I'm a Survivor

Reflections on Completing the A to Z Challenge, April 2013

This was the first year that I participated in the A to Z Challenge and like most things in life, it involved both pleasure and a little pain.  As a retired person I thought I had left stress behind me, but the Challenge changed that.   As a follower  of rules,  I felt pressure to write something for each of the assigned letters.   I am pleased with myself for following through and with one exception, getting all the posts done.  (I still haven't written anything for K...WTF?  Nothing interesting starts with K.)

I'm already thinking about what I will do differently for next year.  I will probably start a little earlier and pre-write some posts instead of dredging up drivel at the last possible moment.  I will try and write a little less about my adorable granddaughters.    I will try to remember that not everyone is enchanted by children...even when they are as cute as my granddaughters!  At this point I fully intend to write down good alphabet ideas as I think of them throughout the year.  We'll see how long that lasts.

The Challenge forced me out of my usual blog zone.  I ventured into neighborhoods that I hadn't previously visited.  I even signed up to follow a few of those blogs in foreign territory.  My usual blogging buddies are a pretty tight group.  We seem to follow a lot of the same blogs and have a lot in common.  Out in the other neighborhoods, that isn't so true.  I have to admit that I was surprised at some of the blogs.  There are a lot of talented, creative writers, but there is also a lot of crap.  I think I waded through a lot of drivel before finding a few gems.  Not long ago I was looking at a book about blogging and one of the pieces of advice was "Nobody cares what you had for lunch."  After reading a few less than notable posts I would add, nor do we care about your gerbils, your shopping with coupons, or the dream you had last night.  And, I say this as a blogger who writes way too much about her grandchildren.

I picked up a few followers and actually broke into triple digits, but I notice that on the blogs that I visited there were very few comments.  Was all the activity on the better known blogs? 

I'll do it again and I hope that the new cyber relationships I've found will continue to grow.

Many thanks to the organizers of this activity for all their work in keeping us going.  You are appreciated! 

A to Z Challenge: Z Is For Zebra

Is For Zebra

This is the final posting in the A to Z Challenge, and not a moment too soon.  I'm fresh out of ideas.   I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else came up with for Z.  Luckily I had the following photos of my grandchildren, or I wouldn't have anything.

I could also have done G is for Giraffe

or E is for Elephant

or L is for Lion.

But, we're at the end of the alphabet so it has to be Z is for Zebra.

A to Z Challenge: Y Is For Youth

 Is For Youth and Their Future







Today is April 29 or 4/29, so it seems an appropriate day to talk about college 429 savings plans.

These are my grandchildren.

They are five and seven years old.  Megan will head to college in 2124 and Hunter two years later.  It is scarey to think about what college will cost by then.

When Megan was born I promised her mother that I would not shower her with gifts of toys and useless trinkets.  Instead, I fund a 429 Oregon College Savings Plan  for each of the girls.  (Well, I do, now and then, spoil them with gifts also.)  I opened the accounts when Hunter was born and a deposit is automatically deducted from my savings account every month.  In Oregon deposits to a 429 account are tax deductible on our state return up to $4,345. a year for joint returns.  Interest that the money generates is tax free if used for qualified higher education expenses.  When I first opened the accounts only $1200 a year was deductible, so that's what I've been depositing every year.  I checked the Oregon Savings Plan site and saw that amount has been increased, so I'll  probably increase my deposits.

I don't make a lot of money...heck I'm retired on a fixed income, but we're frugal and have no debt.  We live within our means.  We can afford to put a little aside each month for the future of our grandchildren.  So that's what we do.

I don't kid myself that we are saving enough to pay fully for their college, but every little bit will help,  and we take advantage of the tax savings to help us fund this. Year after year the deposits and the interest add up. 

Take time today to explore the 429 plans that are available in your state and others for the future of someone you love.  They'll thank you for it.

A to Z Challenge: If X Marks The Spot, You Are Here

 You Are Here

 

One of many benefits of being retired is the ability to live in the here and now.  For years when I was working and raising a family, I always had too many things to do.  Even when I was attending an event or sitting in a meeting, my mind had moved on to all the other things that I had to do.  The X on a map may have showed that I was there, but mentally I had moved on.

 

As a young mother I attended my son's little league games, but many times I brought along work related reading material.  I was there, but not fully engaged. I know that now, but at the time I thought I was doing the best that I could to balance the demands of my work with family life.  The reality is that I short-changed the people that I love the most, my family.

 

The technology has improved greatly over the years and now parents can carry their work with them everywhere they go.  At any event that I attend, I see people with their fingers working the keys of their cell phones.  Instead of enjoying a performance live, audience members are busy recording it on their cell phones to post to Facebook. 

