Or, watch  the video “Someone Like You” below…the way she looks at the camera looks like she is talking to someone specific.   As you can see from her NPR performance and this video, her voice can carry itself without a lot of help. You can actually hear music coming from her soul, instead of the manufactured ‘noise’ that is too common on the radio.

To best view this video, click on the Full Screen icon on the bottom right corner of video and just close out those annoying ads.

According to the story, she did not use any fertility drugs. These days, that is big news. Remember when John Travolta’s wife got pregnant at 47?  And it was headline news?

What’s strange is, before the days of birth control and accessible abortions, more women did have children in their 40′s and early 50′s, but no one made such a big deal out of it. It may not have been commonplace, but it certainly wasn’t considered to be headline news. Now we are programmed to think that having a baby after 35 is dangerous, and in the 40′s, a potential disaster. The woman in the story has been called “selfish” and been told to “get an abortion” by perfect strangers.

My opinion, not that anyone asked, is “God bless that cute little baby and both his parents.” Both parents seem to be happy with their new arrival, have jobs, and seem intelligent enough to have a back up plan for their baby should something happen to them.

What is YOUR opinion?

Read the Full Story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2091336/Debbie-Hughes-Grandmother-whos-mum-53.html

You can comment directly on this blog, by hitting the comment button at the top left of this story, or if you have no time, take this poll

Surprise!

Ronnie is the heart of Magnolia, he knows everyone, and everyone knows him to be warm, sweet and occasionally funny. He would give you the shirt off his back,  he’s a good friend to all, and I hear he’s not a bad brother either! 

So, everyone was eating, drinking and chatting, when suddenly, Elvis popped up from out of nowhere! I think he’s been living in the basement of the Patio Restaurant, and he occasionally comes up when he smells a good meatloaf cooking, to sing a song, or flirt with women…

From left, JoAnn, me, Cathy, Linda and Elvis!

The King never stops flirting. Here he is with Debbie and family!

Carolyn and Mike have a few laughs, I think Mike might be attempting to dance...

When Elvis left the building, we turned our full attention to Ronnie celebrating his milestone birthday.  Here he is with his brothers and sisters…

Sometime soon I will post something about people turning 50. If you want to contribute any thoughts or short stories on the topic, feel free.

Click on the pictures below to make them larger…more pics of Ronnie’s birthday bash!

…can capture beauty,  of the more exotic,  earthy, and natural kind…

…often has a dream-like quality which expands our minds…

…can lift our spirits and make us feel anything is possible…

…or evokes emotion including fear…

…can give us a moment of peace…

…or can make us willingly get lost, in a universe turned sideways.

and here is a lovely picture of my friend Cathy, sister of one of the crew who was lost at sea.

Jacob and one of his Striper catches. He also caught the most amount of bait (mackerels?) for the day.

The boat fit 4 passengers and Captain Steve. He let Jacob steer us back to the harbor, and Jacob was a natural captain. The boat was meant for fishing but for me, it was a speedboat, because I don’t think I have ever moved so fast on the water in a boat that size. At points when we hit waves it was like being on a roller coaster–fun!

Noah, after he reeled in a Striper, all by himself

I did catch a few, and Noah reeled most of mine in.

To learn more about taking a private fishing trip in Maine with Captain Steve, click here. http://stevebrettell.com/index.html

For more pics and videos, click on the “More” button just below this…

I will leave you a partial quote from General MacArthur: “You do not grow old by having lived a certain number of years. You grow old by deserting your dreams.”

Enjoy the end of summer and look forward to a beautiful fall,

Terry

But just when is midlife? Average life expectancy in the U.S. is 78. So the halfway point is 39. Coincidentally, in the year preceding a person’s 40th birthday is when many mid-lifers begin questioning the quality of their own lives. However, it seems to me that mid-life is not just one year or one number. There are three general periods of life: the young years, the middle years, and the later years.

If we divide 78 by three, we end up with three stages of 26 years each:

• 0-26 Young years
• 27-52 Middle years
• 53-78 and beyond: later years

So you’re saying to yourself, “27 is middle-aged?”   Yes…if we divide these stages evenly. But we could look at it another way…

• 0-29 Young years
• 30-65 Middle years
• 66-78 and beyond: Later years

These numbers are presented merely to open a few eyes, when in fact, mid-life can be described as more of an attitude than a bunch of numbers. During mid-life, we gain an increasing awareness of our own mortality. We realize that someday we will not be on this Earth, at least not in the same form. We begin re-evaluating the decisions we made that created our current circumstances. Some parents, though they love their children, wonder why raising them was not as rewarding as once dreamt. We wonder why we never knew that relationships were complicated, sometimes hard work, and never like they describe in the fairy tales.

We wonder if there’s more to life than the jobs we tolerate– where we waste away for 40 hours a week just to make ends meet. We wonder if we had any impact in making the world  a better place? What goals were reached? And for some, we wonder about an afterlife…is there one? And will we be punished for our mistakes in the afterlife?

I throw all of these questions out there to open a dialogue. I do not have the answers! Send me any thoughts you have about midlife, what it means to you, what concerns you have, or even if you think your life needs no re-evaluation whatsoever! Perhaps you are perfectly happy in the exact life you want and you have no worries about aging. If that is the case, I want to hear about it!

On a related note, I recently accepted a writing challenge. The challenge was to write a poem about mid-life in less than 30 minutes—no rules—no matter how messy or “unprofessional.” My result is below. Feel free to send me any of your thoughts in regular form or in the form of a poem.

Untitled

They call it a midlife crisis

I call it an awakening

A realization

That we are more than halfway to Death’s Door

And we have not yet lived.

Guest singer, Jake Owen…

This one is a bit blurry, of singer Jake Owen, but I thought it looked kind of neat.

and back to Keith…