Lessons Learned in My 74 years Part Two

31. I'm thankful for being allowed to live in this beautiful, bountiful country.

32. I appreciate a roof over our heads, enough to eat, clothes to wear and all our abundance.

33. We need to appreciate the freedom we have in this great country. We have freedom to worship as we see fit. We have freedom to speak our own opinions. We are so blessed!

34. I'm thankful for my husband and children. I'm thankful for all my family.

35. I'm happy to enjoy friends of all ages. I have long time friends that I have known since I was a child and teenager. My friend Madeline is like a sister to me. She is my sister in the Lord. I've known her since third grade. I have newer friends that have also been a blessing.

36. I have learned to appreciate having to use public transportation. There are so many interesting people on the bus. And I have one good friend that I made while riding the bus.

37. We have two church families and I am learning new lessons each week. Paul and I have been part of First Baptist Church in Coronado since 1961, except for the five or six years we went to Midway Baptist Church. We have been back at FBC since 1984. It has been such a blessing to be part of this church family. We have recently been going to Westview Bible Church in Imperial Beach for several reasons. We have friends there and this is where Laura wants to go. It is nice to go as a family and it is closer to home than Coronado. Both churches have pastors that we like a lot. They teach the Word every week and we appreciate this. I do not want to lose touch with my Coronado church family as this is so much a part of me. But I also love the dear people at Westview.

38. I am thankful that Paul survived serious health problems ten years ago. He survived a heart attack on Christmas 2000.  He had to have his aortic heart valve replaced which we had known he needed earlier. He also had a double bypass and they would have done more but the surgery was long enough. They also repaired an aortic aneurysm that was found during the surgery. While he was recovering problems arose that caused him to need a pacemaker- defibrillator. He was in the hospital twenty one days. Thankfully he has recovered nicely. He is on his second pacemaker-defibrillator as they need changing after a while. This was all a learning experience.

39. As we get older we learn to watch our steps. We all have falls but Paul had a very bad fall in January of 2006. He was headed to one of his walks along the bike path in Imperial Beach when he slipped in some mud and found himself on the ground. He knew he couldn't stand when he saw the position of his foot. It was facing the wrong way and obviously something was broken. Some nice people came to his aid and called 911 for him. It was several hours before a doctor at the hospital reached me to tell me that he had a broken ankle. I had been thinking he was gone a long time. He came home that evening with the help of friends. We were able to get a wheel chair from one of our neighbors as he was not able to use crutches. The following week he had surgery on his ankle which required screws to hold it together. He had many visits to UCSD Medical Center to have his ankle checked and his cast changed. He was in the wheel chair for several months and it was a real learning experience for me.

40. Some of the biggest learning experiences for me come in time of need. We have been blessed with rides to the hospital whenever they were needed. When Paul was in the hospital so long after heart surgery I had a ride with various friends almost every day. I rarely had to go the distance on the bus. Again in 2006 when he had the broken ankle and had to go to his appointments every week we were blessed with friends to help us, wheelchair and all. We went to Coronado one time with the wheelchair on the bus. I respect people who continually have to deal with a wheelchair.

41. As we age we have to learn about the high cost of prescriptions, despite insurance. Thankfully there are some low cost meds involved too. I laugh when I think about Mom complaining about the one small prescription she had to pay for.

42. Dealing with Mom and then Paul's father, when they got older, were two of the most difficult experiences. Paul's Dad was a wonderful father-in-law and respected by many people. He lived longer than three wives. But his last year was difficult for him and we did what we could to help. Thankfully Paul's brother Charlie managed a lot of things which was a real blessing to me. This is when my husband Paul was showing signs of serious health problems. A few years before that we had the experience of trying to help Mom. It would take a book to share this story. She was a hard worker and very independent all her life. She and I often but heads with each other. But I loved her despite the battle. She also lived longer than her two husbands.

43. Thankfully I chose not to smoke or drink when I could have easily gone that direction as a teenager. Did I learn not to do this or just not enjoy either? I tried both and I did not really like them. My dad smoked so I grew up with this in the house. The smell didn't bother me when I was young but I can't stand it now. I was also exposed to Dad and his friends enjoying their drinks, I guess mainly beer, when I was a child. I hated the taste. Dad stopped smoking the last ten years of his life. He died much too young after working hard all his life. He was only 53 when we lost him to cancer. He was a dear Daddy to me. Oh, Paul would not have married me if I had smoked.

44. One thing I remember my mother saying is that if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all. I also remember that she didn't like people to say shut up. I don't even like it when it is just part of young people's slang which you hear on TV.

45. Learning not to say bad words would be a good lesson for many people on the bus or on TV now days. Grandma washed my sister's mouth out with soap for a small infraction of this offense. So I knew to be careful around Grandma. Actually I never had a garbage mouth but wasn't totally innocent either. When we didn't live with Grandma we learned a few words we shouldn't say. But I was usually with nice kids that did not talk that way. If I had done it Paul would have put an end to it.

46. We can learn to do new things if need be. As a teenager I baby sat out of necessity. I needed things my parents could not afford. As I got to be an older teenager I didn't desire to have a career or even further my education beyond high school. All I ever desired was to be married and have my own family. I got married very young and had my first baby before I was nineteen. As need be I often baby sat to earn a little extra money.  When the children were a little older I worked for more than a year at Avenue Variety Store in Coronado. It was an old time dime store. A lot of lessons learned there.

47. In the late '90s we went through a difficult financial situation that was so bad that our church helped us. Talk about being thankful! Also one of my friends at church helped me get a job helping an elderly lady in the Cays. I did that for a few months until she needed more skilled help. Then I got a child care job in the Cays to help our financial situation. I was used to doing child care as I had been doing it since I was a young teen. Still no end to lessons learned in life. Maybe being humbled is one of them.

48. Some of these stories overlap each other, such as Paul's health situation showed up as his Dad's last year was happening. I was also working in the Cays during that time. Part of that time we did not have a car until Paul's Dad gave us his car. We had so many blessings mixed with struggles. We are thankful for our church family, all of our family and friends who have walked through the valley with us. Those loved ones that spent time in the hospital with us or gave us rides in time of need are so appreciated. We were blessed with an inheritance from Dad which covered a lot of needs. More than this, God's love covers it all!