.....or.....

Oh, to be young!
Valentines Day at Elementary School?  Remember?

Never a pain for the, shall we call them, privileged.

She is only 8, but at 8 she is nobody's fool.
Her long waist-length hair is glossy, straight and light ash brown.  Surprising, since her mother is Japanese.

We still haven't figured out if she is shy, or a snob,
but this we do know, she is model material~  thin, tall, erect.
We haven't figured out yet if she is proud,
 or merely trying to go low-profile with as straight and narrow a shadow as she can muster.

She has been a fan of fashion since she was 3.  Sleek.  Classy.  No frills.

Her almond shaped eyes somehow fail to look Japanese.  It's those gold flecks that make her eyes match her American hair exactly.

Boys can't seem to get more than a glance from her.
                       But one brave boy sent her a "note" valentine just yesterday.

"Will you be my valentine?" it said.  "Circle Yes or No."
 She was so proud  of that valentine outreach!

"So.....Sachiko. Did you circle Yes or No?"

Sachiko smiled.  "I circled or."

He dad is so happy.
That's one daughter he doesn't have to worry too much about.


Do you like my blog?  Circle Yes or No.
Ahhhhh, the or's have it!
But I love you anyway.
Riverwatch

thelandingatpinepoint.com

A Young Man

He is young
and a formidable global thinker.  

He is a world traveler.

His best friends are not Americans.

Naturally I find him interesting.

We speak of community and he speaks of a world I do not know. 

"Community?" he says.  He poses it with the lilt of a question but we both know it's not a question since he has the answer.

"Community is scattered to the 4 winds by the internet.  People group by interest on the internet and then connect in person once a year or so."  He downs half his bottle of Pure Water in one deep and long swig.

I take a sip from my diet coke."Well, I do understand it is a new world, but don't you need an anchor in the wind?"

"Oh hell no!  An anchor is for the olden days when people sailed the oceans.

pinterest.com

We are now sailing the wind and the last thing I need flapping in the wind is an anchor.  Even a tether is dangerous.  We are learning to sail the wind."

"So how do you all deal with tragedies and disasters?"

"Ah, good question.  We deal with them by accessing the communities we carry in our pockets.  There are so many disasters in the world and I of course want saved from the chaos.
Geography no longer is the defining characteristic of community. Community travels with us. Many communities travel with us.  Actually with me.  There is no traveling companion.  Don't need one.
But wind-sailing lessons would be good.  Even lessons on how to be ok without floundering while  afloat, drifting, or tossed about.  We are actually learning how to do that.  It begins with communities, the communities in our pocket."

Scrambling for relevance in my old age, I say with a smile, "I'll pray for you."

"Thanks", he says in a dismissive tone.  "Past generations wanted answers.  We want questions."

He has drained his bottle of Pure Water.
My diet coke has lost its fizz.
Both of us stare into oblivion, our stares blank.
I start designing dresses and ensembles in my mind, a mental exercise I taught myself years ago just in case I was ever imprisoned and needed a coping skill.

Ahh.  

Got to think about this one.

Ahh.

Your visit is an anchor.  



Actually, you sailed the wind to get here, didn't you?  

dreamstime.com

Riverwatch

Where Are You?

a repost from 2013 ....well, it is my birthday, and I guess this is how I will celebrate, retracing steps already taken



"Grandma!  Where are you when I need you?!"


Been thinking about my grandma lately.  I had two and I think of both.
I only had one grandpa, and I do think of him, but not in the same manner as I think of the old women in my young life...now that I am old, not having died young.

Always thought I would die young.

Didn't die young.

Granny was my dad's mom, and Grandma was my mom's mom.
Neither one was the warm-fuzzied kind of woman!
They were very different from each other, but they shared a common trait:  they weren't into children all that much.

It was from these women ......and my sister....(and to some extent my mom) I learned that not all women are into children all that much.
And I learned that is ok and doesn't make a woman deficient at some core level.

I myself love children...never met a child I did not love and find fascinating....and I could be happy managing an orphanage and writing about and for children.  I am full of warm fuzzies.

But I learned from my grandmothers that not all women would be happy in such a role, and for them it would be a sentence, not a destiny.
And that is ok.
Society wants all women to be into children "by nature", but that is just plain missing the boat!

I come from a family of several sweet men

                               
nydailynews.com


footage.framespool.com

 and many fierce women, 
                                         


so I learned that society's idea about the role of women...and the role of men.....is not correct.

It is a pretty idea, but not correct.

It is good for society, but that doesn't mean it is natural.

It functions well for society, but that does not make it natural once the jungle is left behind.

The roles, "nature fitted", are actually about dictating what you are and ensuring you do your bit for society, and there is great pressure to get you to buy off on your "nature fitted" role.

Heck, my dad wouldn't even let me chew gum!
"A chewing girl and a crowing hen, all come to a very bad end", he loved to say.
I chewed on.
Behind his back, of course.

Both my grandmothers were forced, more or less, into the role of abundant motherhood.

One grandma jumped the tracks completely and reappeared only when the child-rearing was done.                                                              

                                                by abundantmama.com 



                                   
.    The other was a self-directed slave with a sad tired expression.




How I wish I had interviewed them when I was young and had the chance.
How I wish I had even listened to them!
How I wish either had left behind some written words from their old age.

Where are my grandmothers when I need them now that I am old!
Whatever were THEY thinking as they aged?

Granny (the track jumper) lived to be 104 and Grandma lived to be 79.
Now there's a clue as to what jumping-the-tracks will do for life expectancy!
Also, "the good die young" takes on more meaning.

Perhaps old age is a sentence and we are in prison?
Nah!  I don't believe that!
I just wish the thought hadn't sprung to mind.

My grandma who "jumped the tracks" was maligned behind her back all the time, but, just like she wasn't into kids all that much, she wasn't into gossip all that much either.  She did as she pleased!  Having shown up, as she had said she would, when all the kids were grown, she was a constant reminder that she was a target fit for darts.
Her daughters-in-law all hated her because their husbands loved her dearly, perhaps neurotically, and refused to malign her!

Even before I was old enough to understand, I admired her for doing as she pleased.
That childish characteristic in me has lasted even into my old age.
I cannot help it.  I admire people who do as they please, let the consequence follow.
I disrespect them if they whine about the consequences....but I have noticed many self-directed people do not whine about consequences.  They are too busy directing and redirecting their lives.

Have I mentioned I do as I please?

The biggest consequence for me is: this "non-society-approved" characteristic in me has leaked into all my children, who do as they please!

I must not whine.


Missing Grandma and Granny who would surely cheer me on,
Riverwatch

Pain & Suffering

Pain and Suffering




Pain and suffering, they are a secret.

 Kindness and love, they are a secret.

 But I have learned that kindness and love can pay for pain and suffering.

 I have never thought that a Christian would be free of suffering.

For our Lord suffered. 

And I have come to believe that he suffered, not to save us from suffering, 

but to teach us how to bear suffering. 

For there is no life without suffering.
                                                                                by somebody whose name I have forgotten

Good to see you,

Thanks for your visit,

Riverwatch, RN

PS  I came to "see" as a nurse that suffering can be a path  to greatness.

The greatest person I personally have known, a person recognized as more advanced than any of us who knew her, had suffered so much it increased the depth of the thinking & consciousness of even those of us who knew.  

We could scarcely bare to go through the list of the things that she suffered, for even to troll the list brought pain to those of us who cared. 
 Was she great before she suffered or did that greatness follow?  I don't know.  
But if she was great before, then even the great cannot escape suffering.

Is there no growth without suffering?

Is there no greatness without suffering?

Does even witnessing the suffering of a beloved enlarge our souls and carve out new depths of being?

Still and all, relieving suffering with love and kindness is greatness in and of itself.  

Thanks for all you do.

pinterest.com

                                                                          

                                                                                       

Things against you

Ok.  Let's admit it.
If you are old, there are some things against you.

Mental abilities.

grafika.estranky.cz


Body strength.

hcplive.com




                                                      
So how do you do it?  How do you achieve?

