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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

defending..

A few weeks ago, at a public function,
I found myself, for the first time, defending
my baby girls' way of life.
Not only her way of life but defending all gays
and their rights, to be accepted, to be acknowledged.
HOBL and I were sitting down, conversing with
another couple, when the wife began to
speak of someone who she knew who was gay
and raising a family.
Right away I spoke up and let her know,
"My daughter is gay"
I said it loudly, I said it proudly, I did not hesitate.
She, right away, apologized if she had offended me
in any way. She had not and I told her so.
Explained, I wanted her to know before she did say
something that she may regret after the fact.
She is a very educated woman as is her husband.
She never did offend me even when she spoke openly
about how she was not sure how she would feel if
one of her children were homosexual.
Her husband, however, seemed offended by her
as he made the comment,
"You know, the way I love my children right now,
I know that I would be very accepting, I love
them unconditionally, those are our children"
I could tell this married couple had never discussed
this issue in reference to their own children.
I shared with them a statement my daughter made
to us when she told us she was gay.
She knew we would be accepting, loving,
but she said,
"You know mom, so many parents say they love their
children unconditionally but really they don't"
Her statement way back when is what had me
speak up right away to this couple with
much confidence. You see, because I do love
she and her brother unconditionally.
I am accepting of any relationship she is in
as long as it is a healthy, loving relationship
free from drugs and abuse.
She is my child and as I told BB not long ago
when he tried to explain to me how much he loves the Bean,
"I know how much you love her, because I still love you and
your sister that way, it never changes, it never goes away"
Such a proud mother.... very, very proud!

Monday, January 30, 2012

Harper's woods vs. "the back"


Last week I shared how via Netflix I
was reminiscing my childhood through
watching every episode of the wonder years.
Each episode brings back at least one
childhood memory that I have forgotten
or haven't thought of for many years.
Last night I watch the episode
"Who's woods is it anyway?"
Oh the memories that brought back.
Kevin, Winnie, and Paul's woods were being
torn down for a shopping mall.
Same thing happened to our Dursette street "back"
when the new road came to Golden Meadow.
We, at the time didn't know what that meant to
us kids and by that time, most of the kids of Dursette
were older and had moved on from our woods playing.
Watching that episode last night though brought back
so many wonderful memories of us Dursette kids playing
in the back. We made trails and camps, picked blackberries.
We went back there when two kids in the street wanted to fight.
Sometimes you went back there alone just to get away.
Our parents didn't worry about us, we didn't need cell phones
to check in because it was a safe world.
Our back was in some ways even better than Harper's woods
as we had a waterway and a dump site.
I wonder if my love of garage sales comes from my
childhood memories of going through that dump site
to find treasures of my own.
That dump site was more than just waste as people
put there all they no longer wanted in their home.
It was a heaven, our "back"
We sometimes even swam in those waterways,
against our parents rules. It was probably the
worst thing I ever did when it comes to rules
broken that my parents made.
I do have a memory of being a teenager and walking
the torn down trees, where only the dirt was were
the new road was to be laid.
I remember of being sad about that part of my life
being over, of the memories that were torn down with
those woods. But I was a teenager and moving on to
other stuff by then, driving, liking boys, fixing my hair.
Had it happened when I was younger I wonder had I
felt like Kevin Arnold and want to fight it,
I mean Kevin and Winnie had their first kiss there
in Harper's woods.
Kevin goes to the parish meeting in hopes of stopping
the shopping center from being built.
He never got to speak his peace, he fell asleep
before he got a chance but in his dream he did speak his mind:
"...THERE'S A LITTLE PIECE OF LAND CALLED
HARPER'S WOODS. YOU MAY HAVE PASSED IT ON YOUR
WAY TO HERE OR THERE. IT'S NOT MUCH TO LOOK AT,
A FEW ACRES OF TREES, SOME BOULDERS, COUPLE
SQUIRRELS AND SOME BIRDS. BUT THERE IS SOMETHING
ELSE THAT LIVES THERE, SOMETHING YOU CAN'T SEE.
BECAUSE THERE IS SOMETHING IN THOSE WOODS THAT
YOU CAN'T SEE WITH YOUR EYES, YOU HAVE TO LOOK
WITH YOUR HEART. IT'S MY CHILDHOOD, AND HIS, AND HERS.
OURS IS A WORLD TO CARELESS WITH IT'S MEMORIES.
PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU, DON'T TAKE OUR CHILDHOOD."
Well little Kevin Arnold's speech there about choked me up.
So many childhood memories lived in our "back"
I am so glad we had them to grow up in.
I am thankful that my own children had the 40 acre canal
to make their own memories in.
I am sad for the children of today for even if they had
"the back or the woods" to play in, their world is not
one that you can just let them loose to play.
Oh memories, how I love when they come flowing back freely.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

