I’ve been reflecting on my life lived since 10 years ago when I thought I was making a huge life changing decision. A decade…a whole decade has flown by. Wow.
It still makes me smile when that ‘big event’ pops up on the September calendar page marking the anniversary of my decision to let my hair go gray.
I did it! 10 years ago I started this blog when I said goodbye to the dye and moved onto life without a routine of every 6 week application of a covering to control my aging process. Oh, the things I’ve done over the years hoping to have control of things mostly out of my control. And I’ve shared many of those tales with you. You’ve become special people in my life, more than I ever tell you – Thank YOU! And thank you to all the visitors who stop by to check things out here in my little corner of the blogosphere.
Was that a forecast moment years ago where I put myself on a trajectory to learn about giving up the desire for control of who I was, or who I was to become? Perhaps. I chuckle now as I look back at myself. The reality is, there’s no effing way I really have any ‘control’ over our lives. Maybe that’s the message the last decade taught me the most. I’ve gone between fighting like h*ll for what I thought I should be (and life should be like) and finally am resolved to embrace:
“It’s okay to let go and embrace life as it comes and love myself and our life as it is, especially as I age.”
Here’s me before the big going gray change:
Here’s me now (note, I didn’t say ‘after’ because I’m still here growing and changing with the same camera in hand that I’ve had all these years!). After Mr.’s stroke, I adopted the up-in-a-bun hairdo. Go-me, it also conveniently works for the grandma look. At least, it reminds me of my dad’s mom who wore her hair that way all the time:
So yeah…by the way, I’m a grandma now! Our little grandson arrived almost on his due date in August. He didn’t appear to care what I look like, just that I was in love with him the moment I got to hold him in my arms. A lifetime of being his mom’s mom flashed before my eyes and my heart melted all over again. Newborns are so precious. Watching your own grown up child become a parent is a next level “WOW, that’s a cool surprise”. I had no idea how it would feel. And how grateful I am for the daily Snapchats and text photos to show him growing so quickly in real time. “They did it – our daughter and her hubby had a baby boy. His name is Kian!” Here he is back when he was just 1 week and 1 day old.
His arrival kicked off a milestone in our lives in many ways. Mr.’s therapy goal was to be able to walk into their house and meet the little guy. With the help of our son-in-law, a make-shift grab bar for the door, the shorter 6′ portable ramp (the ramp I told you about the last post…problem still to be resolved before the snow flies 🤔) and the hemi-walker to get into the house. I followed them with the wheelchair so he was able to sit inside the house instead of outside in their backyard. We enjoyed a real-life meet and greet. A true, “He did it moment.”
A 24-year milestone happened too – “We did it!” After a year of showings, inspections, negotiations, along with guidance and perseverance of a heart-of-gold realtor, Amber, Mr. and I officially sold our last rental property and now we’re retired from Landlord status. The relief of that victory lap is overwhelming. Now, while celebrating our 37th year of marriage this month, we can focus on grandparenting and Mr.’s therapy.
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mr.’s graduated to learning how to use a new 4-wheeled walker. Yes, folks, Lil’ ol’ me put the thing together as Mr. watched and listened to my colorful words of encouragement to get the task done. We have it stored at his therapy clinic so we can learn how to use it safely before using it at home. This past week he took hallway strides with it that surprised us all as he described the strides as “normal feeling”. The hope to accomplish walking free of equipment keeps us dreaming of that day in the future! He’s affectionately named this mode of ambulation, “Forest”. Mostly because of the green color, but we all giggled at the name as we do hope some day we are cheering him along, “Run, Forest, Run!”
Thank you so much for stopping by! I/we adore your comments and prayers and gifts of encouragement that have shown up via the Amazon delivery truck! As always…I’ll be back again, I haven’t given up on this blogging thing yet! 😉
Your beautiful gray hair gives you a royal look, and your courage to face all of your trials and Mr.’s shows the strength of any queen. I have been negligent in writing on my blog since my knee replacement in February, but I enjoy reading everyone’s posts. Take care, and congrats on your strength and progress.
Aww…Anita, thank you so much for your words of encouragement! Finding time to blog, especially during a recovery from surgery period is hard! I hope your feeling much better now and planning for your big Christmas decorating adventures. I so appreciate you stopping by, I remember with happy thoughts the days when we first met here in the blogosphere!
Congratulations on your anniversary, the birth of your grandson and Mr successfully navigating into the house, and around with the new walker. I laughed at the notion of “run Forest, run!” I look forward to reading that blog post. You’ve navigated through many changes in the past 10 years, and I think you’ve handled them all very well. It’s always good to see an update from you.
Thank you Dan! You have no idea how much all of your encouraging words and prayers shared here in comments have meant to us. And your devotion to keeping me sane here in the blogging world. Every obstacle seemed a little less daunting reading your advice. Reading your books has also helped me find time to chill a bit and read about other people (and their furry friends) and how they overcome obstacles. The arrival of your recent book came at the perfect time. I had just dusted the book shelf where I have your other books and was thinking to myself, “I wonder what Dan’s next book will be like!” With my ‘spare’ moments being in small increments, I LOVE the length of your chapters – I started reading it right away. I feel accomplished each time I get a chapter read in the slot of time I had available. Thank YOU SOOOOO much!