The answer is simple.

Don't hesitate.


anorak.co.uk



In old age we need the full court press.

ledgendsofbasketball.com







theloop.ca
Be sure and visit his page.  He is 95!  So he says.
http://www.theloop.ca/this-man-is-the-worlds-fittest-elderly-person-and-hell-prove-it-to-you/



To hesitate is to lose.  Or to miss being hit by a car.  
Whatever.




Good luck,
and thank you for dropping in to visit.
Riverwatch   

Equality of Women. Trending now.

I love turning to the younger generation to see what their perspective is.


Young Person:    Polygamy now legal?   So what?  The Mormon Church won't even speak to that.  Remember, it was done to "raise up a royal people"......it served its purpose.  End of story.

Me:       But the theology says you MUST have celestial marriage to reach exaltation, and that is to include multiple wives.  Like they do out in Colorado City.

Young Person:      Well, this is not a trending issue and won't become one.  Who cares?  No man wants more that one wife, not even Mormon men.  One is more than enough.
The big issue on social media trending now is Ordain Women....actually Ordain Women is bogged down into how women are treated in the Mormon Church.  Period.  "Ordain" is the lynchpin for huge conversations but the real trending issue is the lower status of females in the Mormon Church.  Not allowing equality in multiple ways. Real issues on old men criticizing young women and telling women how to behave and still trying to make women responsible for the sexual behavior of men.
These are trending issues for women and their daughters.




Me:   In other words, Ordain is light years further up the ladder from the rung of women's place being set forth and maintained by men?

Young Person:       Well, I can just tell you what Mormon women are posting about on social media.  Most are quite unhappy and they are also unhappy with the Mormon women who support the church position like female robots.   Here, read these comments.



These are progressive issues that are not going to go away.


Me:  Well, sounds like the women don't want to be ordained to a priesthood that puts them down.


Young Person:  Women expect to be invited to the table, every table.



 





Please enjoy this beautiful song of Social Justice. Please.  It is my favorite now.
                                                         
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmUlJvzRal4&list=RDhmUlJvzRal4&index=1 



Loving you for dropping by,
Riverwatch

Patriarchal Blessing. Stumbling Block?

patriarchal blessing stumbling block

         

Once upon a time when I was Mormon, I loved my patriarchal blessing.
 For one thing, it referred three times to goals I had written and outlined, goals which by the way were private and unshared with anybody except God.
 Certainly I had not even spoken of my hidden written spiritual goals to the man giving me my patriarchal blessing.
 Those sort of experiences impress me!

The blessing is transcribed as it is given so you have a copy to read over and over and over.

  The patriarchal blessing given to me told me I am of the Jewish tribe of Ephraim (so I could know who I am and how important I am!)


However, the patriarchal blessing had the flavor of fortune telling and that is where the stumbling block comes to “faithful” Mormon people who hang onto their patriarchal blessing as a lifeline of prophesy for their earthly life.
 Many of “the blessed” are promised marriages, children, greatness and things that do not come to pass.



Some die young...........and out pops the stumbling block of a Patriarchal Blessing that gave no hint of that possibility.



And so the “worthy Mormon” grieving a young person's death struggles to make sense of something that has missed the mark.

Mormons are told that the patriarchal blessing is a prophetic guide  (for the “worthy” only).  You have to be "worthy" to even receive the blessing.
You must remain "worthy" for the promises to be fulfilled.
Right off that puts Mormons outside of Christianity because Christianity blesses the "unworthy".
Christ came to bless the unworthy.
I know this because He came to bless me.

But for the "worthy Mormon" whose blessing didn't come true, the anguish is about "worthiness".
If it didn't come true, was the person "unworthy" in some hidden way?  Was a relative unworthy? Entering Heaven is about worthiness!

Death has come unexpectedly and suddenly, and promises based on worthiness did not get fulfilled.
Is Heaven's door open or not?
Faith falters in the face of questions.

