A Wake Up Call

[Gale Hawkins]

Good points.

The time I put into helping the younger folks are some of my best times today at age 64.

Now I am glad we took the time and money to homeschool the kids for example but I was 46 when they were born.

At church I find myself encouraging the 40ish age group to step out on faith more. When we are young the fear of failure can lead to failure. As I age I see how the risks I feared seldom even materialize and when they do they often are quite manageable.

Yes we are going to die sooner or later and should act as if it is going to be sooner than later when it comes to working with other people.

I wanted to do some ladder work that the son was going to do before he left for camp a few weeks ago. It hit me I did not need to be on that ladder and if I had an accident that my son would regret forever that he did not do what he planned to do for me.

This way of thinking is new to me. We must to make sure our exit from life does not put others on a guilt trip. We need to live so the exit of others does not put us on a guilt trip.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Good points.

The time I put into helping the younger folks are some of my best times today at age 64.

Now I am glad we took the time and money to homeschool the kids for example but I was 46 when they were born.

At church I find myself encouraging the 40ish age group to step out on faith more. When we are young the fear of failure can lead to failure. As I age I see how the risks I feared seldom even materialize and when they do they often are quite manageable.

Yes we are going to die sooner or later and should act as if it is going to be sooner than later when it comes to working with other people.

I wanted to do some ladder work that the son was going to do before he left for camp a few weeks ago. It hit me I did not need to be on that ladder and if I had an accident that my son would regret forever that he did not do what he planned to do for me.

This way of thinking is new to me. We must work to make sure our exit from life does not put others on a guilt trip. We need to live so the exit of others does not put us on a guilt trip.

 

[Clay45]

Some of the best memories were when we all loaded up into a new car (or pickup, or jeep) and hit the road. I've been to the beach a cagillion times and those memories all run together but hopping into a new vehicle and going west for a few days or couple of weeks was awesome.

 

[oldballs]

Seems to me that some grandparents are great as long as they can keep up the entertainment, or take care of the ill-begotten grandkids. When that's not the case (entertainment) or re-parenting, the grandparents are forgotten.

For those that have the money to provide lake cottages, boats expensive vacations etc., you can buy those memories. But when the real old age and cancer sets in, where are they now?

But my wife (deceased) and I would not do it any different as we went about making the kids and grandkids as happy and secure as we could.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[RSKY]

A man MUST provide for his family. I worked nights. I worked every weekend except for holidays and vacations for three years. I worked so much that I was numb from fatigue when I was with my family. My wife turned down administrative jobs because she would not have the summers off with the girls. She turned them down even though it would have meant a large pay increase. I just worked more to make up for it.

That's what you have to do when you have a young family. I have never regretted the hard work, I do regret the time I missed with my girls.

My girls realize the sacrifices my wife and I made when they were young and they appreciate it now because they are doing the same things for their young children.

Now I get to play with the grands and spoil them and buy them things they don't need and answer two thousand questions and teach them how to do things that their parents are too busy making a living to teach them.

As you get older you realize your own mortality and you also realize what is really important in your life. We taught our girls to always hug their grandparents and to tell them that they love them because each time they do so it may be the last time.

I find it amusing that my grandchildren now do the same thing to me and my wife............ Now that's something to think about.

RSKY

 

[RSKY]

Getting kinda morbid, aren't I..........

 

[dusty3030]

Getting kinda morbid, aren't I..........

Let's liven it up a little!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If1yxmaJ14M

 

[AaronS]

Let's liven it up a little!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If1yxmaJ14M

HA! :laughing:

 

[Daver1963]

Let's liven it up even more!!

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Getting kinda morbid, aren't I..........

Actual you are not. Your point that no one is going to live forever is very good and especially at our age so we take time to smell the roses daily.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Speaking about wakeup calls; I somehow have torn up my knee that I had repaired for a meniscus tear and an ACL injury about ten years ago. So, I have been taking advantage of my wife's handicap placard to park as close as possible to whichever business we might have to go to. And to think I used to "power hike" trails rated 4-6 hours in about two. This blows.

Anyway, we had picked up some prescriptions for my wife and while headed home, saw this older gent tooling along with a pretty sharp looking Vette. Yes, pretty sharp looking but then I think about how difficult it is to get out of our CTS which is slightly higher than the Vette. Then there is that brite red paint and plenty of chrome where as our CTS has not been washed since last winter when I broke down and washed the road salt off.

Sadly, our family situation is not close. Everyone gets along for the most part. It's just that job, school oblegations, etc. take precidence. Skip the wheels and enjoy the family time.

 

[Redneck in training]

I immigrated to the USA 39 years old with 42 USD in my pocket, clothes I had on and I didn't speak English. I was lucky to meet people (like my boss in my first year in the country) and my last employer that changed my life. I was playing catch up past 25 years. Put four children through college, saved significant amount for my retirement, bought a farm, built two houses etc. I was very good provider but no so good father or husband though. Fortunately my wife was able to be mother and father understanding the "man has to what man has to do". I was working out home about 200 days in a typical year. Finally I retired at the end of 2014. Enjoying to do for our grandchildren what I didn't do for our children. Just today I taught "Treasure hunt" game and open and close all tools in Swiss army knife without cutting himself my four years old grandson. We also caught bunch of bluegills. What a great two days we had having him and his two years old sister on our farm.

 

[RSKY]

You don't realize the importance of family until you have your own children. I have a plaque on my desk that reads.

FAMILY

1. People who know our past, present and future.
2. Those who accept us the way we are.
3. A source of love, comfort and happiness.
4.those with whom we share a lifetime of memories and traditions.
5. What we call home.

Very true.

RSKY

 

[RSKY]

As another example of family, my wife's aunt babysat my oldest and youngest granddaughters today while my wife and daughter photographed and organized an event. Oldest is six years, youngest is one month.

How many young mothers can call on their baby's great-great-aunt to babysit?

How many children know all their aunts and uncles much less great aunts/uncles, or in our case great-great aunts/uncles.

At the funeral today (see original post) my mother could not understand why so much was made over her because she was the deceased great aunt. We tried to explain that she was the only remaining great anything that the guy had, was the only one of her generation left, and was probably the oldest there except for one lady who was a neighbor.

Her reply was "Well s--t, I'm not that old!"

That's why they wanted her there.

RSKY

 

[RSKY]

Double post! Very strange hours apart.

 

[farmer2009]

Very good points. But I would like to throw something at you RSKY. Instead of renting a house for your kids to visit with you and feeling like your wasting money. Buy a timeshare for them. You can find ones that are very destination flexible and they can become part of your estate. They'll always have the ability to vacation and know that you are still "providing" for them.

That's what we did this year. Bought a timeshare that we can travel the world with and pass down to our son. He's 2. I enjoy spending time with him and my wife but I also have to provide. So I work a lot more than I really should but my goal is for him not to have to work as hard as I do. He'll still have to work but if nothing else he won't have the financial stress we've had. Plans are to pass on a paid for business to him. If he wants it (we hope he does). Isn't that the goal. To leave your family and world in better condition than when you got it.

 

[MoKelly]

From my perspective, its not about the money or chosing between cars or vacations or houses or things.

You need to give your time to your family. As I look back on my childhood, it wasn't really where we went on vacation or what we did on vacation. It was the fact my Mom and Dad were there along with us kids and we spent time doing stuff as a family. It could have been a beach, Disneyland, camping or just walking around the zoo it wouldn't have mattered.

Time is the most precious asset anyone has and spending it with family is the best investment of that time we can make.

MoKelly

 

[oldballs]

After all the comments, MoKelly is the one most on target. IMHO.