A salute to Sparrow Chic

You may have noticed that I often get glowing comments from my biggest fan Sparrow Chic. Well, she is my oldest daughter and an incredibly loving person.

This picture was taken at her 50th birthday party earlier this year. In those fifty years, she has been the consummate caretaker for everyone she knows. If anyone needs a friend, assistance or a shoulder to cry on, she is always there for strength and support.

She has helped family members through stressful times and then gracefully steps back when the need is gone. She continues to maintain close relationships with many friends and relatives. She sometimes functions as the "information hub" for family members spread around the state. She loves to tell us how lucky we are to have such a close family because she knows so many people who don't get along with theirs. Yet, in many ways, she is the glue who makes our close family a reality.

She is a champion organizer as well, planning events for church, Boy Scouts, Sunday School, Youth Group and our family get-togethers. Her sisters sometimes get a chuckle out of her tendencies to be a "mother hen".

We are thankful to have her in our family and I am very proud of my little Sparrow Chic!

Things that make me go "wow"!

Hardly a week goes by that something doesn't "knock my socks off". Living my simple life in the middle of the continent doesn't isolate me from all the remarkable things our planet has to offer.

There is so much beauty to be discovered and so much knowledge to be gained. Sometimes I wish I could have been Jane Goodall or Dian Fossey. They accomplished so much that I am in utter awe of them.

I am so grateful for all the explorers, anthropologists, paleontologists, scholars and scientists of every ilk for expanding our knowledge of our fascinating world.

Thinking and thanking

I'm thankful for all the wonderful photos and illustrations available online. (I find this one particularly appealing.) I love to browse through Google Images or Yahoo Image Search and all the other sites that offer pictures of every description.

So, even though I'll never travel to Ireland, I can still enjoy its beauty.

I am not in pain

This is a biggie in things to be thankful for. There have been periods in my life when I had a lot of pain from my bad hip joints and sciatica. However, because of the blessings of modern medicine, I've had both hip joints replaced and I can get occasional epidural steroid injections to relieve the sciatica.

Since I retired, I no longer get stress headaches. I used to come home from work and take a nap to get through the rest of the day. I now sleep as late as I want (barring hungry kitties waking me for breakfast) and I stay up as late as I want. I can get out to go places and do things and I love it.

My heart goes out to all those with chronic pain. I know how pain colors everything in your life and takes away the joy. It takes away your purpose and feelings of self-worth, and it even haunts you for a long time after it has gone.

So, I am enjoying this pain-free period of my life while it lasts, because nothing lasts forever.

I'm thankful for student loans

I am so thankful for the student loan and grant programs! If they didn't exist, I could never have gotten a degree or paid for my four kids to get post-secondary education. (My second-oldest daughter and I graduated from college just one week apart.)

Imagine where our country would be if only those students with wealthy parents could get a college education. We'd be living in an elitist society where blue-blood idiots would be making the decisions how our society should be run.

Thankfully, democracy reigns and we can all be as educated or as ignorant as we want to be! Now that's what I call Freedom!

A Big Thank You

Today is the day when we give thanks for the men and women in the armed forces.

More than that, we give thanks to them!

We can never even begin to know how much they have enriched our freedoms and our lives. And, we can never truly know what the cost was to them and their loved ones.

Welcome to Culver's

Yesterday we ventured up Rice Street to go shopping at the Dollar Tree Store. (There's always something we need at Dollar Tree.)

When we got to the corner where we turn into the strip mall, there was a brand new Culver's restaurant fully erected in just the last several weeks. I let out a whoop for joy! I just love Culver's and always had to go a ways to find one. Now there's one just a mile or so away.

This is a mixed blessing, of course. Culver's was special because it was an occasional thing. Now that it's close to home, maybe it will become no more special than a McDonald's (the bottom of the heap when it comes to eating out). Since I rarely go out to eat, I guess there's little danger that I'll get jaded.

I am pleased and thankful to have one nearby. The food is good and inexpensive and it's a great place to take grandkids. What more can one ask for?