"Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love."
Mother Teresa

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Pleased to Meet You

Hello there,
I want to thank everyone so much for the great comments about downsizing and moving to a smaller home after retirement.  I am sure I will revisit this topic sometime in the future.  Stay tuned.

Since I just started this blog recently, I decided I should tell you a bit more about me and my life.
I am 63 years young.  I have been married to my best friend for 41 years.  He is the one with the guitar...a keeper, huh?!

 We have 2 children.  Our son is 37 and he is stepdad to granddaughter #1 who is 10.


...and he is Dad to granddaughter #3 who is 2 1/2.
My DIL works fulltime during the day and my son works nights.  We take care of the 2 1/2 year old all day Mon. thru Fri. so Daddy can get some sleep.  She definitely keeps us on our toes.
 

My daughter is 33 and she is Mom to granddaughter #2 who is 5 (6 in June), our little soccer star.
We helped care for this little chick alot before she started school too.


We live in West Michigan about a mile from the Lake Michigan shore.  It is a beautiful area and we spend lots of time at the beach during the summer.


The other member of my family is a black cat named Salem that my son brought home about 12 or 13 years ago.  He was about 1 year old and had been hanging around a pizza place, scrounging. He was very thin, had worms and fleas.  I am a sucker for a sob story and got him cleaned up and took him to the vet.  Who knew, we had just acquired "the best cat in the world"!  He is very laid back and will let the girls maul him and dress him up.  He has had no desire to leave the house since the day he walked in.


I have lived in West Mich. all my life.  I grew up in a small town about 30 miles from where I currently live.  I have 1 brother who is 11 years older than me, so I'm really mostly an only child.  He left for college when I was 7 and I only have some vague memories of him as a teenager.  My parents were part of large families and I do have a large extended family.  We had lots of big family events, and I grew up with many cousins close to my age.  We all went to the same church and school.  I like to travel and see how other people live, but my roots go deep here.  West Mich. is my home.

I am a registered nurse and I spent the last 19 years of my career working at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC).  It is a large family practic clinic and a little bit Community Health Dept rolled into one, serving mostly Medicaid, Medicare, and uninsured patients.  We provided lots of services that you wouldn't find in a private office.  We provided care to anyone and everyone, regardless of ability to pay.  We really saw some sad, sad, stories.  I spent much of my time providing education to patients and case management services.  It was stressful, challenging, and rewarding.  It was more than a job for me, it was more like a mission.  I know that I touched lives there and made a difference.

At age 61 I was ready to retire; the stress was taking its toll.  I was diagnosed with paroxsysmal atrial fibrillation about 7 years ago (age 56)  and stress is my enemy, it can trigger an episode.  Atrial fib is a cardiac arrythmia that isn't considered life threatening, thankfully.  It is a nuisance to live with though.  I am fortunate to have it well-controlled by medication and have not had a episode since I retired 2 years ago.

So...Here I am on this retirement journey and its so nice to be meeting some new friends along the way.
Hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

Til next time
Peace

12 comments:

  1. It was wonderful getting to know you more. Boy are you a life saver to your grandkids, it looks like they are in great hands when in your care. As you know I am from Michigan and went to school at Western, by the way I read about the earthquake there, did you feel it?
    Hugs,
    Merediht

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, Meredith. I did feel the earthquake. The neighbors are doing some construction and there have been big trucks going in and out. I heard a loud noise and thought maybe a truck hit something, then things in my house rattled a little. When I looked outside there were no trucks around. I didn't realize it was an earthquake til we started talking about it at knitting club. Definitely unusual for Michigan.

      Delete
  2. thank you for letting us know more about you and your lovely family.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great to hear more about your life, Marilyn. I have happy memories of staying at a friend's cottage near Benton Harbor long ago. I grew up in WI but left after college, and now there aren't any relatives to visit so the closest we come is IL where our older daughter and her family are. Black cats are great; he's lucky to have found you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The whole lakeshore area ia beautiful. Benton Harbor is south of me. Salem definitely lucked out here.....he's living the good life for sure.

      Delete
  4. Good to learn more about you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Michelle, I'm glad you stopped by.

      Delete
  5. I'm glad to learn more about you Marilyn. What a blessing you are to your children. Being able to watch your grandchildren would be a wonderful thing. I heard about the earthquake, and I thought about you. I saw your answer to Meredith and was glad to know all is okay at your house. I'm also glad that your health has improved since you retired. Stess is a nasty thing.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Betsy. These 3 girls are definitely a blessing in my life.

      Delete
  6. I enjoyed learning more about you. I recently discovered your blog and I've enjoyed reading some of your older posts. We are the same age and have been married the same amount of time. Thanks for sharing some of your recipes. I intend to try your mother's cake and the cheeseburger soup.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's lovely to read some more about you and get to know you better.

    ReplyDelete