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Posts tagged ‘Memory’

Show Up and Never Give Up!

Let all that you do be done in love.  

1 Corinthians 16:14

Above all,
keep loving one another earnestly,
since love covers a multitude of sins.

 1 Peter 4:8

May the God of hope
fill you with all joy
and peace in believing,
so that by the power of the Holy Spirit 
you may abound in hope.

Romans 15:13

For God gave us a spirit not of fear

but of power and love and self-control.  

2 Timothy 1:7

John 14:26 
ESV

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name,
He will teach you all things
and
bring to your remembrance
all that I have said to you.

Romans 8:37 
ESV

No,
in all these things
we are
more than conquerors
through Him who loved us.

Get up – dress up – show up!

And never give up!

Galatians 6:9 
ESV 

And let us not grow weary
of doing good,
for in due season we will reap,
if we do not give up.

I’m never giving up
I want to be proud
Of who I’m becoming
With God’s help
I’m reaching for the sky
I’m gonna get up
Dress up
Show up
and
Never give up

You, too?

I pray you have
wonderful neighbors/friends
who come, help, encourage
and inspire you
in your Daily Walk,
like we do!

Yes, count your blessings!

I made green eggs and ham
yesterday for St. Patrick’s Day
and then we shared
corned beef and cabbage
with those dear neighbors
who inspire us
to get up, dress up,
show up, and
never give up.

What have you done recently
to thank those who inspire you
to show up everyday
and never give up?


I send my love and encouragement to you.
Thanks for showing up at JanBeek
and encouraging me to keep on
keepin’ on!

I love you!

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Here is some very soothing music
to calm your spirit
as you get up,
show up,
and
never give up!

Enjoy!!

Have a blessed weekend!
Hugs,
JanBeek

Embrace Wise Cracks

I feel like my body has gotten totally out of shape, so I got my doctor’s permission to
join a fitness club and start exercising.
I decided to take an aerobics class for seniors.
I bent, twisted, gyrated, jumped up and down, and perspired for an hour.  But,
by the time I got my leotards on,
the class was over.

My memory’s not as sharp as it used to be.
Also, my memory’s not as sharp as it used to be.

Know how to prevent sagging?
Just eat till the wrinkles fill out.



I talked with God about this today.

God said to me:
“Folks don’t mind your creases, Jan.
It is part of the aging process –
and those lines are roadmaps to your soul.
They tell how you’ve lived your life.
Your joys are there.
(Those are the creases beside each eye)
The times you were tickled are there.
(Notice those crinkles on your nose!)
Your worries are there.
(Those are the railroad tracks on your forehead;
sometimes caused not by worry, but by pondering!)


Those aren’t wrinkles –
They’re wise cracks!”

One of my favorite Bible verses about aging gracefully is
Even in old age they will still produce fruit;
they will remain vital and green.”

(Psalm 92:14)

God will carry us through, even into our advanced years.
Our Creator has had a plan for us since before we were born.
He had our days numbered since the beginning of time
and it is up to us to make wise decisions
to help our bodies live
a more vibrant and full life
and to impart our wisdom
to those placed in our lives.


How many wise cracks do you have?
Are you trying to hide them?
Or do you embrace them?

In the video below,
Lisa, Domestic Life Stylist,
moves our focus away from our
“Wise cracks” and shares
some wise tips on aging.
It’s worth a watch!

Her final words:
“Embrace the age you are!”
Wisdom indeed!
(I’m 82, how about you?)

See ya tomorrow (God willing).
Thanks for visiting!

Love,
JanBeek

Embrace the Present

Is your memory slipping? Mine is. The bad news is, my sweetheart’s memory is slipping down the same slope as mine. That’s not good news. For 59 years, we’ve covered for one another. Now we need someone else with a blanket and a diary… the blanket to cover our faux pas – and a diary to go back and retrieve the lost information!

I told you about the blue suitcase and our dual denial, right? http://www.janbeek.blog/embrace-laughter

Do you recall … neither of us remembering the actual color, size, and details of our luggage? Did you laugh with us? Well now, it is a situation where BOTH of us forgot about receiving something a year ago… denying it, causing someone else a lot of frustration, and needing a huge dose of forgiveness for the trouble we caused.

Ah, the mind is a sad thing to lose!!

Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com

Now is what we have
Tomorrow isn’t here yet
Sift through sands of time

Yesterday is past
Remembering helps us learn
Embrace the Present

Diaries are fun… a great way to keep track of the present
and go back to retrieve what we want to remember!

Check out the expansion of that idea of living in the moment at this previous blog: http://janbeek.blog/2020/11/16/one-day-at-a-time

Haibun (俳文, literally, haikai writings) is a prosimetric literary form originating in Japan, combining prose and haiku. The range of haibun is broad and frequently includes autobiography, diary, essay, prose poem,[1] short story and travel journal.

In the Haibun above, I addressed the short story and the diary idea in my prose – and then added a two-part Haiku to the story. Thanks for the inspiration from Dwight Roth who often contributes Haibun to d’versepoetry.com … and does it so well. Check out today’s post from Roth Poetry:

Being Alive

/ rothpoetry

I’m glad you shared today with me.

Looking shaggy –
I need a haircut!

Thanks for visiting JanBeek
See ya tomorrow (God willing).

Embrace the Present

Embrace Laughter

Comic Tammy

If you can laugh at yourself,
Laughter will always be with you.
We do the darndest things!!

Flight Attendant

On our trip home from Eugene, Oregon via Seattle, WA, we “lost” our carry-on suitcase. Because of a shortage of overhead bin space, we were asked to leave our carry-on at the entrance of the plane. At the end of the flight, the cart rolled out with all the luggage and ours wasn’t on it. There was a blue bag like ours, but it had a strange-looking lock on it, and it was a little bigger than ours, and the color wasn’t exactly right.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

We figured somebody had accidentally picked up the wrong bag. We reported the missing bag to the flight attendant.

“You’re sure this isn’t yours?” she asked.

“We’re sure!” we both chimed in.

So, this gracious masked flight attendant escorted us to the Alaska Airlines Passenger Assistance desk.
On the way we exchanged pleasantries.
She discovered we’d been married 59 years.
She asked about our destination.
We asked about her life.
We had plenty of time to share.
It was a long walk to the help desk.

Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com

At the customer service desk, the attendant took our phone number and other contact information and assured us that we’d be contacted when the person who mistook our bag for theirs realized their mistake and returned it.

We thanked her again and got her contact info from her. Later she sent us a picture of herself unmasked so we’d recognize her if she came to visit us in Montana. We really hope she will!!

As we were headed for our next departure gate to continue our travel home to Bozeman, MT, we saw another flight attendant wheeling a blue carry-on toward the help desk. Something caused us to turn around, follow him, and inquire about that suitcase when he got to the Alaska Airlines customer service area.

Our sweet and helpful flight attendant still was in that area. She came over to see the blue bag that was left behind and get an update on what was happening. The two attendants looked at the bag, turned the tag on it over and examined the name/address on it.

“Beekmans?” the male attendant asked?

“Yes,” we replled.

“This is your bag!” he told us.

Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Pexels.com

We felt soooo stupid! We BOTH had denied that bag could be ours. We had created a hassle for the flight attendant and ourselves. NEEDLESSLY. We felt like such morons! We profusely apologized. They chuckled. We laughed out loud… a laugh filled with embarrassment.

Our sweet flight attendant patted us on the back. Gave us a comforting smile and said, “It could happen to any of us. Don’t worry!”

She said she wanted to adopt us as her “Marriage longevity role models.”

Thank you, Lisa!!

Ah, 59 years together! We often tell folks it takes the two of us to complete one another… two halves make a whole.

At that moment we thought we had both become slightly senile. Neither of us felt like half of a whole!! Maybe a quarter?

We can’t afford to have BOTH of us lose a few marbles. HELP!!

As we rolled our bag – hmmm… why hadn’t we noticed that lock on there before? Hmmm … was it really this size? Hmmm … why hadn’t we noticed the shade of blue?

We got the giggles. We laughed at our own feeble-mindedness and decided what we needed was a good glass of wine, a taco snack, and a chance to just sit and relax before we boarded the next flight.

I received a text from our dear flight attendant. She assured us that we were the highlight of her day. She sent us a picture of her beautiful family and invited us to come visit her if we are ever in the area where she lives. I can just hear her sharing the story about this “adorable old couple, married 59 years, not recognizing their own suitcase” and getting a good laugh for years to come.

We’re able to laugh about it, too. We hope she really will take us up on it and come to visit us in Montana!

The moral of the story:

The next time you do something stupid, give each other a high five. Get a good laugh at yourself, and realize:

You are not alone!
Laugh together.
No one can laugh AT you,
if they are laughing WITH you!

Embrace laughter.

Photo by Blue Bird on Pexels.com

And, by the way,
do you have some kind of bright florescent ribbon
that we can tie onto our luggage?


Something that we can’t mistake for someone else’s?

Send it along to us!!
And have a great Thursday!



Love,
JanBeek

Hah!!

Oh- and by the way, that girl at the top with her tongue out?
That’s Bob’s niece, Tammy.
She has a great sense of humor.
As a nurse – especially during this COVID-19 pandemic,
Laughter has been a saving grace!
Gotta keep your spirits up!!

Thanks, Tammy, for all you do to help others!

Embrace Aging

I could have called this “Embrace Maturity,”
but that would have been pussyfooting around the issue.
Not everyone matures as they age,
but aging is not an option.

You do it or you die.

However, I embraced this meme when I saw it:

Aging is a privilege only given to the lucky ones, you know.
So, yes, I will count this year …
but at 81, I sometimes forget if it is 80 or 81
and if I try to get by with the lesser number,
I have an 82 year old husband who is quick to remind me.

Hah! Can’t fool him…
He keeps a check on me – – –
but he’s not big on donuts.
Darn!

My daughter
(most of you have met her on this blog in the past –
DeDe – lives in Switzerland)
sent me this a little while back.
She particularly liked it
because one of Bob’s nicknames for me
is “Rocky”

Most of you also know that I have a sanctuary
where I spend the first hour most every morning…
and in it I have three antique rockers.
Ah, yes, it’s the perfect image of me!

But the chair that brings us
mutual joy
is the one we put in the back of our ATV
and pull out when we stop for a break.
The best way to embrace aging
is to find a hobby that you can enjoy
with someone you love.

For Bob and me, it is joining friends
and going four-wheeling
on these wonderful Rocky Mountain trails. ..
stopping to fish the mountain lakes.
Ah, that’s livin’!!

What hobbies
make your aging process more enjoyable?
One of our mutual hobbies
(besides four-wheeling)
is teaching Sunday School.

Here are darling Ruby & Cord.

COVID got in the way
of being able to meet each Sunday morning
with these two darlings and one other…
and then these two moved away.
As they age, their mom sends us pictures.

Getting picture from family and friends
is a great way to welcome the new day
and look forward to the next time you can visit.

Aging is easier to embrace if you have dreams –
something to look forward to, right?

We dream of next October –
when COVID-19
will be controlled
and it will be safe
to travel to see our daughter,
De, and her husband, Andre’ –
and stay in one of the hotel rooms above the restaurant.

As we age,
some of the benefits
outweigh the struggles
that come with aching joints
and lowered energy levels.

One of them is,
when your grandkids act up
and get on your nerves,
you can just send ’em back to their folks!

Couldn’t do that when you were younger
and they were your own kids!

Gotta look for the perks in this aging process!

Oh my!
Take ’em home!!

Another advantage of aging
is that we have time to reminisce
about the “Good Ole Days”
and the songs we used to sing
that these youngsters with their guitars and drums
don’t seem to understand anymore.

And if those songs
and the memories they bring
aren’t enough to make you feel good
about still being on this earth,
try singing this one:

Another way to “Embrace Aging”
is to relish the extra time
you have to just find a good book,
pour yourself a hot chocolate or a glass of wine,
curl up in front of a warm fire,
and spend some uninterrupted quality time.

When you were younger, that luxury was seldom yours, right?

Now, if you are a youngster (under retirement age)
reading this blog,
you are probably thinking that I am a dreamer.
You’re right. I am!
And each day I dream up all kinds of things
to keep me exuberant about life.

Yesterday it was effervescence.
The day before it was … oh, do I have to go back that far?

