July 16 2015

July 16 2015 Greetings My Friend That moment when you hope that the time is near to have cataract surgery. I know that I am not seeing as I would like to see. Still I sense I see fairly well at the same time that is until I get a day where everything is blurry or I try to read the smaller print and can’t. Even with a pair of readers I can’t and putting the readers over my glasses doesn’t seem to help. The last time I thought it was time I only needed stronger lenses. This year I have had my check up about a month ago and already I am struggling. I don’t have vision insurance so I was hoping I could get a year out of these lenses. It is what it is. Yesterday we transferred our funds to a manager down here with the same investment company. With this we are fully settled in SW VA and our only need for MI trips is to visit family and friends. With this last piece of our MI lives tied up I now feel fully part of the south and my other life is a memory now. I love that heading to Kingsport, to Norton or such all is a comfortable place to be here in the south. After 6 years of living down south I still enjoy the mountains and all the beauty within them. My morning quiet time of reflecting finds me checking the goings on outside of my window and today I see the same 2 hummingbirds I have seen all season. I see Junior dragging over another beam to finish off the extension of this porch knowing that soon this project will come to an end and we will have precious moments out on our porches. As I ponder the joy of the work of moving, learning a new way of life and how to live in retirement and a disabled body I find that challenges will still be part of life more than likely to my last days I will experience some sort of struggle to work out. Today I see that cataracts are the current struggle. To be honest I am not looking forward to someone working on my eyes even though I know many people who have gone through this. I never tried contact lenses because of this fear. I have been asking God to make me strong to face this fear for some time now. I know in my heart that after the fact I will be glad I did it and even as I wait for the moment for surgery to come I am not overly anxious about it. More than likely Junior will take me, be near and even this brings me comfort. My plan is to “turn and face” this fear not on my own but with God’s help. Life keeps teaching me that you can’t overcome until you “turn and face” the problem, look at it square in the face and name it. Once you do this it seems like the struggle may be hard but deep down the other side will be worth all the work. I love stepping beside people to help them through life’s journey’s. It has taken me years to understand that some people are content in staying where they are at rather than to step out of their comfort zone. I hear they would like to move on, they even desire it but in the end they choose to stay right where they are at, the work is not worth the effort to them. For a long time I found myself to be impatient with this way of thinking. Today I tend to see that I may have planted a seed, may be time for me to move on and let the seed germinate until someone else comes along to water that seed and maybe to help that seed to grow to maturity whether in the faith or in their day to day life. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet