Treasures of the moment

Walking with the ladies

You can see from this picture that we are fast losing all the leaves from deciduous trees in town, and while on our usual Saturday walk, it was fun to walk through them and listen to them swish, swish underfoot. We have been enjoying a period of dry, sunny days for weeks now, but it all comes to an end next week. Our rain and dark days will be with us most of the period ahead as we move into the winter months. On November 4, two weeks from today, we'll turn our clocks back an hour, and the sun will set before 5:00pm!

In past years, I thought it would only be fair for me to get back that extra hour of sleep that I lost in the springtime, but these days I get plenty of sleep, between eight and nine hours almost every night, and I won't enjoy trying to stay awake long enough in the evenings to keep from waking up too early. It takes me a few days to get used to that extra hour, strange as that may seem.

I am not one of those retired people who goes through my days wondering what to do with my time; the days just fly by, the weeks and months accumulate and before long, I'll be "celebrating" another birthday, marking another year older and continuing my second decade in retirement. When I signed up for a new Medicare Advantage plan, I had to remind myself when I started Medicare: it was November 2007. That now seems so long ago. We moved here from Colorado in April 2008, now more than a decade in the past.

But I am more than blessed with a wonderful environment here in Washington state. On top of the wonderful weather we have been enjoying lately, I've also got lots of good friends and places to exercise, both outdoors and indoors. And just this past week I started getting acupuncture treatments, which is turning out to be a rather large commitment, one I didn't expect. Not only will I visit Warren (my guy at Prime Sports Institute) once a week for the next six weeks, but he has also given me exercises to do at home to strengthen my right leg.

Of course I should have realized that the damage done to my leg back in 2000 would make a difference. I not only fractured my pelvis in six places, shattered the sacrum and now have two permanent pins in there, I also lost an artery (the internal iliac) and sustained some nerve damage. Now that I think about it, I'm really lucky to be able to do what I can. But this sort of thing catches up to us in the long run, and I've been having knee and heel problems that Warren is now treating. The exercises are mostly easy, but it surprised me to find how much I need to work on that leg.

Of course, yoga is helping with everything, and I am currently taking two classes a week and doing the fifteen-minutes-a-day challenge for 100 days at Yoga Northwest. So far, I haven't missed a day, and I've been able to enjoy the front porch in mild weather for most of those days, which will soon come to an end. I'll probably have to move inside, but for as long as I can, I'll be outdoors. It surprises me how much more I enjoy yoga outside in the fresh air.

Recently I realized how fortunate I am in my life, and I figure it's important to think about it now, in the present, and not bemoan the fact I didn't appreciate it when I had it, once it changes. And change it will. Our bodies are not made to last, and as much as I attempt to keep age at bay, it keeps intruding in my daily life. But I must say I am encouraged by how much better I feel after only two treatments with those needles. This is not the first time I used acupuncture; in Boulder I saw a Chinese doctor for several months to help me through menopause, and it was a very successful treatment. Warren is the complete opposite of him: he's Canadian, not Chinese, and I can talk to him in English instead of needing an interpreter. Both of them are really good at what they do, however.

I'm not one of those people who is great at making up lists, but right now I'm going to try to list all the things I am grateful for:

• Bellingham and its myriad choices for exercise
• My wonderful partner who is much appreciated
• Relative health and ability to see a doctor I like
• Access to healthy food
• My friends and family
• A mind that allows me to think and write
• The public library and online access
• Good bus service
• Computers, cell phones and other technology
• My blogging family
• Coffee!

There is probably much more that I am forgetting at the moment, but it does help me to stop for a moment and think about all the reasons I should be deliriously happy. If it weren't for the state of the world and my inability to turn away from it all, I think I would be much more relaxed and content. But then again, I figure that as my world shrinks in size and just getting out of bed and making my way to the bus stop will be an accomplishment, I can work on contentment then. Until then, I'll stay as active as I can manage.

I have just started reading Julia Cameron's book, It's Never Too Late to Begin Again, and she's got a twelve-week program that I'm thinking of starting. It helps unleash one's creative juices. I only have the book for three weeks from the library, so I might be forced to buy an actual copy of it. It's very comprehensive, and I wonder how I might squeeze it into my very full days. It's tempting, though. Check out the link to Amazon, which gives you a preview of what's inside.

Anyway, there it is, my Sunday morning post, my musings about my life and wondering what's going on in your life at the moment. Maybe it would help you to make a list of all that you are grateful for at the moment. (It was Julia's book that suggested it to me.) My tea is gone, sweet partner sleeping, and the day is beckoning to me. Another foggy one to begin, changing to full sun by midday. Thank you for being my friend and have a wonderful week until we meet again.