However, I'm not complaining, just observing and appreciating. I am very grateful to my Tyler kids, Lane and Kathy, and Currie, for their considerable generosity that helps me stretch the bucks, from reduced rent, to fill-ups and WalMart trips. Big help. I'm fairly proud of myself for remembering some old single mom tricks, like pasta casseroles that make pretty good eating even three (or four) days in a row. I can stay out of stores. I can watch my credit card debt inch up and not panic. I can dump a pricey Internal Medicine Clinic and opt for a friendly Family Medicine place. If you know me you know that getting in the car and heading out is one of my favorite solutions to any problem. Not so much now.
Here's the upside:
This is Kyndall Grace, the youngest of my eleven grandchildren.
And if I'm gone tomorrow, she will remember me. We spend some time every week doing something special. Very often it includes taking pictures and usually of something in nature.
Sometimes its just singing silly songs in the car, or reading her newest book. KGB, as I call her, is in Kindergarten but she's a reading machine. She is also a counting machine. You know, everyone of my grandchildren may have been as bright and funny as she is, but she's the one I am getting to know. And she knows me.
That is a gift.
There are many gifts here in greater Tyler, an adorable house on two acres with a bazillion birds, a kid who appreciates my cooking and cleaning, a wonderful new church family that makes my heart sing, (better than listening to me sing!) it is a really beautiful part of Texas, a little chilly, a lot hilly, and covered with sumptious plants and flowers and trees.
When I start to worry about making ends meet I remind myself that the important ends are meeting and there's a lot more to old age than making ends meet.
As Currie is inclined to say, "Thank you Father."
Sal, in my opinion you have riches beyond anything money can buy. I'll bet you wouldn't trade your family for all the gold in the world. In the meantime, practice my procrastination therapy: anything worth worrying about (like making ends meet) will still be there to worry about tomorrow, so don't sweat it now.
ReplyDeleteBTW, in case you're wondering about this "Mr. Toast" fellow, it's Alan. I've had this moniker since starting my Blogger blog back many years ago. If you'd like to give it a read, it's at "http://windinthewire.blogspot.com". There's a fair amount of politics there from the end of the George Bush era, not much about Obama, but I also got into some philosophical posts about life in general and my (then pending and very indefinite) lung transplant in particular that might be worth a look. I haven't posted anything significant in years and I keep telling myself I'm going to but haven't. See? There's that procrastination thing again. Anyway, I like your writing and will tune back in for updates.