Thursday, March 3, 2016

IWSG: Wednesday, March 2, 2016 Staring Down the Big 66!





It's the first Wednesday 
of the month ~ 
the day when members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and offer their encouragement
and support to other members.









To visit the IWSG website, click here.

To become a member of the IWSG, click here.

Our wonderful co-hosts who are stepping up to help IWSG founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are:
Lauren HennessyLisa Buie-CollardLidyChristine Rainsand Mary Aalgarrd.

I hope you have a chance to visit them and thank them for co-hosting.
I'm sure they would appreciate an encouraging comment!
~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Happy March to all the IWSG members making the rounds today!
I really appreciate when you visit my blog.

On February's IWSG Day 
I posted about crashing and burning.
It was all downhill from there.

I flamed out in the following weeks,
disappearing completely from the Online World.
I hit a wall.

Not on the horizon, 
not approaching,
but very close
appeared a big 66!



The Big 66 Approaches


I knew that I'd be turning 66 in March, no big deal;
but then I chanced to read in AARP 
that people turning 50 could anticipate living until 80.

Then it slammed me:
66 is more than half way to 80!

Down into the depths of depression I spiraled.
What on Earth was I thinking?
Who was I kidding?
Me, write a book?
I was practically in my grave!

No more happy talk.
No more Ms Tickety-Boo.
I was in a beat-me-up black place.

I wallowed for days,
and then I fought my way back
in a whirlwind of cleaning, pitching, and organizing
that went on for weeks.

I didn't write ~ heck, I didn't think.
I went through the motions of daily living
as I turned everything upside down and inside out.

And then a few days ago, I leg-pressed my personal best
at the end of some undulating sets of reps.
My trainer Julie slipped some extra pounds on the weights
without my noticing, and Bam!
I pressed 315 pounds four times.
When she told me, I jumped around the gym fist pumping.

She said not many women my size could do that.
I said, "You mean age."
She said, "No, I mean size; but definitely not your age either."

Well damn! I thought.  There's life in the Old Girl yet!
Goodbye black clouds of despair!
Hello sunny skies!

I stared down 66.
Back to writing again.
Back to blogging again.
Back to photography again.

Yesterday we flew from Denver, 
via Salt Lake City, to Honolulu.



Flying past Diamond Head 
Honohulu, Hawaii
March 1, 2016



We haven't been here 24 hours,
but Terry has already connected with 
the Diamond Head pickleball players.
He played for three hours, and now he's taking a nap.




Someone Wants to Play!
Diamond Head Pickleball Court
Honolulu, Hawaii


Meanwhile I walked for five miles 
reconnecting with favorite spots
and checking out a fabulous bakery 
with amazing cream cheese scones.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday ...
Terry will be pounding the pickball court and napping.
I'm going to have lots of time to write!

We're happily checked into the Royal Grove
for the next five weeks!

And for that big birthday racing toward me,
Terry's taking me to Waikiki's other pink hotel,
the Royal Hawaiian, for a birthday slice
of my favorite Pink Haupia Coconut Cake
washed down with ridiculously expensive mai tais
at The Original Mai Tai Bar.
I'm feeling much better mentally!

Happy writing to each of you!



 Sunset on Waikiki


18 comments:

  1. You go, strong woman! Heck with age. Most of the people I know who are my age are completely out of shape and I'd run circles around them at the gym. (And really, I have less than thirty years to live? I refuse to accept that!)
    Now, get back to your writing, young miss!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the encouragement and kind words, Alex! I'm definitely back! So what if I have to go online at a table in a breezeway between the pool and the lobby ~ a table I share with other computer geeks and poker players. I can do it! Have a good one!

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  2. Time takes care of many things healing / strengthening / zenning / the list goes on and I'd say February yucks can be deal with easily with a HUGE slap of Hawaii charm and serenity! Take care and do keep in contact because 1964 came around for a particular reason ~ correcto mondo!! WINKS!! Ron, not Sophie!

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    1. It's wonderful to hear from you, my extra, extra special friend! So sorry I dropped out of everything. Depression is my personal demon, and usually I can keep it at bay; but sometimes I can fall into a black hole. It's a mind game, and sometimes I lose. Thanks for the WINKS!

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  3. Hey Missy Louise!! So good to see and hear you again.
    Life throws us numerous challenges, eh? Most get through these and learn from what they went through......like you have and will. My advancing years used to really freak me out....even when I was a teenager. I had a difficult time dealing with my mortality....until I hit my late 50's. And I think you may know who helped me the most (besides Ron's presence of course).....Pema and her lessons/teachings on life.

    We all have fears and I am realizing that 'sitting with' those fears before they take us over is the key. We have to spend time with those fears and see them for just what they are......stories we have made up.

    Enough already.....enjoy these five weeks ahead of you, Louise. And appreciate the simple things around you.

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    1. Thanks, Jim. I wasn't sitting with those feelings. I was trying to outrun them cleaning, pitching, and organizing. I thought at least I'd have some of my "stuff" out of the way so no one would have to deal with it if I suddenly croaked! It didn't really work, except I got a clean house and almost the last of my school stuff gone.

