One of the best aspects of retirement is that I am able to have lazy mornings without guilt. I appreciate the fact that I don’t have to rush around and tackle traffic on rainy mornings like this one. I stay inside sipping on my tea and viewing Mother Nature’s storms from my windows. Since it is unlikely that anyone will unexpectedly come to my door on a day like today I am able to linger in my pajamas a bit longer than I would if I had places to go and things to accomplish. It’s nice to be able to peruse the online news sources and to get up to date information on the weather. Since I had oral surgery just yesterday I am supposed to take it a bit easy for another twenty four hours or so. Luckily I don’t have to feel compelled to rush off to a job with my pain medication tucked into my purse. I am able to nurse myself in ways that I never did when I was still working. It’s a very nice situation indeed! Continue reading “Thoughts on Thinking”
Author: Sharron Burnett
Adult Coloring Books
When I was a child I loved coloring books, and of course I always stayed inside the lines. It was a source of great pride to my mother when our next door neighbor who was an artist commented that I had exceptional technique and control when I was only about three. Mama would repeat that compliment over and over again as evidence that I was somehow destined for greatness. Eventually society changed its mind about the art of coloring and pronounced that the ability to fill in the blank spaces of a drawing was little more creative than painting a wall. Furthermore the concept of staying within the lines was viewed as a sign of someone without any particular thinking skills. Still my mama insisted that my outstanding coloring at such a young age was indeed significant.
I soon bored of the habit of coloring as most young children do. I never developed my artistic side save for a required art class that I took at the University of Houston. I probably enjoyed that course more than anything that I ever took. The professor insisted that I should consider a change of major but since I was only one semester away from graduation that was never going to happen. I dabbled here and there in arts and crafts but never really found any reason to pursue my art. My devotion to teaching mathematics always trumped any inclinations to draw or paint. Of late my creative instincts have been mostly poured into writing although I’m not certain that the nonfictional aspect of my essays actually qualifies as inventiveness. Continue reading “Adult Coloring Books”
Home Sweet Home
Returning home from vacation is always bittersweet, more so when the trip was magical. They say that there is no place like home and to a certain extent that is true. I always sleep best in my own bed and I enjoy resuming my familiar routine and yet ending a vacation is akin to the day after Christmas. All of the joy and anticipation related to the journey dissolves into piles of dirty laundry to be cleaned and chores to be done. Somehow those first few days after a glorious sojourn are so disappointing, especially for those unfortunate souls who must return to work.
My latest time away from home was glorious on so many levels. I missed the hottest week of the summer when everyone was roasting in Houston and instead enjoyed milder days when the temperature stayed in the low eighties and cool nights when the fifty degree readings allowed us to sleep with the windows open. When I first encountered the Texas heat again I felt as though I had been pushed into a furnace. I have to admit that my body has not quite yet readjusted to the suffocating blanket of warmth that is hovering over our city just as it almost always does in August. I spent most of my week in Colorado in the great outdoors. Here in Houston I dare not venture outside for too long lest I melt. There is a certain irony in the fact that the view of my backyard is so lovely and yet venturing into it is akin to a dangerous trek in the jungles of the Amazon. Continue reading “Home Sweet Home”
Transitions
Facebook is filled with posts and images of children transitioning from one stage in life to another. There are the little ones who are going to pre-school for the first time. Their moms’ are both excited and nervous. Then there are the new middle schoolers and high school students. Perhaps the most touching of all are the young men and women who are going away for college. Their mamas are remembering the times that they held their babies in their arms and when they folded their baby clothes. Suddenly without warning childhood has ended and the babies are ready to spread their wings and work toward becoming totally independent from their parents. I sometimes wonder if the uncertainties of leaving home are more difficult for the mothers than they are for the young people who see the unknown as a well earned adventure. Life is suddenly very different and no matter how well everyone has prepared for the changes, they take all by surprise.
I remember driving my eldest daughter, Maryellen, to the University of Texas in Austin. At first I kept busy helping her set up her dorm room but when it came time to drive away and leave her on campus my heart almost burst open. I hid the tears that were forming in my eyes until Mike had driven far enough away that she would not see. Then the dam that had been holding back my emotions burst. I sobbed for at least an hour. I couldn’t imagine how I was going to wake up each morning and not see her face or go to sleep each night not knowing that she was safely tucked in. I eventually adjusted just as all parents do. I understood that it was in her best interests to begin to move away from me. Her confidence in her own abilities was proof that I had done a good job as a parent. It is the nature of life for our young ones to slowly but surely progress into their adult roles. If my daughter had never left my home I would have had more to worry about than when she made that important leap into the adult world. Nonetheless, those first days and weeks and months without Maryellen in my home were some of the most distressing of my life. As a good mom I of course never let her know just how emotional I was feeling. Continue reading “Transitions”
Trail Ridge Road
Ain’t this somethin’? I told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. “Make your life go here, son. Here’s where the peoples is.” “Mother Gue”, I says, “the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world,” and by God, I was right. Keep your nose in the wind and your eye along the skyline. These here is God’s finest sculpturings! And there ain’t no laws for the brave ones! And there ain’t no asylums for the crazy ones! And there ain’t no churches, ‘cept for this right here! And there ain’t no priests excepting the birds. — Del Gue, Jeremiah Johnson
Mike and I first rode along Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park when we were in our early thirties. It was spring and we were unprepared for the cold weather that lingered. The road had only recently reopened for tourists. There were dark clouds and a mist hung over the mountains. When we got out of our car to view the majestic peaks the frigid wind cut right through our sea level dwelling bones. We shivered but we were so in awe that we didn’t care that we were freezing. I had never in my life seen anything like the range that spread out in front of me. I was literally overcome with emotion upon seeing it and I felt as though I was truly in God’s cathedral. I would return to this incredible spot again and again. Continue reading “Trail Ridge Road”
