Thursday, February 25, 2016

The Most Aged




                                    They are a timeless treasure
                                    sitting in an old rocking chair
                                    no amount of time can measure
                                    the silver, gray in their hair

                                    Much knowledge fills their soul
                                    and flows from the most wise
                                    worth more than mountains of gold
                                    shining through crystal, clear eyes

                                    With a face that's wrinkled and worn
                                     joy still finds room to abide
                                     for lost years they've never mourned
                                     and happiness still sits by their side

                                     Their thoughts are never at end
                                      to a time long since past
                                      time has become their friend
                                      with much prayer it will surely last

                                      Burdens they have carried long
                                      in life they continue to steer
                                      embracing the world with a song
                                      refusing to make room for fear

                                     They've known hardships in life
                                     and worked their hands to the bone
                                     no stranger to struggles and strife
                                     just thankful for the light of dawn

                                     Advice may be to much for some
                                     and floats like the weight of a feather
                                     it should be taken as fast as it comes
                                     and hand and hand walk together

                                     Twice a child and once a man
                                      that's how the saying goes
                                      the most aged are priceless and grand
                                      the heart of a child surely grows

                                      When the curtain of time does fall
                                      as the body grows weary and tired
                                      the empty chair will be left for all
                                      and the path to follow will be hard

                                       © Susie Swanson, 2016

Monday, February 22, 2016

Update







I figured it's about time I gave ya'll a little update since so many have been praying for me  and asking about me and my health issues. As ya'll know, my Thyroid Gland was removed Nov. 2014 and I haven't had a well day since. My last three Labs are showing the Thyroid Panel is finally stabilizing but I sure can't feel it even though that tells the doctors I'm on the right amount of meds. Since last October I've been pretty much laid up, can only get on the computer for a little bit at a time. I haven't cooked or washed a dish , etc. since then all due to this Tormenting disease called Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. I was diagnosed with it several mos. before my Thyroid was removed and the flares come and went till last October and I have been in sheer torment. I don't have much use for my body,especially my arms and legs. If I get up and exert my body for five minutes I have to lay back down hoping it'll wear off. The only place I go is to doctors, etc. My husband has to push me in a wheelchair. I tell you God has surely blessed me with a lifetime soulmate and I don't know what I did to deserve it.
 They have checked me for other Autoimunine Diseases and have found none. 
Once one gets Hashimoto's even if the thyroid is gone it stays with ye. It only finds another place to attack in your body. The main thing in controlling it is to  heal the Gut since 80% of our Immunine system lies in our gut and believe me I'm trying in every way. I went Gluten-Free, no Sugar, Dairy, Soy since last summer and it has brought my Thyroid Antibodies way down but no such luck except to lose 40 lbs. of which I could afford at the time but now I'm hunting for ways to gain a few lbs. (never thought I'd be saying that ) ..I take Probiotics 2 to 3 times a day. My primary Care doctor said I was doing all I can do and the Endocrinoligist basically said the same. 
My latest Labs were showing my Iron and Ferritin is falling and when the Ferritin starts falling (which binds the iron to your body) it causes you to lose your hair. It hasn't happened yet for me and I'm trying to prevent it by eating as much foods with iron as possible but there are so many I can't eat because of Digestive issues, IBS, etc. 

I could go on and on with this post but I didn't mean to make it to boring for ya'll. I just wanted to let you know why I've slacked up Blogging and visiting your awesome posts. I'm praying everyday to see a brighter tomorrow and I know without a doubt God is still in control and he'll work things out in his time. Everything is for a reason. Many thanks for your prayers. I am so grateful for each one. God is good, all the time God is good.

