Traditions

 Some of my fondest memories as a young girl and later as a Mother revolve around family traditions and routines. I recall in my childhood days how we had big family meals on Sundays, oftentimes around our round kitchen table and in our dining room on holidays or other important times. There was always an abundance of home cooked meals and lots of chatter between my siblings and my parents, those were good times.  Those times ceased for the most part when my brothers and my sister went off to college and made their own lives. They did not end abruptly, but slowly over time, leaving just holidays and summertime to gather as a large family group.

Once I had our three children I had Sunday dinners with the children, sometimes my Mother and often my wonderful mother in law, Thelma. Their Father was there as well, often cooking out on the grill in summer and my doing the meal preparation in cooler months. It was a lovely tradition, but never quite rivaled my childhood gatherings. Life changed at one point for all of us and Sunday dinners became fewer and fewer with Thelma often in attendance. Sadly these too ended, due to illness and death of the matriarchs,which happens to most of us.  

Now with the pandemic these gatherings have gone on hold, due to possible contagion and other health conditions and circumstances. I miss these kinds of gatherings, closest to it are meals at my sister Ruth’s home and summer events at my daughters lovely home. My hope is by summer of this year we can begin to gather again, small family events would be nice. I have not seen my oldest son in person in over a year, he is in NYC and events have kept him and his fiancée from traveling. A good family reunion would be lovely also, perhaps next summer. Despite all this past years difficulties, I am thankful for life, family and perhaps building a few new traditions. I would like a big birthday party someday, if for no other reason than to gather with loved ones and reminisce. 

 

Traditions change as do our lives as we age and switch roles, it’s key to keep some of them alive, even if only in our hearts.

Beginnings and Perspective

 Unlike some others I have known, it is my goal to write more blog posts in this year of 2021. Today is the beginning and I have a goal of one blog post per week, 52 posts or more if my muse strikes me. Now that I am retired, I feel this is a good goal and a great way to begin the new year. Last year was very hit or miss with blog posts, mostly miss. The pandemic and other events kept me from having the desire or the ability to compose intelligible thoughts to string into words. As we continue to battle Covid 19, much time is spent inside in a quarantine fashion. Mostly due to not wanting to contract it, and actually I am a big homebody, always have been. That said, I am not an introvert as many of my acquaintances claim to be. I like people-well, most of them, and commiserating with them and people watching are favorite past times I used to do. Unlike others, I also will spend part of each post speaking of myself, but most posts are to share information and perhaps enlighten others as well as provide support so people can compare and share their own personal stories. I am well aware many are very private people, and perhaps are unable to share personal stories, that is okay, too. I would like comments to my blog posts, and would appreciate anyone that does so. Communication is a very important facet in life, and I thrive on it.

My perspective may be far from what yours may be, that is okay and the nature of life and humanity anyway. Differing points of view teach us all, and many times it can be a game changer. Just because we have different viewpoints, does not mean I am right and you are wrong and vice verse. As humans our perspective is often different, but refreshing and interesting to obtain. The election of this past year proved that to me soundly. Some of my friends supported a different candidate than I did, we all had and have our reasons in such situations. I guess one could compare it to the glass half full, half empty concept. Being a positive and progressive person, I almost always see it as half full, with room for more in the container. I also recently saw a meme online showing the number six on the ground, one person seeing it as a six the other seeing it as a nine, to me a perfect representation of perspective. I think with an open mind though and do my best to see issues from the perspective of others. 

As soon as the outside world from mine becomes safe once again, I also want to begin seeing the few friends I have as well as family, and cherished former co-workers. This is not an overly large group, so once the gate lifts, so to speak, it will be an easy task to complete. You see, I am one of those folks that disdains phone conversations, I want and crave person to person contact . Without the facial expressions and the genuinely wonderful time spent with others, phone calls are most often brief and to the point for me. I think most that know me realize that's my stich, and is not formulated out of dislike of any people I might call on occasion. I also hope to reconnect with a few classmates I have connected with on Facebook, its been since graduation from high school since I have seen most of them. There are a sparse few that I care not whether I have contact with them or not, not that I dislike them, just realized that we have little in common anymore. One person, to remain unnamed, has made little or no effort to stay in touch, of course that is due to their busy work/writer/self-important life. Sad to me, but necessary to cut ties to people that ruffle the feathers.

So, in closing, I hope to keep my goal of one per week, if not more. I will try to make them interesting enough that some will want to read to the end, and comment on the post. I wish all a better year this year with many good things to come our way. 

******************************* Balance in all things***********************************