tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50359021337600822542024-01-15T23:26:34.117-08:00The Thoughts of Cherry JaneCherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074573599584673071noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035902133760082254.post-42602272892755716092011-02-12T19:47:00.000-08:002011-02-12T19:50:59.068-08:00Tick, tock goes the......Tick, tick, tick. That's one second per tick. It doesn't seem like much does it? The bad thing about it is that it constantly keeps going. On and on. Like Mother Nature's Chinese water torture device. <br /><br /> <br />It's a darn funny thing isn't it? What other thing can you think of which can drag on so slowly, but whiz by so quickly it's almost like a blur? It seems like such a short amount of ticks ago that I was just a child. Sitting out on the old wooden front porch of my Grandfather's house and listening to his Kentucky influenced, Georgia Blue Grass, Back Mountain Baptist, Hoedown Revival Banjo playing and Back yard singing. Whew. Not many ticks at all.<br /><br /> <br />In any case, Happy Valentine's Day to all of you out there. Hope you have many more happy ticks with your kids, your parents, and your wife or husband. Enjoy them, like the old Native American saying goes: "Nothing lasts forever, except the mountains and stones." Even those pass away after a while!Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074573599584673071noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035902133760082254.post-39554586443335608372011-01-23T13:11:00.000-08:002011-01-23T13:15:57.891-08:00All Dogs Go To HeavenThere was a little movie that came out in 1989 called "All Dogs Go to Heaven" Basically this little movie was about a dog who came back from Heaven (since all dogs DO go there) for revenge on his killer.<br /><br />I just always liked the title of the book. All Dogs Go to Heaven. <br /><br />I am really sad today because my daughter's wonderful little dog got run over and killed by a car yesterday. Of course the perpetrator didn't stop. Guess that happens most of the time. This little pup was three years old, and had given me and my daughter's family more laughs in three years then a barrel of monkeys. That had to be fate, since his name was Puck.<br /><br />One of his great little tricks back when he was little was to come and greet me with that wagging little tail of his and jump up on my leg and….promptly tinkle on my shoe. I have gone home many a day from my darling daughter's house with a sprinkled shoe. He kind of slacked off on that after a while. But, he was always a great greeter, with that tail just a waggin' and his little ol' Doxie face looking like he was smiling up at you. "Howdy" he would say. He loved people. That's kind of unusual in little dogs. He was a little barkie until he knew it was you, then it was "heya!" <br /><br />He loved to chase one particular ball that he had. My son in law and the rest of the family would throw that ball over and over and over, and he would still chase it and bring it back. One day my son in law threw it until the dog was so tired he just collapsed on the floor. "No mas!!" he seemed to be saying between shallow breaths.<br /><br />I used to take care of him when the kids would go off on vacation. The first couple of times, he made a total MESS of things. Wouldn't hit the pad, tore up his pad, sheeesh!!<br /><br />But, over the months and years he got to be a real little gentleman, where caring for him in their absence was more of a pleasure then a pain. He was always glad to see me, and wanted me to stay awhile and visit. What a friendly, loving little guy he was.<br /><br />I know that most people's concept of Heaven is that we are all going to stand around in our robes and gowns, and sing hymns for eternity. In my heart of hearts I feel that Heaven is going to be a more personal thing, like the Heaven that is portrayed in Mitch Albom's book "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" If you haven't read that book, you should. If that's the way it is, and I pray that it will be, then all my old friends I have had over the years, Old Bullet, and Whitey and Lobo will be there waiting to greet me. Oh, and I think Puck will be there too, and the first thing he is going to do and come running and jump up on my leg and wet my shoe! Thatta' boy!Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074573599584673071noreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035902133760082254.post-91339829652035702272011-01-22T13:01:00.000-08:002011-01-23T13:17:16.584-08:00DreamsOur brains are extremely complex organisms, which are still largely unexplored in many areas. One area that intrigues me is the subconscious or unconscious thought process which takes place when we sleep. I guess most people call it "dreaming" There are dreams, and then there are DREAMS. I think they take many different forms and possibilities.