You are welcome, Shelley. I draw inspiration from your blog posts. We will continue to keep you in our prayers. I hope you enjoy the book.
Thank you for the prayers! Awww…inspiration is contagious. Seeing how your writing expanded from blogging into a series of books has been a fun part of “I knew him when and now look at his accomplishments – go Dan, go!” 🥳
❤️
It’s been quite a decade for you Shelley and thank goodness you saved yourself the chore of keeping your dark-haired locks to give yourself more time to yourself … you sure have needed every nugget of free time you could grab onto the last two years. Happy anniversary, also getting rid of the rental properties … all good news. That’s a great picture of you and Mr. and Kian. We’ll be waiting for Kian and Santa shots next. 🙂
Excellent point…I can’t imagine trying to find time to head to the salon in the past two years! I’m lucky to get to the grocery store or pharmacy 😂. Thank YOU for all your support, prayers, and emails, Linda. Your blogging friendship means so much to me and Mr. We’re hopefully getting to stage where we can breathe and pause a few moments to enjoy retirement from Landlording. I hope your retirement is going well and that you’re getting out walking before the winter weather arrives. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but supposedly we’re going to have a more mild winter? I’ll believe it when I see it though!
Yes…Santa pictures! Mr. might need to let his beard grow more so he can pose with Kian. Another moment to look forward to!
You’d have given up and gone gray for sure in 2024 Shelley – you’re right, you’ve had to manage your non-work hours to make the best of that time. You’ll have less hassles now with the landlord monkey off your back. I’m always happy to support you from afar … you’re blazing new trails; as for me, I’ve not gone out as I normally do, but, like you, I hope the weather will be milder and more to our liking, (though “mild” in Michigan may have a whole different meaning in Wisconsin!) Tell Mr. to start growing that beard now! A brand-new goal, probably the easiest from the last two years!
I’m hoping the lack of landlord tasks does produce ‘free-time’. We’re still working through the stories and memories and the final year of bookkeeping for them. Guess that I’m not done yet. LOL!
Your support continues to mean so much, thank you so much!
I’m heading into winter with a ‘let’s see what really happens’ approach. And hoping that our wood supply helps supplement the heat/LP. I look forward to your stories of what the winter looks like in MI!
Yes…a Santa beard would be an easy task to accomplish. He’s well on the way already 😉
Hopefully you won’t need to break into that wood too much – let’s hope the weather forecasters get things right for both of us. More free time is good … but in the interim, look what you’ve accomplished; let’s not forget your cooking skills too. You could teach me now!
I hope the mild winter predictions are right! So far, the repaired furnace is helping keep the temp an even one, supplementing with wood might be doable. Free time seems like such a foreign concept to me at this stage in Mr.’s recovery. It’s hard to imagine, let alone remember what it felt like when I took it for granted. I do feel a bit more confident in the cooking tasks, at least for the routine meals. I don’t get bored with them, but perhaps variety would be better for a healing from brain surgery brain 🤔 But, dang…the crockpot and a nice batch of soup comes in very handy. I’ve always admired you and your stories of how you get your meals planned – I think you do very well!
Me too – the last two Winters I have been lucky if I got out two or three times to walk in Winter. Since they tore up Council Point Park in May 2024, the habitat was destroyed, so there are very few squirrels, zero the last few times I was there, very few ducks … the geese still hang out though. So there is incentive to feed the masses like I always did. Our City no longer plows streets until we get a substantial amount of snow, so I am hoping for a mild Winter on many levels. Since I am the only one eating my cooking, it is very basic … I should really look at those crockpot cookbooks I bought and expand my horizons someday. 🙂
I’m sad to read that Council Point Park isn’t reviving yet. The squirrels were so happy to see you back before it was torn up. We’re seeing LOTS of geese…wonder why? I’m sure they’d like you feeding them and from what I’ve heard they can be quite aggressive and messy. Not quite as cute as Parker-like squirrels. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that there are many days where you can get out and walk and find new furry friends. Yes – try more crockpot recipes. I have found our crockpot to be a meal-producer for many days in a row blessing. 😉
Shelley, unbelievably, I returned to Council Point Park today – the first time to walk in the Park since June and there were about a dozen squirrels and my Jays and Cardinals as well, so I was over the moon about that. It was something that set my day off right for many years and currently, I’ve had a litany of things breaking and the post-storm damage at the house, so I needed that outing to just breathe. I am going to return there as much as possible for the rest of 2026. I’ve not seen as much wildlife this year and there is construction around all the larger parks I visit, so I’ll take a breather from them for a while. Easy is better for meal prep and you have enough for leftovers – even better!
I’m so happy to read that you returned and the bird friends were there to greet you! Taking a walk in nature is wonderful dose for uplifting our hearts in so many ways. I hope your subsequent trips are just as rewarding! Thank you for sharing – I’m smiling knowing you’ve found some moments of joy despite the rough season of storm damage!!