P.S.
The stories and poems I have been posting are some I wrote before I got so sick and some have never been published yet, here or anywhere. I had planned on doing another book and saving them till then but that all depends on what tomorrow brings, God's Willing. I miss you all and will be back and forth as I can. I hope all of you are well and I know you're looking forward to hearing the spring birds sing like me. 
Many Blessings, ~Susie

Friday, February 19, 2016

Let Us Not Forget





                                                   Let us not forget the ancient wisdom
                                                   With which our ancestors walked their days
                                                   Let us carry on with great determination
                                                   With a grateful heart, to God we give the praise

                                                   Let us not forget the mountains they climbed
                                                   In the darkest valleys where they found light
                                                   Footprints are abundant down every path
                                                   All of their yesterdays can be found in plain sight

                                                   Let us not forget the sound of their voice
                                                   In the distance they are still calling us home
                                                   The place where many a prayer was heard
                                                   Shaping our tomorrows until we were grown

                                                   Let us not forget the love that was given
                                                   All under the same roof, each night at bed
                                                   The teachings of God's word, the Bible
                                                   Food for our body and soul, we were always fed

                                                   Let us not forget the many sacrifices made
                                                   Working from sun up until sun down
                                                   The love of family, there's no boundaries
                                                   How proud we must be of them, so profound

                                                   Let us not forget the place from which we came
                                                   May our hearts stay humble and proud
                                                   And listen to the wisdom of all the ages
                                                   Can you hear....... the echoes are calling so loud

                                                               © Susie Swanson,2016

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Grateful For Shoes





It seems we all take for granted the little things in life never once thinkin about what it’d be like to do without.                                   
Hard times were a way of life back when I grew up and my parents had it even worse. Folks made do the best they could with what little they had. Just having food on the table, a bed to lay our head or somethin that we don’t even think twice about today, a pair of shoes on our feet was worth so much more. God’s blessings are poured down on us every day and we don’t know how fortunate we really are. If folks had to live like that today they’d never make it.

My parents grew up in a different time and learned to appreciate even more so, the little things in life. They raised us six young’uns the same way. My mama always said, “be happy with what ye got, there’s lots of folks got less.”And she also said, “all the finery in the world won’t bring ye happiness.” I came to find that out over time and sittin down to milk and bread for supper was a feast compared to some, or getting a new pair of shoes when school started in the fall. I’m a simple person and it doesn’t take much to please me.

We went barefoot through the warm months so much that we had trouble gettin used to shoes when school started. Our feet were as tough as a pine knot and rusty as could be at the end of day. But we knew to scrub em clean before we crawled under mama’s clean bed clothes or she‘d skin our hides good. When we got a pair of new shoes we wore em plum out or handed em down to the next one when we outgrew em. That seldom ever happened.

My mama told how she went barefoot not only in the summer but even after the frost. Her daddy worked hard to keep em fed and put clothes on their backs. She came from a family of ten young’uns. Back then they had big families and lots of mouths to feed.
She talked about walkin to catch the school bus on cold, frosty mornings and how cold her feet would get. When the bus finally came she’d jump up the steps fast as she could and sit in the seat with one foot propped on top of the other just to get em warm. She’d rotate em back and forth till she got to school.
When her daddy finally worked out enough money to get shoes, he’d buy for the ones that needed em the most and the others had to wear what they had till he earned enough at the sawmill. He’d cut a slim, straight stick and measure their feet with it and carry it with him to buy the shoes. All the others that had to wait their turn, he’d take a hammer and tacs and put the soles back together the best he could. He’d try to fix em so the tacs wouldn’t come through to their feet and keep the soles from flappin. He’d even put cardboard in between the shoe and the sole. She said, sometimes the tacs would work their way through to their feet but they weren’t about to tell their daddy or mama cause they had enough to worry about.

Back then shoes were a luxury and they were tickled to death to get a new pair even if they were brogans as my mama used to call em.
 She said some of the other young’uns that were always blessed with new clothes and shoes made fun of em. It really hurt her bad and one evening when she got on the bus to come home, this one boy that had been makin fun of her for a while with his sniggerin and laughin met his match. She’d just got a new pair of brogans and she pulled one off and almost hammered his head through the floor of that bus. The bus driver had to pull over to get it stopped. She said what she was scared of the most was that she’d ruined her new shoes. When she got off the bus she looked em over good and decided that it only helped to wear em in. Needless to say, he never did speak to her anymore . She said he dodged her every chance he got.

