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WOODHEAT's Recent Blog Entries
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Thursday, September 08, 2011
Alaska! How many years we've talked about a trip to Alaska! It was always that dream trip that was going to happen someday, but it always seemed that someday kept getting pushed off to a later date. There always were obstacles that would pop up: a house that we had moved out of but resisted being sold; a bite from a tiny tick that resulted in a pacemaker, the uncertainty of aging parents health, a problematic back for well over 40 years that finally ended up in surgery and then took forever to recover from. One roadblock after another - Life.
And then there was the discussions of what kind of trip it should be. Maybe we should buy a big new Harley hog and ride cross country like Peter Fonda. Or maybe we could buy a new motor home and turn the trip into a summer long adventure taking in the Canadian Rockies on the same trip. Maybe not - too long away from the grandchildren. How about one of the cruises? That seems to be one of the most popular ways to get a taste of this "Last Wilderness". An easy approach but so far cruises haven't been our style. Back to the motorhome idea, but this time we'll fly to Anchorage and rent one there and spend a couple of weeks RVing around. How does one decide where to go? Alaska is Huge!! ... and then suddenly like a midsummer storm, it just happened!
Glor (know as Luv here on SP) was researching Alaska on the internet one more time when a new approach flashes on the screen - an adventure tour of Alaska! A ten day tour with a guide that includes several hikes, white water rafting, sea kayaking, canoeing, a flight on a bush plane and maybe a glimpse of the aurora! We could pick a tour that utilized tenting or a slightly more expensive one with us staying in lodges and cabins. Hmmmm, the last tour of the year was in just 2 weeks!
Okay, why not!!! We called "Get Up and Go Tours" and there was still room for us. A little discussion and the decision was made. Let's do it! (the lodge tour though - it appeals a little bit more to this 62 year old body! LOL)
We were on our way!
Let the adventures begin!
Life is good!
to be continued
Friday, July 29, 2011
This Sunday Gloria (known here at SP as LUVQUILTING) and I will have been married 40 years!!!! That's so amazing to me in so many ways!! It really doesn't seem that long ago that I had first asked her out. Her dad wouldn't let her go out with me so I went to her house and helped paint a room. (see I knew how to win over parents LOL) In all fairness to her dad, she was only 14 at the time! Yep, we really were just kids and nobody really expected this relationship to turn into anything big! But they were wrong! It turned HUGE!
From the very beginning for us, life was full of adventures and it was always exciting! Most kids hung out at the movies or the drive-in hamburger joints. We went water-skiing, worked on my hot rods, took the motorcycle out for a ride (although I had to pick her up in my car because her mom wouldn't let her on the cycle.) Right from the start, we shared the outdoors - we hiked, we canoed, we biked!
Things didn't always go smoothly. Growing up and growing together provides a lot of opportunities to make a lot of mistakes and we made them, but fortunately we seemed to sense that what we had was good and we always somehow managed to get through the rough spots. I'm afraid that I really need to give Glor the credit here, because without a doubt I'm the one whose common sense is a little on the rare side. So doing stupid things was always pretty easy for me. But she always stuck with me and I'm so very very grateful for that!!!
The adventures never stopped for us and I think that's what keeps our lives so exciting! We've hiked to the peaks of many mountains and into the deepest of valleys. We've traveled all around the US and Canada where we've biked, climbed, kayaked and canoed, roller-bladed, skiied, boogie-boarded, and if it's done outside, we've probably done it!
....and we've danced! We've done a lot of dancing over the last 16 or so years - mostly country dancing. Wherever we travel we look for the honkey-tonks and country bars and we go dancing! In fact, we even teach it! There's very seldom a week goes by that we don't go dancing somewhere!
These 40 years together have brought about 2 amazing sons and now 5 grandchildren and we've been so blessed that our family has always shared our sense of adventure! Even as teens the boys lived the excitement with us. In fact, the teenage years were exciting filled with volleyball tournaments in our back yard, weeks on the lakes, at the shore, on the trails. They were amazing! And now the grandchildren are stepping right into the same footsteps. My 8 year old granddaughter already water-skis. All the kids are into biking and we spend many hours on the rail trails. And every year, there's the family vacation where we all spend a chaotic week of family fun.
Fourty years!!!!! What an amazing 40 years! Boredom is something we just never experienced, I guess we never had time for it, really. So now my high school sweat heart (oops, I meant sweetheart) and I are officially retired and the adventure continues and I expect it will continue for quite some time to come. I am truely the luckiest man I know.
Life is good! very very good!
Wood
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Yesterday, Luv and I participated in yet another Cancer Relay for Life. We've been doing this for several years now because it's a cause that is very close to our hearts. We like just about everyone else in the world have lost loved ones to the many demonic faces of cancer, including Luv's mother a few years back. So we walk for the cause and we earn what money we can for the research that we hope will bring a cure sometime soon.
This time we listened to a man that appeared to be in his mid thirties speak of the pain of watching his wife lose her battle in less than 6 months time. He spoke of the difficulty of trying to live as normal as possible while this went on while raising two children, keeping up with his job, spending as much time with her as he could each day. We all sat there and listened, and shared his pain and knew the impossibility of the task that faced him. A nightmare shared by thousands of others at any given time.
...and then he spoke of what makes it possible to get through this - other people - compassionate people. People from church, people from work, people from his neighborhood, friends from all over, distant relatives. People that brought food, people that sent cards, letters, emails of support; people that volunteered to pick up his kids and get them to their sports and school events; people that visited his wife and made sure she knew she was loved and cared about; people that showed up at his house and weeded his flower beds and mowed his lawns; people that were just there for him. It was people that cared that got him through this terrible ordeal.
Today, Luv and I visited her father in the nursing home that he now calls home. He's been blinded by diabetes and has suffered considerable losses over the past year. What does he talk about now when we visit? "His girls" that take care of him and make sure that his needs are met each and every day. Again it's people that get him through a very tough situation.
People that care....I'm so very lucky to know so many of these people in my life and that includes so many of you - my friends here at SP. Thanks for being "these people".
Life is good!
Wood
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
This is the rose I choose to add to "the Deck" in memory of Kelpie's friend, Joyce, who lost her battle with Hodgkins. I choose this one for several reasons: It's named a Merlot tea rose, which seemed very appropriate to "The Deck". It's also beautiful - femine but bold as I picture Joyce who spent much of her life in the air force. It is also disease resistent - Joyce had won her first battle with breast cancer before losing this one with Hodgkins.
So here it is "Joyce's rose", if the selection suits the rest of you "Deckies". Let it represent the bravery and strength of all our friends who do battle with cancer.
Joyce knew that "Life is good."
Wood
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Member Comments About This Blog Post:
love the comfort this brings.
especially since the lodge is getting so full!
