As I was saying yesterday, before being preempted by the cantankerous blog god...

A lot has happened in the past year, and not a lot.

Foremost, my mother passed away last June, after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. For a long time, I've struggled with a lack of words, kind of like her loss of words was mine also. Being the oldest and only daughter, I've felt like the keeper of the memories my first family held. And there was only silence, and I say this as a self-acknowledged wordy person. I like to talk and to write - a lot...but not so much this past year. I'm just starting to feel ready to venture into the world of words again.

The recurring thought that replaced words for a long time was that my mom was 22 years old when she had me. It's always in my head that she battled the disease for 10 years, and was under assisted living/nursing home care for the last 5 of those years. What shape will I be in 10-12 years? (Smacking into my own reality of I'm not getting younger, now am I, hmmm...) Time has helped with this thought, but it surfaces with every pin number not remembered (I try to keep in mind now that it may be a sign of too many pin numbers in my life!)

Lessons about life always abound (and some are even financially pertinent:-)

Live in the moment (plan for the future, but actually live now)

Simplify your life (or yes, you can have too many pin numbers and phone numbers and accounts here and there and everywhere) All I can say is, oh my gosh, the amount of numbers in one form or another that you collect as you get older!

It's all about checks and balances, isn't it?! Well, I'm off to live a little life, as it is Spring break at my house. Later, I might even try to obliterate a number or two in that ongoing quest of simplifying my crazy life. Take care!!