It broke my heart when she told that story and now when I look back I realize that was one of the reasons she and daddy both worked so hard to give us more than they ever had. Along the way they taught us to appreciate it too, and never make fun of the less fortunate.
We may not have had the best of shoes or clothes and sometimes my brothers wore their britches with holes in the knees to school but one thing’s for certain, they were clean. My mama always said, “rags are honorable but there’s to much soap and water to go dirty.”

She sure learned early on in life how to patch a pair of britches to last. Of course, having so many brothers and then four boys, she didn’t have a choice. Even in later years folks brought their britches to her to patch em. She couldn’t turn anyone down. Mama had a soft heart for people cause she remembered her raisin. And she always said, “be proud of your raisin.”

 She always got the Sears and Roebuck or Spiegel catalogs in the mail and every year and they had big back to school sales. She called em the wish books cause we’d look holes in em. She ordered a lot of our school clothes on time and made a small payment every month. She couldn’t afford to order much. We mostly wore hand me downs and since I was the oldest my hand me downs came from girls close to my age that lived in the neighborhood. That was after they found out it wouldn’t hurt our feelings none. Most people worried about that back then. When I grew out of em I passed em on down to my one and only sister.

One year I found a pair of the most beautiful, yellow sandals I’d ever seen in my life in the Spiegel catalog I wanted those sandals so bad that I could taste it. Mama didn’t mind ordering them but wanted me to have something that would keep my feet warm with frost fast approachin. All of my old shoes were worn out and there’d be none to fall back too. I kept on till she ordered em and I’ll never forget the day they came. I put those sandals on and pranced around like I was Cinderella.
 Sure enough when cold weather came, I was in a mess. We had to dig out a pair of my best, old shoes and take em to the shoe store in town to see if the well known shoe repairman could do anything with the soles. That man was the best at making shoes look like new of anybody I’ve ever seen. He put the soles back together like new. I wore em till mama got her bill paid down some. She ordered me some warm shoes to do me the rest of the school year. I certainly learned my lesson. Pretty is as pretty does.

Needless to say, that shoe repairman was a God send. There’s no tellin how many shoes that man has fixed over the years.
He also had big racks of new and like new shoes. Daddy bought all of his from that little store. He claimed that was the only place he could find any that fit. Daddy liked his shoes a size longer. We all called them Clod Hoppers. I’ll never forget one summer after he’d grown older and was showin his age, we talked him into getting some men’s sandals. We told him they’d keep his feet cooler. We never dreamed he’d love em so much. He was comin in the front door one day and there was a step up ye had to make to get in the door and he stumped his toe and almost fell flat on his face. We tried not to laugh till mama said, “them Jerusalem Cruisers are gonna be the death of ye yet.”
Of course he and mama wore theirs till the soles fell off tryin to keep us in shoes.


 When I look back on the many times I ran barefoot and stumped my toes nearly off, it brings joy to my heart and makes me wanna do it all again. There’s nothing that can compare to bustin a big mud hole wide open, even if we knew we’d get the toe itch. But as my mama used to say, “there’s nothing like being grateful for shoes when ye got none at all and ye feet feels like a block of ice.” 

                                                © Susie Swanson, 2016

Monday, February 1, 2016

Something About February





There’s something about the month of February
It warms my heart despite the ground hog day
He tries to ruin it thinking he’s a know it all
 He can’t predict the weather, there’s no way

Two presidents would roll over in their graves
It’s a very good thing they don’t have a clue
They’d pull out all the muzzle loaders and cannons
Knowing that groundhog was overshadowing them too

 If he thinks he’s going to take over Valentine’s Day
He’s got another thing coming that’s for sure
That’s the one day of the year set aside for love
And cupid’s arrow will not pierce him, I assure

I don’t even know why they want to give him a holiday
He thinks cause he saw his shadow it’ll be six weeks more
Spring will be here soon enough, we don’t need him around
He’s waiting for garden time so he can slip in the back door

I got news for that groundhog and he better listen close
February may be short and sweet but it can stand its ground
There’s no little bushy tail critter going to take it over
Get back in that hole before it becomes your burial mound

© Susie Swanson, 2016

Happy February !!