Another “praise” report! Read on to find out what it is for!

There are so many other benefits for the senior population, that all who are able to get out, should take advantage of. For example: yesterday, I attended an event that was sponsored by the Central Midlands Council of Governments.

In mid January of this year, I joined the Tri-City Senior Center so that I could take exercise for my weak back. I was able to improve that condition and I hope to continue long after my back becomes “ normal” again.

With a new strain of COVID spreading, this event was entitled, “COVID-19 Outreach“. We were given valuable information that everyone, not just seniors, should be aware of. The presentation was excellent and we were given the opportunity to ask questions and share experiences, if we wished to.

In addition to learning about about the new vaccine, we were reminded about the dates for open enrollment for Medicare. Again, we got our questions answered.

Because of “Hurricane season” still in force, we were reminded of everything we should have ready in case, this destructive force of nature should hit our state and the community where we live. We sometimes think, “ It can’t happen where I live” but that is not always the case! Mother Nature can change her course in a moment.

Not only was this event a gathering of all of the members of the Senior Centers in Lexington County to be made aware of vital information concerning seniors, but it was a fun time! Our senior population likes to dance! Not everyone took to the dance floor, but many of them did! This is not only fun, but exercise!

One of the highlights was lunch! A delicious meal was provided by a local restaurant in Gilbert, where this “gathering” took place. It is so much fun to enjoy food and fellowship! And “to put the icing on the cake“ each senior was presented with a gift bag as we left to return home, which contained masks, a thermometer, a kit to test for COVID at home, hand sanitizer and a few other items.

Being a member of a Lexington County Senior Center is one of the best gifts anyone could give themselves. IF you are a “senior” or know of a senior who would benefit from belonging to a group like this, I urge you to contact the center in your area.

I am a senior, and since some of my closest friends had passed away, I wanted to make new friends…Oh, I have wonderful friends at church, which I am with on Sunday, but I needed more fellowship, so when I joined the Senior Center at Tri-City, I found it “ALL.” I now have exercise, informative programs, lunch, and a “ new” family that I dearly love!

While I am sharing all the benefits of belonging to a Senior Center, I must give credit to my Director Sarah Laird, who plans so many exciting things for our group, and to her Assistant Director, Susan Guyton…to our excellent bus driver, Steve Cox..and to the latest member of the staff, Stephany, who heads up our meals. The four “S’s” at Tri-City are very best!

Whoever said that we enter the “Golden” years as we age…must have known that the group is seniors is a shining example of that! 🌝

Adjustments…there are many along Life’s Pathway!

This morning my mind wandered back to my “beginning “ and some of the adjustments through the years!

First of all, I was born in my Grandmother’s house…so I know having a baby around changed so much for my grandparents, as well as for my own parents. Three years later,my brother came along. Another adjustment for us. I lost my “position “ as queen bee! An adjustment because then I shared the spotlight with my brother!

The years passed by and I started school. I loved my teacher and became her “helper” with things like erasing the blackboard or collecting papers and taking them to her desk. She was my inspiration to become a teacher. I never thought things would change.

Then when my father got a job in Charleston, the family moved the day after I completed the fourth grade. Another adjustment! I spoke with a North Carolina drawl…and suddenly, in Charleston, they spoke a “foreign language” compared to mine! I dearly loved living in the Holy City! My neighborhood was filled with large homes built in the 1800 hundreds! We lived near Colonial Lake in one direction…and the Four Corners of Law in the other one. I adapted to the adjustments with no problems and sad when we had to move to Columbia because my father was transferred to work at Owens Field as Flight Director there. Once more, another adjustment!

Years went by, high school ended, friends moved away. Time changed again! Fast forward…after I entered the working world…I was grown…independent! Then, I got married and had much more responsibility…a job, keeping house…lots of adjustments!

In time, along came a beautiful baby girl…then another precious little girl. Those were wonderful times! But you again took on more responsibilities! Adjustments!

The years fly by…those little girls grow up! After a while, they got married and started families and homes of their own. As an old saying goes…”Nothing is certain , but death and taxes!” That won’t ever change.

Next comes retirement, death of your partner, changes in your health. The list is very long! Inside, I still feel “young” but Mother Nature does her work…and soon you are “Mature.” I have reached that stage! I am thankful to have been around this long…and that I have “adjusted” to all the ups and downs…the good health and the serious problems, the happiness and sadness…and am still here to experience more “adjustments” before I go on to Heaven…and live happily ever after!

Time flies when you are having fun!

Actually, time flies no matter what is happening. When I look back on my childhood and even later when I was grown, I had a routine that allowed me to accomplish all the things on my daily “what to do list.”

Life was much slower paced in “the good old days.” I am not against progress. We have made great strides in so many areas of life. If I would begin making a list of all the beneficial changes, the paper I would use might stretch for a mile or so.

