Let's Get Acquainted!

  "Those who have not learned to enjoy the present with laughter
   May never quite know what to do with a joyous hereafter."

The above quote was written by Paul Armstrong, a college friend. He sent it to me some forty years later. We were both would-be poets in our teens, but he was far more serious than I, later being listed in "Who's Who of American Poets."  In this verse, he expresses the theme of my newsletter, 2nd Wind.

My writing is predominately optimistic and humorous.  As a result, you may think, "She must have had an easy life."  Anyone who lived through WWI, the 1918 flu epidemic, the Great Depression and WWII, did NOT have an easy life. These things were not something viewed on TV, with an "off button" available. They affected our daily lives, every one of us.  In addition, I can only remember two years out of the first fifty of our married life when George and I lived alone. Nor were those the first two years.  There was always someone who needed to move in with us, or needed us to move in with them.  I helped care for my bedridden father for five years and was the sole caregiver of my bedridden mother-in-law for eighteen months. It isn't what happens to you that matters, it's how you react to it. Therein lies the difference between resentment and acceptance. I don't remember either of us being unhappy or feeling overwhelmed. It was Life.

I have tried to bring this spirit to 2nd Wind.  While the material is predominately humorous, it is also, at times, nostalgic.  When I receive a message from one of my readers, saying,  "Your story in 2nd Wind reminded me....." you've made my day, because that's the idea.

George, my husband and partner of 63 1/2 years, made his transition six years ago at age 94. We had one birth child, Beth. Having been told that wouldn't happen, she was a total surprise after seventeen years. She was, and still is, our miracle. Other children were temporarily living with us enough that I'm not sure at what point Beth realized she was an "only."

My life continues to be full. I live alone, although Beth is here almost daily. I sing in a church choir, do church office work from my home, am chairman of a Prayer Circle and continue to write 2nd Wind monthly, sending it to a mailing list of 180. I am blessed.

Have I learned anything in 89 years and ten months?  I've learned the importance of Faith, Acceptance, Integrity and Humor.  Arm yourself with those four and you're ready to meet almost any challenge.

        Blessings, Darlys

Read more about Darlys in the June 2004 Sacramento Bee story, "Art of Correspondence Gets A 2nd Wind"!