This is going to be one of my “fun”/ off-the-wall posts, so hang in there. Because tattoos are forever, and I don’t even know where I will be physically, mentally, or spiritually even a week from now, I just can’t commit any part of my body to house my feeling in permanent body ink. If someone could tell me “You are at the apex of … Continue reading I Don’t Do Tattoos…
Last week, when I finished up the series End Of Life Trauma, I told you that I would take a few weeks off before I settled on the next “Wednesday series”. I visited the last post of that series dozens of times during my usual editing process, but it was not until it was officially published a week ago that the obvious follow-up series came … Continue reading About Emotions #1 – These Strange Feelings
Now, don’t get me wrong here, I am not comparing myself artistically to Beethoven, that would be extremely presumptuous of me 😉. But we do have something in common. That is our deafness, how it happened and how we reacted to it. We both started losing our hearing in our mid-20s and lost it all by our early-40s. Beethoven lost his ability to speak, and … Continue reading Me & Beethoven…
As plainly speaking as possible, we need to figure out nation building before we get into our next inevitable war. I know our purpose for going into Afghanistan was a noble cause, we wanted to bring a stable government to a very unstable country and region of the world. But, like all the other times, we utterly failed to accomplish that, but spent trillions stubbornly … Continue reading We Need To Figure Out Nation Building…
I, and I imagine many of you, are tired of the fake-news and dishonesty that invades almost everything now days. We seek out those things, and people, we think we can trust. For me, that seeking out especially include politics, pandemic reporting, and religion. This post is about the last item mentioned. I constantly lament the fact that many American Christian institutions are turning off … Continue reading Longing For Honesty…
The quote above is kinda good advice for life in general, but right now, I am applying it to memories of my recently departed wife. We were almost opposites in many ways, so there are memories of times we disagreed, sometimes strenuously. But that is not what our 36 years together were about. We had a lot of good times to overshadow the bad. I … Continue reading It’s Time To Cherish The Good & Throw Away The Bad…
I can’t leave you with the idea that my RetComLife (retirement community life) is all positive for me. One of the areas that disappoints me is the dining room, including the menus and food preparation. That is what this post is all about. I get a monthly $350 credit to the dining room as part of the rent of my apartment. Whatever I don’t use … Continue reading RetComLife #10 – Dining 🙁…
Will we ever see an end to this pandemic? It seems like one yellow light after another, with no end in sight. That is the most depressing place to be. That is what this post is all about. “There are no red and green lights here. There’s just a yellow that flashes … and flashes … and flashes. And that’s not a color that people … Continue reading Only Yellow Lights…
I’m sure most people think of hospice as that short period that ends the suffering of terminal patients. This post will try to explain that this description is simplified at best, and actually somewhat misguided. As my wife continued her final eight days in hospice at our new home at the best senior community in our region, she was without pain because of the regular … Continue reading End of Life Trauma #9 – The Final Week.
Let’s face some facts. The corporate world expects you to “Put your nose to the grindstone” and not let up until the job is done. That creates an atmosphere of workaholics who then go up the corporate ladder, and that self-propagation results in a less creative environment. The more hard work you indulge in, the less creative you become. What is the answer to this … Continue reading Hard Work Is The Enemy Of Creativity
It seems like it is an oxymoron that there are more jobs available than there are workers to take them. But, we must realize that this condition was brought on by some radical changes in our society. This looks like a boom-time situation, but there is in reality a huge mismatch between the opportunities and the available talent. It could also be that workers are … Continue reading 10 Million Job Openings/8.4 Million Unemployed??
I really don’t know if all those who praise Mother Teresa know the full extent of her spiritual beliefs? I think she was an extraordinary woman who followed her beliefs more than about any soul on this earth. I have not read extensively about her life, but the bits and pieces I have seen tell me that she had serious doubts as much as the … Continue reading Just Doing What’s Right…
I don’t know why some of the simplest images are the ones that fascinate me? Maybe I am “dumber than a box of marbles” but I love this picture from the Praire Museum in Colby, Kansas. Continue reading A Box Of Marbles…
I continue to try to find my way through this new life I have chosen for myself. As usual, I want it to happen NOW, but realize that it is more of a journey than a short stop. Some of the things I am struggling with now are about privacy and trade-offs. That’s what this post is about. After twenty-one years of living in a … Continue reading RetComLife #9 – Privacy & Trade-offs
The idea for the title above came from a recent post by Philip Gulley. He basically says that We are morally at risk when we see only the light of [fill in the blank] and never its shadow. I agree, but I want to also look at it from another viewpoint. We can’t ignore the light because of its shadows. That is what this post … Continue reading Without Looking At The Shadows.
