Happy New Year!

It's facinating to see myself becoming my grandmother. As I approach the age I most remember her being, I find myself experiencing life through her eyes. My sisters and I were deeply blessed to have Grandma Barlow living so close to us during the pivotal teenage years. We took week-long turns sleeping with Grandma in her trailer. I remember watching "Secret Agent Man" together before going to bed. In the morning she made the most wonderful hash browns with eggs over easy, or we could decide to have hot oatmeal with vanilla ice milk on top! Heaven!

We were always welcome at Grandma Barlow's trailer. We would raid her refrigerator, talk about boyfriends or better said, lack of boyfriends, and anything that happened to cross our mind. She always had a quiet acceptance that made me feel loved.

One of my fondest memories is of pinning her hair up in pin curls. I think that's why I love white hair. Grandma had the most beautiful white hair and when I expressed my doubt that I (I may have been only 11 or 12 years old) could do the task, she quickly assured me that I would do fine. Even now I have such tender memories that I find myself wanting to share that experience with my own granddaughters.

This promises to be a wonderful new year, with new and different if not more important goals. This will be my first year fully retired. I will no longer have sleep deprivation as an excuse for not getting the things on my lost "to do" list done.  Now with all the time in the world, it's amazing how convenient sleep deprivation was.

 My husband, John is still working, so my job is to prepare us and our home for a new phase of life. The older I get, the more I realize, we are not meant to live life alone. Not only do I need my husband, I need my children and grandchildren, my brothers and sisters, my cousins, aunts and uncles.  So one of my important goals is to build more connections with family and strengthen the connections I already have.