So true what they do say~

I gave my aunt a call yesterday in the late afternoon as I was heading home from a meeting at school.  October 17, 2013 marked the occasion of her 100th birthday and even though I had just seen her this past weekend when Mike and I went home to Kansas for a visit, I wanted to wish her well.  It was pretty late in the day to be calling her and I knew that there was a possibility that she might already have gone to bed.  But I took a chance anyway and surprisingly enough she answered the phone on the third ring with a voice that sounded clear and happy.  We visited for a little while and I told her how glad I was that she had made it to 100 and I asked her how she was feeling.   She sounded just like the Aunt Beck that I have always known as she said, "You know, I think I'm feeling pretty good!" As we spoke I wondered where all the years had gone and when I asked her about that she said that honestly she didn't know either.  As I said good-bye and told her that I loved her I realized what has been said is true~"Time flies."

The dearest of aunts~Rebecca Unruh, my mom's sister.  So glad I saw her when I was back home in Kansas this last weekend.

I have thought often since we returned from Kansas at the first part of this week about the classmates that I saw and other old friends as well at the class reunion back in Haven, Kansas.  Kids who knew one another as well as they would have known their own brothers and sisters, heck maybe even better, gathered together after 40 years of being apart from one another.  Mike and I had a great time attending the dinners, both at Haven High School and the Anchor Inn, and catching up on the news of the past 40 years.  After we were together for a few minutes or so, it was as if we really hadn't been all that far apart to begin with.  It was such a blessing to be able to spend even just this short while with them and to reconnect both in heart and mind.  Friends from my childhood days, they all were.  And lest I sound like Miss Fran from our "Romper Room" days~I saw Craig and Allen, Janis and Tony, Barb and Kathy, Tanya and Jamie and I saw Larry and Steve too!  There was  Rex and Betty Ann, Lyndon and Cindy, and oh wow, I even saw Jim, Sam, Ruth, Kevin and Mary Ann.  (some very young folks reading this are saying to themselves, "Who the heck is Miss Fran and what in the world was Romper Room?" To those young people, I say that the best thing that you could do is to find a grown up to ask and they will tell you.) :)  When we said our "good-byes" to one another all of us were shaking our heads with wonder about how so much of our lives had already passed by us.  You know, it's not like we are on our "last legs" or anything but hey, we got a little older while time passed by.  I guess it's true what they say~"Time flies."

The class of 1973-friends from the days of my youth and I will always remember them.

We were talking here at home last evening how it would soon be a whole year that Mike and I "reconnected" with one another after 40 years of living so far apart from one another.  I had to stop and think, but he was surely correct.  I remember well that day in the early part of January this year that I decided to brave the elements and stand up to crossing Monarch Pass in the winter.  It was not an easy journey but I made it and ended up coming here to live after Mike and I were married back in Kansas on the last day of school in May.  Much has happened to me since that day now almost 5 months ago, all of it very memorable in its own way.  Even though, especially in my early days of loneliness and being homesick for Kansas, it seemed as though time drug by, really in all actuality the days have gone by very quickly.  Now as I get ready to endure my first winter out here, I look at all of the fullness of my first weeks and months in Colorado.  The little baby raccoons, the deer herd, the sunflowers and all the other things that "saved" a very lonely and homesick flatlander from Kansas are just things in my memory.  Just another way to realize that the age old adage is most certainly and surely correct~"Time flies."

                        January of 2013 at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

        October of 2013 at home along the Western Slopes in Montrose, Colorado

And speaking of time flying by, an entire hour has now passed since I awoke at 4:15 and started the pot of coffee going.  The clock on the kitchen wall says "Hey, it's time to get a move on girl!" Since they frown on teachers showing up late and wearing their pajamas, I guess I'd better get going.  The week has flown by (imagine that) and there is much to be done in my fourth grade classroom.  They'll be waiting on me, I know they will :)  Oh and one last thing.  I had a bad dream last night, one that woke me up and don't you hate those kinds of things?  In my dream, I found out that an old friend had passed away and I hadn't even known it.  I felt so bad that I had never taken the time to call them up and tell them how much they meant to me.  No idea where that dream came from but it makes me even more aware of the fact that our lives are short to begin with.  I might be blessed with 100 years as my aunt has been this week or my life could well be over today, next week, next month, or next year.  Knowing that I say to you all this morning.....I am so grateful that we are friends and family with one another.  I feel really blessed that even though I live far away from most of you now, I can still hold each of you close in my heart.  I won't forget you ever and I pray that you will remember me as well.  Everything in this world happens for a reason, it is not an accident nor is it a case of good/bad luck.  With a grateful heart, I thank you for being my friends and I always wish the best for you all.  This is Friday, the 18th of October in the year 2013.  It's a great day to be alive in so please go out and enjoy every minute of it because remember it is surely true what they say and shoot go ahead and say it with me~"Time flies."  Love you all!