premonition

My sisters said to me—erv, be careful brother or you’ll poke your eye out!  ItchieBitchie says, your sisters told me—To study the abnormal, that's you erv; that is the best way of understanding the normal. I had such a great time with my sisters and their families.  I learned a lot and will try my hardest to forget most of it! haha They are soooo nice.  Spending time with my sisters and family put me on the straight and narrow again. Oh ya! They hold back no punches!               

I woke up at 4:30 the other morning and had a crazy feeling, sorta kinda a premonition.  I sat on the edge of my bed and thought for a while.  I prayed about it. And then made some decisions.  Decisions to change some things in my life and also my thinking.  Wow! I really think the foreboding was really a blessing for me.  I hope I understood it correctly and acted properly. I feel good about it but that isn’t always a fool proof answer; my emotions aren’t always correct.  I think it altered my direction and agenda some; maybe took some of my cockiness out of me.       

Do you ever have hunches that you need to do something or not to do something? You just have that feeling in your bones; a sixth sense? It was more than a sixth sense, it was my sisters telling me what I should do; they are soooo darn smart.  And then my bother-in-laws agreed.  Yikes!  Sooooo I did what they told me.  Probably, maybe good advice even if I really didn’t want to do what they told me (i.e. probably the right thing).  They sorta kinda got me in a corner and poked at me.  

Augustine said--There is no better proof of friendship than to help our friends with their burdens. Part of my apprehension is that I wonder if I have become tooo self-centered (i.e. too much all about me). I can get that way; oh ya! A friend told me recently to slow down; relax; take it easy, give it some time. He was right; I was getting away from of who I am; toooo proactive; toooo aggressive; not letting things happen; being someone who I am not.  I feel much better now (i.e. it was good to do some self-evaluation)! Such is life.

You every feel like a little pipsqueak? I do at times. I feel like I’m soooo little compared to most everyone else sometimes.  Others can seem to accomplish such great things and I don’t.  That comparison is not good I know but it seems to show its ugly head sometimes and I don’t like it. I think I need to buy a big camper and go camping! haha AverageJoe says—erv, maybe those folks who you think accomplish soooo much really don’t; it’s all fake.  I try to do things because they are the right things to do and because I love doing them. When I do things for other reasons, it seems like I get out of focus (i.e. I’m just speaking for myself; you might think differently; I understand; it seems we are all motivated differently—money and ego can affect a lot of folks—just look around; it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out).

When on the Road Scholar trip, I once again saw how important leadership is; soooo important.  We had leaders that were very capable, kind, shared themselves with everyone, were humble but very professional.  Now think of situations you might have been in or are in that are not that way.  What happened or is happening?  Ya got to have good leaders.   Egotistical leaders are deal killers, folks. It has always have been that way and always will be that way. Now I also experienced during the first couple days of hiking, some hikers who were trying to position themselves a.k.a. called posturing.  That toooo usually happens. But after a couple of days most everyone paid little attention to them.  And no one really cared tooooo much how important they thought they were.  I would laugh occasionally at them. I thought of what my Daddy, Chester, use to say to me—erv, if you are good, you don’t have to tell anyone!

I was eating my oatmeal with a CO peach on it.  It wasn’t that good.  The peach was hard and not sweet.  I should have waited a day or two before using it.  I know folks who are that way; hard and not sweet.  They just aren’t.  Maybe for many reasons.  Maybe they just aren’t ripe yet.  Could be. Maybe I need to wait a while until they ripen up (i.e. or get around other folks).  They need to set out a little longer; or maybe some have been sitting out a long time already.  Maybe the heat needs to be turned up.  Maybe they have been burnt in the past and are scared to death to be sweet again.  Could be. Saturday question—using a scale of 1 to 10, how sweet are you in general?  SweetiePieMabel, who is always in game day shape, says—I am sweeter to some than others (e.g. I’m sweeter to my dogs than my husband)!

