Hanging On

Sometimes the connections dry up. Sometimes things just seem to stand still. Time flies by but then nothing seems to be happening. What is this, the spectre of age, when the efforts of survival finally overcome you? I knew I was slogging uphill, quite awhile ago, with occasional bouts of free-wheeling coasts and breezes on spring-spritzed days. That's why I want to pull my children and all those young people aside and tell them that it really is true -- that they need to eat right and exercise while the gettin's good. I've always been the kind of gal who ate dessert first and then dove in. The diving in is fantastic, but you better shore up those arteries while you can and keep 'em maintained all along the way. Don't make a religion out of it, for heavens' sake. I know people who have no other subject in their head except what they ate, didn't eat or what supplements they're taking. Ditches on either side of anything are a bad idea. 

Go back to your Grandmama's good advice, well some of them, anyways. One of my husband's grandmothers thought that white bread, instant everything and lots and lots of sugar were the best things God ever made, even though He had nothing to do with that. I understand. That stuff tastes so amazing, it's completely out of this world. And it is, it's not from this world. It's from zombies or Planet Zurg or something. She wound up with bad Alzheimers and a terrible end. I don't know if that's why, but I do know she ate from a pitted set of aluminum cookware that was her Mama's...and most of her siblings also came down with the big A too. All this negativity, but it's a part of our world. The sweet part was that even when she was at her worst, full of violence and confusion, you could pull her Bible out and start reading the Psalms...she would immediately calm down and close her eyes and starting quoting it with you. The Spirit was still with her. She is with Him now, whole and at peace. I bet they have stuff that tastes a whole lot better than white bread and sugar.

We're back up here in the mountains for the Fourth of July, at our old campground, with one of our sons and his family. Today's job was to go swimming in the little lake. I forgot how much faith it takes to immerse one's self into a brown, murky lake. I tried to not think of water snakes, but the grandkids kept reminding me of them ("Yaya, there are water snakes in here, but guess what, there's no rattlesnakes!") I'm not so sure about the rattlesnakes either. And I also couldn't help remembering that long-ago movie (before my time but still memorable, even if it was terribly cheesy) Creature From the Black Lagoon. Because I was certain I felt my foot get bumped a couple of times. Either way, the kiddos and I made our way out to the slippery dock. The fresh mountain water was delightful and it was fun to share time with these precious ones. We drank cold water from a spring and they rode on the back of the truck with Papa while I tried to bounce them off. 

Slow down, time. Slow down.