For the most part, changes take place gradually and we think very little about what is happening. Then, after a while we realize that almost everything is different.

Names of companies change when they merge due to acquisitions. Many trusted names we could always depend on fade into oblivion. I loved to shop at the A and P. I think the name was the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company when it began. My Mother would buy groceries there when I was a child, in North Carolina. Later when we moved to South Carolina, that was her favorite shopping place.

After I grew up, got married and had a family, I shopped at the “A and P.” Then one day, the company went out of business. That was the end of an era. And the loss of that food chain was a huge disappointment to a large segment of the population.

Now, with all the modern technology and so many time saving appliances, you would think there would be much more leisure time. Think again. Almost everyone has some type of a device that has become a “ time waster” of sorts. Now, when families get together, quite often, everyone pulls out their phones, fingers begin to move and there is no verbal communication.

There are hundreds of examples like that. Eckerd’s Drug Store, Sears Roebuck, Tapps Department Store, Berry’s, Haltiwangers and Kohn’s. All those names are familiar to Columbians. Other stores came on the scene, but they could not compare with the old reliable names that were trusted…and taken for granted.

I know I am “of the old school” but it would be nice to turn the clock back and return to the earlier days when everyone had a front porch for the family to gather on during summer evenings. We did that. We might tell stories or sing. That was long ago when money was short and there was time for family fun, just doing simple things!

Do you think older folks don’t have fun? Well, think again!

I can only answer for myself, but I am having a wonderful time with “mature” friends that I have learned to know since I began going to the Tri-City Leisure Center.

Sarah Laird is the Director of of the center I have been attending since the middle of January of this year. The Lexington County Recreation and Aging Commission has centers throughout the county.

I have been to several of the centers for special events that include all members, if they care to attend. Mardi Gras was held at the Batesburg-Leesville Center. Each of us dressed in costumes, had a chance to dance, make new friends and have a nice meal. It was so much fun!

The reason I applied to join the West Columbia location was to take exercise to strengthen my back. To take part in the exercise program, you must become a member. I scheduled an appointment for an interview and was permitted to join.

The Meals on Wheels program is located at the the center. Volunteers who deliver meals to folks who are shut in and who qualify, come there to pick up the meals so they can take them to the recipients.

I did not wish to eat there, but in order to take the exercise, you must be a part of the total program. Each weekday that you attend you pay a small amount and are served a hot meal that provides required vitamins, etc. It is a wonderful program for many reasons.

Members meet in one of the large rooms for activities. Chair yoga and strengthening exercises are shown by video Monday through Thursday and a professionally trained instructor comes to our center on Fridays.He has a schedule, so each center has exercises lead by him once a week.

So far, I have attended Mardi Gras in at the Batesburg-Leesville Center, a health fair at the Seven Oaks Center, and a gathering at Tri-City to play “Let’s Make a Deal.” Each year a series of meetings are held for all centers to participate in. This is called the Senior Games. It is like the Olympics for older adults. I have signed up to participate.

In addition, to the activities where we all gather at one center, we have many other activities at the individual centers. At the West Columbia location, we have speakers from time to time, we do crafts once a month, play various games like Farkle and Uno, we observe special days and dress accordingly. Recently, a male member of our group came dressed in an Elvis Presley outfit and sang ten of Elvis’ songs.

Needless to say, we have fun, and I personally have made so many good friends, I cannot say enough good things about this program and the benefits. Growing older and being alone, can be very sad for many people. I look forward to going out each week day to join with the group for exercise, for activities that are fun and to have lunch together! All these activities make growing older one of the best times of life!

AWOL

Some of my friends have been wondering what happened to me because they could not find any journal entries from me. I have been writing in my personal journal, but have not published anything in my blog for many months.

My back has become very weak and I knew I had to do something to change that if I could. One solution was to strengthen it by exercising.

I contacted the Lexington County Recreation and Aging Commission, Sarah Laird, then the Assistant Director, to get information about what was available at the TrI-City Senior Center. Sarah, who has since become the Director, explained everything I needed to know and I became a member.

The Center offers Chair Yoga by video on weekdays and various “live” exercises by Tony on Fridays. Tony goes to the other centers on certain days, so that everyone will have the benefit of his talents. That was just what I was looking for.

Not only did I find an exercise program, but I made so many new friends that a “whole new world” opened for me. I had lost so many close friends and I wanted to make some new acquaintances, folks that I had things in common with.

Well, that prayer was answered! I have learned to know everyone who attends the center and now have a host of new friends! Not only do we exercise, but we do crafts, play games, have speakers who are experts in their field, go on outings and eat lunch together!

We do so many things that none of us would do if we stayed at home, alone. As humans, we were not meant to be alone. Everyone needs friends! Each person who attends this center contributes some unique talent.

