Time to look Up rather than Down

Why is it that looking "Down" is so much easier than looking "Up?" 

Is it a matter of habit or is it just human nature?  I find its too easy to look 'Down' into the daily frustrations of the current political scene, into the daily challenges of caregiving (for the third time in my life), into the realization that the plans I had for my own retirement are far from the life I live now.

It is crazy thinking to look Down when Up is so much better.  I am SO really blessed at this stage of life.  Time to make a list and post it somewhere (oh, yes ...  that's right - I have a blog!!) where I can page back and remind myself of one simple constant truth:

My blessings are someone else's strongest desire!

So here goes my Up - (in no particular order.)

• I am 72!  Yes, I am grateful for that.  The other option doesn't appeal!
• I am retired!  That condition is not a given for everyone.  I would enjoy being completely retired (retired from cooking, house cleaning, laundry - opps - look up, up up!  Looking up ... I don't work!)
• I am comfortable in retirement.  No need to baby sit every penny or eat hotdogs instead of steak.  (Of course I prefer chicken and fish ... but you get the idea.)
• I have a close immediate family that is a regular part of my life - not geographically or emotionally distant.
• I wear the title of Grandmother proudly!!  An Alpine-level size Up.  
• A husband.  A life partner - of 52 years duration.  While he adds to my stress at times (like all spouses can do) he is in relatively good health and still standing by my side.
• I am healthy.  God knows ... No serious life threatening illnesses.  For my age and my "on-again off-again" focus on health - it is remarkable that the expiration date on something in this body hasn't come due.  (Excuse me while I find some wood to knock on.)
• I have friends of long and short duration.  I must not be too much a drag on them - as they keep coming back!! 😀
• Hobbies and interests abound.  I'd be lost without knitting and reading. Thank God for my hands and my eyes. 
• My blog ... where I can dump thoughts that rattle in my brain and then pop out like a "Jack in the Box" explosion of angst (like my Democratic Debate Post - opps - looking down again - look up, look up!) 
• Death and loss has been a rare visitor in my life.  
• My husband's disability has prepared me to stand independently if I should be left widowed.  No excuses like 'my spouse handled that.'  (How's that for making lemonade out of lemons.)
• Downsizing a life is in my rear view mirror!  My condo doesn't require a large expenditure of cash or life energy to maintain.
• Finally, I have my brain ... a major plus, having watched my mom's brain slowly and painfully disintegrate into nothingness ... until it finally snuffed out her life.  Dementia runs in my family.  That is a genetic pre-disposition bullet I hope to miss.

Sure, I fret about not being able to travel, or participate as a couple in some activities we used to take joy in, or even go to the movies without feeling guilt about my husband left at home.  But would I change any of the above pluses for yearly vacations, broadway shows,  beach trips or hiking adventures?  No ... I really do have more than my fair way share of good things. 

AND I am ever so grateful that while looking 'Down,' in the past ... nothing on my 'Up' list disappeared yet.  I know that at my age, big changes can naturally be expected on that list ... but for today ... which is all any of us have ... it is all good!

Do you ever do that?  

Look Down too much rather than Up.  

Or am I the only one who has to make a list and post it somewhere
 so that my aging brain doesn't get stuck

 in Down mode rather than Up mode?

Anonymous - PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE

Hello blog readers.

I think I need to alert some visitors to my blog about my personal practice of handling "Anonymous" comments.

In the near future, I will stop accepting Anonymous comments. I think I have 2 "real flesh and bone" readers who comment that way.  But because of the bad behavior of a "few" - I will be ending that option in the next month or so.  In April, while I was participating in the A-to-Z Blog Challenge, the number of Anonymous comments jumped dramatically.  I guess that level of exposure to the internet opened me up to more JUNK comments.

Since the Challenge - I checked out the Anonymous comments regularly - deleting almost all.
Unfortunately the Anonymous comments have continued to grow in number and as a result, they eat up more time to sift through.  I don't regularly review them now.  I just delete them without opening them.  Sometimes when the onslaught of Anonymous comments are fewer - I will open them - but generally I don't - they go right to Trash.  So if you are an Anonymous commenter and your comments didn't show up - sorry - it is becoming just to hard to find the real visitors from the "fake" ones.

Anonymous commenters - please find a way to set up a google account that will allow you to comment with an identity.

If you do comment and do not use Google as your platform - and your comments typically get through to my blog - because you identify yourself in some manner - please share your method with others in your comments today.  I hate to block regular readers (and sometimes commenters) by taking away the Anonymous option, but it will come to that at some point.

Thanks.