Fall 2015: LIFE! It Has Been Quite a Ride: BETTER THAN A BESTIE

Fall's nip is in the air.  The Wisconsin roadside is harvesting cranberries for as far as the horizon and the loaded logging trucks are between the green bean and corn transports.  The pumpkins are roadside too with hand painted signs to leave $2.00-$3.00 "Big vs Small"  There is even fresh cranberries on covered tables with a honor system cash box not bolted down.  The Halloween decorations are raising from the grave and the trees add more color.  I 'm for colorful trees and little spooky decor.

 The Kirschling kiddos are all grown up and all four as different as the seasons.   Just about the time I am relaxing I get a call which starts with "Mom?"   Ron is never called unless it is "Dad.!" It works  and fortunately the concerns are solved by yours truly.  Nothing has changed.

The family has lived in five states in the last 40 plus years. Wisconsin, and Minnesota has been three different addresses,Two in Texas and three in Biloxi.  For those who have never lived in Mississippi it is a an education. 
The first meeting for Ron and me was in 1971 and the romance started in 1973.  I have realized it has worked because one of us has always managed to take turns balancing the other.   Yes, it has been a "Tag Team" approach.  There have been ten different addresses marking "Home Sweet Home."  Most homes have been "money pits". . .Rule and not the exception was attending a closing with a check for the buyers and A Thank You gift.

There are "My -Guidelines to Marriage" which most simply are 1) Never take yourself too seriously.  2)  Don't turn on the tears. . . Ron cannot handle them:  "Save em. You may need them someday,"  my dad used to say.  3)  Mom would harp, "Barb get off his back!' Finally (Ten-Four.)  Make 'im Laugh…Make 'im Laugh…Make 'im Laugh.

As far as friendships go I cannot swear nor attest that any have worked out except for those who are linked to x23andMe. It is not to say I am anti-social.  I just confide in relatives.  It has been a tough learned lesson.

I have my secrets from Ron which is nothing in violation of the 10 Commandments.  Sometimes I think a best friend would correct what was just heard. I am guilty of keeping my mouth shut. This to say to Ron is not my best friend. I haven't shared everything. I haven't been able to tell him when I got a speeding ticket in 1994 in Superior, Wisconsin.  I haven't told him when I "impulse bought the capise shell lights in the 70's" . . He has asked,  "Where YOU going to tell me.  Nope wasn't one of my stellar moments, Mr. Eagle Scout."  Your standards are Superman"s. . . I doubt Superman had a best friend Mister!  Okay, superman had Lois Lane but it was platonic.  Guess that puts Ron better than a bestie?

Actually Forgot My Sign In!

How or where did Summer 2015 go?
      I had the boats pulled yesterday because as a "seasonal lake fronter" I could not keep up with the rising water levels and a floating dock which wasn't supposed to be floating.  (Found dock segments as far away as three doors down and around the corner.  The boats by some stroke of luck survived.  In this day of technology, I am not sure why a phone call can not "mass stream" an Phone Alert.  I agree "water levels" are not in the same 'boat' with "Amber Alerts."  Guess I am going to have to make a few phone calls and become more responsible.  I will worry about this tomorrow.
                                          Conclusion: For this year the boats are on land. . .
                                Hopefully high enough to survive the fall, winter and spring.

Spent the weekend in Eagan visiting Jackie, Connor, Meg, Gretchen and most of the Ruds.  It was a birthday party for Wyatt.  As he was only "One" I bought Rylie a Music box which was just captivating for the entire weekend.  She got "poked in her eye by her little brother" and it took her quite by surprise.  He of course didn't try to do this.  ("It was "an accident,"" Dad said.)

There has been a crispness to the air these evenings and coming home yesterday we saw a herd of deer just at twilight which we wouldn't have seen had there not been three albino deer with them.  I had never seen such a sight!

February 2015 with A Blast from Parents' Past.

There are probably more than six weeks of winter but there are no complaints from this writer as we have only gotten a light white covering which has not "snow bound" us as has snow on the east coast and rain which has ripped and gripped the west.  I remain a lover of four seasons and having lived both in Mississippi and Texas, I often commented the southern states only have two seasons. ("Brown" and "Green" are not seasons.)

My mom's parent where snow birds.  These pictures where dated February 1965.  In fact so was my dad's dad. I believe the difference then to now. . . it was a driving destination.  Miami, Venice and Tucson are cities which I can pull out of this cobwebbed brain. Mom loved the Fountain Bleu. she couldn't walk the beach then as she stated the hotels put out "breakwaters."

Michael's Ideas Have Lead to My "Ah Hah"

Hello everyone. I am reading a great book right now. I have included some of the material below about ideas for keeping a personal journal. Thought I would share. Not saying we all have to start writing journals. Simple thought it was powerful, and thought I would share. 

1. If you are not sure why you still do some things that you know are harmful or self-defeating, analyze it, process it, write it down. 

2. If your parents did something that drove you nuts, and you said yourself, "when I am a parent, I'm not going to do that." - and then find yourself doing it, write it down. 

3. If you gain an insight or learn a principle or observe a situation where a principle produced certain results, write about it. 

