Lifestyle

Remember the old Garmin Navigation systems that we would use in our vehicles? We would put in the address of our desired destination and the system would navigate us to that spot. If we missed a turn, there would be a voice that would immediately announce “RE-CALCULATING.” That not only made it obvious that you made an error, but to everyone else riding along in your vehicle! By alerting us immediately, however, we were able to get “back on track” and focused on reaching our final destination.

seems I can’t ever get enough clothes. I have clothes for every season. Actually, I have all kinds of clothes for every season. When I look at my closet, I find it tells a lot about me. I have a lot of neutral color clothes. I have a lot of clothes without patterns, but I do have some with stripes and flowers. All my clothes say something about me. I have a lot of sleeveless shirts and dresses, and I have a lot of light weight cover ups to go with them. I have special clothes I like to wear golfing. I have specific “old” clothes I like to wear when I fish. I have some clothes with words on them, but I’m don’t like to advertise a lot of my views on my clothes. Some of my clothes have a brand name visible because the manufacturers feel it’s very important to portray their name on my clothes. Also in my closet are my “work” clothes. I have many clerical collars in many colors.

In my last column, I mentioned a training I had attended with information from the Alzheimer’s Association. One statistic really stood out and I’ve been thinking a lot about its significance. “Up to 40% of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed by targeting modifiable risk factors.” While certain risk factors like age, genetics, race, and gender are non-modifiable, some small shifts in our lifestyles can lead to healthy habits which lower the risk of developing cognitive decline.

Joseph Scriven was a wealthy man. He was well educated and had a pleasant life at his home in Ireland where he’d always lived. On the night before his wedding, his fiancée drowned. His sorrow and grief were unfathomable and the only comfort he found was in his dearest friend, Jesus. After this terrible event, his life changed drastically, he left Ireland for Canada and found love again, only for her to die of a fatal illness. Yet, Scriven was determined to go on with life, he devoted his time to being a friend and helping others. When his mother became ill in Ireland, he wasn’t able to see her to so wrote and mailed her a comforting poem. When a friend of his read the poem and asked who wrote it, Scriven replied, “The Lord and I did it between us.”

Years ago when I directed the singing group One Accord out of Clara City, we would end our season the end of April. This was a very smart idea as those who participated would become extremely busy in May with prom events, spring sporting events (whether as a participant or a spectator), spring concerts, awards banquets, etc. The month of May was always jammed packed with activities and events – concluding with the Memorial Day program and studying for final tests. The end of the school year always seemed hectic! For those families with a graduating senior, there probably was a party to plan, food to prepare, and house projects to complete. (I remember my dad installed a new kitchen sink in our farmhouse the day of my sister’s Baccalaureate – and we had neighbors and friends coming over that same evening to celebrate! Probably wasn’t exactly the timing my mom had in mind!)

I loved Saturday morning cartoons when I was a kid. It wasn’t like today with hundreds of channels, YouTube, the internet, or movies. I had two channels to choose from, and I thought it was great! It was a treat being we didn’t have any other way to watch cartoons. I had many favorites like “Scooby-Doo” and “Fat Albert.” But in the mid-to-late 1960s one of the cartoons I liked most was “Casper the Friendly Ghost.” There were many episodes and usually Casper wanted to be friends with some human, but everyone was afraid of him because he was a ghost. He usually ended up persuading them by saving the day and proving that he was a friendly ghost and they had nothing to fear. Even with this lesson from Casper, I had somehow been taught along the way that I should fear ghosts. It was probably about this time that I learned about another ghost.

My position at Prairie Five is funded in part by a grant from the Southwest Initiative Foundation. Without this wonderful organization investing in our rural areas, we would not have robust aging services programming at our agency. Currently, my position is also funded in part by federal Title III dollars which were awarded by the Minnesota River Area Agency on Aging (MNRAAA.) It’s important to acknowledge these funders and express appreciation for them. Thank you!