Where is Baby Bird?

Baby Bird Where Are You? Baby Bird (she should really be Mama Bird and I should be Grandmother Bird) has not been posting lately, yes she has been very busy with one thing and another, but I have no one to argue with if she is not posting...

Life's Not Fair--Live and Learn

Every now and then it is brought home to you how "life's not fair". Recently my car was hit in a parking lot by people backing out of a parking space. I was driving by and they started to back up but it was not possible for me to honk the horn or swerve out of the way. At the time they led me to believe that if I got two estimates they would pay the damages. Their car did not really appear to have damage but mine had a dent in the passenger side front fender, not to mention I could not open the passenger side door more than 9 inches. After finally finding two companies that could give me an estimate I called them and told them I had the estimates, they asked me to e-mail it to them, but he did ask how much it would be, when I gave him the figure he said "that seems like an awful lot to pay for that little dent"--it wasn't exactly little and that was sort of my first clue that this was not going to end all that well! Without boring you all with details I'll simply say, they still refuse to give me insurance information and they claim that I was partially at fault and they will not pay my $500 deductible. They claim that they told me that they were going to get estimates for their damage, which is complete "nonsense" because they never said that at the time and there did not appear to be any damage. Now they say that their "back up sensors" were damaged--perhaps but if the sensors were working prior to the collison why didn't they see me coming???? According to my insurance company there is nothing I can do and since they won't give me their insurance information, they can't do anything. They will pay the claim with no increase in rates, but I will have to pay $500. What did I learn? I learned that even though the accident happened on private property, get insurance information and file a police report right away.  Another thing I learned inadvertently is that just because people are church members doesn't make them what I consider a Christian. I can only hope that what goes around comes around (I guess that's not too Christian either??!) It doesn't seem right, but apparently there is nothing that can be done--it takes me at least 5 months to save $500, so paying this deductible for an accident that I did not cause will  seriously deplete my savings account.

What is Retirement

What does retirement mean? To some it means a chance to do all those things that one never had time to do while working, to others it means joining clubs and pursuing more physical activities, to some more time with friends or a time to volunteer in some way or another, time to spend with grandchildren and probably many more things. To me when I thought of retirement I thought about nice easy days filled with doing whatever I felt like on that day, not much planning just do what feels good at the time, spending the day reading, meeting with friends or talking on the phone, getting up late and taking naps. Quiet hours filled with ease from "have to's" or "shoulds", no stress, no dealing with paperwork, walking on a beach or in the countryside.

"To everything there is a season"

MAMA (GRANDMA) BIRD:
Slowly returning to "normal", losing a good friend is hard; especially if that friend seemed so full of life 6 months ago, brimming with plans and truly living her life to the fullest. She was so full of plans for the days and months to come.  While she was sick I concentrated on just being there to let her know she was not alone, but it's hard to see someone erroding almost in front of your eyes. I just tried to be present. After she passed there was the shock of grief and the physical weariness. Then I got sick probably the result of intense emotion and just generally not taking care of my physical needs--mainly sleep and good food. Getting better but still trying to process this loss--It is hard for those of us left to realize that while she is still a part of our lives, it is in memory only.

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;..."

Now is a time to mourn and ponder the purpose, a time to weep and hopefully soon a time to heal and a time to laugh.