<br /><br /> <br /><br />I surely wish I could remember everything I had ever dreamed. Sort of like having a little "hard drive" built in to my brain where I could push the "save" button every time I start to go to sleep. I also wish that I could dream some of the things I WANT to dream about. I wish we could dictate to our brains the "script" of what we want to start out with in our dreams, and let them go forward from there. One thing I really wish I could dream about is running. I would just love to run across the country, sort of like Forrest Gump did. Running on and on and seeing things that I have never seen before. Taking the time to appreciate things which I have never appreciated before. Chances are slim of me ever running again in real life. Not for very long anyway. What with a suspect ticker, and being out of shape like I am, it seems a near impossibility. So, I am stuck with the hope that I can have a great dream about running some time.<br /><br /> <br /><br />I listen to music while I am lying down trying to sleep, and the other day I was in and out of it, and I began to actually see the musical notes in my mind. I was listening to Enya I think, and on all of the notes I saw silver and gold patterns in my head. The chords were like sunbursts and moon glow. The voice of the singers, which was angelic in nature, flowed through my mind like a deep blue river, rushing towards the ocean. No, I was NOT on anything! This was dreaming, and it was the strangest and most wonderful dreaming I can remember in quite a long, long time. I wasn't deep asleep; I was just sort of in a land somewhere far enough away from reality for things to ecstatically good. I am not sure that I will ever get a repeat of the "unreal" concert. I didn't want to "wake up"<br /><br /> <br /><br />On a very rare occasion, I dream of times past and of people who are now gone from this life. You would think this might be more common type of dream. But, for me at least, it is very uncommon. I think maybe you have more and more of the dreams like this as you get older, because more of the people you have loved and known in your life start to leave. I dream of my Grandmother occasionally, most of the time in the kitchen cooking! I can still smell the biscuits cooking, and in the back of my mind I wish I had gotten her to teach me how to make them! My mind yearns for a trip back. For just one more day, as Mitch Albom has so sweetly expressed in his book. One more day to say things that should have said, but always thought I would have time to say. But, I didn't.<br /><br /> <br /><br />I used to help her sometimes and it was during this period of interaction that I learned a great deal about here philosophy of life. A lot of hard work mainly, but a lot of love for life too. When she had here 90th birthday, I asked her if she had it to go over again what one thing would she do or not do. She told me simply "Worry less, because worry never did change nothing!" It still doesn't Grandma, it still doesn't!<br /><br /> <br /><br />It's just a shame that we can't step into these kinds of dreams anytime we want to, and visit with our loved ones who are no longer with us. It's also a shame that we don't realize that some of the loved ones who are still with us now, may soon be a memory. We should tell THEM the things we need to, before it's too late, and we can only visit them every once in a while in our dreams.<br /><br /> <br /><br />I really haven't had any BAD dreams recently. Nothing which I would call a nightmare, or anything even resembling a bad dream. Most of the dreams we have, we never remember.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Maybe when I lie down tonight and turn on the music CD's, I will get lucky again and my brain will begin to remember that great dream from the other day. I sure hope so.Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074573599584673071noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035902133760082254.post-62530322152309723382011-01-20T12:46:00.000-08:002011-01-23T13:16:36.442-08:00Thinking againI was thinking about how hard things are going to be 40 or 50 years into the future. Coping is going to be hard. Living is probably going to be hard. I am glad I am 50 I guess, although I wish I felt like I did when I was 27, still had all my teeth and didn’t have arthritis creeping up on me. Besides that, I am fine Thank You! But, seriously I think my generation has been the "golden generation" even though we have seen some wars, and some other bad historical glitches we have also probably seen the best years that the world will ever have to offer. I hope to God I am wrong, but things look like they are going to be tough from here on out, without some wisdom. I foresee crises in water and in fuel that are going to wrack the world. <br /><br /><br />We are already feeling the pinch on water in this country. The drought in the South drove home the point that you cannot take water for granted. We have wasted that precious resource for decades and more now without giving it a second thought. I guess we thought Nature would clean up our messes. Boy, were we wrong. I think about that every time I drink a bottle of Dasani, or Propel. We had better get ahead of this coming crisis in water, young ones. Get into the game because in 50 years, fresh water is going to be worth more than gold!