I know where I live and where I work and play, but where am I in this long journey of life?

I've accomplished so many things already. I've traveled the world. Although some on my bucket list of destinations will never be reached, I actually have experienced them vicariously through my children.

When I'm at my computer, I have a separate pair of eyeglasses that are trifocals. The ones I wear at the computer are bifocals, so I can read my reporting notes, without getting a crick in my neck. The glasses for all-day wear hang around my neck on a tether that my daughter brought back from her and her husband's trek in Peru, which included a visit to Machu Picchu.

Since I graduated from high school and received a book about archaeology, the title of which I do not recall, I have had Machu Picchu on my bucket list. The closest I ever got was a visit to Ecuador.

It's just as well I never got there, because when I reached the age of 14 years, I grew from 5 foot 2 inches to 5 foot 8 inches in about a year. I, during that growth spurt, developed an extreme case of acrophobia, which has remained with me ever since.

My daughter uploaded a bunch of photos of their experience. I would never have succeeded in getting down the steep rocky stairs that had no barrier or even a rope on the downward cliff side. I'm glad I did not arrive there to find that I would never experience walking IN the ruins of Machu Picchu.

I think often of things that did not happen that might have, but because of other circumstances, did not. Usually, I recognize that God and my guardian angel have had a part in keeping me safe and not disappointed.

The disappointment I would have felt at not being able to walk in Machu Picchu would have likely caused me great grief.

As an instance of safety, one day I was running late to get to an event, but it was one of those mornings that I call a "maximum perversity morning." All sorts of little things slowed me down in my hurry to get out the door—first my hair was not cooperating while I was trying to style it; then I started to my car and realized that I had forgotten my camera, which I needed to cover the event with photographs; again on my way to the car, I checked the camera and discovered I left the memory card in my computer. Back I went and this time I managed to get on my way.

I arrived at the usual four-way stop about five minutes from our rural house to discover an auto accident that had just happened, as the police and ambulance had not yet arrived. I might have been one of those vehicles, because I was hurrying and likely so was at least one of the other cars.

These realizations that God is with me every day have developed gradually over the past about 10 years as I get closer to the age when He may take me home.

Granted, I'm not quite ready to go yet, as I still have things I want to do in my life.

I have another book waiting to be written when I find time to compile the stories of area "old-timers" about their lives and their families' lives in the early to middle years of the 20th Century. A close friend, who has since unexpectedly died, published a monthly newspaper, for which I interviewed these men and women. She used to tell me all the time: "We need to put these interviews in a book." I plan to do so and dedicate the book to her.

Plus, another business I have tentatively begun involves editing and proofreading. You know from my earlier days of writing here that I am a grammar nerd. Typos and misspellings, especially ones not typed by me, tend to jump out at me and, yes, do tend to annoy me. My eyes keep going back to them and wanting to correct them. My writing, although I can cursorily proofread and edit it, I find more difficult to catch all the errors. After all, I know what I was writing, but my fingers didn't necessarily agree.

So, where am I? I'm still doing my daily digital newspaper work, trying to fit in gathering all the old-timer stories, and sporadically taking on proofreading and editing jobs.

Do I need to be doing all of this at the same time? Where is God leading me? I know I need to listen to Him more! He's probably telling me but can't get a word in edgewise.