August reflections: gratitude season and reopening our lives

Kathleen Anderson

It’s August! How did this happen? This year has flown by for me. Perhaps it is because we are free to move about, sans masks. We are back to in-person meetings, gatherings, and shopping.

We can meet friends for coffee or lunch and family members can visit from afar. We are busy making up for lost time.

At our house, we (and I use that term loosely) have been working on some repairs and upgrades. The chickens have a new yard – not that they spend much time in it. Since they can fly over their new fence, you will still find them pecking around the front porch and attempting to break into the vegetable garden.

We have some happy bees that are enjoying nectar from our lavender and other flowers that we carefully try not to disturb. A new mini squirrel=like animal has moved into our neighborhood and is quite the motor mouth, not to mention a bully.

He/she is so small that I thought he/she was a chipmunk at first, but it is solid dark brown, so I am not sure what it is.

What I do know is there will be heck to pay if the feeder is empty when he/she arrives. And it does not stop filling the air with his/her complaints until more food is delivered.

There is a family of owls behind my granddaughter’s house that could be the reason we have lost a few chickens this summer. And my daughter swears she has seen bats fly out of the bat house under our roof line on the side of our house.

My great-granddaughter, Prairie, attended the Wizard Theater Camp, sponsored by Olympia Family Theater. She performed in her first play last week. Willow is in daycare, so the house is quiet during the week but hums during the weekends.

My grandson and his girlfriend were here from California for a few days last week, and my niece and her husband from Sequim joined us for the weekend. Meals for fifteen were made three times a day and we all ate too much of favorite family dishes. But we will worry about that later.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Since I have had a couple of minor falls going up and down the front porch steps, new hand railings are being installed, which has really helped my peace of mind. As much as I hated to admit I needed them, my wobbly knee tells me it is time.

Like many of my peers, I am always more than a little surprised when I pass by a mirror…who is that old woman I wonder? Inside my head I am as I was when much younger, full of energy, standing straight and tall.

The reality is I will soon turn 80, and I am not full of the kind of energy I used to enjoy. I resent the fact that I sometimes get tired before I finish everything I wanted to do. While I don’t have much in the way of gray hair, I resent the fact that my hair is thinning, that my knee sometimes gives out when I least expect it, and my thumbs refuse to participate when I try to open jars.

All in all, however, I have very little to complain about. I can still drive locally, so I can do my own shopping, visiting, and errands. I have a roof over my head, plenty of food and comforts others might do without.

I have very supportive family and friends. I even have a job doing what I love. My grandchildren and especially the great-grands keep me on my toes and fill my days with laughter and joy.

We play card games, paint rocks and pictures, make special event cards and bake cookies and cakes. Sometimes we play dress up with my clothes, hats, gloves, and jewelry. Dress-ups are always followed by a fashion show where we are applauded and cheered as we parade by.

My dog adores me, comes when she is called and sits while waiting for her food.

I live on a private road with a posting that reads 15 miles per hour. I live at the end of that road, and drive at the requested rate of speed to my house, with my windows wide open and my radio blaring my favorites from the 70’s, and so far, no one has complained.

So, I won’t either. I will just be grateful for all the good things in my life and enjoy the naps I get to take without any judgements. Life is good.

Kathleen Anderson writes this column each week from her home in Olympia.  Contact her at  kathleen@theJOLTnews.com or post your comment below.