On a roll...

For a few days I couldn't get any thoughts together to do my weekly post, and now I have a list of different topics. They were coming to mind as I drove home from the temple yesterday. I wrote them down and as I have time I'll try to get them from my mind to my journal.

I thought that there are probably many things that not even my children know about me. Many things will be discovered as they read my journals once I make them available to them. (Over my dead body!) But maybe they would think it fun to learn now some of my secrets or at least not previously discussed information that is all part of who I am. Maybe we'll find that we have more in common than we realized.

Here are a few for starters:

I absolutely love walking on beaches! I love taking my shoes off and feeling the sand between my toes. I love the sound of the waves slapping. I love finding shells. After the trip to Alaska and thanks to Nancy I love finding sea glass. Walking on a quiet beach is solace for me. Somehow I feel more in tune with myself.

I love traveling. My favorite mode of travel is a car, and my fantasy destination is nowhere. Don't get me wrong. I love to travel to visit my children and grandchildren. There are no people on earth I'd rather be with than those souls who are so connected to me. But I would love to get in my car and just drive wherever I felt inclined to go, stop at a hotel to get some food and rest, and then get up the next day and drive again. I prefer driving the roads that go through the small towns and stopping at little cafes and observing the people and breathing the air they breathe.

I love driving down city streets and even on the freeway with my window down, my hair blowing freely, and listening to the sounds of the city, the roar of engines on the road, horns honking (no, they're not honking at me!), whistles blowing--the sounds of a city alive!

When I walk down the street I like to try to engage others. I watch their faces and see if they will look back at me so I can greet them. I like smiling at people. I like to think that my smile just might have made a difference in their day. More times than not, however, and particularly in the city, many people look away, or look down, and don't make any efforts to make eye contact with anyone. But not me. I don't want to miss a thing.

I continue to be amazed that something as large as a jet airplane can stay up in the air. Explain the dynamics and physics of it to me all you like but it makes no difference: I am in awe!

I love flowers and in my lifetime of travels I have seen countless varieties, many taking my breath away. But my most favorite is the "ditchbank" aster, a little blue flower that thrives in the forests of Utah and elsewhere. Perhaps it's the location (the forest) that makes the difference. I enjoy the peace of being in the wooded areas, protected and sheltered by the strength of the trees, and maybe that tiny flower is symbolic of little me. All analysis aside, though, I just plain like the way I feel when I see patches of them.

For most of my life I have thought it would be grand if I could play a harp.

I hope that most of the things I've learned about me find me really wanting to get the most out of life. But that would be getting it in a less threatening or dangerous way. There are some risks I want to take (falling in love, meeting new people, trying new foods, etc.) but other risks are not worth the potential cost.

This is just the beginning of the roll, but all I have time for today. (Today's Weight Watcher's meeting discussed portion control. I've spent enough time on this portion and now need to move on to other things.)