I don’t usually blurt out things like this. I actually try to maintain SOME modesty, now and then. But A Momentous Occasion is rushing toward me, and I find I need to comment on it.
On Wednesday, I will turn sixty years old. There…..I said it. I’m not upset by this; it’s more a case of wondering just what “sixty” is. Despite the aches and pains, and working a little slower than I used to, my brain still thinks I’m in my thirties
I don’t sleep quite as well as I used to, well, at night at any rate. I carry more weight than I should, and I creak and ache a bit more than I did when I was thirty, but my brain seems to think there haven’t been any changes. Until this summer, I used to find myself out on my hands and knees gardening for hours at a time. Or, I’d work all day long, and then spend the evenings looking for more things to do, like laundry or dishes, or quilting. It would be safe to say that I don’t work at full tilt for 16 hours a day any longer.
I’ve made a few changes. I wear more comfortable clothes and I buy UGLY SHOES. Of course, I buy those ugly shoes because I want shoes that are comfortable. I’ve given up heels completely, and I look for great arch support. Foot care has become really important.
I have begun eating oatmeal each morning. I add cinnamon and a little brown sugar, but at 5:30 in the morning I need a little incentive to have breakfast. I realize that the cinnamon I have in the house may not be the variety which has the health benefits, so I plan to do a little research to find the proper product, and then I will be doing TWO good things at one time.
I have gotten to the point where I can get up between 5:00 and 5:30 without being rousted out of bed. I like early morning when the house is quiet, and I can get the day started without having to talk to anyone other than Dear Husband, who is a fairly quiet person all day long.
I need to work on being in bed at 9:00, learning how to tape programs that air at 8:30 or in the evening, and reorganizing my going to bed ritual so that it’s all accomplished before lights out has passed. Moisturizing has become a MUCH more important part of my life, and I’m not very good about it. (Thank you, Nan, for the lovely incentive! *S*)
Probably the biggest change over the past decade is my focus on family. They may not be aware that anything has changed, but I’m trying to find ways to let my family know that I think about them and love them. I’m aware the passing of time, and with each day, those days I have left to spend with family become more precious.
So…what’s sixty? Darned if I know, but I plan to jump in with both feet, and meet it running! *S*
Daily Archives: October 6, 2008
Gardening
What’s the equivalent of a couch potato for a gardener?? Whatever it is, I’ve been one this year. I usually come to a screeching halt in mid or late July, and then resume my chores in mid-September when it’s cooler, but this year I have relied on others to do what little gardening got done.
I’d be the first to recognize that I have other responsibilities, but I’m not even dead-heading along the sidewalk. I was looking out the kitchen window at my herb garden, ruing that it’s so overgrown. I think I may start putting it to bed a bit early this year. It would be lovely to spend an hour in the gardens each day. I can time it so that the care giver is with Mother, and then just go and cut back a little bit of the garden at a time.
Earlier this year I was working on the oregano, which wants to take over the entire garden. I shear it back to very low mounds as it begins to grow in the spring, and trim it back at least once, if not twice more during the summer. I was trying to figure out why one bunch of oregano was sitting so much higher than the others, when I realized that the bunnies had burrowed in under it and made themselves at home. Drat! That explains why the bunnies are so quick to chew every little start that comes up. They’re sitting right there waiting for it to grow up through the dirt!
At any rate, I miss the gardens. I think I’ll have to work them back into my schedule