Category Archives: Uncategorized

08.06.19
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Nothing makes you feel fat like…..

. Taking a selfie in the bright sun with a white visor, white hair and a white T-shirt…

. Being on the downhill side of a golf cart driving horizontally on a hill looking for a ball

. Walking up a steep hill when you’ve told the cart driver…”go ahead, I’ll walk & catch up”

We had a good time at the golf course yesterday…his first golf outing this year…there were questions like…seriously do you think you hit it that far…..seriously, the way it sounded, I thought it went further and hmmmmm the par for that hole is 4…really?

That’s how he spent his birthday….golfing with me riding along in the golf cart doing color commentary! I brought my IPAD along so I could read but I never want to snatch my attention away from nature and the rolling hills, hidden houses, trees and the pond on the Unity Village Golf Course.

Until next time….

07.22.19
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Mobility

We noticed this morning that the geese are flying. Feathers have grown back and our little goose family of 6 will be dipping their feet in other neighborhood ponds. I will miss their daily visits to the grounds below the bird feeder…but this is the time of year when I enjoy the cacophony when they are landing as they settle in for the evening back home. I’m also relieved that the 8 weeks are over and Thursday I should be released from the boot.

The weather has cooled, the cicadas are loud, he’s picking up sticks before he mows

And I’m just going to sit around with the breeze in my hair …. maybe finish my book “Loving Frank”. Well researched biography about Frank Lloyd Wright told from the perspective of his long time mistress, Mamah Borthwick. I’m now all up into everything Frank Lloyd Wright and making plans to visit Illinois, Wisconsin and Arizona museums and landmarks.

But for today….I’m enjoying the view from the deck and feeling grateful.

Until next time…

06.27.19
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One of the highlights of our trip to Hawaii in 2011

Was visiting the Souvenir store and walking around outside the office of Dog the Bounty Hunter in Oahu ….. And ….I was actually able to convince Him to walk with me to the parking lot behind Dog’s office to maybe catch a glimpse of them running out the back to their cars ….I was so naive!

I took a lot of razzing and received lots of emailed unflattering pictures of Dog from my peers during that time in my life. “That time in my life” because I don’t know what was wrong with me and why I was so obsessed with the show…but it was fun!!

Beth Chapman transitioned this week after throat cancer retuned with a vengeance. So…just wanted to say Rest In Peace, Beth. Thanks for the entertainment!

Until next time….

06.24.18
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Sometimes…..

sometimes we get so caught up in the drama and speed of our lives that we don’t remember, realize, recall just how lucky we are and how much we are loved, as well as, our capacity to spread our love around.

We spent a long weekend “back home” in Iowa.  My heart was beating out of my chest Friday watching our youngest daughter as she worked with deaf kids participating in Iowa Baseball Camp for the deaf.  Several players for the Iowa Cubs along with volunteer leaders and interpreters worked with the kids all week which culminated in the Friday morning game played on the field.  The pure joy on the faces of the kids as they hit balls and ran the bases and watching the pure joy of the adult staff feeling the feels from the kids was a warm fuzzy!

Today, I spent the day with old friends and their family (because of who they are and how they love actually feels like my family)!  We were there to celebrate the 25 th wedding anniversary of Mark and Denise…..Denise wearing black shirt.

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The four of us are seldom all together but when we are, we fall back into rhythm and finish sentences we started last time we were together!  I also snapped pics from their video of He and I at the wedding 25 years ago.

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I’m proud to say I’m the one wearing the green dress with the large white bow in my hair 👀….. which begs an answer to the question…why did we wear big bows in our hair?

I am blessed, I am loved and I love!

until next time….

03.26.18
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Vegas with strangers

My childhood friend, Sue, texted me a few months ago and told me she and 3 high school friends were going to Vegas to see Donny and Marie…did I want to go?

It wasn’t until I was deplaning, that I had that little twinge of anxiety about spending a weekend in the penthouse suite of a resort for 3 days with 3 strangers and Sue! They picked me up at the airport and we were not on the highway before I realized driver, Pam, knew words and knew how to use heavy traffic required verbiage! By the time we reached the resort I had been welcomed into the fold…the class of 1977…all of them 3 years younger than me.

First adventure Fremont Street to see naked people and, quite frankly, freaks along with a long anticipated zip line down Fremont street. Buying tickets early is necessary for a Friday night in Vegas so Julie and I were pretty bummed…but the freaks did not disappoint!

That’s it for now. More later…I’m at the airport struggling to not roll off my chair due to total exhaustion.

Until next time….

02.12.18
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Tripping over the stones

Where I am in my life, tripping over things is okay….the best way I can explain being okay with tripping is it doesn’t hurt as much as falling down or falling over the cliff. I have been on a path of self discovery for many years….mainly because I didn’t like to spend time with myself and my negative thoughts and I knew there was something I didn’t understand about life and living…..I knew that an inner peace was achievable and the journey was not going to be easy. I guess what I didn’t really realize that I would have to take this journey one step at a time rather than trudging up the hill in an hour or a day. It started when I was about 25 and I’m closing in on 62 and every single day I learn a new way of thinking, a new way of being….a new way to live life. It’s like the picture slide projector from the 60s…we would have our pictures developed into little squares with cardboard surround and we would put those in a Kodak projector shining on a white wall or screen and one by one we would view these pictures with a click of a button.

