Poetry by Aunt Sarah

It's been almost a year since we lost Aunt Sarah.  I spent some time going through Sarah's photo and scrap albums while I was up visiting my family this past weekend.  It still isn't any easier for me to look through them.  I miss her so much.  Sarah not only was an inspiration to our entire family, but she also helped so many people in her life.  Countless numbers of blind kids grew up to be self sustaining independent adults because of the life skills she taught them.  She was living proof that there was nothing that they couldn't do. Not a lot of people realize this, but Sarah also wrote a lot. She wrote poems and stories, and also kept track through scrapbooks of all of the kids she was teaching.  I thought it would be a nice tribute to her to share some of these every once in a while on here, and today I am going to share one of her poems.  The title of this poem is "Take a Moment".  I hope you enjoy reading it. 

Think for a moment
What would life be
Without the help of someone
Who help the blind like me

Without the laugh of someone
Without the touch of a hand
Think what life would be
As you walk barefoot in the sand

What if there was no mobility
Or if there never was Braille
How could we write to each other
How could we keep on the trail

Life seems sometimes cruel
But life is dear and sweet
I thank you everyone
For keeping us on our feet
                               -Sarah Kate Rowley

Be back soon...

Hi everyone, I know it has been a while since I have posted an entry.  I've been pretty busy but I wanted to let you know that I did not disappear.  Look for a new blog post in the next couple of days!

Benefit or Curse?

I have a lot of energy.  I always have.  When I was a kid I always went to bed late and loved to stay busy doing as many things as I possibly could.  When I was a teen I would do crazy road trips where I would be up for 40 or more hours straight and never have a second thought about it.  People always used to tell me to enjoy it while I could because you won't have that kind of energy as you get older. 

Well, I am now approaching 35 years old.  Not only do I have as much energy as I did when I was kid, I think I actually have more.  I still have to be constantly on the move.  I can still stay up for extended periods of time without fatigue.  When most people are ready to call it a day, I want to keep going. 

I love that I have this kind of energy.  It helps confirm something that I have always believed which is that age is in the mind.  We only are as old as we think we are.  However, it does have a down side.  As I get older I am sleeping less.  My energy levels really spike at night so it makes it very difficult to go to sleep.  When I was young I would go to sleep about 11pm or 12 midnight.  Now, it is rare that I fall asleep before 2am. And if it wasn't for being introduced to melatonin supplements I would probably be getting even less sleep.  I don't feel tired during the day though.  I will admit that about once a month I crash, sleeping most of a day.  I guess my body just reenergizes itself monthly instead of nightly. 

So overall I guess I definitely look at the amount of energy I have as positive, with just a little curse on the side.  It would be nice to be able to fall asleep just an hour or two earlier than I normally do, or I just need to work on finding more things to do late at night lol. 

4th of July at Disneyland

I spent 4th of July at Disneyland of course.  All of the regular Disneyland traditions were back this year including the firework spectacular, decor on Main Street, and special entertainment.  Disneyland does a traditional flag retreat ceremony everyday, but for the 4th they did an extended ceremony with a performance by the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Band and an extended tribute to all divisions of our armed forces.  New this year was a 4th of July pre-show to World of Color which was really awesome!  This will be another photo blog so sit back, relax, and enjoy some of the sights of Disneyland on the 4th of July. 

Happy 4th of July!

I want to wish everyone a wonderful and safe 4th of July!  I hope that everyone will have a chance to see fireworks somewhere.  Long Beach did a pre-4th of July fireworks show tonight and I was able to get some great pictures.  So today's post will be all of my photos from tonight.  Hope you enjoy!