normal day..

As I recall stating before,
I follow many blogs and most are scrapbook blogs.
One of those is julie-bonner.blogspot.com
today she shares of being so overwhelmed, trying to be
everything to everyone.
I use her quote:
"NORMAL DAY, LET ME BE AWARE OF THE
TREASURE YOU ARE. LET ME LEARN FROM YOU,
LOVE YOU, BLESS YOU BEFORE YOU DEPART.
DO NOT LET ME PASS YOU BY IN THE QUEST
OF SOME RARE AND PERFECT TOMORROW.
-mary jean irion
This quote just when my thoughts this morning
were about myself accepting today where my life is.
It has taken me some time to shut off the 5:30am
alarm and not feel guilty if I can't get up early
and start my day as I once did.
So what if I wake up at 9 because I didn't sleep good the
day before. yesterday I did some spring cleaning in my bedroom.
It was needed, I took my time, and I felt good about the
fact that I did something productive.
I thanked the day because I felt well enough to do it.
And even though I may be sore and pay for it today,
I am still happy today that I did it.
I did not take for granted the normal day.
I am getting better about this new life I call retirement.
I would be lying if I said I did not still long for
the work day and the children.
I am better than I was last week and if every
week is a little better then I will call this success.
Today is going to be a great one
as I have a baby shower of one of my TES family
and then movies with the two besties, Laurie and Ann
and Laurie's kiddies who I miss so much!
A beautiful day to be enjoyed, a normal day,
not to be wasted.

Friday, January 27, 2012

6 years

Six years ago today.
Robert is still missed by many,
Thought of daily.
So much has happened since that day
And yet I know he knows
It all as he continues to
Make heaven a better place.
Many thoughts and prayers to
His wonderful parents
And extended family and friends.
It's going to be a good day
As rob would want it.
To live happy, joyous, and free
Just as he did every day.
It is what I strive for.


Thursday, January 26, 2012

emerson

I have read some of emerson's work before but had never
read this quote.
I Loved it and wanted to share it here today:
FINISH EACH DAY AND BE DONE WITH IT.
YOU HAVE DONE WHAT YOU COULD.
SOME BLUNDERS AND ABSURDITIES HAVE CREPT IN;
FORGET THEM AS SOON AS YOU CAN.
TOMORROW IS A NEW DAY.
YOU SHALL BEGIN IT SERENELY AND WITH
TOO HIGH A SPIRIT TO BE ENCUMBERED
WITH YOUR OLD NONSENSE.
emerson
These are good words to live by, don't you think?
If it were only as easy as reading it.
I want to live like that.
Yesterday is gone, can't change it can we?
Make today the best!
and if I should fall, let me let it go
because, thankfully, I have a chance to do it all over again
tomorrow.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The wonder years


I Have had a few days of laying low.
My bestie and I share a love for movies,
like going to the movies without her and her girls
just lacks something,
She told me about netflix.
Now I was not stranger to netflix,
the old stuff when they mailed you all the DVD's you wanted
in a month for 19.99.
Yet she told me that for the Ipad I could get a months
free membership and just watch whatever I wanted
just by clicking on it.
So on one of my down days with boredom,
I downloaded the APP.
It is magnificent!
I can't tell you all I have watched in the last week.
Last night I found all the episodes of THE WONDER YEARS.
You remember, the weekly show based in 1968
with Fred Savage.
It has always been one of my favorite.
Last night I begin watching from season one, episode one.
Fred Savage, in love with WInnie Cooper, the
episode where her brother dies in Vietnam,
I must have seen it a dozen of times but last
night I find myself watching everything about the episode.
Such as the kitchen, the decorations, the cars
everything that takes me back to being a child in
the 60's. It really was the wonder years back in
the 60's. It was a perfect time to grow up,
when you played outside until the street lights came on.
Throwing an apple in the cafeteria got you in the
principal's office and your parents came to school because
of it. Love, love, love netflix.
I do believe I will be keeping it after the month is up
for 8 bucks a month!

