Judy – Page 4

REMEMBER: OPENING TROUT SEASON

JIM’S BIRTHDAY

My little brother (we are both senior citizens but I still think of him as my little brother) Jim’s birthday is the same week as the opening of trout season in the state of Missouri where we live. The park is just a few miles from the farm we grew up on. Jim loves to fish and we all love to come to his famous fish fries. When he was young and we asked him what he would like for his birthday; every year it was the same, a trout tag for opening day.

At the park this is a big thing, thousands of people line the banks of the main spring and the creek that flows from it into the Niangua River. They stand shoulder to shoulder on both sides casting their lines out across the water and trying to imitate a fly hitting the top of the water to entice a trout to strick, It takes a lot of skill and patience to stand and wait for the fish to bite. The park also is a trout hatchery from it the spring is loaded with catchable-size fish for opening day. I like to fish but fly fishing never appealed to me; I could never understand how people could stand in a cold stream for hours on end to catch 5 little fish. But my brother enjoyed it.

One year I think he was around 11 he got to stand between the governor and Marty Stouffer of the TV series Wild America, Talk about inflating a little boy’s ego. I loved to watch him engage in his passion. We would all go to the park for a picnic and celebrate his birthday; mom would bake his favorite Boston cream pie. We would cheer whenever he caught a fish and stay until the closing bell rang at 6 pm whether he had caught his limit or not.

When I called him this year on his birthday we talked about his trout fishing days. He said he doesn’t do that anymore, too old. He doesn’t even like trout anymore to many bones to watch for. He likes to set in the boat and catch bass that you can filet and don’t have all the bones to look for. And all you have to do is ask when the next fish fry is and he will say come on over got some in the freezer.

My passion I found in high school, I took an art class because I had to fill a slot in my schedule. I fell in love with creating pictures on paper and canvas, It was something I could do wherever I went. I still am passionate about art and have taught classes myself and at one point had i school and gallery. Now it is something I do mainly on commission and for my own personal enjoyment.

What is your passion? God puts our passions in us, find yours and stick to it. When the years pile on and the bones get stiff you will still have something to enjoy. You may have to modify how you accomplish what you love doing but the passion will still be there.

Don’t give up on life and it won’t give up on you.

REMEMBER: CHANGING DIRECTIONS

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IN LIFE

How many times have you changed the direction of your life? As a child, you are told what direction to go, either by parents, family, or others in authority. As you get older this can be difficult and not to your liking. You can’t wait until you can make that decision yourself. Sometimes you jump the gun and make decisions that don’t turn out as you expected or wanted and you have to live with the outcome.

When you are an adult, depending on the decisions you make, can lead you to where you will live, what kind of career you will have, if you will travel or stay where you grew up, if you are single or join your life with someone else. The best decision you can make is to accept Jesus as your Lord and savior. Some decide this early in life others as they get older, and some never. It is one that everyone has to make at some point in their life. Life can get very lonely at times and having that friend that will stick closer than a brother is quite comforting.

This past week I spent the day in the area of the farm I grew up on. As we drove past the tree-covered lane that led to the entrance of the farm I so wanted to go there. To walk on the property and relieve some of the fond memories that I hold in my heart, but alas it belongs to someone else now. I don’t need to walk the actual ground but the tug on my heart was strong.

Both my sister and I remembered our mom saying that she hoped we would not grow up and marry farmers. She had chosen to follow dad from the city to the farm and it was one of the hardest things she had ever done. She hoped we would set our sights on higher education and careers. We looked at each other as we drove past the lane, laughed; and said at the same time, that we should have married farmers.

We are trying to navigate this time in our lives; single, living with daughters, and negotiating life as senior citizens. One thing you have is a lot of is time to think which is; sometimes a struggle in itself. All my siblings live in the area we grew up in, some stayed in the area and others returned after retirement. I live about an hour away; I enjoy being with them but my daughter, granddaughter and great-grandchildren, church, and friends live here. So I am torn between the two places.

When we do get together we can set and talk for hours, even though our parents died young we have all lived to retirement age. We have stayed in touch with each other and get together as often as we can. I am the oldest and the others keep asking when I am going to move home. Even though I would like to spend more time with them it is not an option at this time.

Come to think of it the decisions we have made in our lives have kept us close to each other. Even though we were far apart for many years, we have migrated back to the area we grew up in.

I urge anyone reading this to reunite with family and friends. It can be a great comfort when the direction of your life changes.

Good or bad it is the life we were given and it is up to us to how we live it.

Call and connect with someone today.

REMEMBER: JUST BREATHE

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Breath; such a fragile commodity.

We don’t think about breathing we just do it until we can’t. From a cold to full-blown lung disease; not being able to breathe is a scary feeling. Recently several people I know personally have had lung problems. Most have recovered but 2 have not. Being a long-time caregiver I have had my share of setting by a bed and watching someone struggle for breath. It is the most helpless feeling on earth. All you can do is pray, hold their hand, and be with them so they don’t feel alone.

Last year I had a bout with severe bronchitis and pneumonia. For almost 6 months I struggled to breathe. I was delivered by the many prayers of my friends, my belief in God as healer, and my determination to recover. There were times when I thought I would not. So I have a lot of sympathy for anyone in that situation.