For the true believer in Christ, these questions are astounding.  Of course we are unworthy!
Christ came to SAVE us, not to score us on how well we are keeping the commandments.
In fact, He said that if we break one of the laws we are guilty of having broken them all!  We have fallen short.
We have all fallen short.  And there is no measuring stick on that!
In fact, He said He came to fulfill the law.  We are not going to be judged by the law.

Christ stepped in on our behalf, not because we are good, but because we fall short.

The only real question is will we accept His grace?
Count me in!!



The Bible calls on Christians to be evangelists.

Mormon scriptures, (not the Bible) declare that “evangelist” spoken of in the Bible is actually a “patriarch” and that is what that word evangelism means! And it is an office to which a person ("straight" male person or closet homosexual) is ordained  for life.
No, there are no women patriarchs.






Whatever.
The duties of women are different in Mormonism.  
No female patriarchs.  


Blessings from God:  real.   

Dictation from God:  suspect.

Thanks for visiting my blog,

Riverwatch, the aging. 

PS  Actually, evangelism as understood by Christians is simply being a mouthpiece for God's message of mercy to sinners.

I love that I can be an evangelist.
  

Most of all I love His mercy.

A Sort of Peace

The Fallen of World War II


An amazing video of numbers, and the hope of the peace of cooperation instead of competition:
This video helped me see Russia with increased respect.
      
      I do not interact at the pause for interactive, but I allow the fascinating numbers to continue. 

                                               

http://omeleto.com/219202/

May your New Year be a  happy one,
Riverwatch

The Nativity

Mother Earth, she is a changing.
Father Moonlight , so silent, stands guard.

Whispers of the Universe are growing louder.

Humanity groans under the weight of its brothers and sisters,
and peace is like a shroud that can only be pierced by love and hope.

A long time ago, a baby was born bringing hope.
For centuries we the western world celebrated his birth and clung to hope
because Mother Earth, she was a changing
while Father Moonlight stood guard,  silently illuminating Mother Earth.

Fifty years ago we were still celebrating divine Hope in public schools and public places.

fineartamerica.com

We colored pictures of Jesus, even if we weren't Christian,
and nobody converted.
Hope like a treatment for all the ills of earth drifted over our needy children,
tugged gently at the hopelessness of powerless children,
and whispered of a Universe filled with wonderful possibilities.

And nobody converted.

We ate cookies and marveled at the Nativity Scene on our school lawn.
And nobody converted,
Hope hung around like an invisible uplifting current,
as we practiced kindness and remembered the worth of poor people for a season.

The rich do not know this,
but the replica of the nativity scene reminds us, the poor people,
that Jesus was born in stark poverty as a sign that he had come to uplift and empower the poor.

The theme of uplifting and impowering the poor runs all through the Bible.  

That theme shows up in the Koran. 

All great religions protect and help the poor and speak of the worth of the poor.  

Bringing  hope. 

Divine solutions.

Saint Francis of Assisi introduced the practice of having replicas of nativity scenes at Christmas some 800 years ago.

When Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected pope recently, he named himself after this man of Assisi in Italy who introduced replicas of nativity scenes at Christmas.

America, the land of hope, has given up the Nativity.  

We trash the story of Jesus's birth.  

The poor are not forgotten, just demeaned as less valuable.

We help them, not because of who they are, but because of who we are.

Now we see public schools banishing any divine theme of hope 

to give to those kids who tread the halls in despair.

We forego giving hope that touches souls.

We prescibe pills instead.

Lots of pills.

We give shallow presents and Ho Ho Ho at our public institutions.

We prefer mopping up blood in public schools and explaining away hopelessness 

instead of allowing divine soft solutions.

I read on the internet, therefore it must be true, that every teenage shooter in American schools was found to have been on medication for depression.  

Hopelessness fueled by mind-bending drugs.

"Take away the guns!"   "Give higher doses of those pills!"   "Hire more counselors!"

Isaiah 9:6 

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

fineartamerica.com

The Nativity.  It is mostly for the hopeless and the poor and the despairing.

But you might like it, too.

Thank you for caring enough to drop by,

Riverwatch, no longer poor

I am so last season.

chron.com

One of my sons came to visit, his smart phone in his hand.

