THOUGHTS

April 16, 2020

I have not gone anywhere for six weeks or so.  I really don't mind, except for not being able to visit with all my kids and grandkids.  In fact the weeds are growing up taller than my tires in the driveway, evidence of the shelter in place order.  Will I even still remember how to drive?

But, I found a passage about blessings, 

so I thought I'd count my many blessings while sitting here at home: Ezekiel 34:26-31.

"I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing.  Then the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase.  They shall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the Lord...they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid...Thus they shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them and they, the house of Israel are My people," says the Lord God.'"  "You are My flock, the flock of My pasture."

I don't have much of a bucket list left to do before I kick it, but I can count my blessings in the things I already have done.  Follow along and make your own checklist.

1. I have lived in four states, Missouri, Kansas, California, and Oregon.  If you counted accumulated vacations I've lived in Colorado over two years.

2. I have been to 28 states or so and British Columbia and Mexico.

3.  Gone dune-buggying, a lot, on the Morro Bay sandspit and at Santa Maria.

4  Gone surfing, well I tried.

5.  Gone on miles of bike rides (Mostly I was on a sting ray while my friends had ten speeds.)

6.  Gone body surfing at Laguna Beach.

7.  Gone gold-panning on the Smith River.

8.  Climbed mountains above timberline in Colorado.

9.  Gone deep sea fishing off the coast near Hearst Castle.

10.  Gone dumpster diving, metal detecting, and digging in ghost town dumps.

11.  Gone gooey-duck clamming.

12.  Gone on a sailboat.

13.  Gone jeeping on four-wheel drive roads in Colorado.

14.  Gone horseback riding on the beach, on short cattle drives, and on other pleasurable rides.

15.  Been on the shore of Lake Michigan, Crater Lake, Lake of the Ozarks, the Great Salt Lake, and numerous others.

16.  Flown in a small plane and on jets.

17.  Gone hunting and to a shooting range with my NRA card.

18.  Gone fishing with minnows from a row boat and from the shore with bobbers.

19.  Gone fly fishing in the Lake City area.

20.  Gone to rodeos.

21.  Gone to the Kansas City Royale Horse Show.

22.  Gone to a Lipizzan Horse Show.

23.  Gone to Huntington Library, San Diego Art Museums, and the Smithsonian Museum and Galleries, Natural History Museum on Victoria Island and other places.

24.  Heard the "Messiah" by LDS choir in KCMO.

25.  Watched "Jesus Christ Superstar" in a theater in the round in Balboa Park.

26.  Went to Ramona Outdoor Pageant and saw an outdoor musical at Occidental College.

27.  Went to Julian Hot Springs.

28.  Went to K.C. Swope Park Outdoor Theater musicals, "Oklahoma," "Porgy and Bess," "Shenandoah."

29.  Went to the Nutcracker at the Pasadena Theater.

30.  Went on a mission trip to the Navajo Reservation.

31.  Went to Captain Jack's Stronghold, site of the last Indian battle in California.

32.  Went to Petroglyphs.

33.  Went on a cruise to Baja seeing whales and sea turtles.

34.  Vacationed on a house boat at Lake Shasta.

35.  Been to the happiest place on earth, Disneyland beginning at age 3 when it was new.

36.  Been many times to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.

37.  Been on a roller coaster out over the ocean at Pacific Ocean Park.

38.  Been on the oldest mining train between Durango and Silverton.

39.  Been to the Rose Bowl and slept on the 50 yard line at a Girl Scout Jamboree.

40.  Been to KU Jayhawk basketball, football games and tract meets.

41.  Been to many Padres, KC Royals, Dodgers, and Giants games and have seen  a few players on three of those teams in their careers.

42.  Watched Steve Prefontaine run in a track meet in San Diego and watched international teams practice at Point Loma before the LA Olympics.

43.  Walked thirty miles in combat boots in Pasadena in 9th grade to raise money for hunger.

44.  Been in a real slanted house, an old mining shack about to fall down.

45.  Stopped too long in a bear enclosure and had grizzlies chewing on my rear pop-open windows with kids screaming inside.

46.  Been to K.C. Zoo, S.F. Zoo, Sac Zoo, Sea World, and animal parks.

47.  Been to Carlsbad Caverns, and other caves.

48.  Saw President George W. Bush campaigning from a caboose, close enough to shake hands.

49.  Heard Jesse Jackson speak.

50.  Been to Christian concerts, too many to count as well as seeing the Beach Boys and the Temptations.

51.  Been to Lake Louise, Canada, in the snow.

52.  Been to Glacier Park in the snow.

53.  Camped in Banff, Canada with the elk.

54.  Gone on a Lake Tahoe paddlewheeler.

55.  Entered several art shows winning ribbons.

56.  Rode the ferry to Victoria Island.

57.  Went to Billy Graham Pastor's Conferences in Vancouver and Lake Louise, Canada.

58.  Been on the train from Sacramento to Grand Junction, Colorado several times.

59.  Rode a city bus from LAX to Pasadena as the only passenger while a teen.

60.  Rode on Greyhound from Marysville, CA to San Antonio, Texas and saw the Alamo.

61.  Went to the Pasadena Writer's Club with my grandmother, a founding member.

62.  Heard tornado sirens and sought shelter.

63.  Been through many earthquakes.

64.  Been in the flood of '97 in Yuba County, CA and had to be evacuated.

65.  Been in a cabin that fell off its log foundation.

66.  Been in a mine and have ridden in a mining cart.

67.  Been to Branson, Missouri when it was new.

68.  Been in the house my great-great grandfather built in Georgetown, Texas.

69.  Had pet squirrels, horn toads, 5 cats, 12 dogs, chickens, birds, 24 turtles, a rabbit and fish.

70.  Crossed picket lines being curses to go to work-or be fired.

71.  Tried to stop a Samoan gang fight in Sacramento and was robbed by Moa, the Samoan.

72.  Been racially profiled and pulled over for being a white person in an all black neighborhood.  The officer wanted to know what I was doing there, but no violation of the law.

73.  Been a witness in a murder trial.

74.  Been to Yellowstone, Bryce, Yosemite, to cliff dwellings and Hopi ruins.  

75.  Been to Philadelphia, to Ben Franklin's printing press, a Quaker meeting house, Betsy Ross's home, and the Christ Church there, and ate a Philly steak sandwich.

76.  Been to Amish Country.

77.  Been to Alexandria, Virginia to family's graves there down to Ivy, Virginia to the places kinfolk lived, including Merriweather Louis' home place.

78.  Been to Civil War battle sites including Gettysburg, Antietam, Manassas and Harper's Ferry.

79.  Been to homes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Eisenhower. 

80.  Been to Nashville, to Andrew Jackson's home and to family places in Sparta as well as to the Battle of Kings Mountain site where at least five of my great grandfathers fought as Overmountain Men in the Revolutionary War.

81.  Been stuck on a gondola in New Mexico swinging in the air.

82.  Rode zip lines and walked behind waterfalls at Silver Falls State Park in Oregon.

83.  Was nearly caught in a landslide in Colorado and watched huge boulders crash down the mountain side.

84.  Been in a S.F. Giants pitcher's home and saw his bat collection and heard his testimony.

85.  Sat on our roof after wetting it down watching a fire approaching.

86.  Taken archery, synchronized swimming, parallel bars, and uneven parallel bars and the horse, all in junior high and high school P.E. 

87.  Spent lazy days on a pontoon boat on the Lake of the Ozarks.

88.  Water skied and skim boarded and have been on a snowmobile.

89.  Played powderpuff football.

90.  Hit a home run in sixth grade and won my class ice cream cones on a teacher's bet.  (I was the worst player on the team and a safe bet.)

91.  Been robbed seven times.

92.  Have been yelled at by an Oregon State Senator for my stand on abortion and stood on courthouse singing while protesting abortion.

93.  Was interviewed by a T.V. news station only to have my dog chase the camera crew away.

94.  Have watched most of my grandchildren be born.

95.  Have made ornaments for the National Christmas Tree.

96.  Have seen the K.C. Plaza lit up at Christmas.

97.  Have gone on hayrides.

98.  Have seen golf-ball sized hail, crazy thunder and lightning storms, heat lightning and resulting fires, and have been marooned by snow and by mud slides.

99.  Have evacuated due to fear that Oroville Dam would collapse.

100.  Have bought ice cream from a horse drawn cart in front of my house in Lawrence, Kansas, have brought in the glass milk jugs off the porch, and used adjustable skates with a key, had black and white T.V. with aluminum foil on the antennas, have had avocado and harvest yellow appliances, have hung my laundry out on a line for over a year and have used outhouses.

101.  Have eaten wild mushrooms picked and served by a friend.

102.  Have milked a cow, at least I tried to.

103.  Found garnets, ore samples from gold and silver mines, and apache tears gemstones.

104.  Beat everyone in fourth grade arm wrestling.

105.  Have been the leading lady in a play in sixth grade, and hated every minute of it.

106.  Have given a concert with friends.

107.  Have published a book, have written ebooks, and have illustrated others.

108.  Have seen black bears, grizzly bears, buffalo, elk, deer, lynx, Rocky Mt. goats, big horn sheep, antelopes, porpoises, dolphins, seals, whales, otters-sea and fresh water ones, whooping cranes, beaver, ermines, conies, woodchucks, weasels and rattlesnakes all in the wild.

109.  Have found arrowheads at the ocean, at the Lake of the Ozarks, in New Mexico and Arizona.

110.  Have ridden on a jet boat on the Rogue River and on a small amphibious tank at a duck club, and took a tour on an aircraft carrier.

111.  Have been to Hoover Dam, swam in Lake Powell, been to the Grand Canyon, and to dinosaur digs.

112.  Been to demolition derbies and church fights.

113.  Painted the Pirate in the middle of the Morro Bay High School basketball court.

114.  Was voted most feminine in my high school and turned down a nomination for prom queen, never drank, smoke, took drugs or went to a dance.

115.  Have seen the mighty sweeping of revival at a campground with seekers at the altar for hours weeping and rejoicing before the Lord with no preaching.

116.  Been a cleaner of new construction, a library aide, a housewife, a child care provider, a foster mom, a church secretary, a preschool teacher, a teacher's aide in the inner city schools through a teacher strike, and turned in a portfolio and was offered a job at Hallmark, but had to turn it down since we were moving to California and they wanted a  several year commitment.

117. Have parented in our home for 40 years having birthed 3 and adopted 3 and have twenty grandchildren/great grandchildren.

118.  Have been to church in a VFW dance hall; in the oldest Protestant church this side of the divide; have helped to plant a church meeting in our home, in a library, in an American Legion Post with the nursery in a bar and Sunday School in a storage room full of bingo stuff; in outdoor amphitheaters; in state park campgrounds, in an historic Baptist church with a bell to ring; been to a Catholic Church, a Presbyterian Church; in a Chinese Temple; in church in old movie theaters and storefronts; have taken communion in Anaheim stadium; to church in shacks on a Navajo reservation; in camp meeting tabernacles fanning ourselves with paper fans; in the days of ladies wearing hats with large brims, to pill boxes and matching gloves, shoes and purses to jeans, shorts, and barefoot.

"These are a few of my favorite things."

Notice that not many of these are things, but experiences and memories

 from what is now a long and happy life.

*Just because I did them, btw, did not mean I did them well, especially not anything athletic.

What's in your bucket?  You might be surprised by your blessings.  Start counting!