Turn, Turn, Turn

 

On a Walmart run in late summer, I was almost overwhelmed by the sight of Halloween decorations, costumes, and shelves upon shelves of candy. Then, on my way to the pharmacy, I spied Christmas Decorations. According to Ecclesiastes, “To every thing there is a season…” To be blunt, summer is not the season for Christmas.

So the song, “Turn, Turn, Turn” swirled through my thoughts. Pete Seeger composed the song in 1959 almost verbatim from the wisdom found in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Seeger said these were the most important words he had ever latched on to, and that the melody leaps the barriers of language, politics, and religion.

We all know religions that seem to place high importance on a particular part of the Bible, and that section serves as the centerpiece of their beliefs. Thanks to the song, “Turn, Turn, Turn” people worldwide heard about the verses that describe the ebb and flow of life. Although the terms seem contradictory, often life itself is paradoxical.

Each year we have four seasons, and sometimes those seasons are applied to life: Spring is thought of as the beginning of life. Summer represents our youth. Autumn can be compared to adulthood beginning with brilliant colors and fading away in time. Winter, well, we all know winter is the last season. But true to the circle of life, winter is followed by the new birth of Springtime.

Whether we learned of the many seasons of life from the Bible or the song, apparently, life is full of contradictions and yet there is a purpose for everything under heaven.

The bookends of life are birth and death. Between birth and death, everything changes or turns. To nourish our bodies we plant food and harvest it. At one time, the only way to put meat on the table was to kill, but animals used for food needed to be healthy.

Physically and mentally, we may have to tear down that which is no longer useful and build a better version. Emotionally, we know that life is filled with laughter and tears. Sometimes we mourn our losses and other times we dance for joy.

Life is a cycle of gathering earthly treasures, but knowing that we can lose them in a heartbeat. We all know that a time will come when we seriously have to know what to keep and what we need to throw away.

 In relationships, we learn when to embrace and when to keep our distance. We learn the fine art of knowing when to speak and when to keep silent. Love and hate are closer emotions than most of us would ever want to admit. Some relationships need to be mended, while others cannot be salvaged and are torn asunder.

Our lives involve many struggles as we deal with our personal health problems or those affecting  people we love, or both. As we age, we may need a caregiver or may be a caregiver. Another paradox is that being a caregiver can be detrimental to our health, or it may be our incentive to keep moving even when we don’t feel like it.

No matter how bad the situation, we can look around and find someone who is worse off than we are. We see devastation from natural disasters where shell-shocked people will feel fortunate to be alive.

War wreaks havoc on innocent and guilty alike, yet the Bible says that there is a time for war. There is also a time for peace. I agree with the line Pete Seeger added, “I swear it’s not too late.”

 Copyright © September 2024 by L.S. Fisher

http://earlyonset.blogspot.com

#ENDALZ #Walk2EndAlz

Tend to Your Own Heart

I was reading an article about resolving conflict and among all the scenarios and advice, the words that slipped off the page and into my brain were “tend to your own heart.” The words kept bouncing around like a mantra until I decided to explore the words mentally.

We are faced daily with contentious opinions on every subject imaginable. Of course, this close to an election, it is easy to find an argument without even looking. The entire political climate is volatile with strong words erupting from all directions.

 Insults and shouting is not going to change anyone’s mind whose opinion is set in stone. Apparently, reality is based on personal opinion and cherry-picked facts or pseudo facts. Two sides to every story has turned into an octagon with two being opposing opinions and the other six being conspiracy theories.

The only way to inner peace is to tend to your own heart. When you know your opinions rest easy in your soul, you are on the right track.

During many times and situations throughout life, it is important to tend to your own heart. A caregiver must tend to his or her own heart on a daily basis. If you immerse your entire being into tending to the wants and needs of another, you risk not only losing your own health, but also your sense of self.

A conscientious caregiver wants to be the best care partner possible, but to take care of another, you must also take care of yourself. No one can be on duty twenty-four hours a day and stay healthy. A must for a caregiver is respite—a time for relaxation and relief from the overwhelming responsibility of becoming a lifeline for another human.

 Another time to tend to your own heart is when you have lost a loved one. During a recent conversation with my son, we agreed that my sister-in-law, his aunt, died from a broken heart. When the love of her life passed away, she lost the will to live.

Within the past week, I personally know two people who lost their beloved spouses. I really believe that both of them will tend to their own hearts and embrace a changed world. It isn’t necessary to stop loving someone you lost, but important to keep on loving your family and friends who are still living. Grief doesn’t go away, but it becomes manageable when you focus on the future while cherishing your memories.

The happiest people are the ones who have confidence they can deal with any situation life throws at them. A positive attitude allows you to move forward no matter what adversity you face in life. Tending to your own heart will make you a stronger, happier person.

Copyright © September 2024 by L.S. Fisher

http://earlyonset.blogspot.com

#ENDALZ #Walk2EndAlz

Why I Walk

I walk for Jim. I think I loved him from the first day we met. I felt as if I had found the other half of my soul.

It was by chance that Jim was in Missouri since he spent most of his growing up years in the Northwest. Jim loved to travel, and we often went to Oregon to visit his relatives and childhood places. Later, we went to Estes Park and the Rocky Mountains annually.

Jim was a talented musician who loved to play his Fender guitar and sing country songs. I remember one time I videotaped him with our gigantic video camera singing “Colorado” while chipmunks and tourists stopped everything to soak up the sunshine, clear mountain air, and melody.

Jim’s life was cut short when he developed dementia at forty-nine. He passed away in 2005 after ten years living with a disease that robbed him of his talents, sense of humor, and insightful conversation.

Jim lives in my memories and dreams, and I know he is not forgotten by his family and friends. We need to stop this disease before more families go through the pain and loss of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia.

More than 600 walks are held across the country. If you cannot come to Sedalia, join a walk near your hometown. Walk for Jim. Walk for your loved ones. Walk for the more than seven million people living with Alzheimer’s and the eleven million unpaid caregivers.

This year for the 27^th time, Jim’s Team will walk for a different future.

 

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Click Jim’s Team to join or donate

Link to the Sedalia Walk alz.org/sedaliawalk

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 Photo courtesy of Kevin Walker 2023 Sedalia Walk to End Alzheimer's

Copyright © September 2024 by L.S. Fisher

http://earlyonset.blogspot.com

#ENDALZ #Walk2EndAlz

Old School

 

I’ve not been able to work out of my office downstairs because the wifi won’t reach it. Although a portion of the work I do doesn’t require wifi, it comes in handy for reference. Recently, I moved into Harold’s old office, and he set up shop at a worktable in the bedroom.

Harold has occupied this office since the house was built, and it has various computers, equipment galore, shelves upon shelves of computer books, a full file cabinet, two TVs, a multitude of CDs, and various items too numerous to mention.

I’ve begun trying to carve out a usable workspace. Not knowing where to start, I began on the wire shelves. I soon realized that that was a humongous job, so I looked at the bookshelf. I know I’m going to have to work really hard to get Harold to let go of his program manuals that line almost every shelf of the bookcase and several of the wire shelves.

Then, I noticed his old college textbooks were on the bottom shelf. With full confidence that he wouldn’t want to browse a book on physics, chemistry, graphics (about actual graphs!), analytic geometry, programming in Fortran IV, and a dozen other equally boring subjects. Much to my delight, he said I could pitch them.

Nothing speaks old school like outdated textbooks or outdated equipment. Although we, like most other people, disconnected our house phone, but one of us wouldn’t pitch all the old phones and phone equipment. I found an old address book that had a sliding alphabet. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to pop it open. I’m sure there wasn’t an address or phone number less than 30 years old.

When we look into boxes that have been packed away, we find “old school” outdated items, but we can also uncover treasures. I recently went through a box we found in the shop at the rental house. I found a comic book from the 60s, two old cameras still in the boxes, letters from Burma during WWII, postcards from all over the US, and a variety of other memorabilia. The best find, as far as I’m concerned, was a pilsner beer glass that has become my go-to water glass.

Throughout life, many of us have an abundance of old school treasures that others can easily identify as junk. I’ve always been a packrat, but Jim was a minimalist at heart. I believe that moving around a lot as a kid, he learned to choose what was important enough to move with him.

Jim’s idea of getting rid of excess baggage has been known to get him into trouble, especially with me. When we moved from a two-story farmhouse to a mobile home, Jim was heartless in selling our furniture to a second-hand store.

We moved only the furniture and belongings that would fit into the mobile home and a small storage shed. Over time, the shed leaked and ruined some of the items stored in it. One day, while I was at work, Jim enlisted the help of my sister-in-law to help him clean out the shed. They discarded the wet, mildewed objects and put aside the undamaged ones. As payment, Jim gave her my good set of dishes. I was furious, but he pointed out that we never used them and the plates were too flat. I couldn’t argue with that kind of logic.

So often it’s out of sight, out of mind. We find ourselves burdened with unusable junk that either sentiment or indecision keeps us from discarding.

If only the clutter of life itself was as easy to discard as old textbooks, life would be simpler. Instead, we cling to our burdens and worries until we are drowning in them. If we can convince ourselves to let go and look to the future with hope and optimism, we find the life preservers that will keep us from drowning in despair.

Life is more complex now. The tools that were meant to make life easier often make our lives more challenging. In our wildest dreams, we never envisioned a world where cell phones and social media meant we would be constantly in contact with the world.

Old school carries a sense of nostalgia. Our past is what makes us what we are today. We remember the world before Google gave us instant answers to all our questions, and we marveled at life’s mysteries. We’ve gained instant gratification, but we’ve lost the magic of using our imaginations and God-given talent to ponder the endless possibilities.

Copyright © August 2024 by L.S. Fisher

http://earlyonset.blogspot.com

#ENDALZ