ACCEPTING OLD AGE & AFTER-LIFE

By OLIVENE GODFREY

Accepting old age is an important stage of life. My life has been different in each decade I have lived. For several years I have savored life's pleasures, as the song goes, " ...the days grow shorter when you reach September..."and life is more precious to me now.

It helps me to think of this stage of my life as moments leading to a wonderful afterlife adventure. But, I admit that, despite a strong faith in God and Heaven, I have problems with this time as I don't want to leave behind loved ones and my home.
I was thinking today of my Mother's feelings on this subject.
In one of our daily conversations before she died five years ago at the age of 92, she confessed one day that despite her faith, she had problems facing the end of her life. She loved life more than anyone I have ever known and she created beauty with her crafts and florist work. Each holiday right up to the end of her life, she made crafts and decorations for her home and often for my sisters and me,too. She always had a project ahead of her and while she had the wisdom of a long life, she also remained young at heart. And sometimes I think, if she had problems with old age, too, I shouldn't worry too much about it.

Sometimes I would be worried about something I couldn't do anything about and she would say, "Stop worrying about it.
Things usually work out okay." And she was right, as usual.

I think it is only natural to have a fear of the unknown of
the great adventure awaiting us. I hope I will accept it peacefully.

For many years, I related to these words by Edna St. Vincent Millay -- "My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But, ah, my foes and oh, my friends--It gives a lovely light." I no longer burn my candle at both ends which was mostly writing late at night. As part of my lifestyle change of old age, I take life easier and am enjoying my retirement.

See you next time.

REMENBERING "WASH DAY" OF LONG AGO & "DOWNTOWN " BEFORE MALLS

By OLIVENE GODFREY

Long ago women washed clothes in creeks and rivers. One of my earliest memories is of "Wash Day" at our Chattanooga home and the very different "Wash Day" at my paternal grandparents farm home in the 1930s.

Mother did laundry in an electric wringer type washing machine and considered herself one of the lucky ones of her day. My paternal grandmother and her two spinster daughters built a fire on a grate like stand and placed a large tub filled with water and soap and laundry on the fire. I had no sense of time as a child but I remember the aunts would stir the clothes with a long stick for a while. When the clothes were clean, the women would rinse them in two large galvanized steel tubs, one which contained bluing which I think was to brighten up the laundry.
They had to squeeze the laundry by hand and then hung them on clothes lines. I don't remember the procedure for starching items that needed it. I do remember the women dampened laundry to be ironed with flatirons heated on a wood burning stove.

There were several "rain barrels" situated near the farm house and the rain water was used to shampoo hair among other things.

After World War II and the invention of automatic washers, people would spend hours watching the glass front open machines in laundromats tumble their laundry. One man told me that,"the clothes come out almost dry and ready to iron." That was an exaggeration but we were thrilled with the new machines. And, to this day, I am still grateful to have an automatic clothes washer and dryer as I remember the days of long ago when it was a chore to do laundry.

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One recent Saturday, Barry drove me to the Dalton mall to take care of an errand. While we were there, we decided to eat lunch at the Subway. We ate our lunch at one of the tables situated in front of the Subway. Being a people watcher, I enjoyed watching the parade of people passing our table. And my mind went back to the time I was young and downtown Dalton was filled with people, shopping in the shops and chatting with friends.
Some of the merchants had their wares displayed on tables in front of their shops. When I was a teenager,I worked as a clerk in several of the downtown shops at various times. In those days, there was no self-service stores and clerks waited on each customer. It was a tiring job and even though I was young, I would be exhausted at the end of the day.

I remember one of my most embarrassing moments was after a busy day at a shop and I was walking home on a sidewalk. I met a group of people walking toward me and I asked, in a loud voice, "May I help you?" The people looked puzzled and I felt my face burning as I realized what I had said. I hurried on down the street until I reached the haven of my bedroom. After a good meal prepared by my mother,I could see the humor of the situation and the family members all had a good laugh.

See you next time.

REMEMBERING MY MOTHER WITH MUCH LOVE

By OLIVENE GODFREY

My mother died five years ago this month at a youthful 92 years old. And, this column is for her.

My daddy once wrote that, "an ounce of mother love is worth a pound of clergy." And, mother was a woman of beauty, strength and courage. Since she enjoyed remarkably good health for most of her life and faced life's crises with such courage,
we may have often taken her for granted.

The daughter of a lawyer who switched professions to become a circuit-riding Methodist preacher, she was born in Texas.
And, she met daddy when her father pastored the church at Pelham, Tennessee. Daddy took one look at the pretty, young preacher's daughter and told her, "I'm going to marry you! And, he did as soon as possible. A year later, I was born in the Methodist parsonage at Pelham. Four years later in Chattanooga, Mother gave birth to identical twin daughters, Joan and Jeanette. Then after she had raised us, our kid sister, Dianne, was born.

Being the mother of four daughters, and the wife of a preacher,
it was a good thing she was an expert seamstress. Not only did she sew most of her own clothes, but we must have been among the best-dressed girls in town.

Often, mother would decide to make the twins and I new dresses on a Saturday. And Sunday morning the dresses, always feminine and dainty, would be ready to wear to church. She would browse around in department stores and closely examine expensive dresses. Then, she'd go home and make "copies" of the originals for herself and her daughters. A smart lady- my mother.

