Changes

Almost in full bloom!

It is funny how each morning when I wake up I have something on my mind that I want to be blogging about. Today it was changes.

I can remember that when I was a young girl growing up I use to think a lot about getting married. I would think about the wedding I wanted, the guy I would marry, etc...but little about what it would be like after the ceremony. In those days you just grew up and got married and little time was spent on the marriage details, perse. Life was simple, you married, had kids and lived happily ever after, right? I knew I wanted kids~and that was about as far forward as I could see. I would think about how many boys and girls I wanted and their potential names, etc.

I never realized how important a spouse is to your health, happiness and your very life. I don't think that in the child rearing years I gave any thought whatsoever, to what I would do when the kids left home and I had time to consider what I wanted to do or needed to do.

When you are in "kid mode" it just never seems like it will end....it does. That was the most unexpected change in my life I think. You never think your parents will die...they do. You think your favorite restaurant will always be there, familiar building will always exist, you'll be with your best friends forever, you will always be healthy......not necessarily so. You think you will be young and quick forever...ummm, no! Life is full of surprises. Some are not always so pleasant!

Even when you know these things happen to other people you always feel you are somewhat immune. We are in a constant state of motion ever moving towards the end of our mortal existence, even though as baby boomers we are trying to put the skids on that~time marches on for everyone. This is something even the boomers cannot alter in the total scheme of things. Altered body parts still get old even if they don't look old~all of us are going the way of all the earth~no exceptions.

Another huge surprise for me is that at our age, just a year and a month from possible retirement and we feel like high school kids not knowing what we want to be when we grow up. Suddenly when you wake up one day and see the reality that in just a few short months you will not be confined by the time constraints of daily work to earn your bread~the world is your oyster. Oysters can be scary. You have basically endless possibilities and what to do is the big question. In my wildest imagination I never dreamed our life in the future would be so undefined at our age.

~Here are a dozen things we know for sure~

1. We want to live by our kids and grandkids.
2. We want to serve a full-time mission for our church
3. We want to be able to travel and see the parts of the world we haven't.
4. We want to keep active and busy doing productive things.
5. We want to be healthy and strong.
6. We want to be of service to our family and others.
7. Working for what we want will always be a part of our lives.
8. We want to be independent until we die and not burden our family.
9.We want to grow in the Gospel of Jesus Christ all the days of our lives.
10. We want to fulfill our potential as marriage partners.
11. We hope to leave a legacy for our posterity that is all good!
12. We want to "live happily ever after" by making good choices always.

How these plans will pan out is part of the changing that concerns us now. It is an exciting time and a frightening time simultaneously. I guess the one thing that age gifts you with is the experience to know that the changes come, ready or not. We have been trying to be prepared for the ones coming up. We are trying to be intuned with the feelings and intentions of our hearts, and at the same time listening to the promptings of the spirit to guide us in the way we should go. We are consciously increasing our faith in God's plan for us. We are trying to plan 100 things we want to do in our retirement from the 'work a day life.' It is better to run out of life before you run out of plans ~ then the other way around.

It is never too soon to get the thoughts churning in that direction. Time has a way of stopping for no one. Each stage of life is wonderful, but it doesn't hurt to gaze ahead a little and be prepared. I wish someone had told me that and I had internalized it when I was younger. Someone is telling you that now! Run with it!