Serenity

Spring

What’s the best part of spring? The no-wind, 80 degree, you can smell spring in the air, kind of days. Spring is like coming out of a cold cold room, into one that has a fireplace, a warm blanket, and a good book. Just a piece of heaven after some not-so-good days.

What’s the worst part of spring? the cold air meeting the warm air meeting the wet air. In other words, Tornado season! Also, the worst part of spring is that it doesn’t last. The nice warm days gather heat and intensity and turn into the hot dog days of summer.

What does spring time mean to you? Renewal. I tend to get depressed during winter. I seem to be physically cold all the time, and my mood is a reflection of that. With the onset of spring and those first beautiful warm days, I feel like I am thawing out, and I feel alive again, wanting to do things, be more organized, just enjoy life more.

Do you get spring fever? Yes, yes, yes. About the end of November, and after the first or second ice storm, I am soooo ready for spring.

Do you give your house a good spring cleaning? I am ashamed to say this, but usually not. Working full time, gone on weekends, we are doing good just keeping up with the normal routine of things. I would love to take a week off work sometime, and whip the house into shape, but I don’t forsee that happening any time soon.

How has Daylight Saving Time changed your routine? It really hasn’t changed it. I have a pretty set routine, that happens no matter what time the sun comes up or goes down.

What’s the best thing about Daylight Saving Time? what seems like the added hours at the end of the day.

What’s the worst? remembering which weekend you need to change the clocks. Always seems to sneak up on us — and it doesn’t help that they changed the dates!

Heart. What is close to your heart? Does heart disease run in your family? Would you say your heart is in good shape? Would you ever consider donating your heart after passing away? Why or why not?

My family — my husband, my children, my grandchildren are all close to my heart. Yes, heart disease does run in my family. I would venture to say my heart is not in good shape. Several years ago, it was detected that my heart was beating out of rhythm. After a week of trying different medicines to get it back into rhythm, they sent me home from the hospital, with a prescription of Coumadin and Toprol, and its something I live with every day. Some days are better than others. I take the Coumadin to keep clots from forming. Because it is out of rhythm,  the blood doesn’t pump through my heart at a steady pace like it should, and this tends to let blood pool in one of the chambers.  Coumadin keeps my blood thin enough to keep clots from forming in that pooled blood.

A side note:  after various tests, it was determined that severe sleep apnea caused it go out of rhythm.  And we probably let it go long enough (we just thought I just had an annoying snoring problem…), that my heart will probably never go back in rhythm.

So, in light of this, donating my heart is probably not an option.  I have made (and I made it before any of this happened) the decision to be an organ donor … if I have anything healthy enough that can be used to make someone else’s life better, then that is the path I want to take.  My soul will go to heaven,  and that is all that matters.

Love. What does love mean to you? Do you feel like you have found love? Are you still looking? Do you believe in love at first sight? Why or why not? Why do you think people try so hard to find love?

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails.

Love is unconditional to me. To love someone, regardless of what they look like, what they have done. To forgive, and to be forgiven. Yes, I have found love, in many different places. In the arms of my husband, as the mom of 5 children. I see love in my grandchildren’s eyes, when they come running to me, their eyes bright and shining. I think there can be a connection at first sight; but love take time and effort. Keeping the love takes a conscious effort to be kind, to keep my “own backyard clean”, to give my husband one pleasing to love. But, it is all worth it, and is all part of God’s plan.

Winter. What do you like the most about winter? What do you like the least? How does your schedule change during the winter months?

Winter is not my friend. The thing I like the most about the winter, if I could take one without the other, would be the visual. I do love taking in a view of a fresh new snow, glistening trees with ice, the sun shining on it, glistening like a thousand jewels. There is something refreshing about the white landscape, or the snow on the trees. I love it visually.

However, because I have to get it out in, day in, day out, it is these exact things that I like the least about winter. The snow. The ice. The coldness of it all. The anxiety of walking from point A to point B without taking a spill. I have already broken my arm once from slipping on ice. It is not something I would like to experience again. I live in a small town, and getting from my home to my job, is usually pretty simple. The snow plows are out early. Because they are city streets, my speed isn’t much over 30. So, even if its slick, I get more anxiety from walking in the stuff than I do driving.

My schedule doesn’t change much with the onset of winter, other than wearing a heavy coat on a daily basis. We watch the news every morning, regardless of the time of year, so winter doesn’t change that aspect of our lives. We do watch for school closings, though. But for the most part, not a whole lot changes. My Explorer is parked under a carport at home, so scraping windows isn’t an issue there. It is unprotected at my morning job (secretary at our church), so on occasion, I have to scrap ice when I leave at noon; but then I have the luxury of parking under another carport at my afternoon job, at the trucking company. I do have to travel 10 miles to get there, but by noon, unless we are still in the middle of the winter storm going through, the snow plows and county trucks have done a good job making the highways clean, and so I trapse off to my afternoon place of employment. Very seldom does my schedule change, whether its summer or winter.