She Walked the Gobi

It is amazing how our attitude can dictate our view of life.

I was depressed because I've been having trouble with my knees, bone spurs, arthritis, stiff joints, modified gait...sad, sad, sad. Then I went to see an orthopedic surgeon who said that the solution to my problem was double knee replacement with three month recovery time...etc., etc., etc. When I asked the doctor if I could heal myself...he looked at me incredulously and said, "What do you mean?" as though this was an impossibility. Threw myself a full-on pity party complete with whatever one serves at a pity party. (will have to do reseach on a menu for a pity party)

The change in my perspective changed when I read a book by Helen Thayer entitled Walking the Gobi. I am not really into travel books but I just happened to see it in the library and borrowed it. The writer was 63 years old and she and her 70+ year old husband walked 1600 miles across the Gobi Desert with scorpions, 115+ degree weather, sandstorms, and sandy socks!! She had a hip injury before she embarked on the trip yet they averaged 26 miles every day for 80 days!!

My problems with my knees turned into whining about a mosquito bite!!

Of course, I understand that Helen Thayer and her husband are not the usual senior citizens. But what I admired was the her discipline in following through with a commitment. Missing an appointment at a predesignated checkpoint would mean...no water. I read the book in one night and drank a big glass of water in the morning.

This is what I needed and it was a noncoincidental coincidence that I found the book. If one has the can do attitude laced with hope, one can live a fuller life.
Amen, amen, amen!!

Be it resolved...

The first day of the new year is always filled with such hope and promise, especially when the weather is as beautiful as it is today. It is so easy to make grandiose promises to do a million things on such a day.

Yet, we have to restrain ourselves and keep to something that is do-able, achievable, conceivable, and realistic...right? Why can't our resolution be for a day? Perhaps it is because we entangle ourselves with too many far-reaching expectations to lose a gazillion pounds in 10 hours, or turn our lives around, or rehabilitate a sorry human being.

To be successful, we need to keep it simple. So let it be resolved that in 2011, I will UP wellness and DOWN stress. Let's see how this works out.

Best wishes to me to achieve this resolution. What would be the benchmarks for my achievement? Perhaps journal results will be the chronicle for the journey.

Christmas Fever and then Kaput!

It is crazy how the days before Christmas are so filled with things to do that our proverbial fangs emerge and there is a subliminal growl in our voices. Gotta do this!! Gotta do that!!! Where did I put this? Where did I put that? Did I forget something? Darn, where's my list!!

Christmas Eve service is the benchmark about how everything is in a downward spiral.

Christmas morning is always the mini-feast of hot, delicious coffee and some kind of baked treat like pumpkin bread. Then the unwrapping of gifts and the quiet chatter of its description and the thanks uttered to the sky.

Then AHHHHHHHHHH!! peace and quiet. We are back to the recently forgotten nights of kicking back and watching the TV with nothing in hand to finish doing. What a marvelous thing. Going Kaput is a nice reminder. The antithesis of Christmas Frenzy.

Holiday Ornament Hunt

Why can't we have a Holiday Ornament Hunt much like an Easter Egg Hunt but substitute Christmas ornaments for the children and adult treasure hunters. Unlike the aftermath of an Easter Egg hunt where the family will be eating deviled egg sandwiches for days, the Holiday Ornament Hunt would be a great way to get some exercise and have fun!! It would be a fun way to travel hill and dale looking for Christmas ornaments...some made by people and others made by nature.

Each hunter would bring their treasurers back home and decorate the Christmas tree for the event. The manmade ornament cards could have numbers indicating the grab bag gift to be claimed. The ornament cards could then be tied to the party's Christmas tree. Natural ornaments could be attached to the tree with some ingenuity, some colorful yard or ribbon. The tree could be lit and all could gather to sing "O Tannenbaum" (or Punahou's alma mater...depending on the crowd)!! Hot coffee and cocoa could be served with delicious fragrance of yummy goodness in a hot beverage. Favorite cookies could also be served as people sing their favorite Christmas carols. I vote for Mexican wedding cookies or Pua O'Mahoney's raspberry shortcake cookies!! Shigeko Ikeda's buttery macadamia nut cookies are also an all-time favorite!!

Now doesn't that sound like a swell way to spend a Christmas day?

Kingsolver's Quote Worthy of Remembering

"The past is all we know of the future." The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, p240.

If this is indeed true, how can we build new pathways of life? The possibility could be hinged to the Japanese proverb. "I tell you one thing and you will know 10 things." Adaptation based on a given

I am always amazed by the extents to which people will resort to to avoid change."I never travel beyong the bridge before the Panaewa stretch." heard by a woman who is now living in Volcano.

"What's that?" said an UH Manoa English professor who had lived in Hawai'i for 20 years when faced with onigiri sushi.

"The best thing about being a competitive swimmer is to feel like you are about to die and find out that you can survive the heart-pounding, oxygen-deprived body shock and live," said an all-around high school golden boy.

Live!

Ain't it the truth?

Just finished reading the novel, The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. Thought I'd do some light reading to just let loose and it was a good fun read. In fact, I got up at 3:40 this morning and read until the alarm rang.

Samantha Sweeting, a high-powered lawyer, is working hard to become a partner. Her life was work, work, work!!! Not even time to look outside her window. Then disaster happens. She made a mistake and is fired!! In desperation, she madly escapes the city and finds herself in a small farming community in who knows where.

Her life takes a drastic change. Through a misunderstanding, she changes her occupation and poses to be something she is NOT. (Not competent, not knowledgeable, not capable!)

A handsome gardener (of course) helps her transition and she learns that money, status, and power are not all they are cracked up to be.

This is a really sweet beach read for those women who are working too hard, carrying too much responsibility, trying to do too much, being someone they really don't want to be!! When the book ends, the corners of your mouth will reach upward. Guaranteed.

Power and Politics

Today is Election Day and the polls are full of people. The Mountain View Senior Citizens location was populated by a mixed bag of people. The Volcano polling site was filled with gray haired people, the proverbial Gray Panthers. Where are the young voters? Probably in Hilo watching their kids' sunrise to sunset series of soccer games.

I wonder why people want to get into politics. I don't think it is for the money. I don't think it is for the prestige as some politicians are plagued by naysayers, backstabbers, and stinging critics. It may be for the power if some of the politicians live long enough to survive the onslaught of crises.

I don't think I want to be a politician. I don't want people looking at my life through a microscope. I don't always want to be dressed up and on my best behavior for every minute of my life outside my home. I don't want to deal with crackpots. I don't want to live my life for others...I've already wasted my children's youth taking care of other people's children in school.

I do like to get things done. I do like to see positive change. Rather than entering politics, I can support people who have an honest and positive work ethic. Then I can read the paper, expound on the working of government to my heart's delight, write an email or two to get my candidate on the straight and narrow and have the best of both worlds.

With age comes wisdom.