And now for the word 'UP'

I will take credit for my thinking about the word 'TIME' and writing about it. I cannot, however, take credit for this one. I did find it ironic that this arrived today in my email and thought you would enjoy it.

Lovers of the English language might enjoy this.....How do
non-natives ever learn all the nuances of English???

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings
than any other two-letter word, and that word is "UP."

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the
top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ?

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?

We call UP our friends and we use it to brighten UP a room,
polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock
UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.

At other times the little word has real special meaning.
People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP
excuses.

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing:

A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP .

We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at
night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP !

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the
word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4
of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the
many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't
give UP , you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP . When
the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it wets UP the
earth.

When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on & on, but I'll wrap it UP , for now my time
is UP , so ....

Time to shut UP.....!

Oh...one more thing:
What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last
thing you do at night?

U P

Time

I have suddenly become facinated with the word 'Time'. I'm not sure just when this started, but lately I have been thinking about it. There are songs with the word time in them such as Time In A Bottle, Give Me Just A Little More Time, Time Is On My Side.

We use the word in so many ways. If I only had time, it is time for lunch, I'm running out of time, it was her time to go, time for a vacation, time to take your pills, bedtime, play time, rest time, time to go, the bus takes too much time so I will take a plane, I didn't have enough time, time flies.

Some DO time in prison, MAKE time for others, TAKE time to smell the roses, SERVE time in the military, GIVE of their time, learn to TELL time.

It can be a sign of the times, hard times, a time of war, time to marry, time to have children, time to die.

I'm sure you can think of many other examples......and I'm sure you will take the TIME to do that.

Perhaps this word means more to me now. I used to think that when I had more time I would read more books. Now I read them but don't remember any of what I read. I used to think when I had more time, I would go many places but now I can't drive alone. This disease has taught me to think about time. The time I have wasted, the time I have left, the way I spend my time.

Maybe it is time for you to think about it too.

Family and Friends

Every day I chat on the internet with both people with dementia and with those that care for loved ones with dementia. We are, I think, a great help to one another. We share stories both happy and sad. We share ideas. We share losses and gains. We laugh and we cry........together. They are my friends and they are my family. We share a kinship that doesn't require us to have ever met face to face. They are from all over the world but our experiences with this insidious disease have bound us together like we have grown up together either as family or friends.

Today we talked about our other family and friends. Our 'real' families and the friends we have had in our lives before this disease stole so much from us. We talked about how they reacted to the diagnosis, how some of them are now gone from our lives. Is it because they are busy, because they can't take this diagnosis, because they don't know what to say, because we weren't that important to them in the first place? We may never know....but I do know that at first I missed them very much. I couldn't understand what had changed. Now I don't dwell on it much because I have found out who my 'real' friends are. They are the ones that call just to ask how Vince and I are doing, the ones that know when I'm having a bad day and truly understand, the ones that show me the way if I am lost, help me when I'm confused, allow me time to form my words, but can also finish my sentences when I just can't find the words. They are not ashamed to be out in public with me, even though they know that sometimes it is 'iffy' on how I will act at any given moment. They look out for me. They treat me just the same even if that means giving me a hard time. They laugh with me, cry with me, travel with me and love me just the way I am. Time or distance doesn't deter them from their mission to be a friend.

My family has been wonderful. I am blessed with a loving husband, a wonderful son and daughter-in-law, great step children and grandchildren that love to include grandma in games and secrets. I was told by one that I am not the typical grandma. I don't talk about unicorns and rainbows. She is 13 and just one of my wonderful grandchildren. She and I talk about life and boyfriends, and music, and all things silly. My brothers have been supportive and we talk more now than we did before this thing call Alzheimer's crept into our lives. So many with this disease have been abandoned by their families, left to cope with this one their own.

I am so lucky! Some people go through their lives thinking that so many people are their friends and that family will love them unconditionally. Not so. I was given the opportunity to weed out the ones that loved me for what I could do for them..... make their life easier at work, when I had more money, when I could drive them places, when I could help them when they were sick. Please don't get me wrong -- I will still do these things for my friends and family whenever I can. It is just that now I know who these people really are.

Thank you so much for being my friends and family. I love you.