And yet another day begins!

by Irwin Lengel
(Lakeland, FL)

Good morning everyone:

Well, just as we thought things were about to get back to normal (although once a person retires – assuming they keep themselves very busy “hint, hint”, one begins to wonder what normal really is) – up pops the unexpected. While last week was a fairly busy week what with our February 21st performance at the church followed by the Talent Show that evening, followed by the High Tea, on Friday the 22nd, our Sunday afternoon was disrupted by a medical emergency that we are happy to say has been resolved satisfactorily but could have been a disaster. One thing this said event did bring to the forefront of my mind is that we (especially those of us that have been around the block a time or two) should always remember, that our time here on earth is quite short and can be interrupted rather abruptly.

Changes can take place at any instance and those changes can be in our lives or the lives of those around us but the fact of the matter is that change can and sometimes does happen. As such, we need to make time to do those things we love and spend time with the people that mean the most to us. I am not one to air every aspect of my life with others online (that is not the purpose of my blogging) but suffice it to say that we are glad things worked out with respect the medical emergency. Situations such as this remind me to not only take time to smell the roses but to also reach out to those near and dear to our hearts and spend as much time as we can with them because life can change so dramatically so quickly. Changes that not only affect our lives but the lives of those around us.

In any case, I have been wondering how to share with each of you some of the events we have been involved with that has and continues to make our retirement a happy one. So, assuming that the website I am about to share with you is approved by the powers that be (Wendy – this means you ...grin grin...), allow me to share with you our website (the community where we live) so that you might access some of the pictures of the events we have held (many of which I personally along with my wife have been involved with) over the past couple of months. That website is: www.beaconterracehoa.org and if you go to that site and click on the Activities button on the left of the screen you will be taken to our activities page and thus be able to see some of the wonderful activities we involve ourselves with in order to stay busy and be happy at the same time. Our latest escapade is to prepare for an upcoming Mystery Dinner theater night where my wife and I will become a pirate and his wench and along with others hope to provide a night of mystery and mayhem all while serving our guests with food served Cajun style as the play takes us back to early 1800 New Orleans times. And these are merely the activities we are involved with within our community. they do not include our line dance activities with another group outside of our home community.

Also, as mentioned above, we not only involve ourselves with activities within our community, we continue to be involved with outside activities (activities to benefit those less fortunate that cannot get out to shows and what have you), we are presently practicing for a line dance presentation that will take place this Saturday at the Polk Senior Games and then it will be on to practice for yet another line dance presentation to be held at another retirement community the latter part of March. Those are the fun activities I have recorded in my daily journal of things to do over the next month or so and I haven’t even begun to outline events scheduled or planned for the balance of 2013 as we hope to take another road trip later this year (probably over the summer) followed by one if not two weddings we hope to attend later in the year, as well. Plus, as we speak I am working on ironing out the details of our attending the CPCU Annual Meeting that will be held in New Orleans later this year.

So, it would appear that 2013 will be yet another interesting year in the lives of Irwin and Dolly but, hey, as many of my siblings nearing my age say – "How do we do it?" my answer is - that is what keeps us young. Heck, my one son and his wife said they hope they can only do half as much as we do when they reach our age. But then – why not – as long as we can put one foot in front of the other and make it happen, now is the time to do it. We surely won’t be able to do it when we get to the point that all we want to do is stay at home and watch the grass grow – yuck – hope that time is a long way off.

So, my friends, enjoy your day and as I like to say, “Keep on dancing!” Until next time - "Be happy!"

Irwin

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