I am very intrigued by co-depended folks and enablers.  It appears to happen in all sorts of relationships. Maybe you are in one of those relationships and don’t even know it.  Why does it happen?  Well, maybe because of addictions, insecurity, inability to adapt to reality, can’t cut the apron strings, a sense of power or usefulness, I read these are a few of possibilities.  It sure can cause many problems in families when one child takes advantage of the parent or parents (i.e. if there is only one child there isn’t any problem or is there).  I have never been in that situation soooo maybe I don’t know how it feels.  Could be. 

The naturist/guide was telling us that bears reproduce every three years. The cubs stay with their mother in the winter den for two years and then after 3 years of mama bear showing them how to survive, she will kick them out to be on their own and then she will reproduce again.  Then she said--It’s much like humans, but it seems we don’t kick them out until 30 years of age (i.e. many folks laughed)! She also told us that the male bear has nothing to do with the females after breeding. In fact, they will try to kill the cubs so the females will breed again.  I heard a female say in our bus—Sounds typical!  I think she might have had a bad experience maybe.

I've been told by my many sources, good sources - they're very good sources soooo it must be true!  Soooo why do we take advice from someone we don’t know very little rather than from someone we know and trust whose lives have been proven for many years (i.e. look at their past history)? We might take advice from someone we just met standing in line or at a ball game who we don’t hardly even know at all. I have a friend who I think has changed/is changing.  This person is becoming more mature and is starting to see the big picture much better (i.e. my opinion).  This person was a great person before but is becoming even a greater person, my opinion.  Why? Not really certain but this person does seem to be becoming different, maybe from life experiences along with age or being around good folks.  Maybe. This person seems to be impressing me more and more, BUT how important is that anyway!!!! Really, who really wants to be like me or impress me (i.e. who really wants to be like ervie)? Think about that.  Who really wants to be like you (i.e. probably many)? AverageJoe says--Yabut you are super rich; everyone wants to be super rich!!!! It’s the American dream! A friend told me this about a mutual friend (i.e. who I consider a good guy) and who many would consider super rich—He helped me a lot but wouldn’t take any compensation from me—he said, I have helped many folks and didn’t take money from them who I don’t like near as much as you! Soooo maybe it’s not all about the money!

We sure did laugh a lot in MI with my family, oh ya.  We laughed with each other and at each other especially while eating and playing games. My sisters surely put together some good family parties with some of their children and grandchildren.  It truly was a good time that seemed to be had by all.  Soooo we went to church Sunday at the church my sisters and their husbands attend, 1^st Reformed of Granville. I sat between my kid sister and my big sister (i.e. only in age). After the service a lady who was sitting behind us told my sisters—I knew that had to be your brother as when we stood up to sing all three of you stood with your arms crossed.  I wonder why we did that?  Like I said, we are survivors, and that cross-arm position means something.  It toooo just made me laugh. 

RickyRick says--“God does speak—sometimes one way and sometimes another—even though people may not understand it. Job 33:14 The Bible says to give thanks in all circumstances. Notice it does not say to give thanks for all circumstances. There is a big difference. There are a lot of things in life you should not be thankful for. You should never be thankful for evil, for example.” I sometimes pursue things with great energy and determination but do not take time to smell the roses (i.e. be thankful); I too often start a new, exciting endeavor right away (i.e. get after it).  Whoopsie daisy!  That sounds crazy doesn’t it! I am making an effort to hit the “pause” button for a second and appreciate what I just enjoyed with my family, friends, and experiences in MI.  I am celebrating!  Dancing to the music. Try it, you might like it! 

Have a FUN day my friends unless you have other plans. (-:

erv

MyFriendJean said—You are never too old to become younger.

The tip of the day comes from one of my brother-in-laws who could be the fastest driver in MI or the fastest driver could be my sister, his wife.  He knows law officers that say—78 is fine but 79 is mine!