Of Grace, Grass, and Getting Older in the Hodgepodge

It's Party Time in the Hodgepodge. Our hostess is having a birthday ! Click on this cute little button and go wish her a happy one, will you? This is the 190th HP and that may have aged her just a tad to come up with 7 questions every week 190 times.

1. I'm celebrating a birthday this week so a question relating to aging feels appropriate. Douglas MacArthur is quoted as saying, 'You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair." Would you agree? If not why not?

A very happy birthday to you, Joyce. I hope it's full of lots of big and little things that make you smile and feel loved. 

As for the quote, wow. I'm writing this at 4:43 a.m. because I can't sleep, but is my brain awake enough to process such things as faith, doubt, self-confidence, fear, hope, and despair--and to analyze whether I'm old or young in relation to each? I feel like I need a graphic organizer in front of me, and paper and pen to hash out a thoughtful answer.  

Somehow I can say a lot without actually answering the question, though, huh?  

How about a concise (is it too late for that?) answer, shooting from my very ample hip?  Jesus  tells us to have faith as a child--and that comes from believing deep down that the Heavenly Father loves you and wants only the best for you.  Doubt, fear, and despair, by contrast,  are all byproducts of faulty thinking--believing lies instead of truth about God and about oneself.  The longer you live believing lies, the older and more debilitated you'll be spiritually.  

If that doesn't make sense, chalk it up to a fuzzy head--mine, not yours. 


2. What remarkable feat, interesting piece of trivia, or historical event occurred on your birth day and month? Not necessarily in your birthyear, just the same date/same month.

I share a birthday with Mother Teresa.  That's worth celebrating.   Oh, and I googled "Important historical events on August 26." You wouldn't believe what made the list for 2011. Hang on to your ticket to the theatre--you'll need it for this drama.  I quote:

August 26, 2011--After losing a referendum on free school lunches, Seoul's mayor, Oh Se-hoon, resigns Yup. He stomped his little Korean foot and shook his little fist at City Hall. "That's it! If we can't have free school lunches in this city, I quit!" To that I say, "Mr. Se-hoon, only I am allowed to be a baby on my birthday. Not you. Didn't anyone ever tell you there's no such thing as a free lunch, anyway???" (Pouting and shouting about no free lunches certainly sounds more like something that Toronto Mayor Rob Ford would do, but I digress.) 3. Describe a time or circumstance where you wanted to 'have your cake and eat it too.' Oh, that's easy.  For my birthday, I wanted a new sewing machine (Janome Horizon 7700--for making BIG quilts and doing lettering and so much more than my great LITTLE machine does), and I also wanted a professional massage, complete healing of my right shoulder, a call from my parents, steamed crabs, and a chocolate cake with raspberry filling this year.  All the other things came late or I have faith they will happen. Thanks to my hubby,  kids, and little sister,  I got the airfare for a trip to Kansas--and I'm so excited!!!  It's coming up in a very short time!  Why Kansas? Because my best friend of 40 years turned 50 last week and she said that's what she really wanted for her big 5-0.  (I rub it in that I'm a whole year younger!!!) By the way, my BIL told me that the actual correct quote is "Eat your cake and have it, too," not the other way around. But who says that?

4. What's something you do that makes you feel young? Something that makes you feel old?

What makes me feel young? Visiting friends from my youth or my kids' childhoods.

What makes me feel old?  Losing friends to illness, or seeing pictures of their kids who are as old as we were "back then".  In my mind, their kids should always stay the same age as when our kids were hanging out, right? You know, like 7 years old? 


5. When did you last do something that was 'a piece of cake'?

I have to give God a shout-out for this one.  I mowed the lawn.  Not a big deal to you? Let me explain why it was to me.

Last week I decided that I wanted to bless my road-weary/life-weary husband by mowing the lawn, and blessing my school-weary/soccer-weary son by doing the same. (It's a job they take turns doing.)  But ever since January, I have had this bad shoulder, which has improved with PT, but still, the thought of pulling that mower cable back--hard and fast--to start it? Well, that thought scared me. But I put my trust in God and said, "I believe that You will help me do this blessing, and I can handle a little pain with your grace."  Lo and behold, VROOM! I started that bad boy on the first try and it really didn't hurt! My hubby came home from Boston to a freshly mown front lawn.  

6.  Beef, wine, and cheese all improve with age. What's something else you'd add to that list? (not necessarily food or beverage) 

Um, you aren't talking about the beef I found at the back of the fridge, leftover from  the Carter Administration, are you?  

I think our appreciation of our health--mental, physical, and spiritual--improves with age. 
With every snap, crackle, and pop, actually.
7. If I were to have a giveaway when we hit Volume 200, what should I give away? By my calculations we'll hit Volume 200 on November 26th, the day before Thanksgiving, which means whoever wins would have whatever it is in time for Christmas.  

I know I'd said a planner (in your comment box) but the more of it, the more I realize I really don't use those things.  But I would use some pretty notecards, to-do list pads, that sort of thing.   I'm a sucker for pretty paper, especially monogrammed.  

Or a "hodgepodge" of stuff--after all, I like to EAT MY CAKE and HAVE IT TOO! and Have my Cake and Eat it , too! Yes, both.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Speaking of old, young, and pieces of cakes, my baby sister just had her 30-somethingth birthday a couple days ago, and HER baby (both pictured here) turned 1 in August. I just love this picture.  Those are such authentic expressions--my sister always smiling and her baby paying close attention to her.