Lincoln per Morning Joe

On Morning Joe this morning, they had historian Doris Kearns Goodwin as a guest and they were discussing Abraham Lincoln and his influence on our country's history.  One of the things Ms Goodwin discussed how when Lincoln would get angry with people he would write letters and then set them aside, then move on.  He wouldn't sign the letters.  He wrote them to "vent"...to blow off steam...to deal with the problems in a tangible way.  By wrting these letters, he would "cool off".  These letters were never sent.  It was enough for him that he wrote them.

I chuckled and looked at my husband and said, "See.  When I get upset and rant and rave to you, you are being my unsent letters."  He just smile and said, "I know" in his calm and unassuming way.  Maybe for his peace of mind, and peace of habitat for that matter, I should resort to writing unsent letters instead?

Magazine Ad or Time Machine?

I was looking through the new issue of All You magazine when I came across an ad for a Cool Whip frosting (which, by the way, I am ready to try!).  There is a cake decorated with the words "Baby almost slept all night!"  The ad says SO GOOD, YOU'LL LOOK FOR REASONS TO CELEBRATE. Beyond being a great ad, it got my mind traveling back in time...back...back..back...to when I had my first baby.

We brought the little bundle home and gave him bunches of love.  But I was a Nervous Nelly mother.  I didn't know what I was doing!  My mom had to come over and show me how to diaper (cloth diapers back then) the lad.  Some people think that newborns are just little blobs of humanity that sleep, eat, and fill diapers.  But I'm here to tell you, they are much more then that.  They are smarter then we give them credit for!

In this case, my fear totally transmitted to the baby, and he wasn't about to sleep more then 2 hours at a whack!  I remember sitting up in the night with him, actually crying, and thinking "Will I ever get another full night's sleep?" 

Two babies and a few years later, and of course I did get many full nights sleep.  But this frosting ad reminded me of all that time...and gave me one final thought.  I am getting pretty old now, and there are nights, sleepless nights, that I sit up exhausted and think how much I would love to get another full night's sleep.  Isn't it funny how life comes around full circle?

Yes, I can relate!

Received this in today's emails.  Thought I should post it because, by golly, I can relate!

 

Should I Really Join Facebook? (Priceless)

When I bought my Blackberry, I thought about the 30-year business I ran with 1800 employees, all without a cell phone that plays music, takes videos, pictures and communicates with Facebook and Twitter. I signed up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their spouses, my 13 grand kids and 2 great grand kids could communicate with me in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space.

That was before one of my grandkids hooked me up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie and Twittererific Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that sends every message to my cell phone and every other program within the texting World.

My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything except the bowel movements of the entire next generation. I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my golf bag.

The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth [it's red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes and Noble talking to my wife and everyone in the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. I had to take my hearing aid out to use it, and I got a little loud.

I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside that gadget was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say, "Re-calc-u-lating." You would think that she could be nicer. It was like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then if I made a right turn instead. Well, it was not a good relationship...

When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me.

To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still haven't figured out how I lose three phones all at once and have to run around digging under chair cushions, checking bathrooms, and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings.

The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle on something themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time I check out just knocks me for a loop. I bought some of those cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused, but I never remember to take them with me.

Now I toss it back to them. When they ask me, "Paper or plastic?" I just say, "Doesn't matter to me. I am bi-sacksual." Then it's their turn to stare at me with a blank look.
I was recently asked if I tweet. I answered, No, but I do fart a lot."

We senior citizens don't need anymore gadgets. The TV remote and the garage door remote are about all we can handle.

Let Grandma Have Her Fun

So  last night after Pat and I sat down with Melissa's family for dinner, Robert Allen says to me, "Gramma, could you fix my pillow pet for me.  It has a rip in it."  So I told him I would sew it up for him. 

Didn't get to it till tonight around 6 ish.  Texted Melissa and told her Robert Allen's Pillow Pet was all sutured up.  He was ready to come home whenever they could get him.  So they send Robert Allen on his bike with a back pack to get his Pillow Pet. 

He came in, and it is hot outside, so I have him some cold koolaid type drink.  He gulped it down, stuffed his Pillow Pet into the backpack, and I told him "He didn't even cry when I stuck the needle in."  He smiled at me and rolled his eyes.

When he got home, Melissa sent me a text message to let me know he was back safe.  This is what she texted:  "He comes in and said Grandma said that Pillow Pet didn't cry when he got stuck with the needle. Grandma is silly, like the pillow pet is alive."  Melissa said she laughed then he said,  "Let Grandma have her fun."

Isn't that a hoot!?

Love
Dee

ENOUGH!!!

I’ve heard, and believe, all the positive affirmations about God and how he takes care of me:  “If God brings you to it, he will bring you through it.”  “God will not give you more than you and he, together, can handle” are a couple that I’ve heard, that I’ve said, and, yes, that I do believe.  But there are times…not that I would presume to tell God his business…but there are times when I want to shout, “OK!  THIS IS ENOUGH!!!”  Thing is, I have learned from those past experiences that when I feel like shouting that, unfortunately, it turns out that it isn’t enough…not nearly enough.  But in the end, it has always turned out according to His perfect plan.  It’s a hard thing to remember, though, when you feel like you have reached “enough”.

The Importance of Walking

Walking can add minutes to your life.
This enables you at 85 years old to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing home at $4,000 per month.