HERE'S A GOOD WAY TO LOOK AT YOUR HANDS.

HERE IS A GOOD WAY TO LOOK AT YOUR HANDS. (MALE OR FEMALE)
NEVER QUITE THOUGHT OF IT THIS WAY BEFORE


GRANDMA'S HANDS A must read thru to the end




Grandma, some ninety plus years, sat feebly on the patio bench.
She did not move, just sat with her head down staring at her hands.

When I sat down beside her, she did not acknowledge my presence and the longer I sat I wondered if she was OK.

Finally, not really wanting to disturb her but wanting to check on her at the same time, I asked her if she was OK. She raised her head, and looked at me and smiled. 'Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking,' she said in a clear voice strong.

‘I didn’t mean to disturb you, grandma, but you were just sitting here staring at your hands and I wanted to make sure you were OK,' I explained to her.

'Have you ever looked at your hands,' she asked.
'I mean really looked at your hands?'

I slowly opened my hands and stared down at them. I turned them over, palms up and then palms down. No, I guess I had never really looked at my hands as I tried to figure out the point she was making.

Grandma smiled and related this story:

'Stop and think for a moment about the hands you have, how they have served you well throughout your years. These hands though wrinkled
shriveled and weak have been the tools I have used all my life to reach out and grab and embrace life.

'They braced and caught my fall when as a toddler I crashed upon the floor.

They put food in my mouth and clothes on my back. As a child, my mother taught me to fold them in prayer. They tied my shoes and pulled on my boots.
They held my husband and wiped my tears when he went off to war.

'They have been dirty, scraped and raw, swollen and bent. They were uneasy and clumsy when I tried to hold my newborn son. Decorated with my wedding band they showed the world, I was married and loved someone special.

They wrote my letters to him and trembled and shook when I buried my parents and spouse.

'They have held my children and grandchildren, consoled neighbors, and shook in fists of anger when I didn't understand.

They have covered my face, combed my hair, and washed and cleansed the rest of my body. They have been sticky and wet, bent and broken, dried
and raw. And to this day when not much of anything else of me works, real well these hands hold me up, lay me down, and again continue to
fold in prayer.

'These hands are the mark of where I've been and the ruggedness of life.

But more importantly, it will be these hands that God will reach out and take when he leads me home. And with my hands He will lift me to His
side and there I will use these hands to touch the face of God.'

I will never look at my hands the same again. But I remember God reached out and took my grandma's hands and led her home. When my hands are hurt or sore or when I stroke the face of my children and husband I think of grandma. I know she has been stroked and caressed and held by the hands of God.

I, too, want to touch the face of God and feel His hands upon my face.

When you receive this, say a prayer for the person who sent it to you, and watch God's answer to prayer work in your life. Let us continue praying
for one another.

Personal Suggestions

I hope you are having a great day as I am sitting here this afternoon enjoying a rain shower move through from the Gulf of Mexico.  It is so nice how a short fifteen minute shower can cool things of until the high level of humidity comes crashing down.  One thing is for sure, if you are concerned about having a high maintenance hair style, the gulf coast is not the place for it as the humidity will cut it down in as little as thirty minutes in the weather.  Maybe that is why I now keep mine long and straight, very fitting.

Speaking of styles, I am not bragging by any means, but I have women ask me all the time how I keep my skin looking so young as I do not have wrinkles or fine lines, and no sagging skin or dark circles around my eyes.  Well all I can usually say is it must have been in my genes, but realistically I am not one to spend a lot of time or money on makeup or designer creams, and have no desire to have some doctor cut on my face to aid in getting the lift of a younger look.  What I can share is that I do not use bar soap on my face, my main facial cleanser is my own homemade mixture of Wintergreen Isopropyl  Rubbing Alcohol and Witch Hazel.  I mix them in a balance of half and half and it is great for removing makeup, re-freshening my skin, or a quick wipe on cotton will take away any excess oils.  As a day cream under my makeup (when I do wear it) I use Vitamin E Cream, it is quick absorbent and it is light and it also keeps the elasticity in my skin.  As my night cream after cleaning my face with my personal mixture I apply a light coverage of Retinol Cream, which is a mixture of Vitamin E and other natural ingredients.  I know your next question will be, "does it cost a lot?"  That answer has to be no, as for the Wintergreen Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol and Witch Hazel, I purchase that from the Dollar Tree where everything is only one dollar.  The Vitamin E Cream and Retinol Cream I purchase from Puritan's Pride where you can buy one and get one free and the cost is under four dollars each or two dollars give or take because of tax.

Now, I hope that since I have shared my personal skin care products, that should you decide to give them a try, you will find them as productive for you as I have for me.  Another remedy that you might find somewhat strange but it really works, if you have those brown age spots coming on your arms or legs, rub in some plain yogurt on them and they will fade away.  There is no smell, or stickiness, or anything like that, but after doing that everyday for about two weeks you will see the dark spots lighten up.    The last tip I will pass on for today is that right after shaving your legs, before they dry put some gel baby oil on and rub it in to save the moisture in your skin and there will be no razor burn or scaling look to your legs.  In fact once they have been oiled and that absorbs you legs have a youthful shine to them.  Every night before I go to bed I lotion my arms and legs with cocoa butter and Shea butter cream that I purchase separately and mix them together as to have the same balance of each product.  The cocoa butter aids in keeping your extremities moist from dry air and the Shea butter firms your skin to improve the tone.

