Friday February 19 2016  A DAY OF RECOVERY

Today is someone else’s birthday.  It is no longer mine.  It is a good thing because I don’t think I could handle two birthday days in a row.  Instead, I must use some of today to cook, clean, and prepare for tomorrow’s birthday party (so you see my birthday is not quite over yet), and the remainder of the day to recuperate from yesterday’s saga.  The entire day yesterday was delightful, even going back to pick up my credit card.  Dave did not complain one iota.  Tomorrow should be fun too because we’ll get to be with our family.  I’ll have the house all decorated with balloons and Valentine décor (which was last Sunday’s theme) so it should be festive and colorful.  Martha Steward I AM NOT, but it is fun trying.

I was up quite late last evening writing yesterday’s blog so I would have everything fresh in my mind.  There was so much more I could have written about but it would probably have made you realize that it was just the random thoughts of “the elderly”.  And so perhaps they would have been.  My blog is the voice I want to be heard, and I write whether anyone reads it or not. Someday my written words will become pictures of the past.  My grandchildren will someday be able to read about their childhood written from grandma’s point of view written in real time. My children will have stories written from the perspective of what I remember first hand.  My blog pages may not seem important in the present, but perhaps someday my family will find pleasure in reading them.  When the elderly pass away, so many stories, so many memories, die with them.  I wish I had my mother’s stories in writing.  I do have her journals but she wrote only about day to day life (which is a story in itself) but she rarely bared her heart and soul to her pen.

When I write personal, hand written journals, I more easily let it all hang out.  I must be a bit more tasteful and “correct” if I am going to write for an audience.  I realize that.  Not all laundry needs to be hung out in public.  But, to my chagrin, I find that even though I hope I am being tactful, I often compose words that others (mostly my family) do not think worth saying, or should simply not be printed.  And that is okay too.  I like hearing from those who think differently.  Never do I intend to come across in my blog as my way is the only way.  It is not.  It is just my view of things from my perspective.  I learned a long time ago that I don’t agree with the way many others believe, or think, or the choices they make for their lives.  Does it stop me from being their friend or from loving them?  Absolutely not!  I know that it is okay to disagree.  We are all different, come from different backgrounds, and though we may even do some of the same things, we do them unalike.  Please don’t think that because I am giving my opinion about a topic that I expect another should do it just like I do.  I do apologize if I have stepped on any toes.  But…I will keep speaking my own voice, my own opinions, and telling about my own experiences.  Who know, just as some may be turned off by what I voice, others may be enlightened by the same words.  The intent of my heart is to write words that will build up, not tear down.  My goal is to give hope to a world that is falling apart in so many ways.  My hope is to reach out and touch a life for the better.  I know I cannot fix the world, but if I even help one person, by my touch, by my action or through my words, I will not have lived in vain.

I love writing, for myself, for my readers, for God, for the peace and release it brings to my soul, and to hopefully leave a legacy behind that in years to come will still touch a heart that I may never know.  What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?

BEYOND THE BEAUTIFUL FACE

By Kathleen Martens

February 19, 2016

Who we are in body form

Is but the casing of our soul.

The true self only exists

In that illusive inner hole.

Others see the outside casing,

The part that decays and crumbles,

And often ignores the aged one,

Who now is old and mumbles.

But if one would stop and look

And view with spiritual eyes,

They would see the inner being,

The share that never dies.

Often so misunderstood

Until experienced firsthand,

Though our body will grow old,

Our spirit always stands.

But alas, the young don’t see

Beyond the beautiful face

That the true test of time

Is found in the inner space.

I will go and cook, and rest, and clean, and rest some more.

God bless you on this cold, wind-howling day.  It feels like a storm is coming.  It is supposed to be in the 50’s by tomorrow.

GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU!