Revision of Dating Milestones for those 50+

January 18, 2016September 4, 2022 / Laura Lee Carter / 19 Comments

I wrote this in 2016 and our marriage just keeps getting better!

Have you seen this old survey about dating milestones?

When should you first kiss? How about holding hands or meeting the parents? I love this stuff! They say kissing comes first and way before holding hands, and you should wait to meet the parents for at least six months! Five months before even mentioning the words “I love you.”

I’d like to propose the express version for those past age 50. Mike and I kissed on our first date, of course! After ten hours of talking non-stop, it was time to check out the chemistry. Few realize how important smell is in bonding with another. If things don’t smell right you’re sunk! Not to mention the general feel of getting up-close and personal.

News flash, we were head-over-heels in love almost immediately. Neither one of us had ever met another person we could relate to so easily!

So I met Mike’s dad within a week or so. He wasn’t the coolest dude I had ever met, but it was fine. He met my parents within three months. We took a road trip down to New Mexico and had a GREAT time together! Luckily he checked out with my parents.

Our wedding was also a bit of a rush job, partially because Mike’s dad was quite ill by then. We decided to get engaged in seven months and married in eight. I have to laugh at those brides on “Say YES to the Dress” who plan their weddings for a year or two. We had a couple weeks to organize it all, and it was still perfect in our eyes!

This year we will celebrate eleven years of marriage, and yes, our first impressions were correct. We still relate so well it scares us sometimes.

When it comes to falling in love and marriage at any age, I can highly recommend this great line from “When Harry Met Sally”

“When you finally meet the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, you want the rest of your life to begin as soon as possible!”

My Next Project: A Journal of Retirement

January 12, 2016February 11, 2017 / Laura Lee Carter / 8 Comments

I’m just beginning to get excited about writing my next book! This week I started collecting all that I have written in the past few years, and enjoying (in retrospect!) the process of how our retirement came about. Retirement for us was a bit of an ungraceful process, sort of like that joke about making sausage, but it happened all the same and most importantly, we survived!
It’s surprisingly fun and funny reading my old entries about trips to Ecuador, renovating our old house for sale, falling down the stairs, etc. I would guess this could make for some interesting reading for those who are just beginning to consider their retirement options.

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Mike fooling around down below!

I have decided to write it in journal-style, much like if the reader was reading my diary, as it happened. I have always enjoyed the intimacy of books written in this style.

This book will answer such questions as when and why did we first get interested in moving to Ecuador? Why did we lose interest? How did we decide to check out southern Colorado as a site for a solar home? How did we choose the architecture of this home? etc.

Basically this will be a summary of how this wonderful place all came about for us. How did we end up here, doing this at age 60?

I am filled with gratitude that I can now live like this forever. Please go learn more about our move from Fort Collins to here in my new memoir!

“I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.” – David Bowie

After the Snow, Lovely Sunshine!

January 9, 2016October 11, 2016 / Laura Lee Carter / 12 Comments

It snowed all day yesterday. It was so peaceful and beautiful…

And then this morning I woke up to the prettiest winter morning I could ever imagine… granted it is 3 degrees outside, but it is truly glorious!

The mountains in the distance are, of course, stunning from our front windows, but what thrills me the most is the sparkles in the newly fallen snow…

so hard to capture, and yet exactly like someone threw small diamonds all over the ground.

And here is an early morning photo of the tidy little valley below us…

just as the sun comes up to make our new day the best ever!

Click on photos for full-size views, and follow us on TWITTER!

I am filled with gratitude that I can now live like this forever. Please go learn more about our move from Fort Collins to here in my new memoir!

Solar Heating & Weather Patterns Northeast of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range

January 7, 2016October 15, 2016 / Laura Lee Carter / 5 Comments

Clouds over the Spanish Peaks in January 2016

Clouds over the Spanish Peaks in January 2016

After a few nice sunny days, we’re having a cloudy one today, with snow expected tomorrow morning. I am happy to report our first ‘winter’ electric bill was really not bad, less than we ever expected. This passive solar heating is definitely doing an excellent job of keeping us warm and happy!

It has been interesting to study and learn more about the weather patterns down here. The Sangre de Cristo mountains south and west of us, are the best predictor of snow storms coming this way. They almost always come from that way. When we see a storm up in those mountains, there’s an excellent chance we’ll also be snowing here soon.

I just released a new book about what we went through in the past two years, packing up our life in suburbia, moving to rural Colorado, and starting a whole new life.

Want to learn more about this move from busy, noisy Fort Collins to this place of silence and great weather watching? Go here!

And please follow us on TWITTER!

Turn This Resolution into a Revelation!

January 1, 2016October 11, 2016 / Laura Lee Carter / 2 Comments

Last year at this time, we were just beginning to see an actual home emerge from our slab, which took us five months to produce! This brings us to my new year’s revelation.

Why not start out 2016 on a note of gratitude? We really do have so much to be thankful for!

Why not let go of the old gripes and channel gratitude for a change? Need a little help? Go here and spend five minutes absolutely FOCUSED on this video. If you absorb this video every day, it WILL change your life.

I just saw the new Star Wars movie yesterday. My favorite line?

“When searching for a sense of belonging, seek not in what is behind you, seek in what is ahead.”

It’s a whole new year! What’s in it for you?

In addition, I just received this marvelous revelation from my niece’s FB page: Drinking champagne helps you fight off Alzheimer’s! Champagne became my favorite drink during construction, and so lets raise our glasses:

Here’s to those who wish us well, all the rest can go to hell!

I am filled with gratitude that I can now live like this forever. Please go learn more about our move from Fort Collins to here in my new memoir and follow us on TWITTER!

Concussion & Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): My Personal Experiences With Both

December 24, 2015August 23, 2017 / Laura Lee Carter / 9 Comments

With so much discussion of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and concussion in the news lately, I would like you to know more about these from a personal perspective. Most might say they know what a TBI or concussion is, but until you experience one, you do not. I know this because when I tell people I have had both, their eyes glaze over and they don’t respond.

In May of 2008 I apparently took a header over my bike handle bars and landed on my left cheek, ribs and thigh. This created chaos in my brain leading to internal bleeding, fractured ribs, deep thigh bruising and lung damage.

I say ‘apparently’ because I remember very little about the accident. Somebody found me on the ground and called an ambulance while my mind weaved in and out of consciousness for the next six hours.

Then this past September I fell backwards onto our stone floors and sustained a serious bleed and concussion in the back of my head, requiring staples. I am certain this accident occurred partially because of my previous injury, which affected my judgment and balance permanently.

The combination of these two accidents have caused me serious cognitive and physical impairments not visible from the outside. So when I tell others about these problems, they have no idea what I struggle with.

Every brain injury is different, but in my case, the long-term effects of my own injuries are: Memory loss, problems with balance, headaches, much confusion or feeling in a fog, amnesia surrounding the traumatic events, dizziness, ringing in my ears, great difficulties remembering words or spelling, delayed response to questions and extreme fatigue.

Ruth Curran, a hero of mine, also experienced a TBI in a car accident, and spent months trying to find the kind of help she needed to get better. Then she wrote a book to help others understand and feel better if they have also experienced brain injuries.

I just started reading Being Brain Healthy: What my recovery from brain injury taught me, and how it can change your life. I can highly recommend this book to those with brain injuries as well as those who want to maintain their present level of brain health.

I tell you these things for two important reasons. Please take care of the only personal computer you will ever have, and show compassion to those who have permanently injured theirs!

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How did this happen? How did I end up here, feeling so fortunate?

It’s a long story, one I can now share with you in my new memoir!