Thoughts on Getting Older

I received this in an email and I loved it so I thought I'd share it here. Not that I'm old by any means but when I take those first few steps out of bed in the morning I'm really not to sure anymore.

"Old Age, I decided, is a gift. I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror (who looks like my mother!), but I don't agonize over those things for long.

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon?

I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60&70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.

They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten.. And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day. (If I feel like it)

MAY YOU ALWAYS HAVE A RAINBOW OF SMILES ON YOUR FACE AND IN YOUR HEART FOREVER AND EVER!"

Pictures from Thanksgiving weekend

The 5 Burgess kids - yeah we're all still kids at heart.










The 5 Shipley's - oops make that 4 - Scott missed this one, he's away hunting in Canada.





We had a gingerbread house making contest at Ann and Ric's. The house that Sarah, Jenny and Sam created was deemed the winner according to Judge Dorsey Shipley (and yes he was once judge of the orphans court). Not quite the same type of judging but we thought he could handle the task.

Sarah, Jenny and Sam work on their house.

Our Family's finished entry.

Judge Shipley

All of the entries

Thankgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving weekend. Sarah was home from college for a few days and we were able to spend Thanksgiving day, just the 5 of us, at home which was nice for a change. We did our respective big family dinners with the Burgess and Shipley families on Saturday and Sunday. Scott and the kids spent Thanksgiving day preparing dinner for the evening. Here's a picture of Sarah and Jenny preparing roll dough for some of Scott's famous rolls. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. I began setting up the Christmas tree before heading out to work for the afternoon at the Big K, yes I'm still there a few days a month and yes they were open on Thanksgiving. I'll be able to officially retire and draw a monthly check from Kmart October 1st, 2009. Hopefully the company will still be around by then. I'm not really to sure what would happen to my pension if the company were to go belly up. I am just soooooo thankful that I had the opportunity to change careers 2 years ago. Thank you Fern for coming into Kmart that night. I love my current job with FCB and I know longer worry about the stability of my employer. In addition I am so thankful that Scott was able to give 22 years of service to the Army Reserves which has enabled us to enroll in the military insurance, Tricare Prime, saving us thousands of dollars per year in medical insurance premiums and virtually eliminating the worry of medical insurance as he and I both begin to reach our golden years! Oh my, that's kinda strange to even think in those terms.

Sarah's Ribs

No it's not another rib joint in town - Sarah's cracked a rib from coughing. She had a terrible cold about 2 months ago followed by weeks and weeks of coughing. She called me from school complaining about a good deal of pain on the left side of her chest, kind of under her arm pit and I suggested she see someone in the school infirmary. She even said that she thought it looked a little swollen on that side. She went to the infirmary and they just said they thought she was just sore from all of the coughing that she had been doing so we decided to wait it out. Well things weren't improving so I made an appointment for her last week at Detrick. They did an x-ray and sure enough, she has a cracked rib. Crazy, huh? We were joking about that possibility before her appointment. The x-ray actually showed that she had a "healing" cracked rib so apparently this happened back when she first complained about the pain. She went back to Detrick today and the wrapped her up like a burrito to help support the rib so that it will be able to heal completely. The thing that's a little puzzling to me and to the doctor to some extent was the fact that she's young and they don't typically see a young person crack a rib from coughing. Hopefully it doesn't happen again in the future.

What is it with boys?

This morning it was snowing outside when Sam left the house for the bus stop. He was out the door when I noticed that he was not wearing a coat. Short sleeve t-shirt and jeans, that's it. I called out to him "where's your coat?" His reply was "the bus is coming and I don't need one anyway." Now ... it was snowing so of course it was around the freezing mark and any normal person would have been cold, but not Sam. When I was a kid I remember that there were many, many, times when my brothers would leave the house in the wintertime wearing only the barest minimum of a coat and my mother just figured if they got cold enough they'd put on something heavier so I guess I'll just follow her example and try not to worry about it. I think it must be a guy thing. :)

ACC Results

The band prepares to take the field.

Drum majors and senior class band and guard members line up for awards.

Urbana students help the pit crew assemble the props.

The band was awesome this past weekend finishing 6th with a score of 92.85. Way to go TJ! Our percussion section finish in 3rd place and the color guard finished 1st. Way to go TJ! It was a cold and windy weekend but we managed to get by with only one minor catastrophe. We have 5 giant size snake charmer type baskets on the field during the show and we we able to stabilize 4 of them by positioning 6 people behind them, 3 adults and 3 students that we were able to borrow from the Urbana HS band. But on the remaining 5th basket we only managed to have 3 Urbana students. Well .... that basket decided to take sail. No one was hit or hurt and the band was able to continue with their show as if nothing had even happened. The Urbana students on that prop were so apologetic as if it was their fault but let me tell you even the folks on the baskets with 6 people said they could barely hold them in place. So I'd like to say huge kudos to the 15 band students from Urbana for giving us a helping hand. We had to take a 1 point penalty because there are to be no adults on the field during competition, only students, but i'm sure things would not have went as well if they were not there.

Jenny is the snare drummer on the far left.

ACC's - Here we come!

Look out Allentown, PA. The TJ Band is heading your way. The band competed in the USSBA (US Scholastic Band Association) National Championships help in Annapolis at the Naval Academy last weekend in Group IV competition, finishing 5th out of the 20 bands entered in our group. GO TJ! On Sunday we will be traveling to Allentown, PA to compete in the TOB (Tournament of Bands) Atlantic Coast Championship competition. TOB and USSBA being two different marching band circuits each with their own judging criteria. We are heading into the TOB competition seeded in 7th place out of 30 competing bands and we hoping for a finish of at least 6th or better. 6th place being the highest that the TJ band has ever finished in TOB competition. That occurred last year in 2007. Sam and I will be riding the parent "party bus" as it has been named, which will require us to be at school at 5:15 am to be ready for a 5:45 am departure! Yikes! I'm excited! It's always a long day but always a lot of fun for the parents and the band kids alike. This is the "Super Bowl" of marching band.