These next two post in the series will probably be the most difficult to write. But they were also the time I came across the most empathic person I have ever known. I finished off the last post on this End-Of-Life Trauma series by telling you that my wife was being kicked out of the Hospice House because she was not dying fast enough. Of … Continue reading End of Life Trauma Part 8 – Hospice (continued)
It seems that I am now in some new stage of grief from my wife’s recent death. It has been two months today that she drew her last breath. I think up till now I have just been consumed with all the many things that have to happen after a spouse passes to really have time to mourn. Lately, I seem to be getting very … Continue reading Stages of Grief…
I know President Biden has tried many different approaches to get LMPIs (lazy-minded, proudly-ignorant) people to get a vaccination. He has offered cash incentives and even an instant lottery ticket for only those who take the shot. That doesn’t seem to have worked, so now he is trying mandates. You get vaccinated or you lose your job. I suspect that will work for some, but … Continue reading Another Approach…
I’m going to keep this Sunday’s post short and simple. Richard Rohr, via the words above, has spelled out almost everything that I see as misguided about most of today’s versions of religion. Belonging and Believing something is simple, actually doing is the hard part. If you want to learn a little more about this, see the DVD or book entitled “From Jesus to Christ”. Continue reading Worship Instead of Follow?
Yesterday on RetComLife #7 I told you one of the reasons I am staying here is because my new apartment is cozy. For this post, I will expand that thought with a puzzling situation. I’ve told you here before, but I’m sure you have forgotten it, that I am now an avid picture puzzle worker. That is one of the things that my wife kinda … Continue reading RetComLife #8 – It is a Puzzling Life
I am old; I recognize it but I don’t realize it. I wonder if a person ever really ceases to feel young — I mean, for a whole day at a time. Mark Twain I still remember the Mark Twain quote shown above. I found it at his Hannibal, Missouri home a few years ago. The quote seems to say that most of us just … Continue reading RetComLife #7 -I’m Not Old.
I have spent many hours in these pandemic months in my barn working on my µRV (micro RV for those who don’t know Greek). She now has a front deflector that gives me an extra three miles-per-gallon. Even though it is not shown here, she also has a third solar panel at the front to ensure the battery stays charged throughout the night. I did … Continue reading Still Dreaming…
One of the most difficult things for people who are hearing challenged is to admit that they are. I have been blogging since 2008, and it took me two years to finally admit that I was deaf. I had it in my mind that my readers would look at me differently if they knew that I haven’t heard a sound for 20 years. But, instead, … Continue reading I AM DEAF
Having high intelligence almost always means you are living life on the margins. Of course, the perfect example of this was Albert Einstein. People with high intelligence break new ground and are always looking for things to challenge them. Mainstream thinkers are followers, geniuses are always ahead of the herd. Often times, way ahead… But, let’s look at the common traits of genius from another … Continue reading High Intelligence Means That You Are On The Margins
This is going to be one of those epiphany posts where I learn a little about myself. One of my favorite quotes comes from the sci-fi movie called Tron. Chaos, Good News I read that to mean that sometimes we just get too complacent with our life and need something to shake it up. What better to produce immediate change than chaos. The last four … Continue reading Chaos, Good News…
There have been hundreds of utopian communities spring up across America during its history. Some lasted only a few years, some longer, but none of them survived. I am a dreamer and when I read the words “heaven on earth” in the Lord’s Prayer, I think utopia. To me, that is what Jesus’ core message to us was. Love each other and everything else will … Continue reading Utopia… On Earth As It Is In Heaven?
I know I have posted a few pictures, including this one, of the Haan House Sculpture Garden near Lafayette, Indiana, but I want to go “whole hog” on this post to give you the full gallery. I took this short trip in May to get away from the end-of-life trauma of my dearly beloved wife. While I was at this garden, I did manage to … Continue reading Sculpture Garden
One of the things I most enjoy about my new retirement community life is the 0.66 mile walking path around the perimeter of the property. It is a peaceful trek that I take twice a day, and sometimes even more. Before the pandemic, I would drive the 40-mile round trip to cruise a shopping mall once a week. Of course, that shut down last Spring, … Continue reading RetComLife # 6 – The Pathways of Life
This rather dusty picture is one of my most treasured wedding gifts from 35 years ago. It was from my wife’s best friend’s mother. I immediately thought of the phrase “Life is a bowl of cherries” and wondered just how true that might be for this 39-year-old confirmed bachelor who just a couple of hours before vowed “till death due us part”. Every time I … Continue reading A Bowl Of Cherries…
We are closing in on the last few posts about “End Of Life Trauma”. I hope this series is at least a little helpful to you in understanding these matters. While I had some exceptional support during this “Hospice” period, it was one of the most stressful things I have ever had to deal with in my life. As I mentioned in my last post … Continue reading End of Life Trauma Part 7 – Hospice
RJ's Corner 