Gratitude - Our Bodies

Tonight I came home from the gym and wanted to collapse into bed but I decided that I would continue this - at least through November - and so I'm here!  LOL

I biked for 22 miles today, did water aerobics for 1/2 hour and also had a half hour training sessions with my trainer.  I'm reminded every day that I am growing older...whether it's the gray in my hair, the need to have things repeated so that I can hear them, my eyes that need the cataracts removed, or the weight that will not budge.  Nevertheless, I have a profound gratitude for this body that the Lord has given me.  For the most part it operates quite well.  I am getting stronger as evidenced by the increasing weight I can lift or the distance that I can ride or swim.  I am in awe of how resilient my body is - even though the average woman loses 5% of muscle mass each decade (thanks Dr. Oz), it doesn't have to remain so.  I will not be 20 again for many years but my muscles can/are gaining strength, flexibility, and mobility with exercise and good nutrition...I'm not doomed to have atrophying muscles if I choose to work at it. 

I also love that my body is washable.  I know that sounds so stupid - but I can get all sweaty, dirty, grungy even and yet a shower or bath or just washing my hands is so helpful both from an aesthetic and sanitary view.

I marvel about the all the cells, DNA, and the biological processes that are going on all the time - the fact that our hearts beat and we don't even think about it, that our livers and kidneys function without even missing a beat.  Our brains are such miracles - not even 3# - but look what they can do???  I remember my podiatrist explaining about the intricacies of the human foot - there are more bones in the foot than any other part of the body - but the cool thing is that when the foot is just hanging there it is just a mass of bones - it isn't until you actually step on it that it becomes an operational foot - because those bones are free floating they can adjust for any terrain they are called to go on - pavement, gravel, a stream bed, mud, grass - isn't that just so cool???

And perhaps the thing I love the most is the fact that my body was able to conceive and bear 6 beautiful children.  The processes that entails are so miraculous I can't even begin to describe or even understand.  And yet, feeling their little bodies inside of me, was just wonderous - I have no words to describe the joy their lives have brought to me - how grateful I am for them and their bodies.  We've been so blessed to have bodies and so often I take them for granted or get frustrated by them.  Hmmmm...I ought to reconsider those responses.

Gratitude - Technology

Today, in Sacrament Meeting, I was thinking about all the things that bless my life, wondering what I was most grateful for....  I decided that it was an impossible exercise.  Just as the gospel is one eternal round...so are the things that I am grateful for...each one blending into the realm of another and available to me because of another.  That said, I think I will take a moment each day and write about one thing, not necessarily more important than another or in any particular order, that I am grateful for.

Today I am so grateful for modern technology - phones, computers, television, radio, internet, cameras, etc.

Rebecca called me on her way home from church today to tell me that she loved and missed me.  It doesn't get any better than that!  My beautiful, wonderful, sweet granddaughter thought to call me.  It made my day!  Many years ago I watched a short movie clip about an old woman that waited for the mail each and every day for a letter from someone, anyone, she loved and who loved her.  Her children and grandchildren did love her but they were caught up in the busyness of their own lives and always meant to write the note or letter but it just didn't get done.  I related to the clip because I was a young person, then a young mom...always meaning to get that letter sent and always regretting that I hadn't gotten one off sooner.  Now...I'm the grandma but with a quick text, simple phone call, blog post, facetime, or facebook message I am able to have those precious contacts with those I love so dearly - and in real time!  I am able be know, to some extent, what is happening in their lives, what they are enduring, thinking, feeling, and working for.  And a short call to say "I love you" is just the best!  I love you too, Bekah!

The blessing of technology allows me to be involved in my kids and grandkids lives, directly and indirectly.  When one of the kids calls about this or that, I love feeling that they trust me enough to want my input and I always hope that they know that I trust them to gather all information and advice necessary on any given subject and then make the wisest choice for the situation they find themselves confronting...regardless of what I have just said!  LOL  As they discover, gather, and sort out their options I have the wonderful opportunity of being a part of the process - not to make the decision - but to know what they are feeling, experiencing, working on, or pleased with - whether worried about a sick child or worried about a rebellious youngster, whether seeking input on a sewing project (I love to have someone to bounce ideas off of too!) or a RS lesson, whether listening to a grandchild read their first scripture or just learn to talk on the phone...it doesn't matter...the opportunity to be a part of their lives is what matters.  And I am so profoundly grateful for the technology that allows me to do that.

It is the same technology that allows me to talk to my Dad and to assess his circumstances.  It is the same technology that permits me to be in a meeting with my brothers and sisters to discuss Dad and his failing health.  How cool is that???  And it is the same technology that enables us to marshall resources to help him as his circumstances dictate.  I doubt my Mom needs this technology to know these same things at this point in her life...but I wish that the technology of today would allow for my conversations with her to be less one-sided on my part! LOL

Tonight I have been doing some genealogy and just typing in a few names in a google search brought up compiled histories for ancestors that I am working on.  I have been trying, along with Joey, to get things ready to submit for the DAR and SAR and we have believed that the easiest line to follow would be through the Bingham line to Capt. David Perry.  Wow!  The resources that are available with just a few strokes of the keyboard are just astonding.  And, considering how tech challenged I am, it is absolutely amazing that I can find anything! 

Just seven years ago I was sitting in the living room of my parent's home when I received a phone call from a lady in Florida with information on the Bainbridge line that I had been searching for 20+ years.  This wonderful woman had found my query on a message board at ancestry.com from when we had lived in El Centro.  Years later she used modern technology to call every Bainbridge in the nation practically to find the person who was looking for Emmett Bainbridge because she had the information that I was looking for.  It just doesn't get much better than that!

But, as grateful as I am for these wonderful tools - I need lessons - kind of "door lessons" if you will!