THE WARM BLANKETS OF COMFORT

The ocean

Yes, the sounds of the waves and the lapping of the water as it comes to a halt, then recedes...they comfort me. The roar of a storm demands my attention...forcing me to let go of troubling thoughts...to focus.

good to see you mapleleaf

I'm not a church goer either, but just being in a church (doesn't matter what denomination) makes me feel good (you'd think that would make me go regularly, but it doesn't -- besides then it might not be such a good feeling). The other thing that brings me comfort is certain smells. Vanilla is one of them (it's too long a story to explain why), but there are others, too.

I, too, find comfort in churches...especially old country ones. In a way, it was the members of the Meadowbrook Baptist church in Anderson, Indiana who raised me. My parents were good people, but I had to find my way through life. The Meadowbrook community nutured me, challenged me and pointed the way.

So, in your case, visiting a church is like revisiting your childhood. I'm not sure why I feel so good in them since my family was never heavy into church-going.

I guess so...I suspect there is more to it. My people were farmers and blue collar folks based in SW Missouri. I have very warm feelings for the rough wooden homes and weather etched families of those times.

I am a student and once a teacher of history. And too, in recent years I have buried my mother and soon, my father. During such times, one tends to recall the past.

This is very true, mapleleaf. And I also believe as we get older, and nearer to our own demise, we begin to seek comfort more and more in our past (perhaps, I suppose, because it often seems easier to rememember the past than the present).

WARM BLANKETS OF COMFORT
Hi Mapleleaf & Welcome Welcome!!
So good to see you again.
I would hazard a guess that not
many people will not have any idea as to
what"comforts" them, for we may have
turned over control of the thermostat
who? where? what?
Money$$$$$$$$???
Looks, Success, whatever that means???
Booze ??? seems to be mighty popular
The people next door, if they get
a new front porch-we get one better.???
The JOB our entire SELF becomes so embedded
in what we do, that we forget who we are???
I can tell you this because I lost me somewhere
along the way, and then found me again. I do
not intend to go round losing me anymore. I
am precious to me. I am valuable to me. So,
I know what blankets me with comfort, what
comforts me;
1. calm quiet thoughtful time alone to myself
2. the truest love that I can share with another
human being
3. the sound, smells and sight of the ocean
4. a really warm blanket when I am chilled
5. my very own bed, at home, is like heaven
after being away for a week.
6. MUSIC - my mood can be vastly altered by
applying just the right kind of sounds. It is
just like medicine.
7. We once traveled from Florida to Stowe, VT
No. not to ski, I have rheumatoid arthritis.
I wanted something real bad - just for me
I wanted to go for a ride in a horse drawn sled in
the snow, at night, in the moonlight, sleigh belled
blanketed, moonlighted - We did that AND burned
a ton of wood in the fireplace, made angels in the
snow, got my horse drawn sleigh ride, & now,
I am comforted in the knowledge that I can be
trusted, to be counted on, to cover me with warm
blankets of comfort - whenever needed, I'll be there.

Not to mention Vince Gill singing
"Go Rest High On That Mountain"

comfort
For me it's, among other things, a large meal of basic Italian food (nothing fancy) with lots of wine and good friends
--and the knowledge that after my death I will not even know I ever existed (total peace and noone to even be in peace). Believe it or not, it was Stalin who once said that death is the solution to all of one's problems. Let me push this last point: we worry so much about our "after life" but never seem to think about our "before birth". Why is one so problematical while the other is not?

Ohhh yesssss...I shall return...so much to mention.

Areas of comfort: I thought about my new town (three + years) today. For example: after lots of trial and error I have found a dependable car repair place within a mile of home. No worries. When the '93 Mercury Grande Mar gets sick, I know where to go. I may use this car another 10 years. I am comfortable, at ease, with the situation. I should also mention we just bought a 2002 for my wife to drive (also long trips). There is a warrenty and a 800 emergency number which should provide her with some sense of security (comfort).

Onto Babs entry of 12/10/02 at 1:30 AM.
This posting opened the door to what comforts us. It is worth taking the time to review. I want to react to some of his detailed responses:
1. Oh yes, I like time to myself. When my wife leaves the help with the Gndkid or meet a friend, it is an opportunity for me. I have told her the same so that she doesn't feel guilty driving two hours to help with the new baby. Sometimes she is gone for days.
3. The ocean, a thunderstorm, wind in the trees...nature definitely comforts my soul.
4. I love, love, love going to bed in a cold room with my flannel PJs and a thick blanket.

Ah Babs, you stirred the waters of my comfort zone.

Staring at the ocean, watching clouds, spying on birds going about their daily "business", that is what comforts me. Listening to beautiful music, be it a Beethoven Symphony or a Dvorak chamber piece, gives me the "warm fuzzies".

Mapleleaf, thanks for bringing me more down to earth. I LOVE to sit in my favorite chair in my book-lined study, wearing flannel PJs, a thick robe and comfy slippers with brandy and a book by Trollpe, Wharton, Scott Fitzgerald, Lawrence or Turgenev, during a stormy winter night--not much of them where I live in the southwest.

JL, that sounds L O V E L Y...and so, so...what do I want to say...comfy.

Lately, it is church for me too. 3 yrs. ago we moved to Texas where I lived until I was 19, and all the time in between up north.

Now, here I am living in the country just as I did those 19 years. We attended a Church of Christ nearby (small!) and as I remembered tears came to my eyes and I felt, oh, just silly is all. Since those years I've spent a vast amount of time studying all religions, metaphysics, wrote about and facilitated 12 step programs. So, the old songs got to me. All the singing, the talk about missionaries in foreign lands, the pot luck afterwards.

It also gives me comfort to see people waving from their cars, saying "Hi ya doin?" just about anywhere. At first these things annoyed me, now I think I would miss it.