Creating Change at Christmas - Repost

    Creating Change at Christmas

There had not even been one drop of snow. I suppose the correct wording would be ‘flakes of snow’. Not even the tiniest dust mote of snow! But the sky. It was as blue as any winter sky could get - on the west coast. All around me, what should have been white, softly sculpted mounds of glittering cold white frosting was soggy, wet, damp and muddy.  

In reality, there was lots of green space and it really was quite beautiful. Fall colours decorated the trees, sidewalks and streets in reds, golds and yellows. All of those golden rusty leaves had yet to be picked up by the city crew and their leaf blowers, compacters and shredders - all noisy and loud.  

Looking back over her own words, Francine could see with disappointment that she was unhappy with her lot. Well, she had been unhappy with her lot for most of her life. She could quickly paint a very real feeling smile on her face, but when left to her own devices for very long, her face once more became drawn and sad.

How to effect a change where no change could be seen? She had been told so very, many times to change her attitude. Stop whining. How would that change how her heart felt?

There was to be one more Christmas with one more litany of woes expressed by all and sundry about hating the season. Hating the season! As a child it had been all excitement. Getting out decorations, hearing the stories - family stories and church stories. Baking. All so wonderful. And the snow, the skating rink. Ah, skating: another thing she missed! Would there be any possibility that she could return to her home town and relive all of the Christmas’s past?  

Not likely. But despite the gray and rainy skies of her new home, she could decorate her own home even with the tiniest of Christmas trees.  Christmas baking in her brand new stove could infuse her home with sweet aromas of this past that she missed so much. If her family could not be with her, she could invite friends for a bit of Christmas cheer. She missed the choir ~ there were choral events and galas to attend.

And maybe, just maybe....... remodeling childhood lessons with a different attitude would release the tight bands around her heart and she would hear her lost angels sing once more.

“You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that 

it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.”

~ Jan Glidewel

Spirits of Christmas

Christmas trees are a favourite of mine.
From the big, full Christmas trees decorated tastefully to the Charlie Brown Christmas trees decorated with nostalgia.
(My Christmas trees are usually of the Charlie Brown variety.)
In reality, each year they all are a comforting gathering place for family mementos.
(My camera technique fits in with the Charlie Brown nature of this little gathering.)
Decorations, wrapping, cards not yet written and a few gifts cover my dining room table.
Preparing for Christmas has, in past years, been a time of great sorrow.
Today, honouring those gone before allows these festive preparations to be uplifting.

“Christmas is the gentlest, loveliest festival of the revolving year ~

and yet, for all that, when it speaks, it’s voice has strong authority.”

~ W.J.Cameron

The Mail Must Go Through

Crunch, crunch through grey, glittering snow down a short back alley rutted and icy, 
past garages and snow filled backyard to get mail tucked in a locked box at the post office, stamping crusted snow from my boots at the door.

Warm post office air cooled with each open and close of the big glass door.
Christmas packages and cards from near and far hand delivered across a counter with a pleasant, or just polite, ‘Hello. Here’s those packages you were waiting for.’

A new development, for one-third of the country, linking present reality to memories from away.
Convenient mail delivery door to door has aided those home bound and disconnected from community.

Learning to reconnect, to step outside will not necessarily be easy.
The internet age has not, and will not, come for some.
Change to our society has come, and will continue to come.

Adapting is our challenge ~
with offers to help others.
asking for help from others.

“If we can’t alter the tide of events, at least 

we can be nearby with towels to mop up.”

~ Peter David

Book Review - The 100-Year-Old Man by Jonas Jonasson

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

This month our book club read the tale of Allan Karlsson through a century of living. A very ordinary, and quite logical, fellow, his life took him through many hilarious and extraordinary events. While he, by his own admission, was not interested in politics, his adventures were in the company of political figures throughout history. In all of these adventures, one sees the human foibles of our political leaders and just a hint of absurdity in these great systems.

Allan Karlsson, the centenarian, was also at the center of a manhunt. While trying to avoid and evade the police, Allan and friends lie low on a farm. The addition of an elephant will test your grip on reality. Our book group today shared laughter while discussing our perspectives on the reasons and rationale of the author, Jonas Jonasson.

A great read!

“Humour is everywhere in that there’s irony 

in just about anything a human does.”

~ Bill Nye

Confused Thinking

Confusion within reality - a bit oxymoronic?
Keys misplaced with frantic searches ensuing.
Appointment times forgotten or double booked with attendant embarrassment.
Timing off, but fixed with double timing to cover all bases.
At the end of the day, all is in place even if not quite perfectly.
Frustration in the moment, laughter in retelling of the stories

Confusion within dementia is quite another story.
The ‘real’ world is full of fragmented memories.
Urges borne of beliefs in this 'to do' society
to get groceries, 
get on with farming,
go to work, 
to church, 
to act normally within the bounds of dementia
while the bounds of reality are locked doors and tight supervision.

Problem solving skills are fragmented and persistent.

‘Escape’ into the hostile, real world happens, leaving us all
to wonder and to scratch our heads about more locks, better locks,
to provide safer protection and care for our loved ones.

In casual conversation, fears that ‘it will only get worse’ bubble up and are quickly dismissed with nervous laughter.
This fear of personal dementia dives much, much deeper.
Each research item in the news about vast numbers of aging does nothing to assuage those fears.
The forgotten keys, appointment times and double booking are not necessarily signs of impending dementia - they may be just too close to our fears.

“It is coincidence, I decide, and I am getting old and batty, 

thinking the universe revolves around me.”

~ Katherine Dunn, Geek Love

My Own Choice

My mind is a blank page (kind of like my old computer)
No - not blank but filled with drifts of thoughts (kind of like my new computer)
Full sentences are in short supply
Choice at work ~ get the prescribed flu shot or wear a mask until flu season is over.
My stubborn streak says “I’ll do what I want.”
My fear says ~ ‘if I get a flu shot I’ll still get sick again this year, but if I don’t will I get the flu because I didn’t get the flu shot?’
Two years in a row the coincidence (or not) of being ill after the flu shot frightens me.
But what about others
what if you become a carrier...
which direction do I go?!
Could I make a compromise?
Could I find a way to make my own choice fit with choices presented to me?
What is my responsibility to my clients, my colleagues and to my community?
Answers arrived slowly.......
Are they consistent with researched, scientific evidence? I have no idea.
My own choice will work with my fears, that stubborn kid that lives inside of me and, I believe is cognizant of others.

“To say you have no choice is to relieve yourself of responsibility.”

~ Patrick Ness, Monsters of Men