| athoughtortwo.com |
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| a thought or two blog by Maurice Emery
Ramblings and ruminations about life after 60
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| July 4th time of celebrations | |||
| Published in the Littleton Observer: | |||
| I can honestly say it has been a long time since I enjoyed myself as much as I have this past week. One of my favorite questions to ask people when I see them in an unusual situation is, when you were in high school did you ever think you’d be and then I would insert the circumstance they were now in or whatever other situation that lends itself to their youth. When I saw a Lion in his apron wearing Bermuda shorts in the drive thru lane of their annual fish fry fund raiser my favorite question came out of my mouth automatically. It was an ideal time to ask, did you ever think you’d be playing a car-hop when you were in school? It’s always good for a laugh, but for me it is a reminder that you never know where life will take you. With all the changes life has dealt me over the past ten years one of the negative thoughts that kept creeping up was, will I ever get back into living life? I am not one who feels that just making it through each day is a good reason to be happy. I have to feel I am contributing and gaining something new in life. As those ten years passed by I realized I had given up on getting out and doing the things I enjoy the most. Two things have allowed me to get back into living the life that I enjoy. The first was seeking out and following through with seeing a counselor to help me look at life with a more positive approach. I had always been a positive guy, but back then I was not the same person and being positive was not the path I was following. The second step that has changed my life was going against my doctor’s advice and finally getting a walker with a seat. He felt that if I would not get one it would force me to get more exercise and thus help to take away some of the pain I was in. In fact all it did was keep me tied to the house. I stayed home because I had the fear that when the pain got too bad I would either not have a place to sit down or the worst case scenario was me falling down. At my size it would be very embarrassing to have to ask a couple of people to help me up. When I got the walker last fall it changed my life from the time it arrived at the house. It gave me the freedom of knowing that I will always be able to take a break when my back says its had enough. It also made my fear of falling down a none issue. Because of these two changes I have been able to enjoy many of the activities that this area offered this past week. I had to do a little more preparatory work than I was used to doing in the past, but I was still able to attend the events and be part of the celebrations. The preparatory work was nothing more than making some calls to make sure I could get around in my walker and they would allow me to use their space. Americamps allowed us to spend some time on their shores so we could enjoy the annual boat parade. I had never seen the parade before so it was a treat. As the boats made their way up the opposite side of Holly Creek it allowed us to see just how long the parade of boats was. I started to count them, but then my attention was drawn to one thing or another and I lost count. After the boats passed by the 903 overpass and started back out into the main lake, we were able to see the boats up close. At that point, as I was sitting in my walker in the shade of a large tree, I thought to myself – it doesn’t get any better than this. That phrase seems to have stuck with me throughout the week. No matter what I was doing I would say – it doesn’t get any better than this. I was reminding myself that I am really back into living a life I enjoy. When Saturday morning arrived we had a full day planned. The Littleton Parade, the annual Ebony Old Fashion Day, the annual party at South Shore and, the cherry on the cake was going to be able to see the Longbridge Fire Works display. For me each event brought back old memories of why I like living in this area. It was a lot of fun to see so many people that I have become friends with over the years. I may not know all their names, but their faces are always familiar. The Littleton Parade was special this year. When we drove through the staging area and saw the South Side Winds band we smiled and said out loud – they, Doris Dickens, Heidi Hogan and Helen Burtchell, found some music. The parade was the best yet. Our next stop was the Ebony celebration. As we drove over I wondered if many people would be there. After all it was almost three hours after it started and the heat of the day made it feel like my body was set on the warming mode of our oven. To our pleasure the old shade tree in Ebony was filled with bidders for the annual auction. We enjoyed the event, bought some of the best fried chicken you’ll ever taste from the Ebony VFD and headed back home to rest up for the fireworks. As I was eating lunch I once again said, “It doesn’t get any better than this.” When we arrived at South Shore Realty for their annual party things had only been under way for a little while, but there were several people there. As I got around with my walker I was able to take some photos and listened to the band for a few minutes. We then headed to the other side of the bridge. Gwen Jones at Rainbow Realty had invited us to use their office as a base of operations to view and shoot the fire works. We were there earlier than we needed to be, but spent our time determining where the best place to see the fireworks would be and talking with people. By the time the show got started we had seen many more friends from the past and made some new ones. I was like a kid once again. I was anxiously waiting for the fireworks and thinking it doesn’t get any better than this. The fireworks were once again better than most I’ve seen in rural areas. I got to play with my camera to see if I could catch the bursting of the fireworks at just the right time (I only did so one out of twenty times). When the day was over and we were back at home with our home oven baked pizza and a coke I looked over at my wife and said, “It doesn’t get any better than this.” In my mind I thanked God for my new walking chair, the swimming I’ve been doing and my limited weight loss because when you add it all together I now feel like I’m contributing to life once again. A special note: Some of you may not have heard that Sam Groves died last week. I wrote about Sam a couple of weeks ago when I saw him for the last time. Sam is one of those people who will leave a hole in so many lives that may never be filled. He was the type of man you know for only minutes in your life that will be remembered for hours in the future. May God grant eternal rest for Sam. Check out my blog at athoughtortwo.com |
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