A SpotsBug’s World

yearbook yourself

I heard about this little site called Yearbook Yourself where you can upload a picture of yourself and see how you would have looked through the decades.  With all the crazy hairstyles and fashion, this is sure to be lots of fun.

So here’s how some of mine turned out:

1950

1952

1954

1960

1964

1966

1968

 1970

1982

I look pretty cute – don’t you think???

CA trip part two: moments

Three weeks ago today I jetted off 3,000 miles across the country to California.  Until then the furthest west I had ever been in the continental U.S. was Chicago.  But after three flights and 10 hours of total travel time, I touched down in Monterey – what an exciting moment!                   

Once I got settled at the hotel, I decided to stretch my legs after my long day traveling in a cramped and freezing airplane.  I walked over one block and there it was, the beautiful Monterey Bay.  All the sailboats lined up in the harbor like soldiers in formation.  The water was a deep blue and it was sunny and warm.  The sounds of the water, seabirds flying overhead, and the distant barks of grumpy sea lions echoed off the shore.     

Before I knew it I had walked nearly two miles down to Cannery Row, now the location of some unique shops and restaurants.  I passed by the Monterey Canning Company and the Steinbeck Museum.  As I turned to walk back to the hotel, the sun began to set over the bay.  The world became quiet as the bay was colored orange and gold - what a spectacular moment!    

While in Monterey I made sure to make a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium – supposedly one of the best in the country.  This aquarium is doing outstanding work for conservation and research.  Housed inside were some of the largest tanks I have ever seen filled with all sorts of interesting and unique creatures.  Among my favorites were the very active and playful sea otters (so cute), the Kelp Forest aquarium, and the sharks seen in the Outer Bay exhibits – lots of fun moments.      

Aside from one overcast day, the weather was beautiful with temperatures around 70 and a gentle breeze off the water.  But even the overcast day was beautiful.  The varying shades of grays and blues allowed me to see the bay in a different light.  Instead of the clouds overshadowing or depressing the scenery, it simply took it all to a different level of beauty.  As I walked the shore on this particular day, I thought to myself about how this scene mirrors life.  Many times I feel like things aren’t going right or I feel sad or upset.  The clouds of life set in and invade my thoughts with negativity.  But after seeing this remarkable day, it made me think, life is beautiful all of the time no matter what we are going through or where we are.  We just have to seek out the value of each and every situation, be thankful for our blessings and we will find the grace and beauty of each and every moment. 

the convergence

Lately, it seems as if life has just taken off and left me in the dust gasping for breath trying to catch up.  Between traveling, work conferences and responsibilities, family obligations, doctors appointments, and the daily grind of chores and the like… well, I’m just exhausted.

This week represented the convergence of several things all at once. 

I’ve been having some trouble with my thyroid again and it was also time for my yearly checkup so on Monday I went to the doctor.  After a meeting with the doc and allowing them to take four viles of blood I realized I would need to return in a week to complete my physical – yay… just my luck.  But it does seem that my thyroid function has decreased again.  This requires an adjustment to my medication thus beginning the trial cycle.  I try the new dosage for 6 weeks, then have more blood taken to see if it works for me.  If not, we keep trying until we get it right.  So let’s hope that once is all it takes this time around.

Then on Tuesday, as mentioned in one of my previous posts, I was tied up with election madness all day.

For the last several months my mother has been checking out new cars.  It had come the time to say goodbye to the 10 year old green Ford Taurus that had the beginnings of some major transmission and power steering issues.  The heater didn’t work and one of the front headlights was loose.  So Thursday, after many weeks of contemplating, planning, weighing the options, I accompanied her to the local car dealer and haggled a deal on a new Toyota Camry.  After nearly three hours of negotiations and talking, she signed her name and the car was hers. 

Today I went to work and after a couple of hours received a call from my boyfriend about his father.  I had mentioned a few months ago that his dad was diagnosed with lung cancer and it seems that now has come the time for goodbyes.  The family had allowed Hospice to move him into one of their Hospice Houses on Wednesday and by this morning he was not responsive, breathing erratically, and his heartbeat had slowed.  My boyfriend called and I left work to sit with him and his family for most of the day.  His father seemed to settle down and stabilize a little in the afternoon, so I left and returned to work for a short time.

On a more lighthearted note: I then went with my mother to pick up her new car whereby I noticed that our nice car salesman was seemingly trying to pick up something too - my mother.  I seriously believe he was interested.  He sure did stretch out the inspection of the car.  We ended up spending nearly another hour and a half just to finalize all the information about titles and tags, etc… 

But I’m very happy my mother has the new car and it’s in the color she likes (so very important)…  I feel better knowing she has a reliable mode of transportation and that if something goes wrong there is a warranty to fall back on.  I think it was a smart decision.

Anyway, I say all this just to say it has been a crazy week, or rather a crazy couple of months.  I don’t really see an end to it either now with holidays right around the corner and all.  But my main concern right now is my boyfriend, his father, and their family.  I just hope I can help them in some small way and that a peace comes over this family to provide them comfort through this difficult time.  Having lost my own father, I know the grief that will soon follow.  I only wish I could shoulder some of the pain for them all.