Eleanor's Way

Anyone that knows me well knows  I have read many books written about Eleanor Roosevelt and my favorite is authored by her eldest son, Elliot Roosevelt titled Mother R.  After all the books I have read, this one brought me full circle of her life and her thoughts about the life she lived now that she was old and many of the family were dead.

She knew her life was important and she had work to do for others.  Her acute awareness of the position she had as first lady with personal wealth, motivated her to do as much with her life as possible. People took advantage of her, family betrayed her, still she soldiered on with an olive branch in her hand. 

Her home in Hyde Park, NY., named 'Val-Kill' I have visited many times. The parking lot outside her cottage is a quiet place to have lunch, afterwards I would walk the 3 mile trail up to 'Top Cottage,' a place FDR had built to have alone time.

Walking in her footsteps thinking of her life and what she might think as she walked there, family problems, relationship problems, and later in life money problems, yet she sojourned on, with the knowledge she could manage any curve balls life threw at her and she did manage right up to the end.  I have silent reverence for her because of her ability to look at the mistakes she made with her own life and children and think if she had things to do over...  Still we can't go back but we can have regrets without judgments, facts not judgments.

We can learn from her mistakes, this is why I state over and over to parents to stay with you children, teach them to have fun being little before thy take on the problems of an adult world, those adult worries will be there forever after they are placed on those little shoulders.  Best to play as long as possible before those adult problems are your childish burdens.

Our son knew I liked nature trails and years ago made a nature trail in the back of our house into the woods for exercise and enjoyment.  Now that I am older, I walk that trail often and think of Eleanor and our son, both have huge hearts to give to others, and I 'm thankful.

I'm thinking of naming the trail "Eleanor's Way."

Back to writing my book, I plan to have it to the publishers this month, we'll see.  So if I don't write the blog as often as I'd like you know why. This book ain't going to write itself... back to editing... Thank you Eleanor and Steve. I love you.