 

The ability to multi-task is a valuable skill, but there is also worth in offering your undivided attention.  The way to show staff, family or friends that they are important to you is to pay attention.  Show those you care about that they are important by focusing on them and what they have to say.  I think this is especially true for the children in your life.

 

My grandchildren are still small, but they are growing up quickly.  I know how fortunate I am to be able to spend time with them.  I am building relationships with them now, while they still like hanging out with me.  I hope that will carry us through the teenage years when I expect they won't be quite so eager to spend time with Nana.  When I'm with the girls I still carry a cell phone, but they are my priority...really, what is more important than grandchildren?

 

 

A to Z Challenge: W Is For When We Were Very Young

W Is For When We Were Very Young

Earlier this week I wrote about a treasured childhood book of poems, When We Were Very Young, by AA Milne.  That title popped into my head when I was searching for an appropriate W topic.  I thought I might share a little about my childhood and if I find some embarrassing pictures of my brother it will be a bonus! I'm going to visit him in California next week.  This week he is in Italy riding bicycles and there's not much chance he is reading my blog. 

Both my brother Leigh and I were born in England.  Here's a picture of us with some of our playmates.  Leigh is the one with his tongue out.  I am in the center.  Aren't we so very English?

Here is a picture of my brother and I on the ship that brought us to America.  Note that he is wearing a sailor suit.  He couldn't say his S's and called it his "dailor duit."  When we were growing up, every time a picture of him in the "dailor duit"  was shown, he had to hear that story.  Awww, precious!

Here we are at Knott's Berry Farm in 1959.  It's surprising that my brother didn't grow up to be a member of the Village People.  When we were very young he must have liked dressing up in costume.  (Sing along, you know you want to... It's fun to stay at the  YMCA...

spelling it out with your arms is optional.)

Earlier this year I visited my family in California and we went to a swap meet.  Here's my brother pointing out the quality merchandise that was available. 

 

 

And here we are with my dad at the ocean.  I never would have stood with him on a cliff when we were young; he would have pushed me over...and then told our parents that I started it!

 

I'm looking forward to seeing my family next week, even my brother!

A to Z Challenge: V Is For Victory

V Is For Victory

Earlier this week I wrote a post about things that have no value without knowing their back story.  This is another post about one of those things. 

When my mother died, one of the things I saved was an assortment of rocks and shells my mother collected as mementos.  Each object has a story, but because today's theme is "V,"  I will tell the story of the V rock.

My mother was English and as a child she lived in Harrow with her family.  During World War II her parents sent her to boarding school at the Marist Convent in Hythe to get her away from the bombing in London.  She had an aunt who was a nun there (Auntie Euphemia.) 


One day my mother went to the village with a group of students.  A German plane buzzed the town and fired its guns.  The girls all safely avoided the hail of bullets.  Later that day my mother wrote a letter to her parents and shared her afternoon adventure.  That was the end of boarding school for my mother.  Her parents brought her back to London; even with the Blitz, they thought it would be safer for her at home.

Before she left Hythe my mother went for a walk on the beach and found the rock that now sits with the other mementos in my back bedroom.  She told me that when she found the rock she knew with a certainty that England would win the war.  It was a sign.

V is for Victory.  

A to Z Challenge: U Is For Unchanged

U Is For Unchanged

I sometimes envy people who live in historic places.  There is something comforting about places that are untouched by time.  I don't live in one of those places.  Hermiston was incorporated in 1907.  There aren't historic buildings and I haven't seen any historic markers celebrating that anything notable ever happened here.  

The schools that my children attended have been torn down and replaced by modern buildings.  Even the Hermiston McDonald's has been modernized and looks nothing like the original fast food restaurant.  The old drive-in theater has been replaced by a multi-plex theater. The town has grown considerably since we moved here over thirty years ago, but, compared to metropolitan areas, it is still small. 

When my children were young, we had only one city park.  It is still there and the grandchildren and I went there last summer.  The play structures had been replaced with newer, safer equipment, but the trees that shaded us from the summer sun were the same trees that sheltered me when I was a young mother with two active children.  Thirty years later I sat on the same bench to watch my grandchildren play.  I told the granddaughters, "This is the park where Mommy used to play when she was a little girl."  They weren't impressed.  They wanted to go to the park with the castle play structure.

When the granddaughters come to stay with me this summer they will once again sleep in "Mommy's bed," their mother's childhood bed.  One thing that remains unchanged is that I always sleep well when the people I love are safely tucked in under my roof.