Mid-October in Florida

 

Pumpkins at Publix

As I've pointed out many times over the past seven years, Florida is not the mecca for autumn, but attempts are made, all the same, to celebrate the end of [what seems like] endless summer a never-ending heat wave. One morning this week my town is predicted to reach a low temperature of 58 degrees! I love that!!

The weird thing, however, is that I change my clothes two or three times in one day at this time of year. I begin with ankle-length jeans, by mid-morning it's capri pants, and by lunchtime it's the well-worn Bermuda shorts that I've been wearing since last May (or earlier). Ah well. It's the price I pay for not having to shovel snow. 😄

Thus far, this has not been a particularly easy week. The constant barrage of TV news about the hurricane damage both here in Florida and north of us makes us uneasy, although we were blessedly spared the worst of it BY FAR. 

In recent weeks I traded in my old iPhone SE (purchased in 2020) for a new iPhone 16 Pro. While the phone itself is a delight, with that transaction came some business/financial matters that had heretofore been innocently overlooked. The phone I was trading in had belonged to my late husband, and even though the kids and I thought we had addressed all issues regarding such a transfer of ownership, alas, we had not. The account with Verizon was still in Tom's name and that needed to be changed to ME. Not an easy process. I won't bore you with the details. Some of the blame for that is mine -- I've not been very tech-savvy nor much of a business woman until circumstances in recent years threw me into it. 

I'm learning through this (and many other problems since November 2020) to not get my shorts in a twist (or at least such a tight knot!) when things go awry. Adversity thrives on upsets. Often the expressed angst only gets worse with repetition of the story. 

(blotted name for privacy)

When the cemetery wanted to know what I wanted put on Tom's headstone, I chose Proverbs 3:5, "Trust the Lord." It was a favorite verse of his (actually Proverbs 3:5-6):

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

and He will direct your ways.

I have that verse on a small decorative stone beside my bathroom sink and also on a small piece of wood at my desk. It's like Tom's last words to me and believe, me, I ponder those words just about every day. This morning in my daily Quiet Time with scripture, I sensed the Lord speaking to me, 

"You don't have to understand everything but 

I do want you to trust me." 

Even when we don't understand what or why things are happening as they do, the Lord just wants us to trust Him, to trust His loving character. Well, that came in handy just a couple of hours later when I spent 90 minutes at Verizon (again) trying to straighten out matters. Once again, I left the store with an unresolved issue that will be addressed again, soon.

antique accent table

Moving on to a brighter topic (although still bittersweet), I gave this family heirloom to one of my nieces this week. She is actually a niece of my late husband, but in my thinking, all relatives by marriage are my family, too. Anyway, when both of my in-laws had died, Tom and his brother chose which furniture pieces to send home, and we got to keep this beautiful antique table. 

Since coming together with Gary, I have sold/donated/given to my kids nearly all of the furniture Tom and I had accumulated over the 50 years of our marriage, but this was a keeper. However, I have since decided I wanted to be sure this piece went to a place where it would be truly appreciated. My children already have so much of my stuff, so Nancy was the right one for this. Also, her father (who recently passed) grew up with this table in his home, so it was only right that one of his children would end up with it. I miss it already, but we still have enough furniture here, now, that it's actually good to have one less item to vacuum around! 

Before I close out this edition of My Journal Memories, I want to quickly respond to Joyce's Hodgepodge questions for this week, which can be found here. 

1. How did you meet your significant other? If you don't have a significant other, tell us how you met your best friend. 

Gary and me
November 11, 2021

I love responding to this question! A mutual friend here in our +55 community introduced Gary and me. We met (very intentionally on her part) at a Veterans Day flag-raising ceremony in 2021. Natalie had been acquainted with both of us before our spouses died and I guess she felt our two lonely hearts needed to meet! ❤️

2. It's Department Store Day (October 16)...do you still shop in department stores? If not do you miss that kind of shopping experience? Do you have a favorite department store? Any fun memories of department store shopping when you were a child? 

I like shopping in person when the selections are good and so I can try items on before purchase. When I've got $$ to spend and a special occasion in mind, it's a treat to shop at Dillard's. But more often I go to Bealls. Kohl's gets my business but in recent years they've been a little disappointing. 

3. Something you're currently nuts about? 

Lots of things, to be honest. But of late I'm using a new hair product from Sally Beauty Supply:

purchase

My hair is thick but flyaway and often flat, especially when I wear it short, as I do now. This volumizing powder helps a lot!

4. What's your favorite nut and is there a favorite recipe where this nut is used? 

I like all nuts but am partial to walnuts because I've read that's the healthiest nut. 

5. On Wednesday we officially reach the '70 days until Christmas' mark. Have you purchased any gifts? If you don't celebrate Christmas then how about Hanukkah presents? 

Yes, I've already done a significant amount of my Christmas shopping!

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

People, be sure to vote in the November elections. I have read articles saying evangelical Christians, in particular, are deciding to not vote. While some of our choices are questionable (for lack of a better word), it is a privilege to vote and there are issues on the ballots that need our validation even if the people are less than ideal.

And one more thought worth pondering for my Christian brothers and sisters: we are not electing a pastor but a president. Consider that.

Until next time, grace and peace. Oh, one more thing!

These guys know how to have fun!

Happy Birthday to "my" great-grandsons, the Minnesota Twins! (As I said above, in my way of thinking, all relatives by marriage are family, too.)

😉💕🎉