Breath is the first gift given to us by our creator when we arrive on this planet, but the hardest to hang on to. Our lungs are one of the main organs in our body. If they did not fully develop when we were in our mother’s womb we start out at a disadvantage. Our lungs have to grow after we are born. Under-developed lungs can hamper the growth of the rest of the body. Which in turn can cause other problems.

It seems that one of the first things our adversary try’s to steal is the gift of breath. Without it, we are no longer able to maintain our bodies and the ability to stay connected to the earth. As a believer, I know that God our creator doesn’t make mistakes. When a problem arises at birth or later on because of sickness, it is something that has occurred after we arrive here on this planet.

Modern medicine has discovered ways to sustain breath with the aid of breathing machines, artificial lungs, lung transplants, and medicine to help those with breathing problems. It is not the way God intended for people to live, but it is a possibility for those who need it. Your destiny could be to solve that major problem in the world. Brilliant minds are sometimes housed in frail bodies. We must strive to be all we are meant to be despite the shortcomings we sometimes have to deal with.

Staying close to your creator can be vital to growing and becoming all you were meant to be. We all have a purpose to fulfill when we are put on this planet. Even those that are only here for a short time have a purpose. It is up to us or those around us to figure out what that purpose is. I have had 3 children that did not stay in this world for very long. One had chronic bronchitis for the first 3 years of his life and it was a daily struggle to keep him breathing. Then a tragic accident took him. The next one was born with severely underdeveloped lungs and he only lived 12 hours. The third one lived to adulthood, battled diabetes, and spent the last week of her life fighting for every breath.

If you are someone who has difficulties with breathing or has some other lung problem, know that the holy presence of Jesus is the air you breathe. Making Him Lord of your life can be the answer to your problems.

The Bible tells us in Genesis 2:7. The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and man became a living person. (The New Living Translation)

God intended us to live long and healthy, so take care of the body you were given and make every breath count.

REMEMBER:EARTH SUIT

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CARE AND MAINTENANCE

This is an excerpt from my EBook coming out soon.

We all have one it is how we connect to planet earth. When the Great Spirit made humans they were made in spirit form, we are living, breathing, and talking spirits. We were given the planet earth to live on. But as spirits, we needed something to keep us grounded. Gravity was created to keep our spirits from floating off into space. But we also needed some way of maneuvering in this atmosphere. That is why the earth suit was created. We as spirits cannot live and breathe in this atmosphere without something to survive in. Each of us was given a unique suit, one of a kind just for us. Even identical twins have aspects of their earth suit that is solely their own.

But with any gravity suit, there is an instruction manual written to tell the owner how to maintain their suit. We aren’t given this manual the day our spirit gets its suit. We have to grow from infancy to adulthood to learn how to live in this atmosphere and how to operate our individual suit. Some of us were introduced to the manual at an early age making maintaining the suit easier to maneuver along this journey. At the beginning before the manual was written humans didn’t know there was a limit and many far outlived their allotted time. According to the manual, our suit will last 120 years on earth. (Genesis 6:3)

At first, we are given milk to live on. This helps us to get used to living in an earth suit. Our suit is called a body and it grows with our spirit. (1 Peter 2:2-3) As we grow in our bodies and learn to digest milk, we are given sold food little by little. We need to be secure in our ability to digest solid food before we can be introduced to meat. By learning to live by what is taught in the instruction manual and not trying to go too fast we will maintain the health of our suit. (1 Corinthians 6:12-13)

We are also told to stay active in order to stay healthy. By not moving and staying active the suit will become unable to move. And if we continue to eat but don’t move our bodies will become overweight and break down. Every malady that can be brought to man has a cure in the manual. But it is better to not abuse the suit in the first place. As the knowledge of man progresses science has come up with artificial remedies for many of the problems man has developed. But natural remedies are the best way to fix what is wrong with the suit. Of course not getting sick in the first place is best and searching the book can be very beneficial. (Proverbs 6”10-11)

The Great Spirit inspired men to write how to take care of this suit and maintain it for the allotted 120 years. The majority of humans don’t realize that the oldest, most popular written book, the bible, is actually the manual of how to live on this planet and maintain each individual earth suit. Even if the suit you were given doesn’t look or operate the way you think it should. It is yours and you need to learn how to live with and in it until you are given permission to leave it and this planet.

The reason we need to start out as infants needing milk before we move on to solid food is to give our spirits time to adjust to the earth’s atmosphere and the growth process. We are given adults to teach us how to live in the suit. It is a unique and complex piece. They have progressed from the beginning stage of growth and their job is to pass that knowledge on to the next generation of humans. If your original adult teacher did fulfill their duty, there are others who can take over. Ultimately it is each person’s responsibility to maintain their suit.

The Manuel teaches what to eat to maintain the health of your suit. But it also warns that moderation is the key to health and safety. Since the beginning of man’s time on earth, there have been those who tried to push the boundaries of what the suit can eat, drink, and physically accomplish. With skill, hard work, and determination some have accomplished feats of great, physical strength, sports, mental capabilities, inventions, and exploration. There is no way to mention all of them as the number of people and their accomplishments continually grows.

