My husband surprised with a wooden tree of life puzzle for Christmas. At first, I felt a bit overwhelmed when I opened the gift. This puzzle wasn’t the traditional puzzle pieces. Nope… this one had unique shapes and designs and there were 700 of them. I didn’t know where to begin!
On New Year’s Eve I decided to open the wooden circle container out and take a stab at it. My son and daughter would add a piece here and there. Eventually I found a pattern… colors, forms started to make sense. I was fascinated by the pieces that were in the shape of birds, flowers, sun or moon. I had thought I would be agitated and irritated by the puzzle. I am not going to lie, there were plenty of times when I have felt that way. For the most part, it was surprisingly therapeutic.
I would binge watch a show on my tablet while working on the puzzle. It was my time to forget all the stuff that was causing me anxiety and stress. My husband’s gift had created a renewed hobby and borderline obsession for puzzles.
If you are battling with anxiety, stress or depression, try picking up a jigsaw puzzle. It might help… or create a whole other level of stress and anxiety.
One of my dog’s got to the very bottom of the puzzle. Doh!!My next puzzle… this one may go on a wall. And so it begins…
The advice from my mom that stays with me and that I find myself repeating to others who need to hear is, “Follow your heart and your gut. Don’t worry about what anyone else says or think. The heck with everyone else! This is your life and you’re the only one who will live it.”
I was in a turbulent time where the world and people surrounding me were telling me one thing but my heart and gut were telling me something completely different. I knew what everyone else wanted. They kept shouting it at me constantly and consistently but again my heart and gut told me otherwise. The thing is, I know it wasn’t easy for my mom to say those words. I know she really wanted me to go in the direction everyone else was telling me to go. I took her advice and I have to say, I am so glad I did.
My mother’s love was unconditional. She supported me even when she thought I was making a mistake. She loved me for who I am. She may have expressed opinions or tried to pursued me to do things I didn’t want to do but she embraced me anyway.
My grandmother was the same. She would tolerate my quiet moodiness but put me in my place in a heartbeat. She’d be polite but brutally honest then give me a big hug soon after. When bad things happened she’d say, “There’s always a reason. We may not understand it but there is always a reason. You may not want to accept but God knows what He is doing.” My mom would often repeat the same words.
I was blessed to have these two amazing, loving women in my life. I can still feel their love surround me even though they are no longer in this world.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!! To all the mama’s and like-a-mama’s out there!
Welp. It happened. For the first time in my 50+ years on this Earth, I was given a senior discount without even asking for it. They didn’t even ask me for my drivers license. Gasp!
Let me back up and explain… One of my four dogs, Lily, stepped on a bee and yelped. We thought she was stung which immediately set us into panic because she’s allergic. We checked her paw and noticed it was slightly red but didn’t see a stinger. We gave her bendryl then decided we’d keep an eye on her.
The next day we noticed her nails were slightly turned up. We gave her more benedryl but her paws were progressively getting worse. By the time we finally got to the vet, one of the nails fell off and then another. After further inspection, the vet determined all of the nails needed to go. Turns out it had nothing to do with a bee sting. So, she had a little surgery. She’s in a lot of pain and discomfort.
We have to take her to the vet a few times to get her bandages changed out and her paws inspected. She’s going to be okay. It’s just going to take awhile. They have also drawn blood to find out what caused this.
Of course, I could hear the kir-ching, kir-ching of the cash register everytime the vet spoke a word when we arrived the first day. I was crabby and getting on my own nerves! Not only worrying about my Lily (by the way she’s techinally my daughters dog) but also the dinero involved plus trying to figure out how we were going to get Lily outside to handle her business when she had all paws bandaged up and the cone on her head.
We returned the next day so they could inspect her paws. We had hoped the bandages would be removed but unfortunately the nail beds weren’t where they needed to be. But the vet told me I would be getting a credit for a reason I can’t recall at the moment plus they realized they missed a discount so I wouldn’t have to pay for this visit nor the next. My immediate reaction was a thumbs up and my exclamation of “Cool! Thanks!”
The vet told me to go to the front desk so they could sign me out while he finished working on Lily. I was smiling and walking with a little pep in my step. The receptionist glanced at the computer and said, “Oh, I see we missed the Senior discount. I’ll just apply that now.” She clicked a few times then typed something. She asked me if I wanted the receipt printed or emailed. I told her email was fine.
It didn’t register in my head until I got home. I glanced at the receipt she emailed me. “Senior discount?? Wtf? Why would we get a senior discount?” It seriously took me a few minutes to grasp it… to hold on to and understand. “OMG!! I’m a senior??? Wtf??”
But… oh… I glanced back at the receipt. It was a discount of over $200.00. I felt conflicted. I was smiling for a few seconds and then I frowned. Then scowled and cursed.
“Senior discount!! F$@& senior… psttt… I am not a senior!”
I kid you not… less than a second after I declared that I sneezed and had to rush to the bathroom so I wouldn’t pee on myself.
She can’t get her bandages wet or dirty. This was our solution while outside on wet grass. We have since learned sandwich bags with hair ties work better.
Giselle Lumas 