Appreciation..

Lynne over at Lucky Snapping here has set us a lovely prompt today and I am going to get ahead and give you my ten penneth on a Monday for once!

She has asked us what we appreciate, basing this on Voltaire's quote :

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well...

I think the thing I appreciate most of all is health., whether that is mine, my family's or good health in general. You just don't appreciate how great it is to be well until you have an off day or hurt yourself and all your plans are in turmoil. Similarly how hard it is to see the people you love suffering, whether it is something small or having to deal with the emotional fallout of an issue as much as the physical.

Then there is family..

 Yesterday was my brother's 64th birthday and we spoke on the phone for the first time in ages. Not that we had disagreed on anything, life just got in the way and we hadn't made time for it...not that I hadn't thought almost every day that I must call him soon!   He sounded great and says he is still fishing, a trip every couple of weeks, but he doesn't have to do too much manual work now, he is the skipper and 'find them the fish', the best use of all his experience, all 50 plus years of it I'm sure.

Our dad died at the age of 47 and a few days. My Mum was only 44 at the time and many a day I ponder how she must have felt and how grateful we all should be to have our health and consequently our life and loves for so many more years than they did.  Ken once said he thought he wouldn't be old but hey compared to Dad he did great already!

We talked a lot, caught up on the latest news, those 'hatched, matched and dispatched', as you do when you see friends and family after a while. We have 13 children between us, so Mum and Dad did well having the only two children from their direct families and us giving 13 grandchildren!  We agreed that is is quite special having a houseful of children, all those personalities and possibilities for the future.  My kids tease me about who is the favourite, like one of them may be loved more than the rest, but the best bit about having a big family is that each one brings more love and its not about sharing out a limited amount amongst more people!


I really like living close to where I have always lived, knowing that I don't have to go far before I meet someone who even if they are not a close relative, they may have shared some common history and perhaps loved and appreciated the same things.. there I go again, playing that nostalgia card.. 

.. I will add some more appreciation thoughts later in the week.. 

.. and send loves to Zac if he reads this from the bridge of the Star Princess out off Alaska somewhere!

Before I go.. I think we all appreciate massively, yet take for granted sometimes, the huge and fantastic advances in technology that have moved my life from writing copious pages of family news and sending out with Mr Postie in the hope it will not pass the recipient as they travel home..to the email / Facebook / Blogger friendly world we live in, instant notes that have made the world a so much smaller place, letting our lad be on the opposite side of the world to us yet able to feel 'as close as the phone.. well Facebook or Blogger!'

Well my bum hurts sitting on this wooden stool so I am going in search of a laying down place!