Fun Monday: When You Wish upon a Star

For this week's Fun Monday task the lovely Sayre is playing genie in the lamp - she wants to know our heart's desire in the form of three wishes. Oh Sayre, you know I wish for the regular things, world peace, a cure for cancer, and a hundred million dollars in the bank. 

In considering my answer, I vacillate between thinking wishing for things is impractical and pondering what do I really want. This wishing is a tricky business. For example, although my thought may be morbid, one of my wishes is to die a quick and painless death. Now, a genie less kind than our Sayre would have granted my wish and zapped me on the spot nullifying my other two opportunities for wishes. Nonetheless, when I do come to the end of life, I do hope that the event is not preceded by a long and painful illness. 


Now, I have wasted my first wish. The choice for my second wish should be more practical and less morbid. Yes, my first wish should be about life. So what do I really want during my lifetime? I want what we all want ...to be happy. Happiness, what can be wrong with this wish? Do I actually want to be happy all of the time? Even this wish has pitfalls. Do I wish to be happy when life calls for sorrow like when a loved one suffers excruciating pain? No of course not, I do however wish for an optimistic outlook about living and loving.


After wasting my first two wishes, I should make a wise choice for wish number three. Genie, I think that I have this one. I wish for wisdom. Wisdom to make wise choices and wisdom to learn from my mistakes.


Thank you Sayre, now that my wishes have been granted, I am grateful. To see what other wishes, our Genie is granting today visit Sayre Smiles for a list of the Fun Monday participants.

Fun Monday: Quiet Time and Place

The lovely Sayre of Sayre Smiles continues as our Fun Monday hostess. Our assignment this week is to show our quiet places. I especially like this topic. In our new home, we have a few quiet places. When the weather is warm, our front porch is a pleasant setting to relax.

When the mosquitoes are swarming, we have a spacious screened-in back porch to spend time pondering the glories and mysteries of life.

 

When the weather is inclement, I enjoy looking out the bowed front window to see this in the summer

and this in the winter.

In My Brain

The lovely Sayre of  Sayre Smiles is the host of this week's Fun Monday event. For the topic, Sayre is asking us to tell about our favorite body part. In considering my answer, I thought about my aging anatomy. I like most of the parts of my body and no particular part stands out specifically. Other people mention parts of my physique in an enviable way... my long fingers, my long legs, my big blue eyes, and my posterior which fortunately is not fat. Other than the parts that do not function properly (like my presbyopic eyes and my aching back) , overall I like how the old bod is put together. So dear Sayre. I hope that this is not cheating, but the part that I like best is my brain.

What brings me to this conclusion? My brain allows me to compose this post in a variety of ways. Deep in the inner recesses of the gray matter, my brain is producing thoughts, ideas, and words to include in the post. My brain also allows me to formulate the ideas and words into sentences and relatively coherent paragraphs. My brain even lead me to the decision to highlight this body part in today's post.

My brain tells me how to put one foot in front of the other to amble through my home on this fine Monday morning. My brain permits me to glance out the window and enjoy the beauty of my neighborhood. My brain encourages me to enjoy the brisk fall day. However, my brain reminds me that this is actually still summer in northwest Indiana even though the old brain is interpreting the messages from the neurons about the status of the temperature.

My brain allows me to reminisce about my oldest son's toddlerhood comment about his brain. (Our almost two year-old often would come up with quite complex thoughts.) His amazed and adoring parents would ask, "How did you know that?" He would respond, "because I have a big smart." His amused parents then would ask, "Where is your big smart?" Our young genius would regale his parents with this comment, "in my brain."

Thus, my favorite body part is my brain. Strangely, my brain is probably my least favorite part as well. In my brain, I obsess over a variety of fears such as "Did I leave the burners on , "Is the garage door open?", or "Is the Panini  maker plugged in?" I ponder over the possibility of bringing home bedbugs from motels and serving Salmonella or E. coli contaminated food to my loved ones. I agonize over conversations concerned that I may have hurt someone's feelings. Furthermore, my dyslexic brain does not know my right from my left leaving me directionally challenged. Although my deficient thinking has these inadequacies, overall I appreciate the miraculous organ that allows me to love and enjoy my life.

Here is a picture of my brain. Well you know, it is inside the gray head. 
(The brain that allows me to love and adore my grandchildren.)

I am looking forward to reading other Fun Monday posts. Thank you Sayre for keeping the Monday tradition alive.