There you have my personal secrets of why I look the way I do with no wrinkles or fine lines.  I cannot say that it is one thing in general or a mix of all of them together, but it is true at the age of 49, I am told all the time I do not look a day over 35.  Some people have told my daughter and we look more like sisters that mother and daughter.  Kira does not know if they are saying she looks old or if I am youthful, but it does give my ego a boost that keeps me smiling.  Have a great weekend.

Keeping Memories

It is beginning to seem like fall is coming in around the corner.  My mother lives in Oklahoma, and at her age she can be quite feisty when she wants to. At least that is what mom tells me during our daily telephone conversations.  "It's getting a bit nippy."  Most days as she has for her adult life is up every morning by 4:30 AM, if she oversleeps she will be up by 5:30 AM.  She has been blessed in her life as she was the second oldest of nine children and to date still has five living brothers and one sister that she tries to keep in touch with on a regular basis.

Everyday before I get busy with my day, I will call her just to see how she is doing and keep her up to day on what my kids and grandson are doing and how the oil spill clean up is going.  Then we discuss politics, men, doctors and how they do not listen when she wants them to change her medication or take her off of something that is not doing her any good.  It always seems that with every discussion and conversation I find that the gap that was once so wide between us is becoming less wide and we are coming to a common understanding of why our differences kept us apart and so far away from one another.  I think about her being 81 years of age, going to be 82 September 30 and that I have been blessed to have her in my life this long. 

My best friend lost her mother (Dr. H. Wilson) five years ago and Dr. Wilson had been such a mother figure to me that I find myself missing her everyday and there is not a time goes by when Karen and I talk that we do not bring up something that her mother would tell us about mothering our children, and she was always right. I am always thankful for having the privileged of knowing Dr. Wilson as she is a part of Alabama Medical history as being the first Black American Woman Doctor to be given the right to practice medicine in the state.  She was a woman of powerful wisdom and she never saw a person for the color of their skin but for the goodness in their heart.  A strong lesson she taught me, and the other was to open my heart and forgive the past.  To let go of the issues we cannot change, but can improve as I move forward.  I am thankful for those lessons Dr. Wilson taught me and gave me the shove to put into practice, which lead me to calling my mom on a daily basis. 

If not for Dr. Wilson giving me that shove I may not have found hidden in the back of my memory all those good memories that I had being around my mom when I was a child.  I grew up always knowing that my mother's favorite child was my sister, and I was always the last person when it came to having any of her time.  Now, even though there is 2,000 miles between us, she is next to me every morning during our telephone conversations and it will be those memories that will get me through life to share with my kids and grandchildren as the mother she was to me. There has been so much lost time, conversations that should have been, that never happened, but we have now moved beyond those unspoken conversations and she is still mom and I am still her daughter, all grown up with kids and grand kids of my own.  The memories keep coming day in and day out some exciting, happy, and some discouraging, upsetting, and yet we continue to move forward and the sun will set tonight just as the sun will rise tomorrow.

Fall is just around the corner

Time flies when we get caught up in our everyday lives and before we know it another month has past.  Today it hit me that it is the middle of August and I had not post to my blog, so I am catching up and sharing some thoughts. 

By the end of September hopefully the hurricane season will be on the down low and it will be that time to put away all the summer gear that we toot to the beach or lake each weekend.  Then there comes storing away the summer clothes and bringing out the winter attire (but make sure to keep at least one pair of flip-flops in the closet).  I do not know about you, but as I put away all of the summer stuff I reminisce about the fun times and the smile upon my grandsons face as he enjoys all the carefree times he is sharing with family.  Of course cannot leave out those memories of how my daughter stresses out about making sure they take every possible water toys that the boys might want to play with and how she comes up with a military plan to drag all that stuff to the beach in one trip.  Oh, the memories of how young mother's will learn on their own that sooner or later most of that stuff will not even be used.  Kids will find one or two toys and call it good.

As much as I think of those memories and remember how things were when I was her age as a young mother, I realize that just as I did she will learn.  I have learned trying to tell her things to make her life a bit easier is the same as killing the mocking bird, she having somewhat of a hard head has to learn on her own.  So the snickers, and grins will be my way of supporting her and seeing how she is taking her path of learning parenthood.  Grandkids are great in the lessons they teach their parents, just as children taught us grandparents those same lessons years ago, however it seems comical when it happens to our children.

I will close with a thought, and that is where has the respect gone?  By that I mean, back when Theodore Roosevelt was president and he would have been slandered and lip slapped as President Obama has been since he took office the prisons would be overflowing with so many people guilty of treason.  President Roosevelt  had ideas and plans and set up programs to help people in such a direction that much of the nation thought he had gone mad, but he stood fast and completed what he started and if we look back on history, his programs helped so much of our nation overcome the great depression.  It is true people do not like change and is just human nature, but sometimes the hardest thing to except is sometime change has to happen to bring better for the nation as a whole.

I may not be a political correct voice, but for all these people yelling that President Obama is the destruction of our nation, why was President G.W. Bush ever held accountable for lying to the nation about the arms of mass destruction that were never found and put the U.S. into a war that has cost so many lives that was not needed?  Why was Sarah Palen allowed to resign from Govern of Alaska and not be held accountable for the funds she excepted to build a bridge that was never build and she did not return the money to the government as she should have?  Why are all these people who are yelling about the current president did not have their name on the Presidential  ballet, since to hear them talk they could do a much better job?  Why did they not run for president if they can do such a much better job?  Kinda makes you wonder where is the United States headed...

Have a wonderful evening and know that you are always in my prayers.