Omission Of Mistakes....

I'm pausing again, this time to state that I am skipping a few stories from my life in Colorado.  Telling my part of the story, what I did wrong or went adrift in life, is not the problem.  The issue is that I don't wish to bring up every fault and failing of others.  I have tried to only state small transgressions of others, nothing so over the top that would create controversy here.  Other people's lives are always involved in a story when they meet your life in the story.   So consideration of how they might feel to have their past broadcast here is important to me.  I have to state some things, otherwise there could be no story to be said.  But I try very hard to choose my wording carefully.   

I am putting my reputation out there, that is my choice.  That was my choice from the beginning with this blog.   The couple of years in Colorado I am discussing now were eventful nearly all the time.  It was the biggest learning time in my life...   I wasn't a saint, I wasn't always helpful, and I certainly wasn't always selfless in considering my motives of things.  It took me a long time to get beyond me, my wants, my manipulations, my concerns, my self-centeredness.  And truth be told, living in Colorado was just one big saga of me being concerned about me, and running away from growing up really.  

So with that being said, I promise to tell you of some of the more interesting parts of my experience.   I do enjoy trying to remember some of the details.  And where I cannot recall timing or exact details, I do my best.   

....take small steps when wandering into sensitive areas.  Each step you make will affect someone else or something else.  There are more stories of Colorado, hang there, and see what comes next.

 

Illness and Growing Up....

I haven't written this week because I have been under the weather.  But today I felt like writing a little.  

When I was a kid I was often sick with colds and bronchitis.  So much so, that it was like clockwork in November around my birthday for me to get sick and not enjoy part of that month of the year.  When I was in High School we had to take PE for two years as a prerequisite to graduation.   My freshmen year I believe I did all the requirements of the class, including getting on a bus in November and heading toward the YMCA and swimming for the class and then getting back on the bus and go back to normal routine of my other classes.   I got a nasty cold as always and my Mom wasn't pleased that I had to be in the cold and have wet hair and all that after swimming.   When I was in my Sophomore year and that time of year rolled around, my Mom told me that she didn't want me swimming at all.  I told Mrs. Hillemann who understood, and so while all the girls in my class left to swim I had to do other things to be active.  

Later that same year we were running a lot and I got a bad case of the shin splints, and had to quit running.  I was told that these are caused by running on hard ground or concrete.  Pretty painful, my shins would ache and hurt whether I was running or not.   Again because I couldn't do what the others were doing so this time I was told I had to read some books on sports medicine.  I decided to read up on shins splints and I had to write a book report, actually I might have had to type it up.  I got an excellent grade and became more knowledgeable of the problem I suffered because of that.   To this day I remember that the best thing to prevent shins splints is to walk or run on grass and wear really good running shoes with good cushioned insoles to take the impact when you shoe hits the ground.

When I was in kindergarten I got the Chicken Pox, and was driven home by the school nurse (who does that anymore?) to get away from the rest of the children.   My siblings and I all had them that year around Christmas.  Ever since then it seems like CP pops up all the time, with someone's kid or grandkid getting them.   My memory always was of what I missed that day....going to the Fire Dept. and getting on the big red truck.   In my head, that was the best thing a kid could do!   I missed it and brought it up over the years whenever the discussion was about CP.  I'm telling you now, no one cares about hearing your same sob story over and over.   I don't bring it up anymore....no we adults now talk about hoping not to get Shingles, something you can get later in life if you ever had CP.  

I think I will just get better from this nasty sinus infection and be glad I didn't get bronchitis again, and hope to be back to 100% and writing every day for you all to read and enjoy my journey in this thing we call life. 

Life Can Be So Confusing...

I always thought I understood how things worked in the world I knew.  

                     BOY WAS I WRONG !!  

We are brought up usually in a family with guiding tenets set down by whatever faith or moral compass our parents and/or caregivers shared with us.  We learn things from our parents, as well as peers, teachers, preachers, coworkers, strangers, and the cashier at the grocery store.  When we are little we take at face value the words people with authority over us as gospel....until we grow up and learn new ideas. 

I have wrestled with many new ideas since I graduated high school.  Do I have to follow in the footsteps of my parents?  What do I really want to be when I grow up?  How do I ever get along with all these different personalities?  How am I to be in this huge world?  How do you know there is a Creator and does this Creator really love me?    

These are some of the big questions among many that were there in my head all the time.  I'd ask mentors and friends often where I was going wrong in my life.  Why wasn't I happy like others I was around.  I'd ask, "How do you know you're doing what you were meant to do in this life?"  I would ask 20 people the same question and get awfully different answers.  Nothing seemed to help me GET IT.

When I was in my early twenties I thought I would study the World's religions and see if my Catholic faith was the best one to stay with (aside from getting college credit for a degree).  I got more confused, the more I read.  I drifted away from the Church for 15 years.  Then a series of things happened and I was slowly being pulled back in.  That was a little over 14 years ago.  Then more of life's confusing ways came to rain down around me, and I was adrift again.  That was 4 years ago.  And now recently I have had another pull toward something.  It's not quite in the same direction as before.  This is totally different.  And so starts my story.

                               This blog is my place to tell others my journey in life. 

                                                    Blessings to you if you stay to read on.