      Don't laugh ~ I finally got rid of three gallons of crayons I realized that I was never going to do art with! And if I decided I wanted to, I could buy my own bright new crayons, not ones manhandled by hundreds of kiddos! I shed a few tears, but once the crayons were gone, it felt better. I still have the wonderful memories of my kiddos using them.

      I haven't had such an age crisis since I hit 23! And you're right, those fears are just stories we make up! Life is good, and I just had a big sign! I was literally taking my room key out, so I could go get a refill on my morning coffee, when Terry appeared beside me with a new cup of hot coffee.

      Thanks for the kind words, and have a great day.

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  4. Glad to hear you wrestled that demon Fear of Mortality down to the ground again! Enjoy Honolulu and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

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    1. Thanks, Debra! It's so good to see you and everyone else again! I have to keep reminding myself that I'm one of the most fortunate women to have ever lived. Have a great day, my friend!

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  5. We can croak at any time, but we can also live to be 120, we just never know. Lift way. 5 weeks in Hawaii, hmph lol

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    Replies
    1. How good to see you, my friend! Thanks for the encouraging words! I'll have to do a post on how to stay in Honolulu for five weeks without going broke! LOL Trust me, I am not at a fancy resort, but I wouldn't trade our special place for any other. Have a great day, and scratches behind the ears for Orlin and Cassie!

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  6. 5 weeks, enjoy every day, and think on this, you are part way down to NZ!!! Maybe not so warm here as Hawaii, cooler mornings, but a bed for you and the man if you do another ocean leap. Cleaning, trying to remove stuff and demons, I do that occasionally, and feel so much better once things I know I will never use are given away or disposed of. Sometimes just putting the fear factor into words is a help. Whatever way, have a wonderful birthday under sunny skies. Hugs to you from way down in the far south.

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    1. Thank you, Jean! I have thought of you and all mine online friends so many times since I tumbled down the hole; but when you fall in sometimes it takes a while to claw your way out. Thanks for the kind offer of a bed! I dearly want to go to New Zealand, and if I do, for sure I want to meet you! Have a wonderful day! I have to go offline and spend a little time with Terry, but I'll be back later today to visit my blogging friends and catch up on their recent posts! Hugs to you!

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  7. Happy 66th! And I can't imagine a better way to spend it than in Hawaii. Say hello to Aiea heights (I lived near there a few years back).

    I had a similar revelation: I don't have as long to live as I did when I started writing (not surprisingly, since I started writing at age 8) and I thought "Yikes! Where's the time gone?"

    315 pounds? Yowza!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the encouraging words, Diana! I did my first writing when I was eight too. Nothing spectacular. I was going to a one room school ~ well one room and an attached woodshed ~ in a fishing village in Nova Scotia. There were only two of us in third grade, and I'd get my work done quickly; so I'd spend the rest of the time doing work the fourth to sixth graders were doing (only the fun stuff). I did writing, and I was a fool for anything to do with maps or diagrams. The first "story" I remember writing was about a paleontologist finding some bones in a cave. That was in fourth grade at a school on an airbase in Nova Scotia. We moved a lot! I was and have remained dinosaur-crazed throughout my life! Yeah, Yowza was exactly how I felt when I heard I had hit 315 pounds!!! I'm hoping to eventually lift the entire stack which is about 400 pounds. We shall see! Thanks for visiting! Happy writing!

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  8. Hi Fundy, glad you are back on top. As you know I turn the big 60 the day after you hit 66. I will be in the Dominican Republic with Rae & Gerry to celebrate - wish you and EP were joining us. Hugs your sister Barb

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    1. Hey, Barb! It would be awesome to join you in the DR with the guys. But we're under other tropical skies! Terry is playing pickleball right now at the Diamond Head Tennis Courts. I just signed up with 24 Hour Fitness for a month, so I can keep those muscles! Well, such as they are at my current age! I'm still working on a Northern post for today. By next Friday I should be ready to post in the wee morning hours as had been my habit. Love to you. Wish I could hug you for real!

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  9. Hi Fundy,
    How nice to read you on my blog again.
    No shame about depression, I know all too well about it.
    I hope you're out of the woods now and ready to take the world over!!
    I am trying to hang on to my photography to keep my mind busy and I am very lucky to have a fox come to the garden and approach me 30 cm away!
    The best way to feel better and who knows, maybe (probably) a wink from Patrick...
    Keep well, take care :)

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    Replies
    1. It is so good to see you, my friend! How lovely to have a close visit from a fox as a wink from Patrick. When my father died, little things were always happening that my mother was sure were him letting her know he was thinking of her. More and more I think that she and you are right. I'm glad that you are sharing your wonderful photos with us all. I am out of the woods now, and I am reconnecting with all the amazing people I shut out when the black clouds came down. It's been several years since I had such a rough time, and I'm hoping it will be a lot longer, if ever, before I get mired again! Enjoy your evening ~ Honolulu is 11 hours behind Paris!

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Thank you for your comments! I appreciate them very much.