"Here, Mom,  I have to show you something your one and only daughter posted on facebook."


pinterest.com

Oh, my gosh!  I am so pleased!

"Oh, my gosh", I blurt out.  "I am 71 and my daughter finally gets it!"

"Mom!" he replies in a shocked voice.  "This is not about you!  You are history!  This is about HER daughter who just quit college.  You are history."

O M G!!  He said that to me while I am still living!

I am 71 and I am history.

Living History.


Oh My Gosh,  I'm beginning to sound like Hillary.



Cheerio,
thanks for the wave,
Riverwatch

Doubt your doubts?

Recently, in a Mormon World Wide General Conference , one of the highest leaders admonished church members to "Doubt your doubts."

A world-wide message:  "doubt your doubts".

Say what?

I beg to differ.

What we all need to doubt is our certainties.

Have you ever been certain about something?  How did that work out for you?
henrymakow.com


Doubt is uncomfortable.

Certainty is absurd.

Doubt pushes us further into understanding and growth...enlarges our boundaries......is PROGRESS.

Certainty can be a trap.  "The road stops here!"
wallpaperspal.com

Beware our certainties.

I have been certain before and I can tell you Certainty is intoxicating!

It is so harsh to sober up.

It is pitiful to find the apple juice of uncertainty
instead of the Wine of Certainty.
And I am certain about that!



The opposite of faith is not doubt.

The opposite of faith is Certainty.

God has called us to faith.

Only man calls us to certainty.



Oh, the joy ride of intoxicating certainty.
                   torrentsgames.org


Oh, the peek into a struggling religion:  Doubt your doubts, you doubters!
stores.purpleoniondesigns.com





Thanks for whizzing by,
Riverwatch

Multiply and Replenish the Earth

Climate Realism

dailymail.co.uk

Princeton Physicist Dr. Will Happer: 'Policies to slow CO2 emissions are really based on nonsense. We are being led down a false path. 

To call carbon dioxide a pollutant is really Orwellian. 

You are calling something a pollutant that we all produce. Where does that lead us eventually?'

Read more: http://www.climatedepot.com/2015/11/19/scientists-declare-un-climate-summit-goals-irrational-based-on-nonsense-leading-us-down-a-false-path/#ixzz3s2XZmA3u




Cheers,
Riverwatch

Or as we say in nursing, "Step away.  You are standing on his oxygen tube."



flickr.com

Is This a Competition????

Is  This a Competition????


Ordinarily I love compliments but when anybody starts in on how "young" I look , I get very uncomfortable.  They are either blind, or unaware of what I really look like, or putting pressure on me to not be my age!

So when my thirteen year old granddaughter started in with the "you are so young, grandma!" comments, I objected!

I objected so loudly I offended her .

Her indignant reply:  "Well, I only have my other grandparents to compare you with and one of them is all crumpled up in bed and the other is dead!!!!!"

Ok.  We have a winner.

I am a winner.

False victory, false victory, false victory.



Thanks for visiting the blog of an aging person.
I really do appreciate it.

Live long and prosper.
Try not to crumple up.

Good luck,
Riverwatch

The battle against natural aging is one that , eventually, we all will lose.
We are all in this together.





Well, as good old Mom said as I gazed in the mirror,
"It's only skin deep.  You best be practicing kindness and curbing your razor tongue.  Those are the things that last."

PS  Have you noticed my tongue is silky, not sharp?  I hope so.  I have worked hard.  And I have the wrinkles to prove it!






skincareresourcecenter.com

Re-posting "Victory"

Victory.
Internal and External


Get your feet there, and your heart will follow.
Get your heart there, and your feet will follow.
So they say.



My Latino Mormon friend with her abundance of exuberance and straight flowing stream of emotions and reactions, taught me one of her secrets of successful faith .
Of course faith is always successful, but often we do not see that..... ....
..............we see the gap, and not the fruition.


Not so with Fina.  Fina kept a "prayer book".              