<br /><br />As for the fuel, well that’s just mathematics. More people need more fuel. More people making things (read China, India, Viet Nam, etc., etc.,) the more fuel that is needed to make them. And believe me, right now those prenamed countries don’t give a rat’s rear how much they dirty the water or the atmosphere. Have you seen the latest pictures of the clouds of smog and dangerous clouds over Chinese cities. I would hate to be running a marathon there this summer. They better have plenty of O2 ready, cause they are going to need it. <br /><br />I am trying to simplify, as I have said earlier and it’s going to get more and more that way through the rest of the year. Just cleaned out a lot of stuff yesterday and the rest is coming soon. I mean, why in the heck do I need 47 shirts in my closet?! I probably won’t wear some of them anymore the rest of my life.Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074573599584673071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035902133760082254.post-48237082371865337082011-01-19T11:15:00.000-08:002011-01-19T11:22:48.261-08:00Beans and Taters Again?I don’t remember the Great Depression. I happened years before I was born. So much history occurred during the years between 1930 and 1950, it’s hard to comprehend sometimes. I know that the people in the Great Depression had it rough. My Mom and Dad have told me the stories of what went on in rural and small town Georgia during those days. But, I guess my own "Great Depression" came during the late 1960’s.<br /> <br /><br />The cotton mill where Mom and Dad worked went down to 4 days a week, then to 3 days. We had moved into a new house in 1966, when the mill was on 6 days a week, and things had been pretty good. But during those last years of 1960, things were incredibly slow. Our most common meals were pinto beans, fried potatoes, and cornbread. The next day would be Salmon patties, navy beans, and biscuits. We alternated. Every once in a while on Saturdays it would be either hot dogs or hamburgers. I really didn’t think much about it though. I kind of liked those foods, and still do today. We didn’t really miss much, and didn’t know times were bad.<br /><br /><br />I didn’t know that is, until I would see my Dad with the bills on the kitchen table trying to figure out which ones to pay and which ones to put off. It was about that time that he started going gray, and I think it was from the stress and worry of how he was going to pay for things. My Dad hated being in debt, and not having enough money to pay his bills. I realized at that point that we were kind of on the poor side. It was a little embarrassing, but at the same time we held our heads up and didn’t let it get the best of us.<br /><br /><br />Now we move on to 2011, and I see those years are creeping up on us again. There is practically NO manufacturing in this country now to pick things up like there was back in the 60’s though. The dollar is about useless, and the Fed has lowered the interest rate so low that people with Savings accounts are soon going to be paying the bank interest to keep their money in it! We have wars going on, and a healthcare crisis. The budget is so far out of balance that we need a miracle to climb out of it. The Chinese practically own us, we owe them so much money. The only thing different is that I am in old Dad’s shoes now.<br /> <br /><br />Last night when I brushed my hair, it looked a lot grayer to me. I think I am starting to get old. At least the kid’s are all grown though and I love pintos and fried potatoes!Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074573599584673071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035902133760082254.post-57513974664850021422011-01-09T08:36:00.000-08:002011-01-09T08:37:33.411-08:00Satchel Paige had it Right.When I was a little child, I always thought I would grow up and be the best in the world at something. For some reason, it didn't work out that way.<br /><br /> <br />I can think of dozens of things that I am adequate at. Some things I have ended up getting fairly good at. But that elusive "best" has always been out of my reach.<br /><br /> <br />Obviously, at 50 years old I can now give up on becoming the Best dancer in the world, or being a movie star. I can forget running in the Olympics. The career in professional singing is out the door for sure, the old throat just ain't what it used to be.<br /><br /> <br />I tried my hand at song writing, and novel writing. Not working out well for me.<br /><br /> <br />So….<br /><br /> <br />I feel sorta' like the theme song from "Cops" "Whatcha' gonna do when they come for you?"<br /><br /> <br />Old Satchel Paige was an African American baseball player, who could have been the best pitcher in history. He was born before his time though, and never got to pitch in the Major leagues until he was in his sixties. He was still magnificent, even at that age. He had a saying about looking behind you though. "Just keep on goin' forward" he would say "and don't look back, cause something might be catchin' up with you!"<br /><br /> <br />I am beginning to think that something is catching up to me, but I DO NOT want to look behind me! <br /><br /> <br />Yep, I could have been the best in the world at SOMETHING. But that's in the past. So I will go on ahead and do the best I can do in the time I have left. Isn't that what we all should do?Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074573599584673071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035902133760082254.post-65772284087592452222010-12-20T08:24:00.000-08:002011-01-09T08:25:32.152-08:00What Robert Frost said, Please do!Yesterday someone got me thinking about the worth of our lives. I wondered to myself if I have done anything at all in this life worth doing, as far as the world goes. I like to think that I have been a partner in raising three great children who are doing well and have great kids of their own. That’s parenting, and that has been a shared responsibility.<br /><br />But, as far as anything I personally have done, it’s hard to think of anything. Oh, I started out idealistically enough. I really wanted to be a writer, but I have never had the time, no…that’s not really the truth. The truth is I have never had the DRIVE. It takes drive and determination to do what you want in life, along with a sense of single minded purpose. Sadly, I have never had that. I think I am ADD to some extent! I get started on something, and get going on it and then…I lose the excitement about it and want to move on to something else. I am a wonderful STARTER, but not a good FINISHER at all. I guess that’s the story of my life (as the song goes) in a nutshell. <br /><br /><br />Do I have time to rectify the situation? I don’t know. I tell you honestly, with the way I have felt over the last year I don’t really know. I feel like my life is mostly in the past. That’s not a good way to feel, and I know it. Please don’t worry about encouraging me though. It doesn’t work. Whatever I am going to do with the rest of my life, whether short or a little longer, it’s up to me to get the fire under the boiler and get it going. I just hope I have enough fuel left. <br /><br /><br />But, as advice for all you young ones out there: DO SOMETHING YOU LIKE DOING! Don’t do something just for the money, or just because you have to in order to get by. It will make you miserable. I have been searching for the right "JOB". I never found it, You know why? Because it doesn’t exist anywhere except inside my MIND. That’s right. You cannot find what is not there. Robert Frost talked about taking the road less traveled. All you young ones with lots of time left in your lives, PLEASE take his advice. It WILL make all the difference.Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074573599584673071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035902133760082254.post-62606570887644239922010-02-14T07:43:00.000-08:002010-02-14T07:46:33.103-08:00There is a seasonSolomon said "to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven"<br /><br /> I know that The Byrds and Dylan put that chapter to music. It was a really popular song.<br /><br /> I wondered about it, so I analyzed it a little. <br /><br /> To EVERYTHING there is a season. That means even the little things we take for granted on a daily basis. Not just the big things. The small kisses from your children and your grandchildren…your husband or wife. The days that we work at our jobs. There is a season for that and a purpose. We may not consider always to be a noble purpose, but in a way it always is if we make it so. We project ourselves in those purposes. In everything. <br /><br /> There is a SEASON. Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. There are those seasons in our lives both externally and internally. Sinatra sang about it in the song "It Was a Very Good Year" When we are 17, the seasons seem like they are stretching out forever. The time passes by slowly…but by the time we reach the Autumn of the year the time is passing by like a blur. We take note of the passing of the time on the calendar, the Christmases and the Hot summer days, and our biological clocks just keep on moving. It's my belief that we all have a different time on our clocks. Of course nobody knows what it is, and we MUST learn to fit our purpose into that time that we have been given. <br /><br /> Under Heaven. As our time that we have is spent attending to our purpose here on Earth, we often forget that we are under Heaven. We have this wonderful human life and the time that goes with it and we have been given a purpose to accomplish. We often forget that and go about living our times wandering and squandering this wonderful gift. I hope and pray that when my sand which is running so quickly out of the hourglass is done that I will have accomplished what I was sent here to do. I think I have. In my heart of hearts I feel like I have. So that if I left tomorrow I believe I could rest in peace under the heavens that Solomon wrote about so long ago.Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074573599584673071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035902133760082254.post-24826276697483125492010-02-11T11:15:00.000-08:002010-02-11T13:21:19.342-08:00I have been fulfilled.If I have ever done or said a kind word to someone when they needed it, then I am fulfilled.<br /><br />If I have ever given good advice to my children, whether by pure accident, as would be the case most of the time or by chance of experience then I am fulfilled.