June 7 2014

June 7 2014 Greetings My Friend, I am back from my morning walk. Today I reached another goal and I made it to the end of the road and back. I have learned to slow my pace down requiring less rest periods. I have a killer hill and two medium killer hills to get to the end of the road and back three on the way and the three on the way back is a lot of hill overcoming. The walker with 4 wheels helps me a ton. I use the hand breaks as I go down the hills so I won’t start going too fast. My theory is as I pump the breaks I am also working my hand and wrist. Not a bad added benefit if you ask me. When I get back I am winded big time so I use the resting to write. I am enjoying this process a lot. When I am done I get up and start working around the house. I won’t do much today other than sweep the floors since we will be running errands this afternoon. I have the front porch cleared of clutter and I am keeping that swept. I need to work on the porch by the kitchen now. The deck is fairly much cleaned up so I can start working on painting and stripping various pieces of furniture. My life is filling out with plenty of projects that I can change to keep my brain active. That makes me real happy. As I was getting my first cup of coffee I noticed that the kitchen table was stacked high with stuff again. I remembered in our house in MI Junior had a room that was his office. That room was cluttered all over the place and when Junior was in there he looked so content. When we had guests over I closed the door. I realized that we need to work on a space for Junior to clutter to his hearts content. With all the renovating we’ve been doing the cluttered look has filled most of the rooms. As he finishes an area and we begin living in it I am once more into organizing and keeping order. I don’t need perfect order but I don’t handle total chaos well either. Our marriage has been a meeting ground in the middle. It isn’t something either one of us knew prior to this marriage. We both had moments of learning to accept. I believe the more we take our marriage to God the more we find that middle ground. We have not let the big issues turn into major problems because God has taught us ways to deal with our own personal struggles with the other one. I realized at one point that Junior is too good of a man to let his clutter/hoarding get to me. If I let it get to me and we did the awful “d” word….I would have missed a gem of a man. I realized that if he became a total hoarder I would find a way to tolerate his eccentric to me behavior. Since Junior cares about me he works hard at his cluttering ways. He will never be free of clutter. He reminds me of the cartoon character on Peanuts, Pigpen. Clutter seems to follow Junior around much like dirt did for Pigpen. Junior respects my need for order as well. He filled the table with the stuff on a shelf in the dining room that he had been collecting. He cleaned the shelf and by the end of the day most of the things on the table will have a new home. I thank him and he beams when I notice his hard work. Once the kitchen and dining room are completely refurbished then order will reign for the most part. I am filling some shelves with kitchen products and when I stop for a “thinking” process sometimes Junior continues my train of thought. I appreciate that he studies me so well and organizes fairly much to my standards. Junior and I are a good team. I love that about our marriage. He boils noodles and I make tuna and macaroni salad. I sweep the floors and he mops them. He loves doing laundry and I let him. We both fold and put clothes away. Somedays he makes his side of the bed up before I get up. Then I make my side up when I get up. I truly love this team work we have. Junior’s first thought each day is “Would God like what I am doing?” He asks the same question throughout the day and at bedtime. Because he keeps God at the center of his heart Junior is sensitive to me and my needs. As I learn to keep God at the center of my heart I find myself being sensitive to Junior’s needs. Not a bad way to do marriage in my way of thinking. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet