Lou Gehrig.... Words to Remember and Live By

Yes...
I just made a baseball reference.

And being as the Orioles won last night...
and it IS baseball season I figured it was appropriate.

The words to which I am referring are the words now immortalized on film spoken by Lou when he retired from the game of baseball because he had become too ill to continue to play.

He had ALS... a disease that attacks the body and renders one unable to control their own muscles.
This disease is most commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease...
Go figure.

                           Lou Gehrig Speech July 4th,1939 Yankee Stadium


The part of his famous, and heart wrenching, speech that I find so motivating is the part where he says...
" Today I consider myself the Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth"

I feel like there are not enough people who can say that they have felt that way on any day in their entire lives

This makes me sad...
but TODAY I know that there are moms and dads all over the land who are breathing a sigh of relief as they sit down to their morning cup of joe...

Because today is the 2nd second day of school...
well, it's the 2nd second day because the 1st day was Monday, but it didn't really count since only elementary, 6th and 9th graders went...
Making yesterday the 1st second day of school...
the day that all the kids actually went...

As another long school year begins...
I look back at the trials and tribulations of years gone by...
as I look ahead to those that are sure to be coming and can't help but think...

If Lou Gehrig could meet his fate head one with such a positive attitude...
then surely I can look at this new school year and my new job and the changes in our family's routine and dynamics the same way...

Having a good role model is important...

Lou Gehrig is Mine...

Who is Yours?

The Beginning and The End...

When all else fails ... start writing.

This is a sure fire way to get your head on straight...
or at least to get your brain working.

This summer  I have spent quite a bit of time sitting by the pool, reading, soaking up some rays and dipping into the pool.

I have also spent a bit of time with and around teenagers.
This is probably because 3 currently live in my house...

but it is most likely because the 3 that live here have friends...
and because I work with the boy's youth group and spend a lot of time at the ball fields while the kids have football and soccer practice.

Spending so much time around these alien creatures that were once polite, quiet and, dare I say, shy children I can't help but wonder what being in high school now would be like.

And then I shudder, and possibly even throw up a little in my throat, and am so glad that I am not.

On a trip to the local merchandising mecca, also known as The Mall,  I was inundated with the fashions of today...
that look an awfully lot like those worn by myself and my contemporaries back in The Day.

Dolman sleeved tops, striped box-like tunic dresses, leggings and ankle boots...
all that was missing was the bi-level haircut and hair permed and colored to within an inch of it's natural life.

Polo shirts with logos on the breast , not of an alligator, but of an eagle taking flight; skinny jeans and boat shoes..." Mom, they're called Sperry's!" an exasperated BratChild and SIX say as they roll their eyes at me in unison...

These, too, were the dress code of choice in my high school life.

Listening to not only my children, but those of the other mother's looking as haggard and beaten down by peer pressure as I, I could only shake my head and wonder how, after so many years, things could possibly remain the same.

And then it hit me.
Teens today have the same desperate need to be individuals...
To set themselves apart from the crowd...
To define themselves...
within a certain band of similarly minded kids.

And thus the 'Clique' is born.
SIX and BratChild tend to travel in the same group, like a school of dolphins, or perhaps piranha...

While TeenBoy, although just as affable and friendly, within his own tribe that is...
although a bit more reclusive and quite often stand-offish...
runs to the less well-groomed end of the spectrum favoring the loose fit style of jeans, Vans and logoed t-shirts made popular by skaters and surfers in the late 80's and 90's.
Hair that is more 'bed-head' than styled and an aloof demeanor that does not invite needless banter,
he is the one that I worry will succumb to the dreaded peer pressure that runs rampant in high schools.

But, he is smart.
He is intelligent.
And he is enough of his own person that I hope he will stand up to those pressures and prevail...

While SIX and BratChild are part of the same group of friends, TeenBoy is considered by them to be an outsider, although he too plays football and rides the school bus and knows all the same people.
He just chooses not to fit into their, again I revert to my youth and will call it as I see it, Preppy attitude of dress and behavior.

Does this make him the more independent one. or does this target him as just too different?

I guess this year will tell.
As we begin yet another hectic and. most likely harrowing, year of learning...
All 3 will once again be in the same school.

High School... a freshman, a sophomore and a junior...
all together, and yet not...
it is very likely that they will have some classes together...
something that makes BratChild cringe, SIX assure us that he will be the better student and TeenBoy?
well he's none too thrilled either.

For me it is the beginning of the end...
The end of their childhood...
The end of primary school...
The end of rec league sports...
The beginning of the end of child-rearing...
For you see, in 1 year they will be sophomore, junior and senior...
And the year after that... well,  there will be only 2, and then, only 1 and then...

I can only hope that they have learned the lessons I have spent the last umpteen years trying to teach...
that the choices they make, regarding each other and their friends, will be ones that I approve of and can be proud of...
And that they will find that despite, and possibly even because of, their differences they do like and respect each other...
and maybe, just maybe a little bit...
Need each other.

It is time to let them go...
And let them find out who they are meant to be.
And I believe that they will find out that they are exactly the lovely, compassionate and caring people that I know them to be...

The Rise and Fall... of a blogger... sort of

I think I may have missed the Social Media boat as it were...


And by this I mean that I was right there,
poised and at the ready,
blogging with uncertainty, 
reading the fledgling blogs of others, 
who like me, were trying to figure out how to be heard...


And then there was "Social Media"...
in my head it resonates and reverberates in a deep baritone voice like James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman... but not the March of the Penguins narrator voice, more like his voice in Evan Almighty, you know, where actually IS the voice of God.


Suddenly there was facebook....
and then there was Twitter...
and then there were blogs on how to post on facebook and twitter ....
and how to use key words to drive traffic to your blog...
and Branding.... that has nothing whatsoever to do with fire-hot metal...


And then somewhere along the way...


I got lost.


My intention when I started blogging was to find a way to voice my thoughts...
Thoughts that I thought others like me may be having...
Thoughts that may help me, and those unnamed masses who I hoped might stumble upon my words of insight and self-evaluation....


To be better at being ourselves...
To feel better about being us...
To find a way to connect with those who are like us... 
no matter how near or far away they are.


But with the onslaught of newsletters and blogs with tips for branding and SEO-ing and give-aways and Tweeting and Pinterest-ing (again -I was there at the very beginning) and using sidebar buttons and Vlogging and link-ups and clicking through...


I lost my way and my drive and in a very real sense...
Myself.


I just stopped reading my blog lists, then I stopped visiting my favorites, ignored my RSS feeds, opted out of newsletters and blog post updates on self-promotion and Social Media-ing...
and let go the illusion that these other early bloggers and I had forged bonds of friendship simply because... because.


Let us just say life has been messy lately...
and I could have used a shoulder to cry on or a brain to pick ...
even if it was really just my own on the pages of this blog...


So, I have resolved to get back into the swing of things and...
1) start blogging several times a week 
2) read my RSS feeds 
3) pay attention to what Michael Stelzner and The SITS Girls have to say...
4) try not to be so hard on myself 
5) try to find out what I want to do when I grow up... 
     or at least try to figure out whether or not I have any marketable skills... 


so far, it does not appear so... 
but I am still looking.


BTW... 
Looking for Social Media for Dummies... 


Anyone ???

Random Things That Actually Make Sense... Or They Could

There should be a history class curriculum as outlined by Billy Joel ...


and every high school senior should be required to take it.


Is there an actual job that you get when you have a degree in philosophy...
or is it like getting a degree in Egyptology when you live in rural middle America...
it's just an expensive piece of paper?


If there are health conditions, like ADHD, that make you inelligible for military service...
why don't they tell you  BEFORE you sign on the dotted line???


Muscle Cars.... why?.




Did greek yogurt just get discovered? Or has it been out there all along and no one noticed?


Isn't fruit flavored sparkling water the same as drinking a soda?
I mean, really, it's all the same ingredients according to the labels!

If religion and state are separate...
why are politicians even talking about the moral issues ( in relation to religious beliefs) of birth control and planned parenthood?


America is a government of the people, by the people and for the people...
so, which people are they talking about these days, cuz I am pretty sure it's not anyone I know.

Don't get me wrong, I love America.


I love that I have the freedom to be whatever I want...
as long as I work really hard, scrimp and save, and maybe even find a way to put some of my kids, although probably not all of them, through college...


I'm just tired of feeling like a character in a Frank Capra film...
you know, the ones doing all the living and dying and working and saving for the chance to own a few rooms with a roof overhead and a yard for the kids to play in...


Does anyone else think Ron Paul looks a lot like Mr.Potter from It's A Wonderful Life?








So, about that high school history class...
We Didn't Start the Fire... but our kids are gonna get burned if they don't start learning about the events in that song...
HoChi Min...
Sally Ride...
Children of thalidomide...


They have NO IDEA what he's talking about...


Yes, these are the Random things that run through my head...
Usually when I am trying to nap before going to work...
Because I work nights..


And I find I frequently have difficulty turning my brain off at 7pm...
Don't you?

Planes, Trains and Automobiles... only without the trains or autos

Or something like that.

It's been a while since my last post.

Oh, alright!
It's been a month...
And a few days...

I've been busy.
Or not.
But mostly busy... sort of.

HeMan Hubby left today.
No, not for good...
Or, at least it better not be for good.

I.
Would.
Miss.
Him.
Terribly!

No, he left on a business trip.
To California.
3000 miles away.

On a plane!

And that my pre-tend friends is the problem.

I don't mind him going, it's his job and well, it's his job.
And it's not like he will meet a beautiful starlet named Poppy...
with long flowing red hair and a quirky smile...
and run off with her...
Right?

No, the problem is that he had to fly there...
or spend 4 days driving there...
but by then the week would be over and it would be time to drive back so...
Flying was the only possible travel choice.

But I am afraid to fly.
And apparently I am afraid for him to fly.
Like deathly afraid that the plane will suddenly plummet to the earth without warning.

I actually told him to not let the plane crash.
Like he has any pull with the pilot at all...
or that he could fly the plane should a problem develop?

But, being the HeMan Hubby that he is he promised that he would come back to me, no matter what...
Kind of like Jack in Titanic...
Only he didn't actually hold up his end of the deal there...

I know, right?

Good news is he made it to NY for his layover without any problems.
I know because we were texting while he was waiting to board his connecting flight.
I don't know why he had to fly north to fly west but apparently, he did.

More good news...
he made it safely to California.

I know this because...
1) there were no planes reported falling from the sky...at least between here and Cali between the hours of
        4pm and 11pm EST...

and...

2) I accidently left my phone at home when I went to work so we could not text.
            (No - that's not the good news...)
SO...
I was trying to email him to find out if he made it to the hotel okay... you know without being mugged or getting lost ...
But he did not answer the email so...

I called him.

From my computer.

There is this cool phone call thingy you can use from Google where your computer calls any land or cell phone...

So I did.

And it works!

HeMan Hubby answered on the 3rd ring...
I guess he was waiting for my call, or my text, or something...
Or maybe he found HBO and was watching the season finale of Game of Thrones....

He answered using his work voice and work name... which is NOT HeMan Hubby...
then he said Hello.
and then he said HELLO!
and then he said HELLO???

And then I realized that my computer has no microphone and I had inadvertently just crank called the love of my life...

I'm pretty sure he was already awake when I called...
at least he sounded awake...
and not too ticked off about getting a crank call...
at midnight...

ANYWAY...
back to #2...
He made it safely to California, and the hotel...
and that's all that really matters...

For now.

More Writing Prompted by.... Someone Else? or Not...

Yes.
This is yet another post that was prompted by...


You guessed it... The Writer's Workshop at Mama Kat's Losin It


I have a ton of topics that I want to write about... 
That I thought up on my own, but...


I just can't seem to get motivated...
to do anything...
at. all.


So... here is a little something based on prompt number...3? for this week...
Enjoy!


3.) Tell us something you learned about a grandparent that surprised you.


So, this is the part where you would expect me to say that I was surprised to learn that my grandmother was a flapper in a speakeasy...
But she wasn't.


Or that my grand dad was a fighter pilot in the war... 
But he wasn't.


I cannot recall when I learned this little tidbit about Grams, but I do remember thinking...
Wowsers!


Apparently, Grams and Granpa got married when Grams was very young. I think I always knew this, but I didn't really KNOW it...
Know what I mean?


Just like I knew that growing up in the hills of Ohio in the 1920's was hard... 
no, it was REALLY hard.


But just how hard I didn't understand.


The story goes that Grams met Granpa at a barn dance. 
They liked one another.
They dated? ( or stepped out or courted, whatever they called it back then...)


Grams and Granpa were married on August 23rd. 
It was Granpa's birthday... his 21st to precise.
Grams' birthday was August 16th.
She was a young girl... he was an older man... guy... boy... 
whatever...



But this is where the story gets ...
let's just say odd, or fuzzy.

Grams was one of many children... My mom would be able to say how many and name them in correct order in a hearbeat... I, alas, am not that good... I have to cheat and look at the family genealogy she wrote to get it right.


So, there were a bunch of kids and Grams was one of the younger ones. Her dad was off working somewhere else... like in another state or a different town because, well, that's where the work was. 
Probably a coal mine or steel mill.


Anyway...and here is the fuzzy part....
the kids were farmed out to families in the area... relatives or not it seems...
because there were too many mouths to feed? 


Apparently this was not an uncommon occurrence back in the day...


And then there was a flood.
And some of the little ones got washed away?
And then there was a fire. 
And some of the little ones perished?


And somehow, someway, someone got Grams mixed up with one of her older sisters?


She grew up believing her birth year was 1920... 
so she got married in 1937... when she was 17... right?


Wrong... evidently when she applied for a Social Security number...
as an adult... 
Mom of 3...
because she needed one for a job...


She was informed that she was born on August 16, 1923...


And if you do the math correctly...
and Granpa REALLY was celebrating his 21st birthday the day they got married...
and Grams REALLY was born in 1923... instead of 1920...


Then they got married 7 days after she turned 14...
Yeah... 
The reason, I was told when I questioned that no one knew she was 3 YEARS YOUNGER!!!, 
is this...


She was always big for her age so she easily passed for one of the older kids who had drowned or perished in the fire or whatever...

although how anyone could have mistaken a 3 year old for a 6 year old...
I don't care how big for her age she was...seriously?


It seems that there is yet another twist to this story...
and again it is, we'll say, fuzzy...


She knew her name was Kathryn Nancy... 
I mean you know your name, right?



But she was wrong! 


Yep, her name was REALLY Nancy Kathryn... 


you know, the one born 3 years later...


but they lost the family bible with the kid's names and birth dates in it...
I don't know, in the fire or the flood or ... whatever... so anyone could have been anyone at that point... 


Is it any wonder that tracking down the family tree is so time consuming???
confusing?
convoluted?


And don't even get me started on the side of the family whose family tree is really a wreath!


I know, right?

Writer's Workshop - Meet My Good Friends...

                              Welcome to another round of Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop!

For those of you not familiar with the Writer's Workshop it is basically a way to get new and perhaps even thought provoking blogging topics out there. Bloggers are encouraged to write a post using one of the topics listed for that week and then link it to the posts other bloggers have made using the same list of topics. Not only does this help to get the proverbial creative juices flowing, but it helps the blogging community to get to know another as well...

So, on to this week's topics of choice... for me, at least!

5.) Name a celebrity you would like to be your "in real life" friend. What makes him or her a perfect match for you?

The crazy thing about this subject is that I really and truly was discussing this just the other day with BratChild and HeMan Hubby... 

and not at the same time, but on 2 separate occasions within the same week..

So, this must really be the topic of which I must blog...

So just who is it that I would like to be my real life friend... celebrity-wise that is?

Well, I already know some real celebrities, but we're not close, at least not any more...

Ask any of my family members who my celeb friends would be and they will tell you straight away without having to take a breath ...

Paula Deen and Rachel Ray, of course! 

Every time I see Paula on TV or in a store display I say, 

"oh, look! It's my good friend Paula Deen!"

Because seriously, you all, if I lived in the Savannah area Paula and I would be friends...

There's just something about her sense of humor and sense of self...

that I admire and somehow make me feel like I could be myself around her and she would still be my friend...

But then, she is a charismatic woman who has made her fortune by making people feel good ... 

albeit with food...

so good in fact that they readily shell out great sums of money for the privilege of eating food prepared by Paula Deen...

I would stop by her house and whip up a batch of cookies or a butter rum cake...

we would discuss the merits of champagne vs. sparkling wine in a Mimosa...

and whether or not there is such a thing as too much rum in / on a rum cake, really?

Now that is a lady that I think I could be great friends with.

Rachel Ray, if I lived in New York, would be my good friend.

I can see she and I sitting on a sofa, in jeans and a raggedy sweat shirt from a university neither of us actually attended, sans socks...

drinking some Yellowtail Merlot or Shiraz from the totally wrong kind of goblet...

while eating popcorn and raisinets...

watching Steel Magnolias or It's a Wonderful Life on an all-day marathon.

We would just hang out and talk about nothing...

and everything...

marriage...

work...

and recipes...

What kind of sauce with calamari?

Remoulade or marinara?

Tempura batter or panko breading on that calamari or catfish bites?

 I think the reason that both of these lovely ladies appeals to me, 

draws me in and makes me feel like they could be my Very Good Friend...

Is that they seem to be exactly what they portray themselves to be...

regular people with regular lives...

who are famous...

who just happen to have found a way to make a living doing something that they love...

just like me...

aside from the famous part...

and minus the making a living doing something that I love part...

Other than that...

My Very Good Friends, Paula Deen and Rachel Ray, and I have a lot in common...

Or at least I think we will...

if we ever actually lived near one another...

and had the chance to hang out together...

and actually had something in common...

Yeah...

THEN we would be the very best of friends!