Sometimes a very slow process because if you clicked too fast, the machine would jam. Sometimes we would linger on a certain picture in order to remark about it, reminisce about a memory associated with it or attempt to figure out exactly why we took the picture.

We all start on the road from a different intersection and we meet others at different Crossroads. Sometimes we choose to walk along with them other times we choose to continue alone…..but the bottom line is we must keep moving…up that hill even if we fall down and if we go over the cliff?? Well, it’s a long way back up to where we were but with skinned knees and injured pride, we will know what to watch for as we continue.

Until next time….

01.17.18
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Stuck

Being “stuck” in the house because of the below zero windchills has given me cabin fever. Being stuck in the house because I choose not to go outside is much different that living on a country road in Iowa in the middle of winter when I was literally stuck in the house for days because of snow drifts on gravel roads which were the last to be plowed. Say what you will about living in the country during the spring, summer and fall…but winter is Hell. There is no other word for it. As I look out the window today with a couple inches of snow piled on the deck furniture, streets are plowed and I was able to use a broom to remove the dusting of snow from the short sidewalk to the driveway, I should be able to live in the moment and just be thankful for my lifestyle changes. I don’t know why i can’t just let go of the dissatisfaction of the past life and live in peace?

There are different schools of thought…one side says do some talk therapy or figure out why you are really angry….is it the matter at hand or is it dissatisfaction with something else….like your job, etc that you are not dealing with. The other school of thought, the one I attempt, is to be thankful…..just stop living in the past. It takes discipline. It is a completely different way of thinking for me.

So, I continue to work on gratitude. Today, I’m thankful for Baxter who sits on the table with me waiting for a squirrel to run by on the deck

I’m thankful to hear cartoons in the background because Jaxon is here, I’m thankful hearing the sleeping sounds of Jameson sleeping on Papas lap. I’m thankful that there is nothing in my life causing me any stress or pain right now. I’m thankful that I cognitively realize that I have so much to be thankful for and just need to stop with ruminating on the past.

Until next time…..

01.09.18
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I have another one of those unbelievable stories

Back in the 60’s my mother was a legal secretary for a law firm in Des Moines.  I was probably about 8 or 9 when Linda came into our lives as a high school girl hired to work part time in this law firm basically under the tutelage of my mother. Linda had a strong connection with my mother and visa versa.  Linda came to our home – mom taught Linda how to make peanut brittle – Linda was part of the conversations I heard at home.  My mother and I went to Linda’s parent’s home…lots of vague memories stored in my memory vault.  Linda got married and left the law firm and my mother, for the most part, lost contact with Linda.

Those of you who know me or have read my blogs know that I had a very difficult childhood and adult relationship with my mother.  Recently I started feeling strong and curious enough to start going through totes of papers, pictures, genealogy research that belonged to her.  Today amongst a lot of very old family letters and pictures, I opened an envelope  with pictures and a letter written by Linda to my mother in 1990.  It was a catch up letter.  I was immediately compelled to google her to see whatever happened to her….she is on FB and for some reason, I didn’t stop there, I friended her on FB and sent her a message on FB messenger introducing myself … which she answered immediately.  She sent me her phone number and another higher power connection was made.  This was a phone call of tears, laughter and incredible healing as I found her soul open, understanding and loving.  My connection with her was immediate!

….and then here is the irony.  When Linda found out where I lived, she mentioned that she was supposed to come to the Kansas City area last week to pick up a shih tzu dog from a breeder as Linda fosters, trains and places dogs with forever homes. But last week, the weather was cold and rainy and fortunately Linda came down with a bad head cold so she had to postpone the trip.  Perhaps the story should read that because our energy had yet to connect, Linda had to postpone the trip until sometime later this month…and the absolute shocking detail  is that the breeder lives 7 minutes from me in this town of 8,000 people.  Now what do you make of that?

Linda and I will meet, I will give her a big hug and I will continue to tear up and feel the love and energy from this totally unexpected, unexplainable connection from our past.

Until next time….

12.30.17
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On my mind today

  • Where, why and how does mucous generate and is it really just sitting in my sinus waiting for a blow?
  • Why do women discard their bras when they get home. How do you stand going braless?
  • Why does the humidity lower in the house when it is cold outside? It’s still 71 degrees in the house!
  • How can I gain 4 pounds in 2 days but it takes 4 days to take it off?

That’s it!

12.07.17
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December 7

I remember exactly where I was sitting when I got the call on December 7, 1979 from my BFF of 4 years with the news that she had a baby girl…..and I remember the call in March of this year from my BFF of 42 years telling me Dana’s heart had stopped beating. So many stories sewn together of Dana’s short life and now we have that quilt of memories to hold onto…to comfort us each year when the calendar reminds us it is Dana’s Birthday.

Peace and Love, Gena and family!