On the other hand, there are those who have so abused their suit that some are doomed to live a life of pain and sickness. But there is hope if you fall into this category. It is never too late to bring your suit back to health and stamina. By learning what the manual says about regeneration and putting the theories into practice, you can again enjoy the benefits of your unique and individual earth suit.

The brain alone is a never-ending, growing, storing, receptacle of endless magnitude. Science says we don’t develop but about 20% of what the brain is capable of. There are some who have taken on this challenge and strive to become as much as they can be. But the majority is content to go through life just maintaining.

Read the instruction manual, take on the challenge to be the best you can be, and live to the end of your suits allotted time.

Remember When: Grief

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Losing a Child

The last couple of weeks has been very rough. My firstborn daughter went home to Heaven on November 18, 2022. I have been thinking a lot about how short life is and how we never know when our time is up. We think we will outlive our children and try to prepare them for a future without us. But no one prepares us for a future without them.

Even though she was an adult of 55 years, she was my firstborn. I was 19 and not ready to be a mother. We went through the first baby years together. The sleepless nights when she wouldn’t eat, walking the floor trying to figure motherhood out. Not wanting to call mom and admit defeat, but having to in the end. Discovering; that if I had called earlier I could have saved myself a lot of anguish. After we got the eating thing figured out she was a very happy child.

She was a great traveling companion; when her father was stationed in Germany and we moved there to be with him. We had a lot of firsts together; first plane ride, getting a passport together, first time in a foreign country, Then finding out later that he would be gone most of the time guarding the border between east and west. This was in the days before the Berlin wall was taken down. I worked for the Army and my job was in Munich and his on the border near Berlin. We saw each other a couple of times a month when he came in for supplies. Jennifer and I occupied our time visiting museums, parks, the zoo, and just walking around the city. When she first started to talk any man in a green army uniform was dada. Her little sister was born in Germany and then a brother in Ft. Knox, KY. Her father was then stationed in Korea but we didn’t go with him this time. When he rotated back to the states we were sent to Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. Life had gone full circle as this is where she was born.

It seems that life is a series of circles; large, small, happy, sad, life, and death. It is how we deal with them that determines the outcome. By the time the girls were in high school we were in Milan, IL. They both graduated from Rock Island high school. (Go Rocks) The rock group Queen was big at that time and the song “We Will Rock you” was played at every sporting event. This is where Jenny met her future husband and they had two wonderful children of their own, a girl and a boy.

When children leave home they start their own life circles and even though they are still your flesh and blood they move on. I always encouraged my kids to write down memories so they have them when they get old. Pictures are great but they don’t always tell you who is in them or what the reason for the picture was.

I am glad I was able to tell her children and grandchildren some of the background reasons for the pictures she had and to fill in some of the blanks about her childhood. Even though she is gone, she will always be in my heart along with her brothers and her husband who have gone before her.

Now that my circle gets smaller I lean on the one who is closer than a brother and who will never leave me or forsake me. He is the one who comforts me and helps me get through each day.

REST IN PEACE, JENNY. I WILL SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE.

I LOVE YOU,

MOM.

REMEMBER WHEN: WATERSKIING

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SUMMER FUN

Summer was the time of year when we got to have a family fun time. The crops were planted, the calves were born, and the children were out of school which meant we could get away as a family. My parents were friends with the neighbors down the road from us. We often got together for day trips to the lake. In the late 50s, you could find a spot to park a boat and picnic, not like today when every place contains a hotel or condo complex. There weren’t hundreds of boats and people everywhere.

The neighbors had a ski boat and we would go waterskiing around the lake. It looked easy to do, but actually, it takes some skill and practice to get up out of the water and ski without falling. The boys were good at it and could do tricks; turning around backward, doing a 360, turning all the way around, even skiing barefoot without skis jumping over wake waves. I was happy to just get up and ski without falling. The longest distance I ever skied was 3 miles up to the dam and back.

Dad wanted mom to go with him but she didn’t like getting her hair wet. She was happy to stay on the bank lay in the sun and read a book. Dad kept bugging her and our neighbor said he could teach her how to take off from the bank and land on the bank and never get wet. Dad said he would take her to dinner in town without kids if she would try. Mom said she would try. It took her a few times but she got the hang of it. She could ski all around the lake come back to our camping spot and never even get her suit wet.

Dad kept his promise and took her to a fine restaurant in town for a date night. I stayed home with the kids, got them dinner, and into bed. I felt all grown up having been given the responsibility. After that, they went out every so often to have time without us kids tagging along.

Dad said it kept them young, they always came home laughing and went straight to their room. After I grew up with a family of my own I understood what those together times meant and how important they are.

My parents loved the farm, us kids, and each other. I have lots of happy memories of those times. We lost dad when I was 14 and mom when I was 23, but those memories have kept us kids close. We get together as often as we can and keep in touch by phone.

Families are God’s main plan. Are you close to yours? If not, life is too short not to. Call them today and reconnect. You will be happy about it. Even if you are not on the greatest of terms; be the one to call. In this age of turmoil, your family can be a great comfort.