4. If you make a commitment to yourself or to someone else, write about the way you use your independent will to carry it out. If you commit to exercise four times a week, evaluate the factors that empowered you to do it-or explore the reasons why you didn't. Was your commitment half hearted, hasty, or unrealistic? Was there mind over mattress? 

5. Envision possibilities and write them down. 

6. Stand apart from your dreams. Look at them. Write about them. Wrestle with them until you're convinced they're based on principles that will bring results. 

Keep a journal empowers you to see and improve. 

This way you're developing and using your endowments. 

Writing truly imprints yours brain. 

It helps you remember and apply the things you're trying to do. 

It gives you a powerful contextual tool .

As you take occasion - perhaps on a mission statement renewal retreat - to read over your experiences of past weeks, months, years, you gain invaluable insight into repeating patterns and themes in your life.   Love, Michael

This came from our youngest son just this week and I was ever so surprised to read it.  Surprised because he has grown into such a nice (Birthday this week makes him 29 years old) man, son, friend, husband and father.  He has made me commit to writing this "Blog" a bit more often.

I was watching the "Golden Globes" this week and realized I cannot claim R as my "Best Friend."  nor would I want to.  I and R are opposites.  He is very regimented,  much more disciplined, much more knowledgeable and basically unable to multitask. He operates in the 110% mode.  I am none of these to the same degree.  I can laugh at myself, where I realize he cannot as easily. He needs someone to watch his back.

I read on Facebook, "I am married to my best friend." I am not being critical of those writers as it is their opinion of what is their relationships. This just wouldn't work for me.  I am married to my polar opposite.  The two are not the same.

Looking back on Michael's suggestions of the earlier part of this post, R and I have spent every night for a couple of weeks now turning off the TV and adding the radio and just talking to each other.  It has been very different.  I have come away realizing the change is that we aren't listening to each other we are seeing each other!

Moon Shadows

Last night was one of those moonscape nights which defied sleeping. It was so bright the shadows of the trees on the snow were eerie yet not hypnotic enough to get me back to sleep.  I awoke around 3:45 a.m. and I have been up ever since.  Of course I did go to sleep before 8 p.m.  (I am not sleep deprived by any definition.)

And cold:  It is so cold the deck creeked and cracked.  The trees didn't move.  We are not near any airports; yet I could hear airliners overhead, and I could not see them although the stars were as bright as diamonds. Didn't spend any time looking either.  It is just too cold to risk going outside when your body guard is a sound sleeper and doesn't realize his 'cherished' (?) wife is a  moonbeam aficionado. Avoid local headline news, "Wife Found Frozen". (Realize the local Wisconsin Rapids Trib will turn yet another un news worthy article into a publicity stunt and NOTE TO SELF: Deny them any opportunity.)

But the weekend was a life changer.  R and I drove to Rochester, MN to visit an old friend from Duluth who shared adventures of the 148th Air National Guard with him during our life in Duluth.  Terry had an annual "Thanksgiving Turkey Run" along Seven Bridges Road. He and a small band of Guard brothers and (sisters) had adventures to Germany, Guam and places around the world. (Clarity Note: "old friend" refers to friendship: we are the old coots.)

Well, Terry is now an outpatient in residence near Mayo; and it was good to see he and his family again.  The Grand Kahler Hotel is anything 'butt' grand.  Michael's Restaurant closed this last year and the town we left 30 years ago is new and improved.  We set out to find our old house and I can report R was hopeless, helpless and clueless.  I was teetering on, "Let me drive." which wasn't an option due to 1) male ego and 2) macho-ism! (And 3) Of course, I installed his new car with a driver's ejection seat should a female sit behind the wheel and "buckle -up.") Long story made into an epistle.  I found Elton Hills Grade School and made him follow "imaginary 1st Grader Greg walking home." BRILLIANT Babs!)

Stuart Scott, sports announcer, dad, husband, lover, friend of many, celebrity; passed this weekend and what he said about living made us discuss our own mortality riding home.  Of course, the reason we traveled to Rochester in the first place; was intertwined with this too.

It is the New Year and again R has a list of resolutions and I have none.  His are exercise, meditate, read everyday for this and that amount of time. (Ad nauseum he and Greg have complied another Top Ten Books from the New York Times 100 Best Books of the Year 2014 list; they will each read this year.)

My realization is to count the little things more frequently and more often.  Feed the dogs as well as frozen birds and squirrels, make someone LOL, (including you). and make R happy.  He will be just tickled pink to hear I ordered him Ralph Lauren Classic "Preppy" Pants just this morning. Four neutral colors which he will mismatch for others' viewing enjoyment. ( He is still a Garanimal-Tag needed clothes-ter)  I have taken out lamb chops for supper, with Crosse&Blackwell's Mint Vinegar Sauce, pack him a lunch (for you, Gretchen) and managed to feed him a hot three star BFST . My resolution is to acknowledge the little things and do so often.  I think I need to make chicken soup to watch the Moon Shadows by tonoc.

"When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer". . ."You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner you live."  

Stuart Scott 1965-2015 

"Don't Give up. . .Don't ever give up."