How to Survive the Long, Dark, Cold Winter in Minnesota&#33; <br /><br /><br />Number one: you have to have a good TV...and a great stereo system...a pool table won&#39;t hurt..and a bar with a few goodies. Two White Russians are good. Only once in awhile, though. LOL <br /><br />Someone to share your time with, playing pool, listening to music, and reminicing of times of past with the great music of the days gone by.  What ever happened to all that great music, by the way?&#33;&#33;&#33;Today&#39;s hard rock or hip-hop just doesn&#39;t cut it for me. LOL <br /><br />I remember a few weeks back watching &quot;Mama Mia&quot; and dancing in my chair with Meryl Streep to &quot;Dancing Queen.&quot; I can remember when I was &quot;Dancing Queen&quot; when I was seventeen. Shy old me, was converted to &quot;Dancing Queen&quot; when the music started, and it didn&#39;t hurt to have one or two drinks. LOL <br /><br />How many of us wonder of those days gone by...how is so and so...what would it have been like if I married him. When we sit here in our aging years and still feel seventeen inside, but have too much pain to dance sometimes...it&#39;s still a great blessing to have such wonderful memories of days gone past. It&#39;s always fun to go down memory lane, but sometimes it hurts a bit, too. I can&#39;t believe how fast the years have gone, and now I&#39;m considered a senior citizen...well almost. <br /><br />When I was seventeen, I was beautiful...  ... OK, so I wanted to be. ...LOL...So when I danced I was the &quot;Queen.&quot; My hair was long and pretty, and dark and shiny, I had big brown eyes, my figure was great, 100 pounds less,   <img src="http://www.cruisecrazies.com/community/images/forum/tr-emoticons/blink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blink:" border="0" alt="blink.gif" />   my breasts were up where they should be...LOL Ok...enough of that. LOL <br /><br />How many of us think of days gone by and wonder where the time has gone. I can look back at the pain and suffering and thank God that I made it through, and be happy for today...but I will always think of the days before. So many days of wonder, and learning, and fun...and also the tough times. <br /><br />Life wasn&#39;t perfect back then...I came from a disfunctional family, my parents were divorced, and my step-dad beat my mom, but I always knew I was loved. And love is what makes the world go round.  It even helps you to forgive. <br /><br />In these cold, winter nights when we have fun, and time together visiting in the house, we also have time to reminice of the old days. It seems like a different life time, and a whole different world back then. It seems like yesterday, but then again a lifetime ago. How different the world is today..but then in some ways the same. <br /><br />For all the tough times of yesteryear, and the good times, and all the fun...I can&#39;t help thinking of what&#39;s to come, and hoping and praying for my children and grandchildren, and all of our children. No matter what my family life was back then...I lived in a free country, and the times today are scary and uncertain, almost apocalyptic. <br /><br />I know we had the worries about nuclear war back in the sixties...we talked about building our basement safe places...but then decided we would never survive it anyway. No matter what we did back then...good or bad, most of us had faith that carried us through...we seem to be in a world today that wants to take our faith away...and also what we&#39;ve worked so hard to build, but my hopes and dreams are of a world renewed with love and faith, and hope in the future for our loved ones and ourselves...and the past dreams and loves will always be with us. Whatever the future holds for us we can survive with our faith, and our loved ones. <br /><br />OK...so you&#39;ve probably figured out that I had a couple of drinks...actually one and a half above my two limit. lol ...and am feeling sentimental...lol well, you&#39;re right&#33; I love you all, and wish the best for all my family, and my dear friends here, and everywhere. God Bless...and I hope that we see some beautiful Spring weather, soon&#33; LOL <br /><br />Marc wants me to go to the casino tomorrow (tonight) with him, but I have a feeling that I will have a little headache.  LOL<br /><br />By the way...Marc beat me in all three of our pool games. LOL I do sometimes win, though...LOL <br /><br />Have a great day, dear friends&#33; Love and Hugs&#33;<br />_________________<br /> <br />