From my archives…

Finally got my photo taken standing by the Shady Oaks sign. If you’ve been reading my blogs the last year you know my youngest child threatens me, in good fun, to pack me up and send me to Shady Oaks. On the Golden Girls TV show Dorothy ships her mother off to Shady Pines but I’m being shipped to Shady Oaks. It’s a good place for birds and bird feeders, surrounded by large old oak trees so probably a few squirrels there, too.

The first time I got threaten to be shipped to Shady Oaks, I was under the bed in my room getting the new baby bed mattress out. I was going to try and ride it down the stairs to test it before I got the grandchildren to come over for a ride. I saw some kids riding down the stairs on the internet on a small mattress and it looked like great fun. They were riding down 6 steps and I have 13 to the first landing upstairs so I knew we’d get a good ride. Anyway, my youngest son asked me, “What are you doing?” I proceeded to tell him about the stair well amusement park ride and he proceeded to tell me that the grandchildren would hit the mirrored dresser on the wall at the bottom of the stairs and “DIE!” Then I said, “I’ll try it first to see if it’s okay.” His words were, “Are you crazy? I’m calling Bro and we’re packing you up for Shady Oaks!” We just laughed and I sheepishly put the mattress back under the bed.

When we get to a certain age we all do dumb things and wonder are we losing “it,” whatever it is. I was talking to my cousin on the phone and told her I had to go because I couldn’t find my phone. She burst out laughing and said, “You haven’t lost it. You’re talking on it!” Got to admit I felt pretty stupid. Lost my breakfast bagel the other day. Looked everywhere for it. Even the trash! Later I hear, “Mother! I found you bagel in the freezer! Pack for Shady Oaks!” I know I did not put it there.

And how many of us look for our glasses when they are on our face (me) or resting on top of our heads. Oldest sister-in-law lost her glasses last week after having them repaired at the doctor’s office. She back tracked through all the stores she had shopped in and walking into Walmart, to check for them there, she saw her shadow on the pavement and wondered what was that on top of her head. Yep, her glasses! We really got a chuckle from that. I actually invited her to live at Shady Oaks with me after that escapade. Lost her glasses again today and found them hanging by the nose piece on the china cabinet in her dining room. She might be past the Shady Oaks phase! I know I am!

The Senility Prayer — Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference. — Unknown

I think we all carry our phones around while we’re looking for them. My friends do this frequently. One of them is looking for her medical bracelet, looked all over the house…I told her to check her wrist! She’s already signed up with me for Shady Oaks. My dearest friend is signed up too. She’s the youngest of us but she loses her phone, too. She lost something the other day and found it the next day in the freezer. Can’t remember what she lost, though, but she was delighted to find it!

We’re all requesting to be put together in the same room at Shady Oaks and we’re bringing our four dogs and one cat. Hope four beds can fit in their rooms. I have dibs on the window for bird watching. And my friends have to bring a bag of bird seed, a six pack of glass bottle cokes, and some hoop cheese and crackers for our poker games. We’ll have a great time if we don’t lose each other. One of us is afraid of critters and knows I’m a critter magnet. She told me, “I hope there’s no python there.” She’s thinking about my yard’s resident king snake, Balthazar. He is not invited to Shady Oaks. The pesky, bird seed eating raccoons are not invited, either!

Guess I’ll start packing after I ride the baby bed mattress down the stairs!

“A good friend is like a good bra. Hard to find, supportive, comfortable, always lifts you up, makes you feel better. Always close to your heart.” — Unknown