Week Thirty-Two - WooHoo to appreciating history and celebrating a bright future

What an awesome week this has been.  Busy and full of great summer activities, I’ve dropped into bed every night simply exhausted and overcome with so much gratitude, I thought my heart would burst.  Family was in from both coasts, and pizza parties and get-togethers to catch up on everyone’s lives, filled my need for meaningful socialization.  I’ve sworn off Facebook for the summer, and I think I do feel better not comparing my life to everyone else’s, or pretending to have real friendships with people who I never see in person. I do miss the updates and pictures of my family and some friends who live far away.  Facebook freedom, hasn’t come easy.  It’s really been an exercise in discipline, and focusing in on the positive gifts that surround me, waiting to be touched, smelled, seen, and experienced.  But, it’s also created an environment for a return to contentment with what is, right now,  again.  My newspaper column on a summer sabbatical from Facebook was greeted with mostly positive reviews, and evoked some thought.  I got the best email from a younger reader who thanked me for the kick in the pants my article provided.  She apparently thought she spent way too much time there,  and fell in the 41% who check it before breakfast everyday.  I appreciated her letting me know that.  The negative comments, I took in good stride as well.  I know when someone tugs at a chord,  I can react defensively too;  until I have some time to set my ego aside and really ponder the information.  That’s another tangible sign of growth for me.  I don’t expect everyone is going to love me, or like what I have to say, and I am not only okay with that, I am happy that we live in a society where we are free to think differently and express ourselves.   

Early in the week, my four favorite peeps and I headed South.... to Dayton, to spend a few days with one of my favorite female role models, my step-mom.  Grandma to the peeps. Tradition at Grandma’s house is the dozens of soft, gooey, chocolate chip cookies she bakes as well as banana bread, so moist and bursting with flavor, my taste buds get into party mode in anticipation.  She didn’t disappoint and the fresh baked goods beckoned from the kitchen counter.  Adieu to Weight Watchers for the week anyway.  I think I consumed all my activity points, and cumulative points for an entire month, in a matter of a few hours.  A super treat for the kids as well as the adults was a trip to Carillion Park in Dayton.   I’d never been.  My step-mom is a member and had passes for all of us. We were especially excited to see the newly installed Carrousel adorned with carved wooden pieces native to Dayton’s history and entrepreneurship.  The wooden pieces were hand-carved by friends and artists from my area who work for a Carrousel Carving Company in Mansfield, Ohio. What a wonderful place to revisit the history of Dayton, a hot bed of creativity, imagination, and entrepreneurship in its day. I have to take back all the negative comments I’ve made about it being Ohio’s most populated hick town.   Of course we all know the history of flight, and the Wright Brothers (my dad is buried not too far from their family plot), and National Cash Register, the electric starter, and Huffy bikes;  but did you know McCalls patterns, the pop top on aluminum cans, and scratch and sniff were products of the great minds populating Dayton, Ohio?  http://www.daytonhistory.org/  Dayton had the most patent's per capita in the United States in the early 20th century.  The kids were even engaged in the little mini history lessons, and seeing all of the neat old gadgets, the first plane to fly,  and of course they loved riding on the Carrousel.  We’ll be back.  It was truly an inspirational experience for me as well as a lot of fun.   

The end of the week, brought about a big birthday for my oldest granddaughter.  You would have thought it was a milestone 13, but, no, it was her 12th.  She started reminding everyone about three weeks ago and counted down the days.  Her wish list was quite small, but expensive this year.  She’s growing up.  She wanted an I-pod Touch, roller skates, and fancy covers for her new I-pod Touch, she was convinced she would get.  That was it!  So on Friday, at her family birthday party,  she did get the I-pod from her very generous grandpa who adores and spoils her.  The family joke is, she’s “the chosen one” in his eyes.  Maybe being the first grandchild, comes with that distinction.  She certainly was highly anticipated, a blessing to this family that had experienced so much sadness and grief the year before.   Her world was totally rocked when the last gift was placed in her lap, and it began to ring!  Mom and Dad bought her a phone.  She’s more involved in school and extra curricular activities now, and they felt she was responsible enough to be prudent and use it wisely.  And, it would make them feel a little better knowing she had a means to communicate in emergencies too.  Fortunately, they have unlimited texting.  I think she sent more text messages that night than I have in six months!   The look on her face at these “big girl” gifts was sheer joy to witness. It also made me a little sad.  I am glad we have two younger ones to savor the innocence of childhood awhile longer,  and I know we all appreciated that more after Alex’s birthday.   

Really relaxing at the movies!

Celebrating with friends! 

I was honored (and very grateful) to be invited to help chaperone birthday party number two with her mom. We are close, grandmother and granddaughter hooked at the heart.   Six of us made our way down to Columbus the next day.   On the agenda was a goal to put a dent into the rather substantial monetary stash she got in birthday cards from family and friends.  I was impressed.  She did put into savings some of that money for a California trip next year.   Shopping in the big city made four pre-teen girls feel like big girls. Dinner out and  a just released movie in a mega-theatre was an added treat for these small town chicks.  I really enjoyed sitting back and watching these lovely young ladies, giggle and text (torment)  the neighborhood boys back home, try on trendy clothes, and stretch out and enjoy their movie at the end of the evening.  It brought back so many wonderful memories of those times with her mom and her friends as well as my own blossomings into the world of teenager.  So many dreams, wanting to be a grown-up, and get on with a life that they will come to realize, isn’t nearly as much fun as where they are right now, today.  They’ll find that out on their own.  Who do I think I am to mention it?  

WooHoo- this week to time with family.  WooHoo also for that burst of inspiration I felt seeing first hand the result of tenacious dreamers who changed the world by failing over and over again, but going for one more time until that car started, the glider flew, and the can hissed opened.  WooHoo to spending time with phenomenal young pre-teens of the day.  They seem smarter, certainly more tech savy. Underlying all of that though, was the recognition,  every generation is not so different from the previous ones... It was a great reminder.  We've all thought our lives would be so much better... when, we turn 12, get a boyfriend, graduate, get our dream job, have kids, retire, or....... 

I have to say, the best part of getting old is finally realizing, the best is always contained right here, right now.....  WooHoo.