<br /><br />If I have ever sung a song that brought out an honest emotion, or written a word that sparked a thought in someone's mind, then I am fulfilled.<br /><br />If I have ever fed a hungry animal, albeit a bird, cat, dog, squirrel, or any other living thing that God has created, then I am fulfilled.<br /><br />If I have ever thought a thought that was pure enough for God to appreciate, then I am fulfilled.<br /><br />If I have ever cooked food for loved ones, or strangers that they enjoyed or that made them happy, then I am fulfilled.<br /><br />If I ever told a joke that got an HONEST laugh, then I am fulfilled.<br /><br />I have stood besides ruins of a culture over 2500 years old, and I am fulfilled.<br /><br />I have touched the skin and felt the warmth of every person who I have loved the most on this Earth, and have been fulfilled.<br /><br />I have eaten my Grandmother's suppers, and have been filled and fulfilled.<br /><br />I have listened to my father play the gitar and sing.<br /><br />I have found an arrowhead in a field, and though about the people who once populated this land, and was genuinely sorry for what they had to go through, and I am fulfilled.<br /><br />I have seen a Golden Eagle in flight.<br /><br />I have listened to the Beatles, Elvis, Mahalia Jackson, Percy Faith, Perry Como, Rod Stewart, Johnny Mathis, The Blues Brothers, The Righteous Brothers, Ray Boltz, Bing Crosby, Sinatra, Dean Martin, Laura Fabian, Eva Cassidy, Judy Garland, Jerry Lee Lewis, Clint Black, The Everly Brothers, and on and on. God I love music so much. I will miss it one of these days.<br /><br />I have watched Meteors pour from the sky at such a rate that no one could have counted them.<br /><br />I have seen an eclipse of the Sun and the Moon, and have seen a Comet in the Eastern sky during the early morning.<br /><br />I have caught the tears of my children and tasted them. <br /><br />I have given money to many a homeless person, and have never told a soul (until now)<br /><br />I have been in the middle of Storms of Nature and Storms of life that I did not think I would ever survive, but I did. And I have been fulfilled.<br /><br />And the list could go on and on forever.<br /><br />I have loved this life, and the souls of the people that our creator has chose to populate the bodies of the ones I love. I love it still every day. I want it still every day. I am afraid of it still every day. <br /><br />I have witnessed things every day that I could not have imagined when I was a child. <br /><br />I have seen the wonderful side of mankind first hand, but have seen his terrible wrath on film and video. But strangely that also is fulfillment.<br /><br />I don't know what will happen on the day I leave this earth. But I have been fulfilled.Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074573599584673071noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035902133760082254.post-25560347741407545092010-01-21T12:09:00.000-08:002010-02-11T13:13:26.851-08:00Look InsideI dreamed the other night about being in a swamp. The fog was as thick as the New York telephone directory. I couldn't see where I was at, or which way to go. Finally, after standing there for what seemed like hours, I saw a faint light off in the distance and headed out in the direction.<br /><br />I tromped through knee deep muck, with a smell so bad that you could almost cut it. I finally reached the point from where the light was shining. It was a tiny little island of solid land, with a tiny hut in the middle. The light was shining brightly from a window in the side of the thatched roof bungalo and the smell of food cooking drove me to peep inside the small door.<br /><br />There was a little gnarly old man squatting over a fire with one little pan, frying some meat of some sort. "Come in, stranger" he said "I will share what little I have with you" <br /><br />"Who are you?" I asked<br /><br />"I am your spirit" he answered<br /><br />"I am always here, although many times you do not know it and seek me out when you need me"<br /><br />"Here...eat" he said as he handed me the food.<br /><br />I took a bite, and immediately the surrounding changed. I was no longer in a tiny thatched roof hutch but found myself in a huge mansion with hundreds of lights hanging from the ceiling. I walked outside and the night was as crystal clear as a diamond. Stars twinkled and blinked and looked down on me with joy. There was no trace of the dark swamp, the fog, or the feeling of despair which I had so recently experienced.<br /><br />I turned around to look for the little man, and a very handsomly dressed man stood there in his place. I recognized him as the same person, but totally different now, almost angelic in his demeanor.<br /><br />"What was that you gave me to eat?" I asked him<br /><br />He laughed gently "Now I can't go telling you all of my secrets can I?"<br /><br />"Just remember, it's always there inside you when you need it"<br /><br />The thought just popped into my head that I should always seek first inside me for the strength I need before looking to the world for them.<br /><br />Then I woke up. Wish I could have slept a little longer though.Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074573599584673071noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035902133760082254.post-72791332782092026822010-01-18T23:06:00.000-08:002010-02-11T13:09:57.673-08:00Life is FleetingWe go one with our lives like we are going to live forever, don't we? I know I do. The thought that I am not going to have a tomorrow, or a next year is alien to me. It is just nor real. I wonder though, if we knew we had just a very short time left, what things would we want to do? What would we want to "finish up?" Would they be mundane? Would we do wonderful things?<br /><br />I would want to see all my family, and reminisce with them for a while about the good times we have had. I have two or three favorite books I would love to read ONE more time! There are a few movies that have touched my heart so much, I would want to see them one more time. There is music I would want to listen to again….mostly from the 60's!<br /><br />I have a couple of favorite eating spots I would love to go to one more time. I would greatly love to go to the beach one more time. <br /><br />I would want to visit a few little towns that I haven't been to in a while. I would want to go to the spot where my Grandparents house used to stand, and walk the old trail back up into the woods for a mile or two (in the Fall of course…no snakes, but then again with such a small amount of time, who cares about snakes?) I would want to have one more Christmas with my family. <br /><br />I'd like to give some money to someone who was hungry to buy themselves a meal. I'd like to give away all my junk I have here at home that I'm never going to use, and wouldn't have time to sell. I'd have a "come and get it free" yard "sale" Wonder if anyone has ever had one of those! <br /><br />I'd like to sleep soundly and perfectly for 7 or 8 straight hours without waking up to go to the bathroom, check on the time, take a headache pill, or any of those other distracting things. Just once….that 8 hours of sleep. Wouldn't that be a waste of time, you say? I certainly don't think so, because when you sleep you dream. I would love to dream. I have so few good dreams nowadays. I am not so sure we get to dream after we leave here. Hate to lose that wonderful aspect of life.<br /><br />Really, when you think about it, this sounds like a pretty good list of things to do, doesn't it? Actually, it's what we do all the time. It's life. And if we fail to live it to the fullest, then we have nobody to blame but ourselves. <br /><br />So, tomorrow I will start ticking these things off one by one. It's never too late to change, and maybe God will give me enough time to finish off living this wonderful life he has given me. You never know, I may have time to get through this list, and start another one!<br /><br />What would YOU do?Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074573599584673071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035902133760082254.post-84140617285104814032009-12-27T22:33:00.000-08:002010-02-11T12:55:25.478-08:00Life's MeaningWhat are the things that give our lives meaning? Recently I have been thinking a lot about it. I have long nights to think about it half of the time now. Life is difficult. But, in a way it has given my life more meaning because things have become more difficult. I don't have the time I want to do the things I want, but I have had to learn to live and enjoy doing even the things that I don't want to do. That's what life is after all much of the time isn't it?<br /><br />I enjoy writing about as much as I do anything. I haven't done it anywhere near the time that I want to do it. Somehow, I feel a little afraid to do it. I feel a little guilty because it feels as though I am doing nothing worthwhile. I need to be making money! I need to be doing something, always doing something. I think I am the type of person who will be trying to get up off of his deathbed because there is something that I meant to do which hasn't gotten done yet.<br /><br />I guess we never finish, do we? You just run the race and life decides where the race ends not us. I don't see the finish line yet, so I am going to keep on running. I hope everyone else does too.<br /><br />Until next time.Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074573599584673071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035902133760082254.post-50901075269701072092009-12-25T01:00:00.000-08:002010-02-12T14:31:20.249-08:00Hello Christmas, you come again.Hello everyone. Merry Christmas! It got here again, and as usual I have been a bad boy this year!!<br /><br />I hope this Christmas finds everyone well and with their families and having fun. If the reality is that things are less then perfect, well that's the case everywhere isn't it? We all have this idyllic notion in our head of what Christmas should be: Snowflakes and candy canes. Traveling to visit relatives (and getting along with them...no fights now anyone!) Opening presents. Going to Church services. <br /><br />I think if I could I would want to stand on top of the green hill behind my Grandparents house just once more and look out over the valley where they lived at the little creeks flowing down through the meadow, at the big Mountain in front of their little old house. I would like to go back and watch each of my children open their first present. I am sitting here this morning trying to remember what each of them opened (by theirselves) first in their lives. I can't remember it. I lost it somewhere along the line, as my memory gets a little hazier every year.