~please celebrate it~

To realize that it's the 17th day of July already is a bit on the overwhelming side of life.  In the proverbial blink of an eye, each day passes by.  I'm ready for the 22,180th day of my existence here on the earth.  What shall it bring for me?  

Only the good Lord above knows.

It's kind of strange to measure your life in days rather than years.  On the 1,827th day of my life back in 1960, I was just a little kid in the first grade at Burrton (KS) Grade School with little more to worry about than who my playmates at recess would be or which cute little boys might chase us on the playground.  There were no big decisions to make, other than whether to color first or play outside when I got home from school.  

Life was pretty simple and good.
I liked it as such.

When I was 6,575 days old back in 1973, I was a high school senior back home in Haven, Kansas.  The war in Vietnam was still raging on and to show my support for those listed as POW/MIA, I wore a special bracelet that cost $1 to order from a company in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  The name of my POW, Lee Edward Nordahl, was engraved on mine and I wore it until it finally broke into two pieces.  It has been 15,533 days since then.  

Where did it all go?
How many more wars have we seen?

On day #8,766, I was in my very first year of teaching back in the same small elementary that I grew up in as a child.  Never did I dream back then that I would return to the halls and classrooms of Haven Grade School, but I surely did.  It was a blessing to be able to teach alongside some of the very same teachers who had taught me when I was a little girl.  Now, 13,414 days later I am readying myself for my 39th year as an educator and I have to wonder about something in my mind and heart.

How many more days shall I have here on this earth?
Only the good Lord above knows.

My life has taken some strange twists and turns with nothing really working out as I might have predicted early on.  I have been asked many times, as I am sure many of you have as well, the question.
"If you could go back in time and change anything, would you?"
My answer would be, probably not.

Everything that has happened to me over the course of the last 6 decades has happened for a reason and with great purpose in mind.  Definitely things didn't turnout the way I thought they might.  Just when I thought life was in order, something happened.  Sometimes it was bad but most other times it was good and surely for the best.  More often than not, it was unplanned but through it all, one thing remained constant.

God was with me.
He still is today.
You will never convince me otherwise.
Don't even bother to try.

Today is Sunday, the 17th day of July.  The house is quiet in these early morning hours.  Crosby and Sally are not even stirring and from the stillness of our bedroom, Mike's soft breathing in sleep can be heard.  I have learned as I grew older to celebrate each day that comes to me, no matter how quickly it seems to leave as nighttime falls. 

My wish for you dear ones is that you also feel the same way.
Today is a great day to be alive in.
Celebrate it.

On the 21,207th day of my life, God sent this man to me.  No longer would I need to worry about growing old alone.  We began the plan then that we still adhere to this day and it's called "sticking together".  

You gotta love a guy who would agree to get married on the last day of school in front of all the kids his wife had taught.  That gymnasium on East Bigger Street and all of those precious folks who filled the chairs to witness us marry one another, will forever remain special to us.