Quotes

I love learning new quotes, whether they make me laugh or make me think seriously about my life, I like learning something new. Just take a look at the sidebar of this blog to see many of my favorite quotes. Look at the inside of my motorcycle trunk and you will see some rather off-color quotes that make me laugh and make anyone who happens to read them wonder if I really mean any of them. I get some of my favorite quotes from lyrics of songs. John Prine being my favorite in recent years. Look at a book I've read and you might see lots of highlighting, especially if it's a John Irving book. (sometimes it's hard to read a borrowed book that I can't highlight!)

Today I was enjoying my normal Sunday early afternoon ritual and watching CBS Sunday Morning News, which I DVR every week so I can watch it at my leisure after church. One of the features today was about a book about 80 year old people, containing interviews about how they see life at 80. Reporter Tracy Smith was interviewing several of the famous contributors, one being Norman Lear, who among other things is famous for his TV show "All In The Family". When asked "If you could do it over again......". I loved what he had to say, and I'm slightly paraphrasing here, but basically he said "I wouldn't trade anything.... If things go right at any given moment, everything that led up to it has to have been right. All the pain, all the agony, all the bad times. If you are living in the moment and the moment is great, everything that took you there is great"

I loved that! I realized that it's what I have been trying to live in my life in the last few years. Not to have any regrets, but to embrace my life and all that it has been in order to acknowledge that all my past has brought me to where I am today, a very content person! OH sure, I still have some money worries, I've lost some friends, my health isn't what I would like it to be at this stage but all in all, I'm so very happy where I am!! So what if I have some money worries, it makes me take stock of where I am and what is really important and needed in my material life. Sure, I've moved on from some friends, but many of my old friends are still there and even more precious then they were before and new friends are always around the corner to bring a new dimension to my life. My health? Yep, lots of time I ache, but I still get up everyday and go to work, I'm still riding my motorcycle and in the grand scheme of things, my body hasn't really failed me. I can still laugh and smile, l can cry and love, I might be depressed or giddy with joy. Life is good.

So if you like quotes and wonder where they came from , I found through a google search some websites including http://www.quotationspage.com/, where you can type in a quote and hopefully find out who is attribbed the quote. Another of my favorite quotes is "Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History". I was able to locate the author as Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (born July 11, 1938), who is a pre-eminent historian of early America and the history of women and a University Professor at Harvard University.

I am going to try to become a less well behaved woman as I age!

Labor Day?

Where the heck did August go????? I thought July had a nice pace, but August just flew on by.

Tomorrow my life returns to it's normal pace of working at school. I'll also start putting in "after hours" at Aspire to meet with staff who work the 2nd shift. I'm feeling tired already just thinking about it. I'm also playing for at least the rest of the month at my own church while they start the hunt for a new organist. I have already told them I will only be available for one Sunday in October.

The first weekend in October I'll be going to Nicki's for the Regan's annual Octoberfest. The second weekend I would like to go to WV for a Venturer's Ride-In but due to my taxman messing up my taxes, I have to pay some back taxes. (At least he will be paying all the penalties and late fees). The last weekend in October I'll be playing at St John's in Elma as well as the first weekend in November. I have also told them I will return for the winter as their organist, hopefully for the last time.

I started doing physical therapy in July and found out my back had several vertebrae that were not moving. After a couple sessions, one had broken loose and through treatments and exercise I'm living with a lot less pain.

The toughest part of the summer was learning that the man I have been dating/seeing since the beginning of the year, will be moving to NC in the near future as part of a job promotion. We have decided we will enjoy the time we have left together and then see what the future holds. He wants to give NC at least a year and I'm sure he will love it there. Drats, how I hate NC. OH well, I have decided I'm giving up on men (no I'm not becoming a Lesbian - no matter what my ex-husband wants to believe, asshole) but I have found I'm so content with my life now that I don't need a man to make my life complete. Oh yes, it's nice to have a warm body around from time to time, but I just don't think I need to have one around too much. I guess I always was more of a loaner then a people person.

My special friend Russ

Highlights of the summer? WOW, so many! The trip to Springfield, MO for the Women On Wheels (r) Ride-In. Seeing old friends, especially Kate and Liz Greenwood from Mulkeytown, IL and finding that travel by motorcycle with the extra wheels is still part of my life. Traveling to Nicki's for a couple concerts featuring Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Ray Price. Spending time with friends in Canton, OH to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of Pastor and Kate Knauff. Spending time with Russ whenever we had the free time. Working, smiling and keeping the bills paid. And a real highlight was meeting and traveling around the area with fellow Venturers JohnJr, an American living in Switzerland, Rudy from Germany, Romek from Poland and Mike from Ireland. What a blast!

From left to right, Romek, JohnJr, Rudy and Mike at Niagara Falls.

Another fun thing was having some new neighbors move into the area. After much research and debate, it was determined that my new friends are Cooper's Hawks. I haven't seen them lately, but then I haven't been around too much either. It will be interesting to see if they return to the area next summer.