Author: worrylessjourney

The life of dogs

by worrylessjourney, posted in accountable, animals, complacency, control, dogs

Like most dogs our two have interesting personalities. They definitely have minds of their own. Our female “Tillie” has decided that it would be a good idea to take pieces of her dry dog food and place them carefully on the rug next to my bed. Stepping on them unawares is not how I want to start my day.

The culprit and the rug

Our male dog “Crash” likes to go into the bathroom and pull down the towels from the towel rack and just leave them on the floor. I don’t know why this is so amusing but I guess it satisfies something that he longs for.

The towel and the culprit

Crash sleeps at night on the sofa and if we don’t remove one of the pillows that is in his way we get very dirty looks. Tillie sleeps in the bed and must have her own blanket to cover all but her head.

I am sure that our dogs rule the house. Everything must be done to assure their comfort. After all who is more important? Don’t they look innocent?

58 years and counting

by worrylessjourney, posted in aging, appreciate, blessings, commitment, communication, family

Today it has been 58 years since we were married. Sometimes it seems like forever and sometimes just yesterday. For you young folks we were married in 1962. That will sound like an eon ago. The Viet Nam War was just hotting up. The Cuban Missile Crisis was in October of that year. We were at Ft. Benning and it looked like my 2nd Lieutenant husband might be going to war. Thank God that did not happen. The next event to shock us was that Kennedy was shot in November of 1963. Again things in the military were very uncertain. What a way to start married life.

However, we survived it. We had children, moved from place to place to include his two years in Viet Nam and ended his career with a high note teaching math at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Our time since then has been living in Savannah, both of us working, me as a nurse and him as a structural engineer. Life has been good. We raised three children all married with children of their own and blessed be all gainfully employed (to include three of the grandchildren).

We had our ups and downs but I wouldn’t trade any of it. Now we look to the next chapter which is rocky at the moment but with planning will settle into a “new normal.” I have been blessed.

A new world

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, change, choices, health, learn

In our area the Episcopal Diocese has said that we will not go back to church until there has been two weeks with no new cases. I am hoping that they will rethink that as I don’t think we will see a week without at least one case until there is a vaccine.

At some point we will have to resume some regular activities even if for those of us “at risk” must remain more isolated and more careful than the rest of the population. The mental health aspect is going to require us to do some things or we risk some serious complications.

I know that I am reaching my limit of just being at home and that I will have to go out into the world carefully but I will have to go out. The state has opened many things and there are people out there resuming their normal schedules. Most of them are not wearing masks but they seem to be social distancing. I can see us doing that for quite some time.

learning a new world

It’s a new world and one we will learn to navigate one day at a time.

Life changes when we least expect

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, aging, change, coping, decisions, grief, let go, perspective

This is a difficult post to write. Since my husband has been recently diagnosed with dementia our life has changed. We will learn and adapt as we go but some major changes will have to be made.

Our home is one that requires us both to be able to help with its maintenance. It is really too much for me to manage on my own. It is time to move forward and find the right environment for both of us. This will be heart wrenching and particularly hard on my husband but we need to do it now and get settled for the future.

My aunt ( who was really quirky) always said that if you do all the things you CAN do at the moment then you can stop worrying. This is my plan. We will be taking one day at a time. There are still some medical issues to be resolved and the virus hasn’t helped getting those done but we will get there. God is with us.

There have been lots of ups and downs in our life together. This is just another down to get through and look forward to the next up. On the 9th of June we will have been married 58 years. A wonderful journey.

New procedure

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, aging, health, Live!, persistance, perspective, strength

Tomorrow will be very busy. My husband will have a “Watchman” implant (a brand new device) to prevent blood clots. A short while after he will be able to come off of blood thinners for the first time in years. That will be great as he bruises easily and is always needing major band aids for small everyday scrapes and cuts.

  • The watchman device

They will allow me to be with him and can see him following the procedure. He will spend the night and be home on Friday. Medicine just keeps advancing. Hopefully this will be a plus for him.

This getting old is aggravating but it’s better than not being here. I am thankful that we have managed this long and hope we keep moving for a while yet. We plan to.

More advanced, more complicated, more wrong.

by worrylessjourney, posted in aggravations, consequences, control, coping, persistence, perspective, problems, wrong

There has been a gremlin in my house. I am sure of it. We now have TV remotes mixed up and they don’t seem to work totally anywhere. One will change channels and do volume, the other will turn on and off. We need two remotes for my husband to work his TV. My daughter sent a new remote for him and I can’t get it programmed. The instructions work but you have to search for the codes for the TV and the cable box and the numbers that may work reach out to infinity. If I had a week I’m sure I could get it programmed. So for now he is using two remotes.

Why do things have to be so complicated? My daughter say the more things they add to each electronic piece the more likely it is to go wrong. I’m finding that to be true. Somehow I have got to get something working. I contacted the cable company and they are not allowing anyone to come into the house at this time. Since there are many issue involved with this having someone here is the only way to solve it. Oh well….sighhhhhhhh.

Life is complicated enough without having to fight with electronic devices. I wonder what it will be like when robots do everything? I think I am glad that I will not be here to see it.

A-day out of time

by worrylessjourney, posted in Uncategorized

Today is an absolutely beautiful day. It is so pretty outside that it makes me want to stay out forever.

Knitting and enjoying

The breeze is amazing and I can smell the gardenias that are blooming near the house. I can’t think of a more wonderful setting. This is something we don’t get to do very often hear. Usually it is way too hot. It is unusual for us to have mild weather at the beginning of June.

I was lucky enough to be able to take advantage of this peace during the afternoon. Life isn’t always so easy. Often there is too much to do. Even with staying home for the virus.

It has been wonderful to have this break as the rest of the week will be busy and stressful.

It is so important to take this time out when it’s offered. For it doesn’t always appear in our lives. Just a few moments of this kind of rest can prepare you for stressful days to come.

Violence is never the answer

by worrylessjourney, posted in accountable, consequences, decisions, fail, wisdom

The other night I caught the edge of some news. They were talking about somewhere that a protest was being held. Not us, another country. The protesters came out into the street and just stood. No words, no movement, nothing. Apparently people were stunned and paying attention. It was novel. It was different. It was non-violent. It piqued curiosity and questions and notice. It reminded me of the protests of Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

All this violence, robbery and chaos does not do the same thing. I was reminded of these quotes.

When will we ever learn?

It’s a dogs world here

by worrylessjourney, posted in calm, comfort, coping, dogs, enjoy, love, rest

Last night while watching the movie “Midway” with my husband (who loves old movies) I took a photo of one of our bassets (Miss Tillie). Don’t you wish you could relax like that? That is true comfort. She knows how to lay down and chill no matter what is going on. She knows this staying home is the best of worlds for her.

If you were reincarnated wouldn’t it be wonderful to come back as a beloved dog belonging to a loving family? I would