Nope!
A trick to aging gracefully is to remain playful.
Keep your hobbies,
and make up ways to keep the sparkle alive.
Take those boots that were left at the front door
and get creative!

If you can’t get out because you’re snowed in –
and you’re longing for sushi,
but the nearest place is an hour away,
send money to your kids
and tell them to go out for sushi on you.
But make sure they send you a picture…
and drool all over the computer screen
when they send it!

Ask your friends to send you a picture
of the table they decorated for some recent holiday –
and then marvel at their creativity
as you sit down for the 10th night in a row at your kitchen counter…
thanking God for your life,
your food, your kids, and your kitchen counter.

A trick to embracing aging
is to always remain thankful for your blessings…
even if they aren’t at a yacht club!!

Now, here’s a couple who knows how to live it up:
My friends, the Rosens.

Embrace Aging
by feeding your mind
Hope, Truth and Love
on a daily basis.

Don’t let your mind tell you you’re OLD.
That’s a state of mind for the senile.
It’s not for you!

Tell your mind
that aging just adds to your story…
and you’re not finished telling it yet!

Have fun, my friend.
Make room for sunsets.

Photo by Trung Nguyen on Pexels.com

Look forward to sunrises.


And believe in miracles…
Because you are one!

Thanks for visiting JanBeek today.
See ya tomorrow.

Change Poetry to Prose

We were invited by dVerse Poetry to write a Prosery.

I forgot that prose is not written in poetry format. I wrote my 144 words as a poem. Let me change it to prose for the sake of following the instructions!!

Written for Monday’s Prosery prompt at dVerse.
Kim hosts today, asking us to include the line “From across the room, we look at him through the wrong end of the long telescope of Time” in a piece of flash fiction, exactly 144 words in length. The line is from D. H. Lawrence’s poem Humming Bird.

Ole Tom

We see Ole Tom with his bent shoulders and thinning torso. We see his wind-weathered face and his thinning gray hair. He sits in my living room strumming his guitar, singing the fourteenth verse of an old folk song. He has a thousand such songs tucked into his head, along with the entire books of Matthew and Acts.

We see him as an ancient sage. We look at him through the wrong end of the long telescope of Time. His mind is sharper than mine ever was, and he shows no signs of stopping.

Each Christmas Ole Tom recites the Christmas story from the book of Acts, never reading, just expounding, amazing the congregation with his masterful memory. His is the epitome of a wise man: Ninety-three going on thirty. Never see him as old and never underestimate Ole Tom. Turn that telescope around!

Bob, Jan & Tom
New Years Eve, 2011

Now you have been told which “line” was dictated to be used… did you guess it in the previous form where it was two lines in the poem?

Whenever I see or hear a guitar,
I always think of Tom.
And I never looked at him through the wrong end of a telescope!

Thanks for checking back in
to see poetry changed to prose.
Hugs,
JanBeek

Think Outside the Box

Often I am told
“Come on! Think outside the Box!”
Here is my answer:

Think Box.jpg

Some days I lose my
Bright, trusty rememberer.
You relate, don’t you?
.
Home phone has become
My trusty cell phone finder.
Call it and listen –

silver iphone x beside succulent plant

Photo by thiago japyassu on Pexels.com

.
There’s a tune out there –
Simultaneous vibrate –
iPhone, where are you?
.
Think outside the box.
Think, where did you last use it?
I haven’t a clue!
.
Do you?

gray framed eyeglasses on black surface

Photo by Dominika Roseclay on Pexels.com

.
See you tomorrow
(if I can find you)

New Favorite Poet

Check this out … I just discovered this wonderful blog

via Forget Her…

Keep the Light On

For the past two weeks

I’ve spent most of my days

Entertaining an elderly friend

Who’s light’s a dull haze.

 

She doesn’t know her daughter;

Doesn’t know where she lives;

Can‘t tell you her birthday;

Takes back the things she gives.

 

 

She thinks she sees her husband,

But he’s been gone three years.

She searches for her lost things;

Frustration turns to tears.

 

While I still have my marbles,

And awareness still is keen,

Please keep the light on, God.

Dementia is soooo mean!

analysis blackboard board bubble

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

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