BEING IMPORTANT

Aubrey is the center of our world when she comes to visit. We screen calls, prepare favorite foods and play what she wants. Every so often she has what we call a melt down. It is caused by Grandma deciding that we will not do what she wants. When this happens it is time to use all my counseling expertise to correct the problems. One of the things that works is giving Aubrey the set of markers that write on windows. I then give her the assignment to draw her anger. We don’t do this very often. We don’t have many meltdowns and we have other things that work as well. This week when I handed her the markers she asked if she had to draw her anger. Couldn’t she draw something else? For the next half hour she drew and drew. Although she didn’t draw anger she did draw weather. First a rainbow, then sunshine, clouds, lightening, tornados, and wind. Once she was finished she got a wet towl and cleaned the window of all unpleasantness. She left her rainbow.

SPRING

This is a time of year when there are religious celebrations throughout the world. For some the Spring Solstice or Circle-of-Life celebration is a time of renewal. Tomorrow is Passover for the Jewish people of the world. The next 3 weeks finds Christians celebrating Easter. Celebrations of the eastern cultures include the Islam's Prophet Muhammad’s birth and the birth and Enlightenment of Buddha. Even the Atheists are having their “Can God Survive” conference.


Recently I have been thinking about my own religious experience. During my childhood my mother had times of religious zeal followed by anti-religious sentiment. During one time of zeal she would insist we had prayer together as a family. She always prayed. During her prayers she would say ‘’Dear God, forgive Lorrie (or other child’s name) for not cleaning her room (or other offending thing we had done). I grew up fearing God and not thinking I could ever match up to what was expected by a god.


The years have certainly passed and my attitude about religion has also. I recognize that religion is important in a society. It helps to teach us how to behave and be civil. I have thought about my own religious beliefs and how my life is different because of my beliefs.

• I am good enough
• I want to help my fellow man
• I don’t ever want to be angry
• I want to be honest
• I want to forgive (the hardest part)
• I want to love unconditionally
• I want to find joy in life
• Vacations are nice by I don’t want to retire
• I want to work hard my entire life at making the world a better place
• I want to be known as non-judgmental

 Happy celebrating this spring time and Chocolate Bunny Ears to all.

SATURDAY

Today is Saturday. It is an ordinary day. Grocery store is top on the list. Ironing is piling up. How can I have so much ironing when the laundry needs to be done? It’s time to work in the yard and I have a project I’m wanting Kent to help me with. Yes the mundane activities of our lives. It’s also Spring and the early flowers and bushes are in bloom. Wouldn’t it be better to go on a picnic and forget work? Finding balance in life is a challenge. Work is necessary and good but so is stopping and enjoying your day. So many choices and they are all good. I read from Theodore M. Tuttle, “You can do any thing you want. You just can’t do everything you want.”

MOLLY AND MCGEE AND DINNER

I was guided to a website by a fellow blogger. It was a webcam showing a barn owl nest with 5 eggs. I find myself leaving the page on my computer so I can check through out the day or night to watch. So far 3 of the 5 eggs have hatched. The father comes at night to bring food (mice, rats, rabbits) and bond with the mother. The mother sits hour after hour keeping her brood safe, fed and warm. About twice a day the mother will leave the nest for just a minute to relieve herself and then she is back.

At times there are over 18,000 people logged on to watch Molly and McGee. People from France, England, South Africa and Australia make comments. It is a fun place to go and it is also very inspiring. I haven’t seen negative comments. This is one place where the comments are enthusiastic. There is a wonderful sense of community.

I am amaze at how one man, Carlos, could make such positive difference in so many lives. He said in an interview that he put the webcam in the nest box so he could watch. He enlisted the help of his grandson with the technological part. The grandson taught him how to make it a webcam for others to see. By doing something small he has changed many people’s outlook on their day as they share in the excitement and community created by Carlos.

http://www.sportsmansparadiseonline.com/Live_Owl_Nest_Box_Cam.html

STAND UP AND BE COUNTED

With the relatively new social networking sights accessible on the computer, Blackberry, Smart Phone, etc. new worlds have been created in ways never imagined. As a 19 year old I remember taking a speed reading class. Today there is a new form of speed reading called texting or twittering. Letters represent whole words and messages are intended to be short and quick.

With the advent of blogging and facebook comes the new way of communicating with family, friends and the world. We can comment on just about everything someone writes or says. The idea is I write and then you comment of what I have written. Whole communications between individuals can be read by anyone stopping on the page. It is a form of voyeuristic peeping into a person’s life.

The biggest social change that has taken place in the past few years is how uncivil communication has become. Everyone feels the need to give opinion on everything. Expressing criticism has become a way of life. We no longer feel the need to censer what we say. There are no more filters. If we are angry we use caps (i.e. we hit the caps lock button on the keyboard when we are typing). If we want to swear we use symbols. Being a bully was never easier.

I for one want to stand up and be counted as old fashioned. I refuse to tear someone down. If I don’t agree I will still be true to myself. And if I feel the need to be critical I will do it privately.

Note: This was a staged picture! No feelings were hurt in the making.

WHAT ARE YOU TEACHING?

My parents were not ones to spend time teaching. I went to school not knowing my numbers, alphabet, or colors. I can still see the big clown on the bulletin board with the bright colored balloons. Each balloon had a word written beside it. I didn't know the names of the colors. For most of my school years I was always struggling to catch up. I remember how hard it was to learn everything. Then one day I started learning for the joy of knowing something. That was a life change experience.

We are surrounded with a younger generation who needs to know about learning and life. What are you teaching and more important are you teaching the next generation to learn with joy?

THE IRISH

Tradition, Heritage, Pride. We're all Irish in St. Louis during the middle March. Saturday was the St. Louis parade with all the trimmings. On Wednesday will be the true heritage parade in “Dog Town,” the Irish enclave. Following tradition we wear green, buy green carnations and shamrocks, eat corn beef, cabbage and new red potatoes. It is time to put on your Irish.

THE BRIDGE

I love looking at this picture.
I see

•  a path that is going someplace I’ve never been before
• springtime or a season of growth
• barriers to keep me from falling down a hillside
• new and old growing together
• shadows that let me know the progress of the day
• beauty and that which needs to be weeded out

 This picture is so like my life and I do love my life even with its adversity.

DIVERSITY

When we moved into our home about 10 years ago the county was a very homogenous white middle class community. Over the years this has changed. This week I talked to a girl from the Philippines, visited with my Brazilian friend, hugged my African American friend, waved at my Japanese neighbor as she walked past and shared stories about Uraguay over dinner with a friend who loved visiting the country with her grandmother. The list goes on and on. When I first moved in the neighborhood it was much like moving into my new home that was painted builders beige. My home became mine only when colors were added. So it is with my life. I need more than a homogenous community. I need and love the diversity that is occurring around me.

To quote Danny Kaye, "Life is like a great big canvas and you should throw all the paint on it you can."

JOY

How often do we hear "that is one of my pet peeves." We have no problem expressing to others what irritates us or makes us unhappy. Television commercials are longer at the end of programs when you want to see how it ends. Gas prices' are too high. The winter is lasting too long. Ellen DeGeneres is unqualified to be an Idol judge.  We can go on for a very long time expressing displessure.

What about joy? Can we talk about joy? Do we even know what brings us joy? Ponder it! Go on, give it a try. It may surprise you how good it feels.

SELF-RELIANCE

This is a picture I took. Yes it is amazing. The amazing thing is that it turned out. I don’t normally have a camera in my hand. It’s not that I am incapable of taking pictures and preparing them for use, it’s just why? I have many capable photographers in the family who are passionate about what they do. Some are professionals and in high demand. At any given day I can say I want a picture of ____ and the camera will come out and I have what I want.

I do have a strong ethic of self-reliance but there is a line between self-reliance and impracticality. Professionals are important in our life. My sister will not use a lawyer for anything. She likes to research and then do the work herself. The family lawyer offers free services but she turns him down. I knew a young lady who lived in a trailer court. She would say she was as good a counselor as me. She said everyone in the court would come to her and she would tell them what to do. Why pay for a counselor when she would give advice for free?

I am grateful I have professionals who have prepared to help when I can’t do it my self. Doctors, dentist, mechanics, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, chefs, well as you can see my list can go on for a long time. I need to be able to do as much as I can for my self but I also need to know when I need someone else.

YOU THINK YOU'VE GOT IT BAD

I love how we humans have the need for one-up-man-ship. You might be telling about a piece of glass in your finger and someone needs to let you know that you really have nothing to complain about because they have had a whole vase broken in their foot. They usually start out by saying “you think you've got it bad…” I’m not sure why we need to do this. Everyone needs to have someone to listen when then are hurt or feeling down. Yes there are many people who have it worse but for this minute your friend, family member or acquaintance needs to give you compassion. A simple “I’m sorry you are hurting” will usually do.

PREPARE

We went to the art museum one Saturday with Ben and Becca. Because there was a special showing the museum was packed with people enjoying the art and floral displays. Many people brought their cameras and were taking pictures. I was not one of them. Kent and Ben had their photographers’ jackets and large camera bags stuffed with cameras and lenses. They would set up each picture with the help of Beccas expert eye. As were waited our turn for people to move a voice in the crowd said, “Stand back, the photographers are here.” I realized that they were taking about my husband and children.


What an interesting thought. Standing clear and showing respect for someone’s talent. I am feeling in awe for the Olympians right now. They should be respected for the amazing things they have accomplished. Watching the Olympics has changed for me now that my children are grown. Whenever we watched the Olympics as a family the children would get excited about what they were watching. For the ensuing year we would have gymnastics or ice skating lessons. Trips were planned to the west so they could be on a snowy mountain. Who didn’t want to be a hockey champion, snowboarder, skier, or a bobsledder? Before the 4 years came again we were distracted by other less dramatic sports and activities.


After winning the New York Marathon, Juma Ikanga said “the will to win is nothing without the will to prepare.” How many times have I thought I would like to do something but never finished because my desire to prepare was less than it should have been. I have many things I still want to do in my life. Instead of looking at what I want to accomplish I need to think of what I’m willing to put the effort into preparing.


Now that the Olympics are over I need to keep my my enthusiasm in making a difference in my own life. The will to do something must not be lost because I lack the desire to prepare.