I am inspired by Miss Norma, age 90 who had a year of adventure

I bought this book about a 90 year old lady who sets out on a grand adventure. I had lots of smiles and some tears while reading "Driving Miss Norma: One Family's Journey Saying YES to Life", many of the tears being happy tears. Does anyone else cry when they hear about a beautiful moment?
Now that I am a senior citizen, and have had close family members die in the past few years, I find myself thinking about mortality and this book hit the spot for me. Norma's last year was beautiful and full of good things and experiences.

Miss Norma is 90 and when her doctor gives her a terminal diagnosis she tells him “I am 90, I'm hitting the road”, whereupon she sets out to travel for a year to places she chooses with her son and his wife in their thirty six foot mobile home. 

They have five star adventures everywhere and her final year was filled with fun and things new to them all, including a balloon ride, eating oysters in New Orleans, a zip line ride in North Carolina and riding a horse for the first time at age 90. Instead of a few months of harrowing treatments followed by death Norma had adventures with her loved ones and gained a bit of fame with TV interviews and official welcomes. They visited places she chose including Bar Harbor, Mackinaw City, the Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone. It turns out her family had ties to President Ford and they got a personal tour of the USS Gerald R. Ford in the shipyard as it prepared to be launched. Tim and Ramie live in their RV year round and consider Baja California, Mexico, the closest thing to a home, and Norma visited there too.

For a shy lady she truly blossomed and Tim and Ramie were glad they chose to take Norma with them in her year of being 90. And don’t forget their standard poodle Ringo who cherished Norma too. Tim contrasted his mom’s happy final year to the tough final months of his dad who a year earlier chose painful treatment and stayed home.

I bought the hard cover book and enjoyed the many color photographs.The cover is a photo of the real Norma and Ringo.

Hats off to Norma and to Tim and Ramie as they spent a year making many dreams come true. Tim wrote that he got to know his mom in ways he never had before. This journey was a gift for each of them, and I enjoyed it too.
This book reminded me to think about how I spend my day. Am I kind, thoughtful, prayerful, with some fun or adventure sprinkled in? Am I trying new things? That is my aim. Now that I am retired and a widow it is easy to me to get stuck in my comfortable rut, so this book offers a good inspiration for me. How about you? Are you trying new things?

Kitchen improvements, new counter, sink, dishwasher

The new kitchen counter is installed, hurray. I have the use of my kitchen again. The counter is quartz Silestone, Kona Beige. I decided to have the back splash of the same stone. I had the counter extended to include my built in dishwasher so the counter is longer. Soon I will paint the white strip at the end of the counter.

I kept the solid wood cabinets which my husband painted. The roses are from my Bonica Floribunda rose bush, which is about six feet wide and six feet tall and I planted it in 1998. The sink is an undermount, something I had not heard of before designing the area. It means the stone overhangs the sink edges so it is easy to clean the counter. The sink is extra deep and my dog can swim laps in it, almost. Not really, 3 inches deep water is plenty deep; he likes baths.

This is a closeup of the Kona Beige counter which shows the pattern. I am taking a needed rest from kitchen and home improvements. Next up is a new wall oven, but not yet. Time to chillax, as they say.

Happy Birthday Beloved USA

God Bless America and let's stand strong.