Milestone Moments

That iPhone to the right is actually a creative Birthday Cake!  Neat huh?

We are celebrating a milestone moment later today with my grandson Eric's 16th birthday!  By the way, he got an iPhone!  And next month he will be driving.  It seems like just yesterday he was the tiny baby laying against my chest sleeping as I rocked and sang.  Wow!

I won't forget the day he was born, or the day we moved to Georgia to be closer to him.  I also won't forget today, when we will celebrate his sixteenth birthday.  In just two very short years he will be off to college and on to "grown up" life. 

I am not really sure why sixteen has always been such a milestone moment in a child's life.  It used to be for girls that we had "Sweet Sixteen" and never been kissed birthday parties.  I have my doubts that girls today reach sixteen without having been kissed!  I do remember my own sixteenth birthday party.  I also remember that I did get my first kiss just a few weeks before that happened.  I had a skating party at the local skating rink and my entire class from school was invited.  It was a really special night for me, as I had always been kind of a wallflower.  Not only did my whole class show up to celebrate with me, but my future husband gave me a beautiful heart shaped gold locket.  I was on cloud nine.  Definitely a milestone moment!

I understand a lot of girls still have those Sweet Sixteen birthday parties.  Good for them.  I hope their memories of that day are still as vivid as mine are some 49 years later!  I hope for each of them many, many milestone moments - Graduation Day from High School, the first day at College, Graduation from College, Marriage, the births of their children.  And then the cycle will begin again and the milestone moments will be watching their children experience these same things.

Treasure these "Milestone Moments."  They slip by entirely too quickly.  Retirement and moving to the Gulf is the next moment I am looking forward to.  There I will craft, paint and just enjoy the beauty of the Emerald Green Gulf as I watch the Milestone Moments in the lives of my children and grandchildren.  All treasures of the heart.

Birthdays and Bellyaches

Today is my Birthday...one of many, many of those!  I have been blessed in so many ways.  I have four healthy grown children, and seven healthy grandchildren.  My life has not been without adversity, but through Faith and fortitude I have grown and am still continuing to grow and thrive.

I firmly believe you are NEVER to old to learn new things, and to try new things.  Today, a sweet neighbor and friend is going to introduce me to the game of Bridge.  I have been reading for two days how to play.  It seems it is quite complicated, but I WILL learn how to do it.  And you know what?  I am going to ENJOY learning this difficult game and exercising my brain.

I believe that learning and doing are important in keeping you young at heart.  You can't stop the body from aging, but you can slow it down with exercise and diet, but that good old brain needs stimulation to keep it operating smoothly. 

Resources for Sciences Learning, by the Franklin Institute states:

"Your brain is a thinking organ that learns and grows by interacting with the world through perception and action. Mental stimulation improves brain function and actually protects against cognitive decline, as does physical exercise.
The human brain is able to continually adapt and rewire itself. Even in old age, it can grow new neurons. Severe mental decline is usually caused by disease, whereas most age-related losses in memory or motor skills simply result from inactivity and a lack of mental exercise and stimulation. In other words, use it or lose it."

Yep, that's right USE IT OR LOSE IT.  Now, I don't know about you, but I want to exercise those old neurons, and grow new ones.  

Here is a link which can help you understand why this is important:  http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/exercise.html

So, today on my Birthday, I am going to learn something new.  I am going to stimulate those neurons, and try to create a few new ones.  I plan to keep learning as long as I live.  I would like to encourage EVERYONE to do the same.  

You can teach an Old Dog New Tricks!

Have a blessed day filled with Peace, Love and Joy!

 

Leprechauns and Dolphin Watching

Granpa Leprechaun and Ashlyn

Part of our ritual on every trip to Okaloosa Island is a visit to McGuire's Irish Pub.  As you can see, they also have a gift shop which always manages to catch a few of our dollars before we leave.  McGuires has really great food, and they give you a LOT of it.  It ranges from great, big, flavorful burgers to traditional Shepherds Pie and Fish and Chips.  Of course, there is always Beer for those who care to indulge.