I think that becoming involved in the center is one of the best gifts I have given myself and now I try to spread the word to everyone I come in contact with. I hope some of my friends will find as much joy as I have and that our numbers will continue to increase!

Hopefully, I will start sharing more about what we are doing at the Center, as well as writing about my past experiences as I was growing up. I have done that in the past for the benefit of my children and grandchildren.

Life can really be beautiful, if we just look for friends to share it with. I found that to be very true when I joined the group I now call my “family!” No more AWOL for me! I want to increase my number of friends…and “family!”

And then it is Winter!

Strange things happen…and yesterday I found something I wrote in June 2015 when the BGTIME writing program was going strong. I had forgotten about all those stories because they were lost when the site was unexpectedly closed.

I will repeat it, to have it on my current blog and some of my readers might enjoy it, also. There are many things sent over the Internet each day. On some days it seems like I get most of them and on other days there are only a few. Last week a good friend forwarded one to me that I found interesting, so I checked Google to find out who the author was. As is often the case, the author is unknown. I will share it because it is worth reading.

AND THEN IT IS WINTER!

You know time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years.

It seems only yesterday that I was young, just married and embarking on my new life with my mate. Yet in a way, it seems like eons ago and I wonder where all the years went.

I know that I lived them all. I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams. But here it is …the winter of my life and it catches me by surprise.

How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where did my youth go? I remember well seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that winter was so far off I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like.

But, here it is…my friends are getting gray…they move slower and I see and older person now. Some are in better and some are in worse shape than me…but I see a great change…not like the ones I remember who were young and vibrant…but, like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks we used to see and never thought we would be.

Each day now, I find just getting a shower is a real target for the day! And taking a nap is not a treat any more…it’s mandatory! Cause if I don’t on my own free will..I just fall asleep where I sit!

And so …now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared for all the aches and pains, the loss of strength and ability to go do things I wish I done, but never did!

But at least I know, winter has come and I’m not sure how long it will last…this I know, when it is over on this earth…it’s NOT over. A new adventure will begin!

Yes, I have regrets. There are things I wish I hadn’t done…things I should have done, but indeed, there are many things I am happy to have done. It’s all in a lifetime.

So, if you’re not in your winter yet…let me remind you, that it will be faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life, please do it quickly. Don’t put it off too long!

Life goes by quickly. So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure whether this is your last winter or not! You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life…so live for today and say the things you want your loved ones to remember…and hope they will appreciate and love you for all the things you have done for them in the past!

“Life” is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after you. Make it a fantastic one!

This was very long , but worth the time to read it and to heed it! Have a wonderful day! God bless you! Happy WINTER from Jean…♥️

Adjustments….we make so many along our journey….

Today has been very dark and dreary here in Columbia. My plans for today had to be “adjusted” due to the heavy rainfall and cloudy skies.

I thought about “life” and the many adjustments that come along as we travel along through the years.

First, when we are born, we have so much to learn and my Mother was the one who guided me along my formative years. My daddy was busy with work, his hunting and fishing. He paid very little attention to me and later the same was true for my brother.

My Mother and grandparents were my role models. I went to Sunday School at First Baptist Church in Kannapolis, NC. My Grandmother McInnis took me when I was an infant and I still have the little name tag that was put on me so I would not be mixed up with a baby that did not belong to her.

Time passed…I entered the first grade at Centerview School. An adjustment from being able to play every day with my girlfriend, Mary. I had always lived at 209 South East Avenue. But when my daddy got a job in Charleston, South Carolina, the day after I finished the fourth grade, my family moved to the most beautiful city I had ever seen! Another adjustment! I made so many new friends and felt so fortunate!

Then my daddy’s work brought my family to Columbia. Another adjustment! A new school, a new church and many new friends. I loved Columbia! I adjusted quickly. Then it was time for Junior high, as it was called back then. We changed classes, had chapel and gym. We we’re growing up!

Teenage years …my first day at Columbia High! Meeting so many new people, teachers and new friends! Way back then, freshman were called “rats” and that word was written on our foreheads to make us “stand out” in the crowd. Mary Jane Walker and I had our picture taken by a street photographer that first day! Along with all that adjusting came subjects like Latin, Algebra and other “new” subjects. An adjustment for sure!

Graduation brings about other adjustments…so many friends went away to school and we never saw each other again. After college, jobs came along…for some, marriage followed. Adjustments! Beginning a whole new way of life was a big adjustment. Then, becoming a parent…that was a huge adjustment…Realizing you had a child to take care of, to love and guide through childhood and beyond!

From becoming a Mother, then a Grandmother and even a Great Grandmother brought more adjustments! The loss of a spouse, family members moving to distant cities…all those things required “adjustments.” On this rainy day that required me to stay inside gave me so much time to think about so many adjustments that have taken place. I have been alone for so many years….I am still having “adjustments” but now they are with my chiropractor! It is a blessing to have those kinds of adjustments!

