Finally I think I am beginning to realize some gain from getting back into the swing of walking. I have been walking everyday for the past 3 weeks and I have lost 6 lbs. in that time and have improved from a mere .3 of a mile and am now up to 3/4 of a mile a day. It has been a hard row back from a severe case of pneumonia in March that sidelined me for 8 days and sapped my strength like nothing else before. But I am slowly improving and hopefully by the time I go for my next 90 day check up at the end of October I will be closer to being back to normal. All my vital signs have been good to great my cholesterol down to 123 the lowest its ever been since they started recording it regularly back in 88. My blood sugar is almost in the normal range at 6.3 and every time Ive tested it has never been higher than 180 in the past year. My PSA on my prostate has stayed very low only 1.6 last time which was up a little from the time before but still way below the threshold of a problem which is 4 plus. I have never had a lot of problems with stress (thankfully) even in difficult times since I have always been able find a way to relieve stress and not have it build up to where it would become a problem. Worry for me hasnt ever been too stressful because of what my Mother taught me in the handling of it. Her philosophy was There is only so much you can do about life in general. There is always going to be bad things happening to you, its how you handle the bad that sets your character and excessive worry doesnt solve anything. Think through your troubles and find a way to be happy no matter what life hands you! Ive always tried to do that and for the most part it has worked well for me. Speaking through poetry and being able to put my feelings into words have always be a great way to relieve stress and shortstop worrisome periods in my life. Being able to put how I feel and think into words have been the greatest stress reliever and depression cure that I know of. I have never had to resort to using anything more than my thoughts to take the stress away and for that I have forever been grateful for the wonderful foundation my Mother and my Grandfather gave me. My world isnt perfect and neither am I but I have been forever thankful that because of my upbringing which was done with intelligence and clear thinking on the part of my Mother who was one of the best friends I have ever had I have been very fortunate not to suffer the fate of others I have known who have struggled mightily to overcome depression and sadness in their life. My life hasnt been bereft of sadness nor sorrow but because of the things my Mother taught me I have been able to work through those difficult times and keep going with always an eye to the future and a clear mind. My childhood wasnt easy especially for someone like me who was extremely shy and never made friends easily. And that shyness often engulfed me because of the fact we moved so often between the years of the first grade until finally settling down in Vernon Texas in 1955. A friends son was asked today what grade he was in and he answered 5th. When I was in the 5th grade I started out in Cleburne Texas, where I went nearly 3 weeks. Then we moved to Altus Oklahoma where I attended school at Woodrow Wilson Elementary for 3 whole days, long enough to participate in the Soap Box Derby that year. Next we moved to Friendship 10 miles east of Altus where I was enrolled but didnt attend since they had let out 6 weeks for cotton harvest. Next came Erick Oklahoma 2 weeks there, then on to McLean Texas. Ah two weeks and 2 days there before we left for the Rafter O Ranch near Shamrock and where I attended school through Christmas and New Years and played a cat in the school play who has his tongue removed at the start of the play and restored at the very end allowing me the closing line of the play. Thank you Socrates! And that brought the house down because my brother who was about 4 at the time finally figured out from my voice which cat I was and shouted out, Thats my brother Bobby! Mama thats Bobby! An early moment of fame. After that we moved to OKC and old Washington School that was later moved to make way for the old Crosstown Expressway and of which there still evidence of the old school yard until the tore down the Crosstown. I was marble king there starting out with a nickels worth of marbles (about 20) and when I left 3 months later I was the champion marble player on campus and had a stash of nearly 800 marbles. I finished up the 5th grade at Pauls Valley where I briefly ran away from home, sold Pauls Valley newspapers on the street and went to see my hero Audie Murphy in John Hustons The Red Badge of Courage. A story about a young civil war soldier who starts out as a coward and runs away and then returns to the battle to help turn the tide and earn his red badge of courage. That was the longest school year from me ever since I had to make new friends about every few weeks or so and lose other new friends almost as fast as I made them and won and lost my second girlfriend that same year. My life as a child was still full of fun and adventure and I got to meet a lot of wonderful people along the way. I wouldnt take a million dollars for all the hard times I had and all the fun times and new and unusual experiences I had. Those times made me who I am today for better for worse. And I cherish all the great memories they brought me both the fun one and the not always so fun ones especially the heart rendering ones when I had to leave friends that I had just learned to love and go somewhere else and start all over again. It was, as Charles Dickens said in his great novel for me The worst of times, It was the best to times! Bob Bearden
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 02:47:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015