Hudson 3 – Henley 17 months

   Matilda 3

Tomorrow will be the 4th of February 2014.  Time is flying by as Hudson turns 3 years old.  He is one very amazing boy.  Every day he has come up with something new that just makes you want to step back and say “where did that come from?”.  I’ve seen him also every Monday – Friday since my retirement.  Missing him only during the holidays that Dan and Cathy are off.  It took him awhile to start talking and when he started there was no stopping.  I think that during the “silent” time he was gathering all the information needed to make conversation not just using one words but complete sentences.  Now that Henley has been born he watches over her as a protector.  Hudson is truely an amazing boy.

June 11, 2013 late to enter. This is the date of the Birth of my 3rd Grandchild. Henley Lane Rafajko was brought into the world. I become more and more amazed as I move through life. I enjoyed my children as they grew into the men they are today. They have solid values and great abilities. They have build a wonderful foundation for the families they have created.

I am now in a stage of my life where I can see and enjoy the youth of my beautiful grandchild. As I spend time with them I am in wonder of their imaginations and the way they teach me new things each meeting. How they look at the things around them and bring new meaning as they touch it.

I am grateful for the time I have with them and for what they teach me. I am truely BLESSED.

Thank you Lord.

It’s a very lonely sound that breaks the quietness of the day or night. It’s the movement of the wheels making that click, click, click as the engine pulls it’s load along the track. Every train has it’s destination and the miles that it must travel are long and lonely. As lonely as the sound of that train whistle. The crossings tell a story as the locomotive moves pass the blinking lights and closed gates. Fifty, fifty one, fifty two each car passes linked to the next and carrying the cargo of choice to the destination.

It’s simple and easy to say that when you leave laboring for a living or going to a job every day that when retirement comes it’s great.

I must say that I am a firm believer that there is a time and place for you in life to do just what i did this year. Retire and start a new chapter.

I have found that I am not a person that must have a place to go every day or a routine to follow every hour waiting to get off work or start a project on a day off. I have found that it is comforting to be able to be sitting here at this time, this hour doing what I want to do. Not having to get ready for tomorrow and the start of another work day. I’m selfish that at this time in my life and I do like having my freedom of choice. The choice to do what I need to do when I want to do it.

Of course I do have my driving forces that help me stay focused on daily and motivational activities. This force starts with Christine who has been my rock and reason for where we are today and our children who now have their wives and children.

In fact I have found an opportunity now that I realize I missed in the earlier part of life. Making time for what is important and now allowing things to slip away.

So much emphasis is always on doing what is needed for the family allowing for the growth within the unit. Now it is different simply because a focus can be placed in a different area, the enjoyment of being totally involved in the growth of our grandchildren. My role now as a grandfather is to support their growth. To teach and guide. I only hope that I can become a “go to” for all of them.

This is the first time using the MAC to compose something. Like all things it is a bit strange using this keyboard vs the PC. What to write never has been a problem to me in the past as most of the time my mouth (or fingers in this case) would run before my brain engaged.

Recently though I haven’t really thought much about putting words down. A bit lazy, I guess.

I was given a diary/journal about three years ago and did a moderate job of putting thoughts into it on occasion. Just that there were very few occasions that I found needy enough to write in the diary/journal.

One thing I would like to happen, when the time comes is that maybe those words I did write long ago are read and my thoughts are shared.

Well like I said I’m a bit lazy and today is nothing new so I guess this is long enough to practicing on this keyboard.

Thanks for peeking at the words.

Have your ever thought about all those notes that classmates wrote in your last High School yearbook.

“To a great – stay fun – good luck – god bless – stay in touch – great at this or that – will miss you and on and on”.

Just who were you back then and what have you become now. What is your legacy?

The other day I was looking through some old pictures and picked up that last yearbook.

I saw so many faces of people and started to wonder what the?
I started remembering faces and even got some names right before seeing them.
I reflected on good times and even some as we say it now challenging times.
Can I remember what I was taught? Some of it. But, now I believe the biggest lesson was just to challenge yourself to learn. And most of all just to adapt.
I never really thought that I was very good at math and now I use it everyday. It appears that I have actually learned how to maneuver around in it, the basics that is.

Seriously, who was that person that everyone had a nice or complimentary thing to say about?

Not many of my teachers wrote in that yearbook and I think that if they had the things they might have said if they were truthful might have been “who is this person and what is his future going to be”?
I certainly did not know what that future would hold either.
I really think that things have turned out well. I’m not an electrical engineer and
I don’t know if I would like to have continued to be great – stay fun – or whatever.
What happens is we make many decisions and in the end hope that they are the right ones. And then we learn to live with the choices we have made in any case.
Back then it was always “WHAT IF”

Now, many years later it is, well you can try to answer that for yourself can’t you.