Welcome to Thankful Thursday. My goal for this blog is a place where people can learn something new. I hope that my blog becomes a place where we can learn from each other. My subscribers are from various ages and genders. Leave your ideas in the comments section. Hopefully, we’ll get some dialogue and learning taking place for each other. Living the Encouraged Life…Lynn

(cont. from last week) So, the police were happy to arrest Jerry, a repeat offender. The “two strikes you’re out” laws in Washington state locked him up, with a life sentence. Jerry then spent years locked up in many Washington state prisons. He adjusted to “life on the inside.”  One of the adjustments he got familiar with was the dental health. He learned that if he had a toothache, he would go to the penitentiary “dentist.” The tooth or teeth hurting him would be extracted, thus ending his pain.

So, as he started describing the Tacoma he grew up in, I totally understood his description. See, in that area of Tacoma, we (me and my siblings) told strongly, by our parents, that we should NEVER go into that area. I was just certainly a “chick from the sticks” during that time.

At 89 years old, Derlin Newey from Utah was still delivering pizzas about 30 hours a week — not because he wanted to, but because his pension wasn’t enough to cover his bills. One of his regular customers, the Valdez family, always asked for Derlin to bring their order, recording his visits and his signature greeting: “Hello, are you looking for some pizza?”
When these videos were shared on TikTok in early 2023, thousands of people grew to love Derlin. After finding out he was working because he had to, the community came together and raised $12,000 as a surprise tip.

As Americans, the collective innocence, held by many, died on that day, along with the 2,996 people. My children were 7 and 3. My school, had a strong contingency of children from Navy families. They stayed home that day and for many, even the week.

Some mothers say they wish they could go back to those former days with their children. I have rarely felt that way. As their mom, I am very curious about their current and future life. So, I ask lots of questions to learn what they are currently thinking and doing.

I became aware of Dahlias about five years ago. I have not yearly dug up the tubers and stored them in sawdust like all the directions state. I just wanted to avoid the chore of yearly digging them up, storing them, and then replanting the tubers again the next spring. Some of them would survive our wet winters here in the Northwest, but most of them would die. So, I would buy new tubers and plant them again. Last year I tried to wrap them in the ground with ziplock bags.

Getting out of the pool on the ladder was challenging. I almost gave up and started to crawl to the women’s locker room once my body was at the top of the ladder. So, I decided to try to add a lap every week to my swimming. Now, five months latter I am typically swimming for 30 minutes. I can get out of the pool without needing to crawl. It is just the concept of two steps forward, one step backward.