The Brighter Side of Life!

[Sue]

Hi Jill,

Our place was in Manzanita, south of Cannon Beach.  Lots of memories there, that's for sure.  We had two cats and one dog when we had our place.  We'd all go for walks near our house, even the cats!  When they were just putting in the golf course below our house, we'd all go down there to walk and explore. We were standing in one area and sampling some wild blackberries and that's when we saw our dog, very carefully eating blackberries and avoiding the stickers.  I thought that was the funniest thing! 

We were able to bring one child into the world, a son...so all our eggs are in one basket, as it were. I guess we should have worked harder to get a second child, although that's no guarantee for grandkids per your reply!  My husband's brother has 3 kids....no grandkids from them either. *sigh*   It would be fun to have some little ones at the family gatherings. It's kind of boring with just us old folks and the X-generation and no babies to play with. Our son has a German Shepard that we love on, and when they got a Chihuahua, you'd think we
stuck gold!  She's the baby of the family but she doesn't cuddle much anymore...too busy.   

Such is life.  Anyway...memories are nice too.  You just remember the fun times with the pets and not all the times that weren't so fun.

Sue

[Gennysmom]

Jill Marie, great thread!  I get so lost in this huge forum now, sometimes I miss out.  Glad I found it.

One of my favorite things is to sit outside and listen to the birds.  I have 3, and since I got them my interest in all things birds has increased ten fold.  Before my surgery, I got a CD set of Western State bird call identification.  I figured if I could do nothing else, I could use my recovery time to sit outside and hear the beautiful voices and be able to identify them even if I couldn't see them.  Well, as it turned out, I had my surgery July 5th and couldn't tolerate bright light because of my paresis, so I didn't do that then, but I love to fill my days with it now.  The thing that I am thankful for this tumor is that it forced me to clean off my busy plate, keep it clean, and also effect me enough cognitively that instead of going to a park and thinking "I need to get the bills paid, the floor scrubbed, and I need to remember to.....", I can go to a park and think "la la la, look at the pretty flowers and blue sky".  It's not that I've become a simpleton, but I find that having some short term memory affected has made me more calm and able to enjoy things so I don't think of anything but enjoying the moment. 

I am one of those darn only children that did not procreate, so I have no grandchildren either.  I love to travel and plan to keep that up....I also try to live greenly, so I just will have to see how many eco-lodges I can find in the middle of nowhere...because after the surgery, that is where I want to be.  Quietness and serenity are my new friends, and I tell ya, how bad could that be?

[Sue]

Kathleen, you are too young to be a grandmother anyway!!   

We have lots of birds in our backyard now.  Robins everywhere, finches flitting about, hummingbirds guzzling down the "juice", ocassional sqawking of crows, and the cry of hawks now and then. We've even had a Western Tanager show up a couple of times!  We have most of all the "backyard" birds roaming around...even Downy woodpeckers.  There are a pair of doves in the neighborhood also and you can hear them coo-coo-coo and sometimes they are in our yard. 

Have fun bird watching!

Sue in Vancouver

[Jill Marie]

Sue & Gennysmom you would have loved our bike ride this week.  My husband & I went on a 20 mile roundtrip bike ride afterwork. There is a bike/walk/rollerblade/horse path called the Cenntenial Trail about a mile from our home.  The trail is about 30 miles long.  Most of the trail that we rode along follows the Spokane River so we can watch those floating down the river in their rafts, kayaks & canoes.  Along the way we saw bunny rabbits & rock chucks also known as Marmots, the part I like the best was seeing all the birds (don't know the names like you two do) and hearing them chirp and some seem to whistle at me, I took that as a compliment, he, he!  When we got home I made a VERY quick dinner and took the rest of the evening off!     

[Richey]

It is good to hear some positive things. I was down for a while after my last MRI but I have come to understand that I have much to be thankful for and heard from a number of you that I should not be complaining about not getting all the results from my treatment that I expected. Anyway along the lines that have been expressed here I would like to say that my Wife and I have had great pleasure the last couple of years feeding the birds in the back yard. We have a pretty wide variety and they love the birdbath. This year we have had some wrens in our bluebird house that hard four eggs hatch and now we have the bluebirds with eggs in the house. They are so pretty and such a contrast to the many red cardinals that visit. Today I pressure washed the patio for painting and had to move a couple of the bird feeders. The birds got upset, they are very programmed after feeding at the same place for a while.

