Marilynne's World

Elaine, me, Rich, Norma

After a wonderful family year, I’m feeling so satisfied with my life.  It feels good to be me.  I hope you are as satisfied as me.

I’ve been reading a Hallmark Gift Book through the holidays.  It’s titled “50 things that really matter.”  It’s been a thoughtful meditation.  Each “thing that really matters” comes with a few words explain why that person thinks it matters.  There are multiple authors each with their own insight.

I read about something and think on it.  I wonder about the author and how she/he got so smart.  I agree with almost everyone that this is something that matters.

In the photo I am 6 or 7.  Think about what mattered then: friends, home, food to eat, time to play.  Life was pretty easy.  Still, these things still matter to me, though in a more grownup way.

Some of the things that matter are listed below.  They aren’t in any sort of order.

• Old dogs
• Hope
• Candlelight
• Thunderstorms
• A good book (I like this one)
• Bubble baths
• Summer nights

The list goes on for fifty things.  The book lies on my nightstand.  I read a few articles at night before I sleep and sometimes when I wake up.  It gives me a calm mind as I prepare for sleep or to start the day.

The book was copyright in 2002 by Rodale Press.  It’s been sitting on my shelf unread for most of that time.  I think I didn’t pick it up to read it because it wasn’t important enough.  It had a simple plot.  I could read the whole thing between breakfast and lunch.  I was wrong.  Sometimes it’s the simple things that matter.

I am feeling refreshed after the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season.  I’m ready to meet the new year.

If you have a few minutes, tell me what things you think really matter.

Marilynne

December 29, 2010

A few of the things that come to mind for me are family, a good book, hugs and cats that want to sit on my lap!
Quadmama´s last blog ..What I Learned from Christmas

I hope you enjoy the Christmas holidays.  I certainly do.  This Christmas I want to share some of the wonderful things we did.  I hope you have an equal amount of fun to share with me.

In June, our granddaughter Brynne and her husband Niko flew from Finland to Lisa’s  home in Washington State.  They came to visit and to enjoy their long awaited US  wedding reception.  Of course we gathered the clan, as well as the many friends who were within driving distance.   The newlyweds are inseparable.  If they were more than an arm’s length away, some sort of force drew them together again.

We had a good time together.  Our granddaughter’s friends came over to meet Niko and to enjoy a BBQ.   They sat out around the fire talking for a long time.

Inside, the sisters were getting silly as they usually are when they get together.

We stayed at an old bed and breakfast where we had stayed as a family when Cindy was married.  We took an updated family photo while we were there to match one we had taken many years before.

We went shopping in Bellingham.  That was a surprise for me.  It has a really neat shopping district.  I managed the hills with a rest stop here and there.  They have a great farmer’s market there as well.

Not long after Brynne and Niko’s party, our granddaughter Alicia graduated from high school in Northern California.  This was definitely a big year for parties and our family getting together.

We stayed in a cabin in the woods and had a great time driving up and down the freeway between our cabin and Kathie’s home.

Alicia’s other grandmother, who lives in town, had a big party for Alicia and her friend.  We were beginning to like all these parties.

We had big family dinners together and played cards around her dining room table.  Our group gets rowdy when they’re together and this was no exception.

The big surprise after the party, after everyone had gone home, was to find out our daughter Kathleen was keeping a big secret.  We had been introduced to Angelo and thought he was her new boyfriend.  After all the parties, Kathie told us that she and Angelo had been married quietly in Reno and had decided to keep it a secret until after all the parties were over.  Yes, we were surprised.  We thought that this was a new relationship and so didn’t take the chance to know Angelo.  Were we ever wrong on that one.  The newlyweds are blissful.

Our grandson Holden is doing well in the Marines.  He’s now stationed in Okinawa and learning to scuba dive.

Alicia and Laura are in college.  Brandis has just bought her first home.  Our grandchildren are all growing up!

In the Spring I fell making a fancy maneuver over a misplaced chair and twisted my knee.  After having it thoroughly examined, I entered physical therapy.  For six months or more I was going to physical therapy one day and Curves the next day – when I was up to doing both.  It took a long time, but it was worth the effort and I can walk easily once again.  Now if I would just get out and walk more, that would help too.

In November Roy had the cataracts removed from both eyes.  It was fun watching him rediscover the world through his much better eyesight.  His eyes healed beautifully and he’s so glad he had it done.

I also entered NaNoWriMo again this year.  This is a challenge to write 50,000 words in the month of November with the idea of having a draft of a book when you finish.  I knew we were going to Florida for Thanksgiving and tried to finish before I left.  However, I finished the day after Thanksgiving, working on my laptop on Cindy’s table.  I enjoy the Nano challenge and will probably enter again next year.  The only prize is the feeling of accomplishment from meeting the challenge.

Things were fairly quiet until Thanksgiving when our daughters and ourselves decided to descend on Cindy in Florida for Thanksgiving.  I think we probably asked Cindy after the fact, but she was gracious and said we could come visit.

It’s a long ways from California and Washington to Florida but we all made it.  Kathleen even brought Angelo.  What an introduction that was!  When we were all together the party literally exploded with noise and laughter and everyone talking at once.  Cindy’s husband Roy usually cooks the meal, but he was incapacitated with a sore foot and just directed the cooking.  The rest of us pitched in. It’s a lot easier with lots of hands.

While in Florida we had an everlasting Canasta competition.  I don’t remember who was the Grand Master of Canasta in the end.  I know our grandson wanted to be, but he had some stiff competition.  Our family always seems to be in the mood for Canasta when we’re together.  It gets pretty noisy.

We visited the beach at Pensacola.  It’s a pretty white-sand beach.  There are no oil blobs because a little yellow tractor comes around now and then cleaning up the sand.  I’ll bet we know who’s paying him.  I appreciated it though.   We could just have fun and not worry about it.

This is what Florida sunshine in November does to those people who have snow at home.  One of our daughters is dressed because she’s about to go to the airport.  These are our grown daughters Lisa, Kathie, and Cindy.  The pool belongs to Cindy.

Merry Christmas

Marilynne and Roy

That’s what they called our meeting today, but that wasn’t what was in the air.  The eight people I met for the NaNoWriMo TGIO coffee were excited at having finished and talking about what they’re going to do now with those 50,000 words.  It was a stimulating meeting.

This was my second year and the second book I started with NaNoWriMo.  I’m pretty motivated to get this one done because I wrote a memoir for my kids.  I realize that even though my husband and I have been telling the same stories again and again through the years, the kids weren’t really listening a lot of the time.  If I put it in book form, they’ll have to listen – right?

One of the first problems I had to face was that I already know that my husband and I remember these events differently.  I’m sure the kids do too.  How do you deal with that?  By making it my own personal memoir, that’s how.  It’s written by me as I remember it.  You remember it differently?  Write your own book.

I’m taking a little time to rest up, but I’ll soon be back cleaning it up and adding photos.  I want to give each daughter a copy of the book.

Marilynne