When do we surrender and let go?

Nursing Home resident room
A bed, a chair, a TV, a bathroom, a window, and a curtain for a wall. Three meals each day, 24-hour nursing care.

 

Most people wait for someone else to go first.

Walked over to visit with the 90-year old in the adjacent Nursing Home.

Just me and Johnny.

Johnny’s roommate was out, so we had privacy to do whatever we wanted.

Had intended to initiate “deep conversation”, but after arriving, i thought, “This will be so predictable and it has never worked.”

Instead, i just sat for two hours and watched the Clemson (#1) versus Oklahoma (#4) College Football semi-final playoff game. i added a lot of commentary (which is uncommon for me) and we had a very good time.

i wondered if he had hoped i would have gone with deep conversation.

i’ll never know.

i’ve surrendered and live with this being ok.

 

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On April Fool’s Day 2009, jeff noel began writing five daily, differently-themed blogs (on five different sites). It was to be a 100-day self-imposed “writer’s bootcamp”, in preparation for writing his first book. He hasn’t missed a single day since.

This website is about our spiritual health. To leave this site to read today’s post on jeff’s career health website, click here.

 

What do people in their 90’s want to tell us about life?

Christmas in Senior Living facility
She’ll be 93 in five weeks.

 

What do people in their 90’s want to tell us about life?

Should we wait to be told and risk that it might never happen, or do we need to pull it out of them?

 

__________

 

 

On April Fool’s Day 2009, jeff noel began writing five daily, differently-themed blogs (on five different sites). It was to be a 100-day self-imposed “writer’s bootcamp”, in preparation for writing his first book. He hasn’t missed a single day since.

 
This website is about our spiritual health. To leave this site to read today’s post on jeff’s career health website, click here.

Written words are not the same as spoken

A father's reminder to be a great dad
The jar on the right will become empty on my 60th birthday.

 

What i’m specifically asking is have you given yourself a realistic end date to do everything in life you want to do? No one knows how long they’ll live and most live like it’s going to be forever – and thus perpetuate postponing the good stuff until life’s conditions (and choices) are better or easier. We may not get next week or next month. And i am not afraid of 60 (no male on my Dad’s side has lived past 60), but i have made 60 the deadline for putting a dent in the Universe. i began when i turned 50 – a decade (rather than “6-months to live”)…now there are 3.6 years remaining. i would have never left (retired at 55) Disney after 30 years had i not heard a ticking clock. i hope i live past 60, but i am not banking on it. So anything after 60 will be pure bonus time.

A deadline changes the way we look at fear and decisions.

Sorry, didn’t mean to be self-centered, but i thought that context might help you understand the question better. Not to see life in 10-year chucks, but to see life as if there are only 10 years left.

 

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This website is about our spiritual health. To leave this site to read today’s post on my career health website, click here.

Should joy replace sorrow?

Florida tropical landscape
Nature reminds us (if we live tuned-in) that life is fleeting.

 

Yesterday a friend lost his dad to cancer. The dad was in his 80’s and lived a good life.

Some sorrowful (even regretful) posts surfaced on Facebook. This led to hours of personal reflection on, “why is death earmarked for sadness, loss, and pain”?

i mean, why are those things common when the person is 70, 80, even 90+?

In all those decades, haven’t mountains of good memories accumulated?

i can’t help but wonder why we don’t embrace death as the beginning of something else, and, as the final scene in a wonderful movie.

Should Can joy replace sorrow?

 

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This website is about our spiritual health. To leave this site to read today’s post on my career health website, click here.

The gateway to hell

High School Safety Assembly
Yesterday morning 8:30 – 9:30am in the Gym.

 

High School Safety Assembly
True story.

 

High School Safety Assembly
The last bullet point is the issue.

 

High School Safety Assembly
The media, and the law, send mixed messages. Alcohol is also legal.

 

High School Safety Assembly
It will never happen to me. I’m immune from peer pressure.

 

High School Safety Assembly
Ninth, 10th, and 11th graders, plus faculty, staff, and maybe 10 parents.

 

High School Safety Assembly
One poor choice. We can control our actions, but we cannot control the consequences.

 

Alcohol and weed are the gateway to hell.

Yesterday’s High School assembly (parents invited) was led by Orlando Firefighter and paramedic Pat Kelly.

Homecoming weekend is two days away.

Praying we don’t lose a student(s) to poor choices.

 

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This website is about our spiritual health. To leave this site to read today’s post on my career health website, click here.