I Stopped Posting

Previous posts I exclaimed that I was a bad blogger and committed to posting better.  Then I saw that Mary removed my blog link from The Memory Boutique website and I thought, "Why should I write on my blog if no one can link?"  Well, I have to be honest and say that writing on the blog has been very therapeutic for me and I missed it!  I even had fun going through and re-reading my old posts.  Time sure does fly by quickly and I chuckled at some of the memories!

I've been thinking a lot about my present and past and even my future.  That happens when someone you know, someone too young, has passed away...

I didn't get the mail at work on Tuesday so when I went out on Wednesday, I thought it was Wednesday's delivery.  Duh, huh? Anyway, the local town paper was in the box and I set that paper on my boss' desk.  I glanced at the front page as it was going down and recognized the picture of the young man that was there.  The title said, "A fabulous family man, a connector of people."  Then there was the fold.  I gently unfolded it to read what wonderful accomplishments he achieved (he was in the paper so I was expecting a great story).  I was instantly shocked and in tears, sobbing, as I read the story.

You see, back in 2000, Matt Hales was in a terrible car accident that left him clinging for life in the ICU.  He had severe brain injuries and the doctors weren't certain if he'd survive.  Once they realized he wasn't leaving this world, they weren't certain if he'd ever walk, if he'd suffer permanent brain damage, if he'd live in a vegetative state...the outlook wasn't good.  But at least he was alive.  And alive he was.  Matt had a resilience and passion for life that NO injury, small or large, could overcome.  He battled through his brain injuries to re-learn everything from talking, eating, thinking and remembering.  He learned to walk and eventually to become just as "normal" as you and I.  If you didn't know Matt before his accident, you wouldn't have recognized the ever-so-slight delay in his words or the fact that one of his hands didn't grip as hard as it used to.  He even went on to earn his varsity letter in swimming!  It wasn't easy, but he didn't give up and he did it.  He taught us all many, many lessons, the most important is to believe in miracles!

To read that he died in a car accident was more than I could even comprehend.  He died on July 20, 2011, eleven years after his terrible accident in 2000 and eleven days before his 28th birthday.  He left behind a wife, a 2-year-old son and a 3-month-old daughter.  And a family who loved him and whom he loved with all his heart in return.  Matt's Obituary

Why share this sad story here?  First, to remind you to make memories with your family and loved ones.  You need wonderful memories to look back upon.  Second, don't take a single day for granted because you don't know how many days you or your loved ones have left.  Three, even the little things matter.  Matt's parents had such a wonderful, close, loving relationship with their son and I know they have no major regrets.  But they did mention one.  They said they wished they told him how nice his lawn looked the last time they Skyped with him.  So you see, there are always regrets because there's always one last thing that could be said.  Don't hold back.  Finally, don't forget to have a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior.  It makes a death such as this not even close to being bearable, but Matt's family is finding comfort in the fact that Matt is now with our Lord in Heaven and is an angel watching over them.

On this 31st of July, 2011, I want to wish Matt a very happy 28th birthday celebrating with Jesus in Heaven.  You are and will always remain special in the hearts of all those who were blessed to know you!

Journaling Challenge - TOYS!

Did you do your homework?  Did you get a journal and a pen?  A friend asked my why I’m using a journal and a pen and why not type it in the computer?  You can, it’s really up to you.  But!  I believe that handwriting, which is unique to each individual, also creates a special memory and is worth capturing (even if you think your handwritingSTINKS like I do!).  A few months ago, I was digging through some boxes and found a birthday card from my dearly departed Grandmother.  When I saw her handwriting in the card, it brought back special memories of her and I’m thankful I have that card!  That’s what I’d like my journals to be for my children and future (way, way, WAY future!) grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  I won’t be sharing these journals with them until I’m dead and gone, though, so this writing that I’m  doing will be for me, right now, and in the future to look back at and see what I was doing at certain times of my life.

So!  Where do we begin?  At the beginning, of course, and by simply writing.  Keep in mind you don’t have to write page after page.  Let’s simply challenge ourselves in the beginning to write just one page.  Let that be our goal and limit to start.  Sound good?  If you can’t find any words to write, you can doodle, draw, paste in a picture, a newspaper clipping or anything else that is interesting.  Remember that it doesn’t have to be important (like recording world events), but years from now when you read it, it’ll be a glimpse into your life.  My life isn’t glamour and action every day and I don’t expect my journal to be that way, either!

