@tazscott....Lived on 2 different farms, 24 years total. Raised goats, sheep, rabbits, pigs, ducks, geese, chickens, cats and dogs. Every single birthing season was sheer delight for me. Every baby born gave me a thrill. Actually, sheep shearing, fence building, the daily egg search, milking, breeding, producing our own foods, buying and selling fine animals, haying season, picking veggies, canning salsa, well...I LOVED all of it!

After a very large cerebellar stroke, and 2 years later a fast growing aneurysm requiring the removal of 2 ribs and one of my neck muscles in a 71/2 hr. surgery at University of Michigan, I am now unable to work on farm, so sold it to son. Broke my heart, but happy son will carry on and keep it in the fam. Turned out perfectly because it was time to move north to care for 88 year old father. Much change, but worth it to make sure father gets the care he needs. The demands on me I volunteered for so not complaining. The shift in focus was very good for me. Now it's not all about me, my farm, my kids, their kids.....now it's all about my poor dad. He has terrible dementia, rheumatoid, but in good health despite his issues. He has taken a few headers over the last few months, so our major concern is his safety. This focus takes me out of my me zone and into providing loving care for the man who raised me. Nothing like being needed to deflect self focus and babying ones self. This has been a gift of sorts and I'm grateful for it. It's funny, but even if you've had issues with a parent...while caring for them, your love grows beyond measure.

Anyway, lots of words to say we all need a focal point in our lives, otherwise our focus is too often solely on how we feel. It's easy to do. Done it myself, but it doesn't take a genious to see that if we set our sights outside of our personal sufferings, we actually, without realizing it, begin to deal with our issues much better. They become secondary in our lives. I've a feeling you too have discovered that. And many others, here, too. JMJ

Oh! Most important to me is cultivating my Faith, hopefully making a more charitable and generous person out of this broke down old warhorse.