Disappointed? Or not.

"Disappointment is the price we sometimes pay for the glorious gift of hope"

                                                                Sandee Olek-Potts

I looked at quotations about disappointment and didn't like any of them, so made up my own. Last night my sister Berta and I watched the women's figure skating finals together. Sort of. Living two hours apart, we each watched the Olympic coverage and texted comments. The next best thing to being together.

We were both rooting for Yuna Kim and were disappointed when she didn't win gold. We thought she skated so beautifully and gracefully. I went to bed thinking about that. This morning I realized that Yuna may have aimed for the gold medal and got silver. Yet, she had skated as well as she could. It was a performance to be proud of, so why be disappointed?

We have all had experiences where we did the very best we could, yet didn't win the game, or the promotion, or the heart of another. Why do we feel so let down? Because society tells us that winning is what matters. It has taken me so many years to understand a simple truth: whatever we do with our whole hearts, with diligence, perseverance, and focus, cannot be a disappointment.

May you live life fully and never be disappointed when you've done your best.

Till next time, Sandee aka Bags Packed

A Book And Its Cover

Why is it that some lessons in life must be learned and relearned? Repeatedly. Yesterday was one of those times. My husband had a very long dental appointment. It was a rare, beautifully warm day, so I was sitting at a bench outside the dentist's office. I was absorbed in my ipad games, when a voice from the balcony above started speaking to me. I looked up, and there was a person whose appearance was, shall we say, scruffy. Not being rude, I responded to his comment. But as I spoke I realized--there are "I'm interested" responses and "Please go away so I can get back to important things" responses. How many times on an airplane have I been a recipient of the latter when I had the audacity to say, "hello"? So I gave him my friendliest, "I'm interested" smile. And we chatted happily for half an hour. Like new friends. When we parted,we waved good-bye, wished each other well, and meant it. I was left with several thoughts, "Even if someone is only in our life for a few minutes, we can enrich each other's day". And I thought of what I would have missed if I'd persisted in being ipad-absorbed.

Questions of the day: Did you ever have an experience like the above, where you delightfully surprised at something or someone who was so different from your first impression?

Thought for the day: Let's all be open to life's real (versus virtual) possibilities. Yes, there's a place for social media, but can any virtual world ever replace the beautiful real one that surrounds us?

It's Not About Recipes

I apologize for my absence. I'm so green with this blogging thing, that I couldn't do a new post without help. I said I'd explain the weird title. Well, one morning I looked in the fridge to see what was available for breakfast. I saw leftover pumpkin soup. My first thought was, "That's not breakfast food". Followed by, "Who says what I can eat for breakfast? Me!"

As I ate my delicious soup, I thought some more. "How many things have I missed out on in life just because I believed I HAD to do something a certain way. I realized that I've reached a point in life where I have freedom to do so many things as I please. Everyone thinks old people are weird anyway, so who cares if I eat pumpkin soup for breakfast.

Question of the day: What "rules" have you learned it's ok to break?

Hope to seeya soon, Sandee, aka Bags Packed

Trying Again

My current experience is exactly why this blog . I wrote a few lines which John told me to "save". Somewhere in cyberspace my words are happily dancing the macarena with all those lost emails and postings. I'm of a demographic that's neither cybersavvy nor computerless. I am not botoxed, don't run marathons, or dance till dawn. (Yes, I've met 70 year olds like that). Nor am I drooling, slobbering, and babbling, as media would have us believe is true of all oldsters. So this is a space to share thoughts on growing older with humor in this crazy world. If that interests you at all. Or if you are family, friend, or someone who takes pity on sweet little old ladies, please come back and I'll explain blog's the title.