The girls love the one dollar bills hanging from the ceiling walls, and just everywhere inside the building.  It is estimated there are over a million one dollar bills hanging in there!  Quite a site.

This year we also went on a dolphin excursion (two hours) on the Southern Star.  If you have children this is the dolphin cruise of choice...they are very family oriented and there is no alcohol aboard.  They let the kids who wish to do so "steer" the boat with a Captain's hat on.  The girls got a kick out of that.  They also have a treasure chest for the children to choose something before they go ashore.  The dolphin pod we caught up with was very active and had dolphins from baby to grandma in the pod. Liv stood on the front of the boat "Titanic Style" with her arms spread wide and declared that she could fly!  That one is a girl after my own heart!

Today we are going to celebrate Lucille and Kevin's birthdays (actually tomorrow) at Tropical Flava...our favorite local restaurant.  Great Caribbean food and festive atmosphere.  Lucy will be 95 tomorrow and Kevin with be 56. 

I haven't even been home 24 hours yet and I am missing the Gulf and Okaloosa Island.  The sound of the emerald colored crystalline waves as they beat upon the snow white quartz sand is so peaceful and relaxing.  The sea has so many moods, and each one is as beautiful and fascinating as the one before.  One morning it was so calm and flat and there were little sand islands all over.  The children got to see rays come up and feed on the bottom of the sandy shore...it was amazing.

The next day a storm had whipped the waves into a frenzy and the tide was higher than usual...no more little sand islands or rays but beautiful crashing foamy waves!

We all left Okaloosa with beautiful memories and we will go back again next year to celebrate.  I am planning on visiting my youngest son in Ft. Lauderdale for a couple days between now and Christmas, so I will get a few more of those Florida rays before the first of the year. 

For Christmas I am giving Kevin (actually for Christmas and his Birthday) a trip to Pittsburgh for New Years to visit his sisters.  He is looking forward to that.  I am a little nervous about having four days alone here with Lucy, but we will probably be okay.  I won't get any sleep however!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday with family and/or friends wherever you were.  We have so much to be thankful for. 

The traffic out on Interstate 75 today is extremely heavy with so many people heading home today, I pray they all arrive safely.  The airports are also crammed with people going home.  Be careful everyone!

Relfections on Birthdays Past

My oldest Son will be 44 years old tomorrow! Now if you don't think this blog applies to you, listen up. Before you know it that little baby you are holding in your arms will be 40 in the blink of an eye. It seems like only yesterday that Cliff was riding on that old red tractor with Harold (who passed away some years back after battling Parkinsons) and his sister Wendy. I don't know where all those years went, but now Cliff has two boys of his own (one of whom is already 15, the other is 8) and I am a great grandmother of two!

I am saying all of this to remind you to take each day as it comes, and enjoy every minute of it. Not all of the days will be easy, but some of them will be spectacular. Like the time when Cliff was just a little guy playing Little League in Berlin, Maryland. He wanted a pair of cleats (they were expensive) and I told him on the way to his game that day that I would buy him a pair of cleats when he hit his first home run. Well, I didn't get to wait long, as that day at the end of the game the kid not only hit a home run, but hit the winning home run. I laughed, cried and sighed and was so proud all at the same time. That was nearly forty years ago, and I still remember it so clearly.

Now, we go to the boys soccer games and root them on and cheer when they are successful and comfort them when the game goes the other way. I am so proud of them. They are growing up to be great kids who will soon be great adults, and I enjoy the time I have to spend with them. I have four children and seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren. I can remember when someone used to say something happened twenty years ago, and how long a time that seemed. Now I realize how easily that time slips away.

Don't rush it. Enjoy each and every day and whatever it brings. Tell your family how much you love them every chance you get. Be generous with hugs (in spite of the fact that the boys sometimes seem a little embarrassed by them)and with praise. Share joy, recipes, memories and just plain old fashioned fun. Time is short!