"I talk to Jesus about everything, even my dirty oven.  He cares.  He helps me .  He answers my prayers.  I write down my prayer supplications...I BEG Him.....and then I go back and write in the answers to my prayers, when they come.  Try it, Riverwatch.  You will realize, you will see,  how involved He is in your life if you want Him to be."


Not everybody has this kind of faith
                                                  or even wants it!


My wonderful pastor says prayer is not about a list of things you want/need!

But then my pastor was never a Mormon.

My pastor says faith is not about believing,
but is about being in right relationship with  God.

Heck, I believe that.
I also believe nothing will put you in right relationship with God faster than being in a foxhole!








Maybe I have been there.
No helmet.
No gun and bayonet.

"I am not a worm!

HELP ME!"

After Fina's enthusiastic discourse on faith-building, I decided to keep a prayer book, like Fina.

Amazing!
Almost unbelievable.
Prayer after prayer answered.
Sometimes with a No.   A denied request that safeguarded me or others from an unforeseen adverse happening that only became apparent later.

Sometimes, in fact fairly often, my request would be granted in a different way (a better way and a better outcome) than I had requisitioned. Amazing.  It is true He ignores our advice!  I thank Him for that!
Often the answer came as inspiration, my heart and mind having been opened by prayer.

Some prayers remained unanswered for months....even a year or two....while I continued to pray...and then the prayer was miraculously answered.

My faith in being in relationship with God increased.
My ability to see His Hand in my life increased, even when the answer to my prayer was "no".
My conscious awareness of His love and interest increased exponentially.

Gratitude inudated my being.

My knowledge of God increased because I could see He was never "put off" by petty prayers.
In fact if you think about it in the big picture, most of our prayers are probably petty and paltry.
He is our Father.  He knows the End from the Beginning and He has an amazing ability to love us and see our (petty?) concerns as real and significant to us in the here and now.

I wonder if prayer is about Him putting Himself in relationship with us in a manner that is "right" for us?
He knows what we need before we ask, but He still wants us to experience prayer.
In other words, if we don't pray, He is still looking out for us, but we are not allowing Him  to develop relationship with us.
Perhaps He wants to be in relationship with us just as we long to be in relationship with our toddler children.


After a few years I gave up keeping a prayer book.
It was time consuming, and I had proved to myself the efficacy of prayer.

No need for more entries in the book.

The prayer book had made visible to me the fruition of faith.


I had a need for secret prayers,
because there is nothing like finding a person's prayer book to cause a family crisis!

(Face it.  Even now, a couple of thousand years later, reading about those holier-than-thou Pharisees and their street-corner public prayers, we think they need a smack. ) 




Secret or public, internal or external,  in my world the victory belongs to Christ.

Thank you for this visit,
Riverwatch

As my mom always warned, "Be careful what you pray for.  You may get it."

"Thanks. I rode my bicycle here."

Those centenarians!  Even "almost" centenarians.
How dare they have wit when they are so old and frail.

Marj is just  so frail and so brainy.
She says she is sick and tired of thinking so much because "at my age there is nothing to think about but depressing things.  I need to quit thinking!  I don't want to do anything either!!!  But I don't want people to think I am negative."

                      fabulousfaces.com

Ahh.  So you think you are going to outgrow caring how you are viewed?

Here's a clue:  if you care what others think about you when you are 20, you will no doubt stand in front of a mirror at age 100 trying to make it all look better, you will monitor your own language and choice of words and you will groom and you will impulsively apologize from time to time for living so long.

Those folks who don't give a hoot what others think about them when they are 100 probably did not give a hoot what others thought when they were 20.  

Marj had to drive....yes, she is a licensed driver.....to Sav-on to get a prescription refilled.
Standing ....yes, standing....in line she suddenly felt hands or a dog or something on her frail weak leg.  Frightened, she looked down and some woman was rolling her pant-leg down.
"I have no idea how one of my pant legs got rolled up!  I know I dressed, " she told me later.
Marj looked down at the woman.
"Thanks" she said.  "I rode my bicycle here."

                                                                                     skutik.deviantart.com

Thanks for buzzing by,

Riverwatch