lived your life for the next month if you knew it would be your last one? 

They call it a challenge. 

What would you do differently if you only had thirty days??  Go ahead, think about it for a minute.  (I’ll wait here)

It’s hard to say isn’t it?   It was a lot easier for me to say what I would not do than how I would do something different. I know I would spend as much time as I could with my family. 

The point of the “challenge” isn’t to plan out how you would spend the last thirty days of your life - as if you would even know when that was.  The point is to get you to start thinking about living your life differently now not waiting until you know you have a short time left to do the things you always wanted to do.  

The “challenge” I am struggling with is not what I would do - its how to go about doing it and not get sucked back in to the daily grind we have become accustomed to. 

I want to travel the US in an RV - see places and experience different people and take lots of photos.  I was to live life, travel, love and be loved, and ultimately be happy.  If in the process, I could make a difference in someone else’s life - that’s a bonus.

Do you know how I could start living my dreams now?  That will be my journey…I just don’t want to spend my life trying to figure it out. 

I leave you with a quote from www.onemonthtolive.com :

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live your life so that if you discovered you only had a month to live, you wouldn’t have to change a thing?”

Leave your dreams in the comments below. 

 

 

Me either.  But I do know the sound of a dying washing machine.   It squeaks and squeals, kind of growls and hums…all at the same time.

I was lying in bed with my husband surfing Twitter of all places, and we hear it.  Simultaneously we look at each other and say, “What is that sound?” 

Up we go into the other room and sure enough, the washer is screaming to be put out of its misery. 

And to top it off - it was a full load of soaking wet jeans!

After spending an hour wringing the water into the bath tub; we put the jeans in the dryer for their 4 hour journey to dryness.

Guess I know my plans for the weekend.

Category: Just Stuff  Tags:  Leave a Comment

If you have seen the movie…and LOVED it. Please stop reading.

If you saw the movie and thought the local high school drama department could have done a better job telling the story…I’m right there with ya.

I didn’t want to read the books. I was in the small minority of opposition and knew it. But, my birthday came around and a family member gave me the first book, Twilight. I read it. I certainly didn’t LOVE it and felt the fear of an impending flogging for not gushing over Edward.

After finishing the first book, I was curious about the movie. I knew it had been a big hit but again, not that interested. From all the talk about the books around my family, it had peaked my husband’s curiosity. So, we decided to rent it one night.

How could you pay money to see that thing in the Theater and then go back?!?!? Are people crazy or am I just completely missing something here?

I was then handed books 2-4; they got better as the story went on. I enjoyed book 4 more than 3; book 2 more than 1.

I think it is time for a movie do-over. I spent the majority of the two hours on that fatefull Friday night explaining to my husband the parts that were missing to the story and why it seemed weird was because the story was out of order.

It made me a little sad. It could have been SO KEWL!

Have you ever watched the second hand on the clock?  It just keeps on going, a little at a time.  It doesn’t stop.  It doesn’t care how much we wish a moment would last forever or how at the end of a work day we wish it would tick a little faster.   Like a good little soldier…time keeps marching on.

Our lifes are made up of moments in time, the things we do with each tick, every second of every day.  

My resolution for the new year is to make the most of each moment that I have left.   With every year I hope it will be better than the last.  As I get older, I also realize that I’m not sure how much life I have left to live.  

I was given one of the most profound gifts I have ever received in my life this last year.  I was taught that life is more than the things we have, rather it is about the things we do, the people we touch, and the memories we make. 

Hester Purefinder is a character created by my late Aunt, Colleen Gilbert.  An 18th Century Reenactor, a beggar woman with a heart of gold.   She was a prankster and jester, soiled with dirt from head to toe - people would look for her with anticipation at an event.   

In July, my Aunt passed away from a brain aneurysm at the young age of 53.  It was unexpected and probably unpredictable.   What wasn’t expected was the outpouring of love and admiration from people with whom she had made an impact on their lives.   The love people have for her is unexplainable.  She will be remembered always.

Her passing also made an impact on our family.  First, we never knew how little she had.  Having no children of her own, her immediate family was me, my brothers, my parents and my grandmother.   We were tasked with finalizing her “estate” which included a single wide trailer and everything in it.  Never do I want my family to have to sort through my material things.  It felt as much as an invasion as it did a chore. 

Second, she taught us that love survives death.  She kept relatively quiet to our family.  She shared the fun she had at reenactments and the amazing people she would meet.   We had no idea how touched others were by her presence.   She died on a day when she was meant to be going on a road trip with a few of her friends to the next event.   Word spread quickly that something was wrong.   And just as quickly, a message board filled up with worry, prayers, stories, and tears. 

She didn’t know when she was going to die.  Not many of us are given that opportunity, but by grace, her life meant something to many people who now carry her spirit with them wherever they go.  

As time keeps moving, the clock is still ticking on the wall, I pray that I can live up to a fraction of what my aunt did.   I pray that I can have an impact on people, to change their life for the better, to be loved and love others, and to be remembered for the joy I brought to their life.

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“Mama’s don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys…”

I actually typed in “top 10 careers for women” in Google the other day just to see what I’d get.  There really is a lot of crap out there, but I actually did find one page that had a compiled list.   It did not include CEO or Executive, nor did it list a doctor, lawyer, or scientist.  Kinda dumbfounded actually about the relevance of the list…as I scroll to the tiny print at the bottom I notice the source:

US Bureau of Labor Statistics; US Census Bureau; Dr. Warren Farrell, author of Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap-and What Women Can Do About It

Hmm?  Ok, I figured you’d be curious by now, here’s the list as I found it:

1. Computer Software Engineers (Applications and Systems Software)
2. Physician Assistants
3. Computer Systems Analysts (<–I’ve been here, but ran away screaming!)
4. Financial Analysts
5. Speech-Language Pathologists
6. Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts
7. Post-Secondary Teachers
8. Radiation Therapists
9. Veterinary Technologists and Technicians
10. Customer Service Representatives

I get that the balance of gender may vary at different levels of job opportunities, but my astonishment stems from the pure existence of the list in the first place.   Are there really professions that are more suited for women than men…have we not already broken that glass ceiling?  The fact that number 10 appears on the list and not one authoritative position, not one Manager, CEO, even Principal, or Director, etc, etc, etc is just aggravating. 

I’m not so worried about this list for myself, I worry for my nieces, for the youth today that are thinking of a career they might be interested in and the tenth best career for a woman is a customer service representative.  C’mon!