<br /><br />As we eat the meals today, and open the presents let's all give thanks for what we have. Even before we open our presents what most of us have is much, much more than what the majority of the rest of the world has. Maybe next year we should share a little more with the have nots of the world, and worry less about how many presents we are getting the people we love, who already have so much. Maybe we should try to make the WORLD a better place in 2010.<br /><br />It's not time for New Year's Resolutions yet, but that is mine. Really, it is this year. Try to make the world a better place...maybe for just one person somewhere out there who on this Christmas day is having just another ordinary day, just getting by.<br /><br />Blessings to all of you my friends and family. Blessings and Joy!!Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074573599584673071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035902133760082254.post-25192857555507118392009-12-18T12:42:00.000-08:002010-02-11T12:50:11.071-08:00PurposeI have lived my years so far in this life searching for the purpose for which I was put here. In this time, I have gone down many, many paths and dead ends looking for it. I have thought several times that I found it, but was wrong. I have tried to complicate the search, I have tried to sanctify the search, I have tried to secularize the search, I have tried to make the search technical, and I have failed. I have given up and thrown myself into paths which have wasted precious time. I have started over again so many times that I cannot remember how many. Hopefully, I have come through all these trials, errors and failures and may have at last become experienced enough, insightful enough, or maybe just smart enough to realize my purpose.<br /><br />I began to get closer through the process of elimination concerning where my purpose was not. I had no desire to stick to one thing and become really great at it. It didn't take me very long to become "good" at anything I tried to do, and once I reached the good stage I became bored with the process and stopped short of becoming great. The moral of this story for anyone who cares to read is to choose wisely when you start looking down paths. <br /><br /> I always had the desire from a very young to be a mother. I now have three great children, who turned out much better than I deserved. I have enjoyed sharing this physical existence with these wonderful souls. They have all become more than just children, they have become friends. I am hoping they have found where their heart is, and their life's purpose. I think they are perhaps coming closer than I have come. Maybe bringing these people into the world is the purpose for which I am here?<br /><br />But maybe, just maybe the whole purpose of being here is just to live your life. There are lots of ways to do it for sure. The Christians say "live life to the fullest, through Jesus." The hedonists say: "Eat, drink and be merry for there may be no tomorrow." The philosophical say: "seek that which enlightens you." I am not so sure that I don't agree a little bit with each of them. Having been indoctrinated into the Christian teachings so young in my life, and having been more involved with them it is sometimes hard to see the other points of view objectively, although I think we really have to. I don't think we should condemn anyone's point of view, religion, philosophy, creed, or any other type of way of living in which they adamantly and truthfully believe. The reason? They are living their lives. Just like the rest of us. If they aren't living it as well, or as richly as some of us on some levels, then that's just circumstantial. They may be living better than us on some other levels, such as on the spiritual level. Which matters the most then? Does having more on the material level help you live your life more fully? It certainly does seem like that is where some of the hearts of some people are at. If they cannot have "things" then they feel unfulfilled. Perhaps it's better to have 30 minutes or an hour by yourself to just think, then it is to have a movie to watch, and when that hour or so is gone you will find you have just wasted it and have not accomplished anything whatsoever. Believe me, I have done it. And the sad thing about it is we never get those hours back. Never. I should be sitting on the couch right now talking with my granddaughter about things she is interested in instead of pecking away at this computer keyboard. As a matter of fact, I think I will. So, I have to continue to wonder what my purpose here is some other time. Right now I want to use some of the remaining time I have left usefully.Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074573599584673071noreply@blogger.com2