~winter~
~For nearly 7 1/2 years I wrote a blog called "The View From a Different Window", starting in May of 2011 as I prepared myself to cross the state of Kansas on a bicycle. It went on from there to tell of what life has been like for me, a Kansas farm kid and teacher. I've written over 1,200 blog posts there and I'd venture to say that some of them I have forgotten about already. I'm in the process of making hard copies of those countless diary entries. Some day I will sit down and share them with my grandchildren and be able to tell them the real life stories of their grandmother's time. My words were never meant to be Pulitzer Prize winning or even perused by a million readers. Writing them turned out to be the best medicine I could have had in order to get through times that were often hard. The finished product was proof that I made it. This new blog, Along the Road to Home, is written with the intent of chronicling what life will be like as we return home to Kansas and the changes that will come about as I prepare to leave teaching behind in just a few years more. I love to write and I recognize the therapeutic value that it provides for me. It's better than medicine for what ails you some days~and cheaper too. Thank you for reading!
Along the Road to Home~
Winter is coming, not only as reflected by the calendar but in my own life as well. I have always believed that we live our lives in seasons and at age 63 now, I can see my own personal winter solstice waiting for me across the street and down the block aways right next to the blue house on the corner. It is waving to me, admonishing me to get ready for its arrival.
I shouldn't be surprised for I have seen my own spring and summer come and go and for the record, they were mostly awesome. I'm living in the last years of my autumn and that's not such a bad thing, in fact it's quite the opposite. Many of my friends and other folks I have known never made it past spring or summer. With gray hairs upon my head and wrinkles that line my face, I know one thing for certain.
I have been quite blessed.
Life has taken me on some pretty adventuresome journeys, down roads that I never dreamt that I would travel upon. I have had many experiences, both bad and good, none of which I would ever trade for anything. It was while I was going through the rough parts that I gained appreciation and respect for the good ones. I have learned my own share of life's lessons, and it was during those times that I was shaped into the person who I was intended to become all along. To say that it has not been easy would be quite the understatement. Many times it has been hard, and yet I survived and ultimately thrived.
Mike and I are at a turning point in time and as they say here around these parts, we're fixing to have a change soon. When school is out in May, we are returning home to our native Kansas to live upon the same prairies that we both were born on. Although we are not planning to settle back in Reno County, our home will not be too far from there. We are hoping to find a place close enough to the Kansas/Oklahoma border so that I can teach a couple of more years in Oklahoma before retiring. That part of the decision making process has not been settled yet, but with luck it will be in the weeks ahead.
I used to think it would take forever to become as old as my parents were, yet I have learned the lesson that it does not. In the blink of an eye, I surpassed my father's age when he passed away, and in 14 more years I will be the same age my mother was when she died. All of us are given only a certain amount of time on this planet, and truly it is up to us as to how we spend them. Even in my wintertime, my plan is to remain active and engaged in all the good things that I can find to be a part of. Mike and I intend to have many wonderful years ahead of us and moving home to Kansas brings us full circle to where it all began in the first place. Sometimes I feel anxious about the changes that are about to happen, and I wonder if we will ever get there. It is in those uncertain times that I am reminded that the same God who watched over me in Kansas, Colorado, and now Texas will not desert me, leaving me in the wilderness to fend for myself. Everything will turn out fine, if only I will trust the one who knows way more about that kind of stuff than I will ever be able to.
Winter on the prairie~I'm kind of looking at it as a glorious time to remember.
Along the Road to Home~
Winter is coming, not only as reflected by the calendar but in my own life as well. I have always believed that we live our lives in seasons and at age 63 now, I can see my own personal winter solstice waiting for me across the street and down the block aways right next to the blue house on the corner. It is waving to me, admonishing me to get ready for its arrival.
I shouldn't be surprised for I have seen my own spring and summer come and go and for the record, they were mostly awesome. I'm living in the last years of my autumn and that's not such a bad thing, in fact it's quite the opposite. Many of my friends and other folks I have known never made it past spring or summer. With gray hairs upon my head and wrinkles that line my face, I know one thing for certain.
I have been quite blessed.
Life has taken me on some pretty adventuresome journeys, down roads that I never dreamt that I would travel upon. I have had many experiences, both bad and good, none of which I would ever trade for anything. It was while I was going through the rough parts that I gained appreciation and respect for the good ones. I have learned my own share of life's lessons, and it was during those times that I was shaped into the person who I was intended to become all along. To say that it has not been easy would be quite the understatement. Many times it has been hard, and yet I survived and ultimately thrived.
Mike and I are at a turning point in time and as they say here around these parts, we're fixing to have a change soon. When school is out in May, we are returning home to our native Kansas to live upon the same prairies that we both were born on. Although we are not planning to settle back in Reno County, our home will not be too far from there. We are hoping to find a place close enough to the Kansas/Oklahoma border so that I can teach a couple of more years in Oklahoma before retiring. That part of the decision making process has not been settled yet, but with luck it will be in the weeks ahead.
I used to think it would take forever to become as old as my parents were, yet I have learned the lesson that it does not. In the blink of an eye, I surpassed my father's age when he passed away, and in 14 more years I will be the same age my mother was when she died. All of us are given only a certain amount of time on this planet, and truly it is up to us as to how we spend them. Even in my wintertime, my plan is to remain active and engaged in all the good things that I can find to be a part of. Mike and I intend to have many wonderful years ahead of us and moving home to Kansas brings us full circle to where it all began in the first place. Sometimes I feel anxious about the changes that are about to happen, and I wonder if we will ever get there. It is in those uncertain times that I am reminded that the same God who watched over me in Kansas, Colorado, and now Texas will not desert me, leaving me in the wilderness to fend for myself. Everything will turn out fine, if only I will trust the one who knows way more about that kind of stuff than I will ever be able to.
Winter on the prairie~I'm kind of looking at it as a glorious time to remember.
They left the welcome home sign up for me.
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