It does feel good to be back Shelley and I needed that break from everything as it’s just been a barrage of house issues, even car issues since the beginning of the year. The generator tech has to make another trip, his third as it keeps shutting itself off. This time he is replacing the controller, the generator’s “brain”. He’s a great tech and I always ask for him – he says there is nothing wrong with the generator that he can see, so the company (Generac) has agreed to have him replace the controller. I had that happen with the furnace too – it coded and shut down and I had techs out all the time, then they replaced the circuit board. I complained because I said “what good is a generator that shuts down after one minute of run time?” When we had the tornado, it ran for two days and wouldn’t shut off – we’re not sure if that was its fault or the linemen thought I had electricity so some mix-up. Tomorrow the City has a sewer inspection for our neighborhood. I have a manhole in my yard and hope that while they are there, they don’t mess with anything or destroy anything.
Oh, my goodness, Linda, that’s a list of frustrating issues. You’re amazing being able to work through all of them and know who to call for help! I hope you have them resolved as we head into the winter months. I hope the sewer inspection resulted in good results and no additional problems!
You look fab, Shelley! ❤️ Congrats to your daughter and hubby and to being grandparents now! Such a gift from God. And, congrats on your anniversary! Selling the rental is the icing on the cake, no more worries about that now. So good to see you back, Shelley, and hi Vance! It’s good to see you! 👍🏻
Aww, thank you, John! Thank you too for all your support and comments along the way. Your dedication is heartwarming. We’ve read them all and smiled, grateful that our paths have crossed here in the blogging world. You and Vance are the same age and he’s always interested in hearing about what you say and what you’re up to. We are thankful to no longer be landlords. We gave that ‘job’ our best for 24 years…enough is enough. Hopefully the spare time is easy to settle into 🤣 and yes, grandparenting is such a blessing 🥰
You are welcome guys! I do think about how you are doing. I’m glad you are doing better, Vance! Virtual hugs for you both! ☺️☺️
🤗🤗 Sending hugs right back at you!
☺️☺️
Go for life Shelley. Your love and perseverance is a wonder to behold. Lucky you did the “big” decision earlier or the last few years would have sent your hair grey anyway 😁
Babies do have that effect don’t they? Hopefully will help Mr on the road to being able to play with the little tyke.
Hugs and love from Australia 🥰🤗
Hi (Good morning!) Brian! Thank you SO much for all your support and comments – I’ve read each one and smiled and then felt horrible that I didn’t have the energy or time to reply in kind. I had planned in August to do so! Just between you and me, I did try…the ground squirrel photo in this post was my last on the card for August photo 😉. I smile every time I remember how to insert an emoji on a post or in comments as you are the one that taught me how to do that. You’re absolutely right…now that you mention it, my gray has gotten lighter gray so I’m sure I’ve gotten more over the last two years! 🤣😆😊 We have talked about how Mr. will likely be learning many mobility tricks right along with Kian. He is a new level of motivation for both of us.
Ditto – hugs and love right back at ya! 🤗🥰
What a fabulous last photo Shelley.
Thanks for joining in 🥰
Save you energy for those who need it. Just to know you are doing well is something I do think of every now and then.
I bet your cooking skills are up another level now
I’m glad you like the last photo, as I grabbed my camera and walked past the calendar on the 31st, I thought, “I wonder what Brian would think of this as my last photo for August?” As you can see, I did get the photo but I didn’t get back to a blog post. August was a busy month to say the least. Hope you know now that I still think of you too and am grateful you continue to do so to and that you check in too. THANK YOU!
LOL – I have 3-4 go-to recipes and Mr. and I have maintained our healthy weight. I do smile when I come up with new motivation to try a different recipe and think, “Brian would be proud of me for trying something new!” 😄 I don’t even flinch now, cooking meals has become my job and Mr. has become like I was – patient and grateful for the appearance of each meal on a plate in front of me. 😋 Thankfully Mr. still has cooking meals on his recovery goals. 🤞🏻
Fabulous Shelley 👍🏼👏🏼😀 Are you still doing Keto diets or branching out into more adventurous but healthy meals?
That is a great goal to have. Once he can handle a knife, salads will be a good start or even just being your sous chef would make a big difference psychologically.
You go girl……super proud of you 🥰
Thank you so much for the encouragement. We are sticking close to strict Keto as it is keeping the seizures he still gets mild and ‘tolerable’. I think we’ll both be happy when meals can expand and we can share the prepping meal tasks. A nice dream/goal to share! 😋
I did the same and never looked back. I think the grey is softer and accentuates our natural glow.
Yay, congratulations to you too, VJ! I like the softness of the gray too. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!! 💖
Welcome
Late to this post…we were traveling a bit.
So glad you are doing well and all things seem to be progressing in a positive direction. Always happy to see a post from you. 😄
Hi Laurel! It’s so wonderful to see your comment and well wishes. Thank you for stopping by all these years – your comments always bring a smile to my/our day!! 🤗😊 I hope all is going well for you and your travel adventures are full of joyful discoveries.