Looking Forward, Looking Back, by Peggy Jaeger

 Hard to believe we are finally going to put a pin in 2021 in a few days. I mean...come on - this hasn't been the best year for the world, has it?

To put things in perspective, though, my little world did okay in 2021. No one in my immediate family got Covid or any of its variants because we were all hyper-vigilant: got vaccinated, got boostered, never stopped wearing masks in public, vigorous handwashing, and avoided crowds.

It can be done, kids. If more people would get with the program we'd be through this by now.

Enough soapbox.

2021 saw a surge in my writing and publication. 7 books done and out in the reading world; one new publisher; a couple contest wins and many new writing avenues opened for me.

Not too bad.

On a personal note ( well, a few of them!) my first grandchild was born. I've always heard that your first grandchild changes you. It did. It made me more concerned about the future of our planet, our democracy, my own health -because I want to be around to see him grow to adulthood and beyond - and my legacy for when I am gone.

To that end I've embarked on a road I should never have been out on: extreme weight loss. So far I've lost 20 pounds, which if you know anything about weight loss after 60, is amazing. I have another 30 to go and that's one of my looking forward goals. I want to maintain my health and physical mobility until I die and doing this is the best way to ensure that. Wish me luck.

As far as 2022 goes, I've got many things on the docket that look promising.

I've got a new publisher I'm thrilled to be working with.

I've got 8 books planned for release this year, two of them in multiple author packs.

We've got a family trip planned for July - our first in 3 years.

We've got one big family wedding planned for May.

I turn 62 in May, as well. That's a significant number because if I wanted to I could get social security now. Not going to, but just knowing I can is something.

I've got three major book signing events I'm traveling to in 2022. I haven't been to a major signing since 2019 and the last RWA I attended.

I hope, looking forward as well, we can get out of the grips of this virus. I don't want to see one more child have to wear a mask to school or one more person be unable to hug and visit with friends. 

I hope serious change will be made in how we take care of the poor, the mentally ill, our children, our environment, our planet. 

I hope we can finally - FINALLY - recognize that we are more alike than different and understand the differences don't make us bad people.

And I hope health, happiness, success, and a sense of peace is prevalent in my life, everyone I know, and the world as well.

Happy Holidays, everyone.

May joy, love, peace and happiness fill your days and warm your hearts

~ Peg

Peace of mind...

 I must admit that this month's topic -- Peace --was a difficult one for me to wrap my brain around and write about. Usually, my blogs are already written and scheduled weeks before they need to be posted. Not this month.

After much consideration and thought, I finally figured I'd write about something near and dear to me: peace of mind.

Let me 'esplain.

I've been dealing with several family issues of late at opposite ends of the life spectrum. 

Many of you may know my mother recently broke her second hip in three years due to a fall at home. My parents, Mom is 85, and stepdad is 83, live in a mobile home 25 miles from me in another state. They have been self-sufficient and independent forever and they are a bit isolationist, in that they have no family ( except me) or friends. They were housebound for 16 months during the height of the pandemic and I have been relegated to managing their lives for them. I cook for them, pay their bills, shop for them and clean their house once a week. While my mother spent 2 months in the rehab center learning how to walk again, I would travel twice weekly to see her and take my stepdad to visit her. He was lost without her. They have been married almost 60 years and have done, and do, everything together as a unit. My parents never learned how to drive a car so I am their sole means of transport anywhere.

I don't tell you all this for any other reason but this: my mother was sent home last month from the rehab and since then I have been visiting them twice a week, and still doing all the above for them, but my peace of mind comes from knowing they are together again and able to continue to live in their own home. Yes, I run it for them and basically manage their lives, but they are together. My parents are that quintessential couple where if one partner dies, the other will die soon after of a broken heart.

To know I can keep them in their own home, together, until that happens makes my heart and mind calm.

The other end of the spectrum is that my daughter is having her first child in a few months. And as any potential grandmother would, I was very worried in the beginning that she would have a good pregnancy. She really didn't because she was tired and nauseous for almost 6 months - just like I was with her. Apples and trees, people; apples and trees. Plus, she got pregnant during the pandemic, so my anxiety went through the roof.

But, she has crossed over into her seventh month and all is well. She has a wonderful, supportive, and loving husband and excellent access to health care. She is healthy, happy and finally feeling like her old self. Well, as much as she can with a baby on board, so my peace of mind has returned. Yes, I'm still worried about the delivery and the first three months of the baby's life, but I am secure in the hope that all will be well.

Peace of mind is an elusive thing nowadays. Worry about Covid, the economy, my mortality and that of those around me, the horrible state of the world right now, have all taken a toll on me the last year.  To be granted some peace of mind, body and spirit is a life-sustaining aspect of my daily existence.

So, I'll end with a quote that I have always  loved: