aha! my friday reflection...on friday!

I started out a few weeks ago with the best of intentions.  To blog at least once a week, and reflect on my week every Friday.  
Well, that intention got blown to the moon by life.  I have posted just a tiny bit of what I have been dealing with for the past 2 or 3 weeks.  I've shared a bit of what my last few weeks have been like.  Suffice it to say that it has been pretty stressful.

But that is fodder for another blog.  This is my day to reflect. The prompt I chose for this week was this one:

Reflect on the following quote: "You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream" - CS Lewis

As soon as I saw this one, I knew it was the one.  THE ONE.  The quote that just jumped out at me and knocked my socks off.  At an age when most people are looking at retirement and planning what they are going to be doing with all that spare time, I was going back to school to learn to be a wound, ostomy and continence nurse.  I don't look at things I want to learn or do as limited by my age.  The only limits I have are the ones I put on myself, and I choose not to limit myself.  Every day that I wake up is a chance to learn something new, to dream a new dream.  Dreams are what give my thoughts flight, and make all things possible.  I also believe that the day I stop dreaming and planning new goals, is the day I start to grow old.  Dreams keep me young.  By young, I don't mean looks, because that is just the wrapping, not who I really am.  When I say young, I mean that my thoughts, my outlook on life, the way I approach life is ageless.  It has nothing to do with the number of years I have lived on earth  I plan to be young the rest of my life.  Goals give me something to look forward to, to strive for.  It isn't about reaching the goal that matters to me, it is the journey getting there that matters.  That is where the learning, the lesson, occurs.


And because this is May 1, and the first day of NaBloPoMo for this month, I decided I would add the prompt for it here too.  Kind of confusing to some people, but to someone who multitasks as much as I do, it made good sense to me.  The May Theme for NaBloPoMo (which I have failed at plenty of times, and decided to take a stab at again) is:

PHOTO

The prompt for today's photo is: YOU. Meaning me...so here I am:

  

me

Your computer is not playing tricks on you.  I am out of focus for a reason.  I chose to edit this photo this way, because lately it is the way I feel.  Off center, out of kilter, not quite balanced. Life is just like that sometimes, you know?  My mantra has always been:

This, too, shall pass.

And with time, it will.  It always does, because life isn't static.

...laugh, when you can't do anything else. ~cath 
find me @jonesbabie on Twitter

quiet time

The best time of the day for me are those precious minutes after the grand kids have collapsed and before I collapse right behind them.  They are bundles of energy, but when that energy is depleted, they deflate like a cheap spare tire that's had too many miles put on it.  Last week while school was out for the Thanksgiving holiday that is celebrated here in the US, Maddie looked at me and said in her little girl voice:
"Grammy, would you come lay down with me until I go to sleep?"

She is a restless sleeper, and has a bit of apprehension when she lays down at night.  So being the good Grammy I am, I said sure, figuring I would fall asleep too and wake up hours later with my contacts glued to my eyeballs.

But I didn't go to sleep.  I lay beside her on the bottom bunk bed for less than 5 minutes, and listened to her breathing slow down, and become rhythmic and even.  I looked over at her and realized she had drifted off, just that fast.  Then I looked again.  At her smooth skin, her innocent face, and how peaceful she looked.  I took this photo of her, and when I look at it now, I can remember that moment with perfect clarity.

I think of Maddie, and that moment in time when I listened to her breathing, and kissed that soft cheek.

It also brought back sweet memories of my own children, now long grown to adulthood, and the many nights I tucked them in and told them I loved them, before they went to sleep.  Those few minutes each day gave me time to realize that no matter what the day brought, turmoil, happiness, sadness, anger, or laughter, ending the day with peacefulness and quiet time let my babies put their spirits to rest, and prepare for whatever adventure met them the next day.

Quiet time.  My time to be thankful for every baby in my life, young or grown.  The glue that holds me together.

...life is good. ~cath
find me @jonesbabie on Twitter

a star is born

Maddie Kate fancies herself a singer.  She is very intense about it.  So serious that when she was in kindergarten she told her mommy:

Maddie: Mommy, I know what I want to do when I grow up.
Mommy: And what's that?
Maddie: I want to sing!  My friends want to be in the band with me.  It's gonna be called The Wolves Fire.  Can you sing when you are 9?

She asked for and got a guitar for her birthday last year, and had a karaoke set complete with microphone from Santa one year.

She has a little warble in her voice when she sings, and sounds like a drama queen on crack, but we all brag about her talent and she grins and warbles.  I have managed to learn to keep a really straight face, because I believe this girl is going to be a rock star.  Or country star.  Some kind of singing star.  And I want her to be able to tell people she got encouragement from her Grammy when she is accepting her Grammy someday.

The fella in my daughter's life right now happens to be a gifted amateur singer who has recorded quite a bit of music on Singsnap and other karaoke sites.  And that played right into Maddie's plans.  Now she has a partner in crime.  They did a duet this evening and Jen sent it to my phone after I saw the post on Facebook.  I got permission from Jen and Michael to use it, and so I am launching Maddie's career a bit early.

She can't read music notes, and hasn't learned timing.  Oh, and she is just learning to read, so reading the words on the screen slows her down a bit.  She is just 6 years old you see.

I think she has promise.  I don't know where she gets the ability she has.  Her Gramps can't carry a tune in a bucket.  I can sing, but the bucket I carry my tunes in has a lot of holes in it.

Oh to be 6 years old again and think all things are possible.  I wasn't much older than Maddie when I decided I was going to be an artist, a fashion designer to be specific...

what dreams we weave...when we first believe...

~cath xo
Twitter @jonesbabie