Learning Something NEW!

Made it into 2022!

Thank you, Lord. No New Year's Resolutions again this year. Just my promise to myself to be the best person I can be all 365 days, and when I stumble and even fall, that I have sense enough to get back up, acknowledge my mistake and start all over again.

What a great day to be alive.

It is cloudy, raining, and grey all over, but to be able to look upon it and know that I am in good health, family is well, shelter over my head, lights are on, hot water working, AND HEAT! In case you do not remember, last January was a monster for me. On January 9, 2020, I moved into a hotel and stayed there for two weeks.

The debate about the new vaccines was hot and heavy.

I was debating if I would even take the vaccine, and others were also debating that question. On March 8, I bit the bullet and got my first vaccine with my second one on March 8. On December 11, I even had the booster shot. Today, about half of our Nation has been vaccinated, and many have gotten boosters, but old COVID is sticking around and increasing with super spreaders all over the place.

We are resilient!

It has been a very bleak time, and there seems to be no end in sight. My suggestion would be let's stop watching COVID, and let's go back to living. You, baby boomers, have been through crisis before, and we coined the phrase "when the going gets tough, the tough get going!" Time to get going. COVID is going to be around. The question is, "Are we?" Get vaccinated -- polio, diphtheria, tetanus (now called DPTs), measles, mumps, flu (every year), pneumonia (at least two vaccines), and shingles. I bet 95% of us do not know what's in any of them or how long they were tested before sticking out our arms. LOL

Ok, we are more educated now.

I agree more of us have degrees, but I would be willing to debate "the more educated." I like to think that I am educated, but there are days I have to recognize that I have forgotten more than I remember, but I am LEARNING new things every day (hint)! I have not let go of all my bygones, but I am working on them. Being educated, you can do that.

I am a work in progress.

Every single day, I try to learn something new, and if I don't, I feel that I have been cheated. Just like that old typewriter, mimeograph machine, word processor, desktop computer, etc., became obsolete, so has some of our thinking. I remember the fight to get folks to learn how to operate a computer. Now, most folks walk around with one in their hand all day long (smartphones). I think it is time for me to fly a plane, go sky diving, or something else that will get the adrenaline flowing, but learn I must.

Youth is not all bad or wrong.

Got one hell of a lesson from one of my daughters yesterday after getting the message from my youngest child. I took great pain to note that the young one did not call me on Christmas day. So, when she showed up on the last day of the year, I took the time to mention that I had hoped she would have called me on Christmas day. Her answer left almost left me speechless. She said, "Your phone works!"

Shared my amazement with the knee-baby, and the lesson was taught. The phone does work, and it is incredible that I sat around all day long waiting on the "baby child" to call. My expectations of them always calling me is a bit much, and they are equally amazed that I expect them to do so. WOW! BLOWN! Too much to expect?

I did my usual, changed the subject, and soon got the heck off the phone. I spent the rest of the evening pondering the conversation, the times, and a lot more. You know, I could see her point at the end of the day. Years ago, Boby Dylan wrote, "These times, they are changing!" Well, to be honest, they have changed, but some of us haven't -- that includes me.

Youth, you've just got to listen to them. No, they do not speak to us the way we were taught to speak to our parents, but they often do speak truth. Often, just the words they use cut across the grain but bite that tongue, listen, chew on it in your mind (there is nothing that says you have to answer them right there and then on the spot). When taken in perspective, they really do make sense.

When it is all said and done, we raised them right!

I guess, after thinking about my lesson all night, and making it into 2022, I have concluded that I could have called her. Three of the four called me first, and a whole host of grand made that "expected" call, so one call would not have killed me. Instead, I went all day long on Christmas without talking with my baby. Never again. LOL

Boy, does 2022 have something in store for me!

I am up to the challenge. Happy new year to all of you, and let's get up to the bat because I am confident the next pitch is coming.

Peace and blessings to you and yours always