Thanks for the good vibes,

Rich

[Jill Marie]

Hi Rich,

There was a thread going for a while about venting and quite a few of us took advantage of it, there you would be welcome to complain about not getting the results you were hoping for from your treatment.  Sometimes we just need to be able to let the frustrations out even when we have lots to be thankful for.  After you have vented the fog lifts and you can see the, Brighter Side of Life.  It's wonderful when you realize the simple enjoyment of watching birds in a birdbath and care enough to notice that your painting has disturbed the birds daily routine.  When we walk the dogs my husband is the one that always has the eyes and ears ready to detect birds and other creatures, I would miss a lot if he wasn't there.  Jill

[johnsli]

I just got my results through my email from my dr.  My AN has remained unchanged.  Will have another MRI in Late December or Early January.  That is the brighter side of my life.  Now I can relax a little.  Wait for my grandson to be born in late August to join my two beautiful granddaughters, 5 and 3.  Go to Knoxville TN for the junior olympics for baton twirling, which was up in the air, and be able to sing and act in the next three performances in my theatre group and my chuch.  That is what is important to me.  My husband went back to work after 71/2 years since his accident.  GOD is Great.  I have a much more positive attitude since reading the posts on this forum.  My hope and faith are much stronger.  God will not give you more than you can handle.

LOL
Laura

[marg]

I am 6 weeks after AN surgery and enjoying so many things.... long walks with my husband again, my 2 adult daughters living at home until September, the sunny days we have been blessed with (I live in South West Washington state----- we really appreciate the sun when we get it  ), The ability to still hear the birds with my 'good ear'... and mostly having survived the AN surgery so I can appreciate all these things and more.
 
   I have discovered that even with all the adjustments to be made after surgery on a daily basis ...  I am blessed and

LIFE IS GOOD                                                       LIFE IS GOOD                                                                        LIFE IS GOOD
Margaret
     

[Battyp]

Jill marie I'd need training wheels for a 20 mile bike ride!

Marg great attitude!

Sue I told my son he had to have three kids since I only was blessed with one. I wanted lots of grandbabies to spoil.  Of coure I requested he finish college first  LOL 

[bikerchic]

This is a great thread.

I just like being outside.  I was admiring our neighbors new hydrangea plant it has a flower the size of my head.  They just planted it last fall and I told my husband that would be a great plant to cut.  He looked at me like I was crazy.  We have hydrangeas in our back yard I think they look so beautiful that I can't cut my own.  Oh well just a little guilty pleasure.  My roses are coming up great to and I can't bring myself to cut them other than to dead head.  When ever I am outside I have to run over by them just to smell them.  The simple things in life are great.

Mel

[Gennysmom]

Marg, where do you live...there's a few of us probably not too far from you!  And Jill Marie, need to get over to your side of the state!  I feel guilty for not visiting my friend near Reardon/Davenport, but it's out in the boonies with 2 kids under 3 and I just don't think I'm ready to do that yet. 

My backyard birds are a family of Stellar's Jays...it's so funny because the young have fledged and have real scratchy not yet ready for prime time voices...There's the telephone bell like Dark-eyed Junco, the similar Rufus sided Towhee...2 kinds of Chickadee's with their chicka-de-de-de-de and fi fi fi, crows, starlings, robins, and the great sounds of the Flickers, the black-capped and song sparrows and occasionally there's the voice of a flycatcher.  1/2 of those I learned on sounds alone.  Oh, and the nuthatch's nasal ank-ank.  I love to lie in bed in the morning and count how many different voices I hear.  I may be deaf in one ear and cringe at most human sounds, but all stresses are melted away at the sounds of my friendly outdoor neighbors! 

[Rc Moser]

Seeing my boy graduate from College, Seeing him get a PhD in Synthetic Organic Cemistry.  Finding a good job and now a good relationship .  Living long enough to become a Grandpa ,  Could happen in the near future, they have a June 08 wedding planned.  And of course a few more  years with my spouse and on this earth. What else could I possible want

[Jill Marie]

We took our new camp trailer on our maiden voyage a couple of weeks ago and didn't have any problems, cant wait to do it again.  The bed folds out on the end of the trailer so you feel like your camping in a tent without the bumpy ground underneath and the bathroom isn't a few yards away during the night.  Our first trip was to a family reunion that we've attended for 24 years, every year is fun in a different way.  This year my sister Rhonda bought some color bright bracelets at the dollar store, they come in different colors and glow in the dark.  She taped them to her clothes so it looked liked the outline of a body when it was dark.  She danced and moved around as we requested, obviously you would have to see it to appreciate it, it was like looking at a stick figure.  If you like to camp it's a great one for entertaining all the ages.  We also used the glow sticks to light our way from the group campsite to our individual camp spots. 

In a couple of days my Dad & I are heading for Pittsburgh to attend a WWII Reunion.  We attended our first one in 2000 and it was the first time I flew on a plane and the first time I went somewhere without my husband since my Tumor surgery.  I was use to him taking care of me and there I was taking care of my Dad.  We had a really great time and have been to one in San Antonio, St. Louis, WA D.C., Louisville & now Pittsburgh. Will post the highlights when I get back. 

Enjoy your Summer! Jill Marie