Life

LET me but live my life from year to year,
With forward face and unreluctant soul;
Not hurrying to, nor turning from the goal;
Not mourning for the things that disappear
In the dim past, nor holding back in fear
From what the future veils; but with a whole
And happy heart, that pays its toll
To Youth and Age, and travels on with cheer.

So let the way wind up the hill or down,
O'er rough or smooth, the journey will be joy:
Still seeking what I sought when but a boy,
New friendship, high adventure, and a crown,
My heart will keep the courage of the quest,
And hope the road's last turn will be the best.

                                                      Henry Van Dyke
 
 

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Some things you keep. Like good teeth. Warm coats. Bald husbands. They're good for you, reliable and practical and so sublime that to throw them away would make the garbage man a thief. So you hang on, because something old is sometimes better than something new, and what you know is often better than a stranger.

These are my thoughts, they make me sound old, old and tame, and dull at a time when everybody else is risky and racy and flashing all that's new and improved in their lives.....new careers, new thighs, new lips, new cars. The world is dizzy with trade-ins. I could keep track, but I don't think I want to.
I grew up in the fifties with practical parents -- a mother, God bless her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then reused it -- and still does. A father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones. They weren't poor, my parents, they were just satisfied.

Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now, Dad in trousers and tee shirt and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in his hand, dishtowel in hers. It was a time for fixing things -- a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress.

Things you keep. It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that re-fixing, reheating, renewing, I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant there'd always be more.

But then my father died, and on that clear autumn night, in the chill of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any 'more.' Sometimes what you care about most gets all used up and goes away, never to return.

So, while you have it, it's best to love it and care for it and fix it when it's broken and heal it when it's sick. That's true for marriage and old cars and children with bad report cards and dogs with bad hips and aging parents.

You keep them because they're worth it, because you're worth it.

Some things you keep. Like a best friend that moved away or a classmate you grew up with, there's just some things that make life important...people you know are special...and you KEEP them close!

~~Author unknown

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Paul Harvey Writes:

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse.
For my grandchildren, I'd like better.
I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.
I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.

And I really hope nobody gives you
a brand new car when you are sixteen.
It will be good if at least one time
you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.
I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.
I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie
and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.
I hope you have to walk uphill to school
with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.
On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to
drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.
If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.
I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.
When you learn to use computers,
I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.
I hope you get teased by your friends
when you have your first crush on a boy\girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove
and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.
I don't care if you try a beer once,
but I hope you don't like it.
And if a friend offers you dope or a joint,
I hope you realize he is not your friend.
I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa
and go fishing with your Uncle.
May you feel sorrow at a funeral
and joy during the holidays.
I hope your mother punishes you
when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hannukah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you -
tough times and disappointment,
hard work and happiness.
To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.
Written with a pen.
Sealed with a kiss.
I'm here for you.
And if I die before you do,
I'll go to heaven and wait for you.
Send this to all of your friends.
We secure our friends, not by accepting favors, but by doing them.
 
 

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Generations
 

Talkin' 'Bout, My Generation

I Can't Believe We Made It!

If you lived as a child in the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's or even the early 80's.

Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have...

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention hitchhiking to town as a young kid!)

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day.

No cell phones. Unthinkable. We played dodgeball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no law suits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame, but us. Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda but we were never overweight... we were always outside playing. We shared one grape soda with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games at all, 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms ... we had friends. We went outside and found them. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell or just walked in and talked to them.

Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian. How did we do it?

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment..... Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade.....Horrors. Tests were not adjusted for any reason.

Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of.They actually sided with the law, imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

And you're one of them.

Congratulations!

from Virgil Allen Wulff

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I’m a Senior Citizen
I’m the life of the party -- even when it lasts until 8 p.m.
I’m very good at opening child-proof caps with a hammer.
I’m usually interested in going home before I get to where I’m going.
I’m good on a trip for a least an hour without my aspirin, beano, antacid...
I’m the first one to find the bathroom wherever I go.
I’m awake many hours before my body allows me to get up.
I’m smiling all the time because I can’t hear a word you are saying.
I’m very good at telling stories.. .over and over and over and over.
I’m aware that other people’s grandchildren are not as bright as mine.
I’m so cared for: long-term care, eye care, private care, dental care...
I’m not grouchy, I just don’t like traffic, waiting, crowds, children, politicians.
I’m positive I did housework correctly before my mate retired.
I’m sure everything I can’t find is in a secure place.
I’m wrinkled, saggy and lumpy, and that’s just my left leg.
I’m having trouble remembering simple words like...
I’m now spending more time with my pillows than with my mate.
I’m realizing that aging is not for sissies.
I’m anti-everything now: anti-fat, anti-smoke, anti-noise, anti-inflammatory...
I’m walking more (to the bathroom) and enjoying it less.
I’m going to reveal what goes on behind closed doors.. .absolutely nothing!
I’m sure they are making adults much younger these days.
I’m in the initial state of my golden years: SS, CDS, IRAs, AARP
I’m wondering.. .if you’re only as old as you feel, how could I be alive at 150?
I’m supporting all movements now.. .by eating bran, prunes and raisins.
I’m a walking storeroom of facts.. .I’ve just lost the storeroom.
I’m a Senior Citizen, and I think I am having the time of my life!

Author Unknown

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