Time goes by so quickly, it seems!

The new year arrived with celebrations, concerns about what this unusual time in history holds , and maybe a touch of gray at your temples that had not been there before! When we “close the book “ on an old year, there is sometimes a feeling of relief! Relief because we want to forget all the unpleasant things that happened.

At the same time, many folks begin the New Year with tremendous burdens because this is a strange time in our history, at least for many. The pandemic has eased a bit, which is good! The downside to the future months is inflation. It is rampant! Shortages of many things at the stores, increasing prices on everything, especially food bring great challenges.

Those who own businesses cannot hire people to do the work. So many people have been given large sums of money and benefits, it is easier for them not to work because they have so much more when they stay at home, since all these current conditions began.

It a time of concern to put it mildly! The influx of people from other countries entering our “land of opportunity “ is increasing because of the lure for them to enjoy things here …and many things are “free” for them.

There is hope. The ONE who created the world 🌎 is still in charge. HE tells us over and over to put our trust in HIM, to turn from our wicked ways, to repent of our sins and ask HIM to take care of us, and HE will do it!

Our members in the Special Needs Department were given a star to write a resolution for the New Year. We prayed for many things. We have a simple, trusting faith because we know our prayers will be answered. We put the stars on our “Resolution” tree. 🎄Our tree remains in the department year round. Right now it is decorated in purple..a color associated with royalty.💜

We are living in the strangest times of my life, but we have a book of promises that things will not always be as they are now. In simple child like faith , we bring our burdens to the Lord and trust in HiM to see us through. What a JOY it is to be with this group of loving, trusting people! 💜

Today is Saturday…you know not to call me after 3:30 PM…

It is amazing how many changes take place along life’s journey! That may not apply to everyone, but it has been true for me!

For years, Saturday evening might find me at the Koger Center, the Museum of Art at a reception, the Lourie Center for a special event or the Town Theater. That was then…this is now!

I don’t know the exact year that things changed, but that doesn’t matter. I did not feel safe going out alone or even if I took a girlfriend with me. It is harder to see clearly in the dark and I don’t believe in taking chances for accidents or even being attacked.

Fast forward to recent years…I have been an admirer of Lawrence Welk for as long as I can remember. I was so happy when ETV began reruns of his programs. So I made a point to be “free” to watch every Saturday at 5:00 PM. Then one by one, I began watching other programs. Now I have a Saturday night line up and my family and close friends know that they should not call.

When ETV began showing Carol Burnett reruns, the time for Lawrence was changed, so I now have my Saturday dates” lined up…

From 4 until 5 PM, Carol Burnett…from 5 until 6 PM, Lawrence Welk, from 6 to 7 PM Bill Gaither, 7 until 8 PM Dr.Charles Stanley…and from 8 PM until his sermon ends…my California pastor, Dr. David Jeremiah!

That schedule suits me fine! I am at home, safe and comfortable! I can’t think of a better way to spend Saturday! I appear to be “set in my ways!” but if it suits me…and it does…that is what matters!

Old time radio programs…

Long ago, before television…housewives listened to soap operas on the radio. This, of course, is a memory from life with my Grandmother McInnis . Back then, most ladies worked very hard doing daily chores, with very few conveniences. I lived with my Grandmother and was always around to “help” do things in the kitchen. Grandmother had a rest break in the afternoon to listen to her “stories.”

Certain people seemed like real friends or maybe even family, so things usually stopped so you could listen to hear what was going on with them. Ma Perkins and Shuffle were favorites of my Grandmother. In the evening, Lum and Abner came on. The whole family would listen and laugh. Amos and Andy was another favorite. By today’s standards, the shows would be considered silly. But to housewives back then, those characters were “real.”

I remember the evening news with a very serious sounding man frightening me when he told what was going on. I think his name was H. V, Kaltenborn or something similar to that.

Saturday mornings were special times because the Story Lady came on from WBT in Charlotte. She had the most beautiful voice. I could visualize the Prince and Princess in all her stories. I had a good imagination, but she could make things sound “real!”

Then, there were some very frightening shows that came on in the evening. One that the family listened to on Friday night!

It was called “Gangbusters.” My little brother and I listened to the radio with our family, but when that program came on, we would crawl under the library table to keep from getting shot by the flying bullets. The table was rather large, with shelves on each side and a space large enough for us to hide under.

This is how life was back then. The sounds were sometimes scratchy, but we were just thankful to be able to be entertained! So many advancements have come along through the years. If you tell folks about how you were entertained, they think you have to be making it up.

Those were good days…life was much different. There was very little money for a lot of things other than a place to stay and food to eat. Children didn’t know about things like that. They just took that lifestyle for granted. It is amazing to look back at all the changes that have taken place. To me, those memories are very precious and quite different from those being made today.