Body Challenges

Madsnapper's recent post about challenges finding clothing to go well with her body shape opened the digital door for me to share. 

My body shape blues came from being skinny, but having a broad back and almost non-existent boobs.

As a young adult when my soon-to-be sister-in-law was visiting, we were sharing a bedroom. One morning while we were getting dressed, Mother knocked on the door. We opened the door. Mother stood in the doorway with a strange look on her face.  

"Well! I know what to get y'all for birthdays!" It was February and we both had February birthdays. "You both need new bras. "Those need to go into the trash. We are going to the store."

She hustled us off to one of her favorite department stores where they had a saleslady Mother knew and trusted. She took my soon-to-be Sis-in-law's measurements, no problem. Soon she was fitted to everyone's satisfaction. 

When it was my turn the saleslady started to measure me the same way she had measured my SIL-to-be, around the chest, then below the bust. 

I stopped her.

"That's not going to work for me, I told her." 

"It always works, I promise." 

I should have insisted that she back that promise with some moola. But the whole business was so embarrassing I didn't think of that at the time. 

She measured. She measured again. "I've never had that happen." She finally admitted I was right. By that time Mother and her two birthday girls were laughing until we teared up. But we both left the store happy with our birthday presents and memories. 

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Mileage!

Hubby is helping me to celebrate birthday number 77 today!

Several days ago we had discussed that approaching milestone. He was ready to celebrate however I wanted to. 

Physical challenges that we both now face had me choosing a jaunt to our favorite coffee shop just a few blocks from home.

What I didn't expect was that he enlisted three of the baristas to serenade me as they delivered a delicious square of a chocolate brownie topped with a tiny lit birthday candle.

Yummy and just right for both of us to have a taste but still not go overboard on sugar content. 

Drat! I should have taken a photo with my iPhone!

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A January Freeze

 Brrrrr! 

Usually our south Mississippi winters are mild. We have to open windows and let cool breezes make it possible for us to enjoy our woodturning stove. 

 January 17, however, offered a weather surprise. I was cozy in front of the wood stove when Hubby hauled in a two-inch thick circle of ice. 

 One of our 55-gallon  barrels that collect rain water had frozen over. That was a fun morning.

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Always a Passenger

After a hemorrhagic stroke I realized early on that my driving days were probably over. 

Several years later I was still in rehab sessions. The day came when one of my therapists, occupational therapist I think, set me down in front of a computer. 

My challenge was to use the computer program that had me behind the wheel. Ten seconds into it and I was laughing hysterically.

I veered off interstate exit ramps on to grassy spaces, then into a downtown area. I ran red lights, ran up on sidewalks, scattered innocent pedestrians fleeing for their lives. I didn't hit anyone. Even the white-haired elderly woman with a walker made it to safety.

Zero body count. Hardly realistic. The computer program must have been set so that the handicapped computer operator would not be traumatized with scenes of bloodied bodies. 

Even though precise details have dimmed with time, what I remember most vividly is laughing til my sides hurt. I probably sounded deranged. But it was a good day!

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Fishing and Freedom

My parents were lifelong fishing enthusiasts. Anywhere they could wet a hook earned visits from them, whether local creeks, rivers, lakes, ponds, or places farther from home.

It was often from the bank of a river in Perry County, Mississippi. And of course they took me along. I was enthusiastic about catching, but short on exercising patience when the fish weren't biting. 

As pre-schoolers, my cousin Victor and I always found something to do when Mother and her sisters gathered at the river for fishing and a morning gab fest.

Vic and I loved playing in the huge vacant field where the parents parked their cars. When the adults trekked to the bank of the river, they left us in the field. We thought we were totally free from any adult supervision. 

Years later I was talking to Mother about those adventures. She said the adults always knew exactly where we were and what we were up to. They were far from being helicopter parents. 

One of our favorite things was catching the abundant tiny frogs that populated the field. I remember catching dozens. 

We always found a couple of empty cans that had been discarded. We filled them up with those little frogs. 

I have no memory of our mothers ever letting us take any of those frogs home with us. I assume the mothers insisted that we release our captured frog friends.

Now almost 80 years later, I wondered if that field had been developed. And would I even recognize that long-ago site of childhood adventures. 

Thanks to Hubby for a recent excursion that took us past the field which had seemed enchanted when I was four years old.

Of course that field has changed. Although it has not been developed, half of it closest to the river looks to be heavily wooded. A cousin who lives in the area clued me on on why that field of childhood adventures was never developed. It is prone to flooding.

The adult me no longer has any desire to explore that field or chase down frogs, little or otherwise. I do, however, cherish the patience of a spouse who treated me to a road trip to travel back in time.

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Brrrrr!!

Frigid weather has struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The winter weather we usually enjoy has turned frigid. 

Right now Hubby and I are working on our computers and basking in the warmth from our wood stove. Earlier this morning we bundled up and met friends at Coffee Fusion. 

I'm sorry to say that I skipped the Wednesday morning ladies Bible study that I have been going to for years. But the reality is that age and the effects from my hemorrhagic stroke on Good Friday 2011 have intensified.

Hubby continues to keep us going and doing even though he has health issues, too. We are both counting our multitude of blessings and trusting our Lord.

May your 2024 be filled with blessings large and small.

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An Encouraging Surprise

Evidently becoming reacquainted with blogging is proving to be a challenge. 

I totally forgot to check for comments on my New Year's Day post.Today after breakfast in front of our wood stove, Hubby mentioned I had eight comments on my post.

Hearing from y'all was a thrill. Those comments encouraged me to keep working to relearn the how-to. And another plus was all the comments about your lives and the challenges and joys you are experiencing in this stage of life.

Bless you all with joy and physical and emotional strength in 2024.

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Missing in Action

Hope to catch up soon with the blogs that I have loved to visit. 

Hubby is still periodically scheduling a bit of travel, but these days away-from-home trips are usually followed by several weeks of "recuperation." 

Our recuperation weeks still include travel, local that is. 

There's church, Bible study groups, doctors' visits, and meeting with friends and relatives at Coffee Fusion, and more doctors' appointments. 

I am also attempting to become reacquainted with this laptop and the changes in how things work online.

Maybe I could "rent" a neighbor five-year-old to help me catch up with the technology.

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