IT IS WHAT IT IS AND WAS WHAT IT WAS

Two score plus a decade and two years.....sounds like a long time. In some respects it is but it seems to have passed in a flash. 

Sharon and I were married in the Baptist Curuch at Perry, Missouri on Friday evening September 04, 1964. I remember Rev C D Howell joking with me that the marriages he performed lasted. 

We have just completed 52 years together. I started to write a blog about the history but it was turning into a book rather than a blog. Too much to bore my family and good friends with. Undoubtedly you are among this group so you have experienced some or much of it with us. So there you go, it was what it was. 

Sharon told the neighbor's today that her being a saint helped it to last this long. I would agree that is absolutely true. 

We would like to thank all of you, family, friends, and acquaintances for enriching our lives and helping us over the hurdles, that we might land where we are today. 

Our greatest accomplishment has been our three sons, MARK (Becky, Kristen, Karissa, and Kolton), DAVID (Georgia, Quentin, Ethan, Noah, and Aiden), and KEVIN (Karen, Jordan, and Justin. We are so proud of each of them and their families. 

One of our grandaughter's, Kristen Renee, will marry next month. As she and Wes begin their journey, we want to wish for them lots of love and support.

                Kristen and Wes

 The only wisdom I have is what I have said before, the one thing I have learned about life is, it goes on. So you take it as it comes, one day at a time and before you know it your kids have kids and they will soon have kids and you will have been married 52 years. 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SHARON

I LOVE YOU!---Lon

WHEREVER YOU ARE IN YOUR LIFE AND TRAVELS, ENJOY THE JOURNEY!

Happy where you are?

We recently had an experience with a rattlesnake and some friends said, "I wouldn't go back outside, I'd be leaving there, Yikes, Oh my, that's scary, OMG, and I'd be packing my bags and heading out."

 Western Diamondback Rattlesnake 

The question is, where would you want to go? To Louisiana with the floods, to California with the earthquakes, to Hawaii or Washington with the Volcanoes, to Oklahoma with the tornados, to Arizona with the dust storms, to Boston with the snow and cold, to Florida with the hurricanes, bugs and gators, to Chicago with the shootings and crime, or to Missouri with tornados, mosquitos, chiggers, floods, humidity, cold, and snow? Been there and done all that!

                        Storms

                         Drought

                   Snow and Ice

It seems every place you go there may be some negatives. Most of us are where we were born and raised or where our work has taken us. Only a few move to an area just because they make the choice to be there. But  being a retired senior you can decide where to be a little easier. A location that suits your wants, needs, health, interests, personality, or whatever.   

We have been to lots of beautiful and wonderful places which we might have enjoyed living at one time but now for one reason or another we have ruled them out. Finally we decided the hill country

              Hill Country in green.

             Can you find Medina?

of Texas is where we want to be at this juncture in our lives.

We love the area, the hills, 

the ranches and wildlife, 

               Texas jackrabbits

the people, 

            Hot summer weekend.

the trees, 

                  Live Oak Tree

the cactus,

 Mesquite Trees/Prickly Pear Cactus

 Bluebonnets,

                Spring Blubonnets

 Crape Myrtle, 

                  Crape Myrtle

Purple Sage, 

                 Purple Sage Bush

wildflowers,

and Longhorns.

And I almost forgot the rivers and the Cypress trees that line them,

the "Real" country music, Cowboy Capital Opry and KNRH FM 92.3, (The Ranch.)

And of course the western cowboy towns.

And yes, we have the snakes, lizards, centipedes, and scorpions along with occasional flooding of low crossings and storms with hail and days and days with HOT temperatures.

No place is perfect but to us it's much like the song that says,

"Well, when I die, I may not go to heaven, I don't know if they let cowboys in, If they don't just let me go to Texas, Texas is close as I've been." Or as the posters say, "I wasn't born in Texas but I got here as quick as I could." Some of you should get a chuckle from that. Anyway we really enjoy hill country.

These are some of the reasons we have chosen to be here. One of my often used quotes is, "Everybody is where they are because they want to be there."

And how correct that is. If you aren't happy with your life, change it. You don't get different results by doing the same things. 

WHEREVER YOU ARE IN YOUR LIFE AND TRAVELS, ENJOY THE JOURNEY.