Let’s begin our “journaling journey” with a topic that will be easy and will hopefully bring back some fun, fond memories!  The Journaling Challenge will be to write about your favorite or most memorable toy from your childhood.  Now get writing and have some fun!  And let me know what you thought of this challenge, won’t you?    =)

My Blogging Challenge = Journaling!

Here's my weekly post on The Memory Boutique's blog about a new Journaling Challenge!  Ready to jump on board and journal with me?

We’re starting many new blog features and this is one of them!  I’m going to start weekly posts about journaling. Why did I choose journaling?  Well, because I just may be one of the worst journalers EVER.  I have bought so many journals over the years with great intentions to start.  Guess how they all ended?  You got it.  They ended before they even started.  Except for one time…

In May of 2007, I had an experience like no other I’d ever faced in my life.  When I share this, some of you may understand as you’ve been in this situation before, others may not be as understanding because you simply don’t get it.  That’s okay.  Just bear with me, no?

I had to make the decision to have my cat, Oscar, put to sleep.  I had no other choice as he was diagnosed with diabetes which is certain death for cats.  I kept him as long as I could until the day I noticed he exhaled loudly when he plopped on the floor.  That’s when I knew he was tired and it was affecting him.  I didn’t want him to hurt or suffer at all so I made the dreaded call.  I held him in my arms as the vet gave him the lethal shot and felt the life drain out of his body.  Gosh, I’m crying right now just writing about this!

Oscar - Forever in Our Hearts; 1995 - 2007

You see, Oscar was the first pet that I ever owned myself.  I say it that way because I grew up on a farm and had hundreds of animals in my day, but never my own and NEVER sharing the inside of my house!  He ended up being my best friend, often times more so than my husband!  (Sorry, Honey.)  When Oscar died, a part of me died too. And I felt a terrible ache in my heart that I’d never known before.  Seriously.  The loss was that bad for me (hence some of you may get it, others may not!).

After A LOT of praying, I grabbed a journal I decorated at one of my Mom’s Groups a couple years before and started writing.  And I wrote, and wrote, and wrote and wrote.  I began at the beginning, writing Oscar’s life story how I rescued this injured little kitten from death and took him in to save his life.  As I wrote, the words just poured from my heart and the memories I recalled made me laugh and cry and laugh some more. Days later, as I was still writing, I experienced such a revelation!  Here I was writing how I saved him, but in reality, HE saved ME.  Had I not written all that I did about Oscar and our 12 years together, that realization would never have come.

Long story but believe me, if you KNOW me, that story could easily have taken an hour or more!  =)  The whole point of sharing my “Oscar” story is to show you that journaling can accomplish so many different things for each person, all depending on what the writer’s focus is at the time.  And the benefits of journaling are extraordinary…something as simple as writing can be so good for you!  What are some of the benefits of journaling?  Here’s but a few:

• It is a companion and best friend

• Improves mental health (couldn’t we all use this!)

• Improves communication skills

• Releases pent-up emotions (MUCH cheaper than a therapist!)

• Encourages reflection (Dig deep!)

• Clears the mind

• It is empowering

• Helps in the healing process, if needed

This is just my introduction to Jackie’s Journaling Wednesday blog.  Each week, I’ll offer some suggestions giving you journaling topic-ideas to help you begin this “journey”.  JOURNEY/JOURNALING.  Whoa.  SO close.  It’s a journey to journal and we’ll journal a new journey together!  (That sounds like a bad Dr. Suess – sorry!) I’ll be writing along with you so let our journey begin!

Join me as we dig down deep, recall special memories, share what’s on your heart, reveal secrets too long buried and create amazing journals that will document your life and your family’s legacy!  Here’s your homework for next week:  Ready?  Buy a small journal with about 30 pages and buy yourself a pen that you fall in love with.  You know what I mean…the kind that just feels great in your hand and glides across the page?   Now how easy is that homework?  =)  See you next week!

Traditions

My family went up north to spend our traditional holiday weekend with my husband's family at a hotel.  We swim, play and have fun, especially all the cousins who play together as only cousins do!


The next day the kids ate breakfast and swam for a couple hours.  Then we met up with the in-laws at their apartment and walked downtown Big Rapids.  The kids went to a "homework" shop and used the foosball table and Wii there.  Then we went to a stinky pet store where I terrorized some poor bird with a feathered cat toy. 


Then we did something that took me back more than 25 years (gosh, that makes me feel terribly old!) but brought back such great memories like it was just yesterday!  We went rollerskating.  Boy, I thought I wasn't going to be able to do it but it's really just like riding a bike.  You don't forget and pretty soon I was flying around that rink!  What a fun day watching my ultra-talented son learn the ropes in less than 10 minutes and my sweet daughter who's much more cautious go around and around the rink with me holding my hand.  


Traditions?  They're the best, especially when they bring so many smiles and so much laughter.  We were able to share some good, fun, "old-fashioned" play-time with the kids and they loved it.  We've gone roller skating 3 times since and it's been fun.  I'm glad my kids enjoy it so.  I think we've started a new family tradition...we now roller skate together!  

Check Out My Blinkie!

If you're like me, you think a "blinkie" could possibly be the name of a pacifier or a personal name for a body part (TMI!).  My 8-year-old daughter even summed it up for me by saying, "Do you mean 'suck, suck, suck?' or 'blink, blink, blink?'"  See?  I wasn't the only one.  I'm right there with the young ones who, in all reality, knows more about this computer than I do!  But today was not totally lost as I learned something new!

Lisa J. from My Memories Suite created my very own "blinkie" for me to use on the blog!  My very own!  See it?   At the bottom?  The cute little "Suite Chick"?  Yup, that's my own blinkie!  Yea!  Now I feel like my blog is beginning to look like a REAL blog....now to change the background to make it look hip and cool.  Possible?  Well, we'll see.  I have a blinkie and that's a start, right?  Peace out!

Spring Is Here!

We've been waiting for Spring for a long time now and Michigan weather has been teasing us terribly bad.  Today is finally a beautiful spring day, though!  The sun was shining brightly and the forecasted high was to be 70 degrees.  Didn't get that high but it did hit 60 degrees!

My flower beds are calling to me...I see the wonderful, brave spring flowers poking through all the leaves that were supposed to be gone in the fall but still remain (thank you, dear husband!) and the pretty crocus' blooming bright.  But what actually got me working outside today?  My compost pile!  Yup, I played around with fruit, veggies and plant material today.  You'll never guess where it was so I'll just say it.  It was all on my deck.  I threw it out there to take outside this winter and never did it so I had a back log of veggies and stuff that were rotten, soggy and getting pretty smelly.  They needed a permanent home and they are now nestled in a pile of dried leaves out in the woods in back of my house.  Now THAT'S a productive day!  Yup, you can take the girl out of the country but you can't take the country out of the girl!

I also went for a walk today.  Just a mile, but it's a mile more than I've done in the past so YEA for ME!  I hope to do it again tomorrow and the next day and so on and so on.  Here's hoping for some weight loss in the next few months.  That would be g-o-o-d!

Last night I started scrapping some of my Toronto pictures in My Memories Suite (you can click here to order if you don't have this awesome software!).  The zoo pics were by far some of my favorites so I started with them.  Here's a couple of my pages...I hope you like them!  I'd like to give credit to the designer of the kit I used:  Zoology by Storyrock.  It was a fun kit and it was easy to adapt to my "pictorial" needs.  Is that word used correctly?  I'll pretend it is!

Have a blessed Sunday!

Yup, It Was a Snow Day!

Sure enough, we had a snow day on Monday!  I had BIG plans that the kids would help me clean the house so that we could finally get out our Christmas decorations.  See, I told them that we would do ANY of that until they helped me clean and get ready.  So far, they hadn't helped but now they're feeling the crunch!

Of course, I slept for all of 3 hours the night before and woke up with what I think is a full-blown sinus infection.  I am just plain miserable and with two kids who NEVER sleep in when they can (my son was up at 6:30 and my daughter was up at 7:00!), their energy was at about 100%.  My son received a call to go over to snowboard at the ski lodge a few miles from our house.  Absolutely.  One loud one down, one to go...

My daughter made a call to her friend and she asked if they could play.  At first it was going to be here.  Not perfect, but I can totally tune out kids who are playing.  At the last minute, the tables turned and my daughter was invited to THEIR house.  Absolutely!  Last one down and my bed was calling me.  

As soon as my daughter was gone, my son called and said he was coming home.  WHAT???  He was okay, but the friend he went with broke his wrist.  =(  On their second run, he hit the rail, came off it and hit ice.  Slammed right down onto his wrist.  Poor kiddo.  Poor me...my nap plans weren't looking so good...  

Thankfully, as my son is almost 12-years-old, I set him up with food and snacks and he was good to watch a movie I taped for him.  I went to bed and was able to sleep for almost 2 hours.  Just in time for my daughter to come home and me to get back to work.  

Big plans?  Nope.  Didn't come to fruition, but today, while the kids are back at school, I shall clean.  I have one corner of the living room done.  Now on to 98% more messy house!  And tomorrow?  I hope it's all done and the kids can help me decorate tonight.  We'll see...