When we returned home from school, there was always mother and a snack waiting. (I remember eating those snacks while I listened to "Stella Dallas"on the radio in the afternoon.)
One of our favorite snacks was chocolate fudge and soda cracker
sandwiches- delicious!

Like most mothers she often sacrificed so we could have nice things and enjoy treats. But, very early in life, my sisters and I learned that while mother could be gentle and loving, she was also a very spirited person, to put it mildly. When her green eyes started snapping, we knew that temper was aroused, and we'd better shape up or get out of her sight.

I still remember that after the twins and I had been married a few years, we went somewhere with mother and daddy. We three sisters were in the back seat, chattering and laughing, making a lot of noise. But, on that day suddenly mother's hand was slapping our legs as she read us the riot act for being "so loud". We shaped up right quick. And then we all started laughing as we realized that even as married women, we still respected mother's temper.

Being a creative person, (our houses are filled with her exquisite crafts), Mother was a talented florist over the years.

Thank you, mother, for everything.

See you next time.

NEW EYE GLASSES, MOSQUITOES & RAG WEED TIME

Bu OLIVENE GODFREY

I woke up Saturday morning (yesterday) with a sense of anticipation. something I rarely feel anymore. I was going to the Sears Optical center in the Dalton mall that day to
leave a prescription for new glasses and to select new frames as my old ones were broken when I fell in the spring.

I had an eye exam in Dalton on Friday and the doctor told me that my cataracts had grown the past year but were not ready for surgery. He added, "It is coming though."He had a
technician give me a test for Glaucoma as it runs in my family. Thankfully, I don't have Glaucoma. The eye doctor said my diabetes hasn't affected my vision so far. He gave me a prescription for eye glasses that should help my vision now.
I took my prescription to Sears and chose a pair of the new stylish copper tone frames. I had previously had the gold rim type glass frames for several years and wanted a change. Sears was having a sale for two pairs of glasses for low price. I also chose the added feature of scratch proof and light weight lenses and think I got a bargain. I will go back to Sears in a few days for my new glasses and will know then if they help my vision. I have only had reading glasses since my fall and I will have to get used to the bi-focals again.

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Our weather for a week or so has been pleasant. The temps in the morning are cool and while it still gets hot up in the day the humidity is low so it doesn't feel too uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, some of us can't really enjoy being outside because of the hated rag weed. Yesterday, son Barry and I were outside a lot and late yesterday I felt like I was coming down with a cold or something worse. I almost lost my voice and just really felt lousy. I used a nasal spray and took some sinus medicine before going to bed. I slept good last night and feel better this morning. But, we are going out to eat lunch at the local cafeteria and will no doubt be feeling bad again in the afternoon.

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For some reason, the mosquitoes have really been bad here in northwest Georgia this year. They must be swarming into the house whenever a door is opened. One night a mosquito bit my right eyelid and one of the critters bit my ear lobe on several occasions when I was resting in my recliner in the den. I hope they will disappear soon.

I was reminded last week of another night long ago when my late husband and I lived in Florida. On that night, we had guests from north Georgia and we cooked out in the backyard. While I was eating and enjoying my guests, I was also being almost eaten alive with mosquitoes attacking me. I was wearing shorts and both of my legs were covered with bites. Finally, I went inside and covered my legs with rubbing alcohol and in a short time the bites stopped itching and soon went away. Since that time, I have used the rubbing alcohol for mosquito bites as it works so well for me. I have also been using insect repellent when I am going to rest a while.

See you next time.

KATRINA'S AFTERMATH, CONSERVING ENERGY & GOOD MEDICAL REPORT

by OLIVENE GODFREY

Our hearts and prayers go out to the people in the Gulf states that were hit with the wrath of the hurricane, Katrina,

As we watched the heartbreaking televised scenes of the American refugees who were pleading for our government to send them food and water, we became angry at the apparent incompetence of our president and his administration.

As I write this, things have improved dramatically for the refugees and we hope their ordeal will soon be over. We need a leader like Rudy Giuliani to do for our federal government what he did for New York after 9/11.

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We are trying to conserve energy and son Barry has stopped driving his pickup truck to work as it is a gas guzzler and now drives his car which gets excellent gas mileage. We will

limit our out of town trips during this period with high gas prices and some shortages.

We have an energy efficient heat pump and an energy saving hot water heater. And, since yesterday, we have a new energy efficient refrigerator. I recently read that if you have an old fridge, you can save up to 40 percent of your power bill if you purchase a new fridge now. Barry bought our new one and we are really proud of it. The freezer chest is extra large and that is what we needed.

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I recently had a physical exam and lab work. Last week,

I had an appointment with my doctor to review my lab report.

The doctor gave me a copy of the report and she had written beside the cholesterol. "perfect", and all the other things were marked "very good." She cautioned me not to become

complacent and start cheating on my diet and exercise. I assured her that I intend for my diet and exercise to be a life long commitment.

We discussed my breathing which has been very good for some time now. I have COPD and use inhalers and nebuliser

treatments.

I told the doctor that I am keeping my fingers crossed that I don't have bronchitis when cold weather arrives. She reminded me to get a flu shot in October.

I am controlling my diabetes with diet and still don't have to take medicine. I don't have to see the doctor again for a while unless I get sick. I still haven't received the report on my mammogram and hope it will be fine. I have an appointment this week for an eye exam and after that I hope I don't have to see a doctor any time soon.

See you next time.