Monday, January 23, 2012

so much for new years resolutions...

So much for the resolution to blog more...
Have had a few rough days with the weather and all...
I promise to start putting more thought into this blog.
Just wanted to let you all know I am still here.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Appalling!

http://www.wolfhirschhorn.org/2012/01/amelia/brick-walls/comment-page-10/#comment-2602
Each morning, as I drink my coffee, I scan the net,
read articles that interest me,
catch up on the facebook life,
then decide whether or not I have
a blog to write.
This morning as I scan the net,
I read a post of a friend who forwarded this above
blog to others.
I am appalled by what I read.
A young child, who needs a kidney transplant,
is denied because she is also mentally handicapped.
In today's world, this is happening?
It makes me sick to my stomach...
A drug addict who is still using can get a new
liver because they shot their own by abusing drugs
but this little angel, who adds so much to her parents lives,
is denied what she deserves.
Even her parents own kidney that they plan to donate
if they are matches, will be denied to her in this hospital.
UGh!!!!
I have seen with my own eyes, what the mentally challenged
can add to our lives.
They hold down jobs, they beat many odds,
how can a medical team decide who can and cannot live...
Thankfully she was born to parents who will not
give up her fight.
I plan on following this story to the end...
(not sure why the above link did not attach you to
the story, seems as though you may have to type in the site
to read:
www.wolfhirschhorn.org/2012/01/amelia/brick-walls/

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Abby the dancing queen

This little girl, Abby is very special to many of us.
Oh, but is she growing up to be a character.
I visited with her and her Mommy and Daddy last
Saturday and we played and had lots of conversation.
Aside from her going in my car, finding my bra
that I had brought with a change of clothes,
and sporting it around her house for her
mommy and daddy to see,
she also explained to me the reason she
no longer goes to dancing.
You see, the dance teacher evidently did not
understand Abby's importance to her class.
She was not only there to learn but to teach.
Her Mommy shares that Abby didn't want
to go back because the teacher would not let her
teach.
Abby then proceeded to show me all she knew.
Oh, Ms. Ethel, you have missed out on lots
of knowledge and a true gem right here!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

A busy day, so will leave you with this...

Camera trick
(the happy wedding couple)
Going to a wedding today of my wonderful friend,
Camille.
She and her hubby-to-be,
both people I have known for a long, long, time
deserve the happiness they have found with each other.
Nothing but good wishes coming to this couple.
Leaving you with this camera trick that was
accidently taken.
That is not butt cheeks but the upper arm
of the girl taking the picture.
I love accidental camera effects!
Make today a good one, peeps!

Friday, January 13, 2012

Friday the 13th

The bean is now 10 months old today.
Ten months since our lives have become transformed.
Ten months since I have become a Mumsie...
She was born on the 13th and one of the things
we talked about was that throughout her life,
there will be years that her birthday falls on
Friday the 13th.
Such as today, her 10 month birthday on Friday the 13th.
No unluck can come to this little girl.
She has come to change our minds, the mindset
that bad luck comes on Friday the 13th...
Only good surrounds our bean
Happy FRiday the 13th and
Happy birthday bean,
Mumsie loves you big, big!


Thursday, January 12, 2012

The Weird Sisters


I know I have mentioned before that I am in a
facebook book club thanks to my friend, Lea.
This month we are reading
THE WEIRD SISTERS by Eleanor Brown
It is the first full book I read on my Ipad and
I am loving it.
This book has hit home on so many levels for me
coming at a time when not every day has been
very good. I am, right now, filled with
so many emotions about my future,
If I am doing the right thing, Will my HOBL
continue to be supportive through this thing called
our life. I know in my head that this is silly thoughts.
Yet, when making life decisions, it can rack you.
So, back to the book.
This book has had so many lines and quotes that
I have highlighted.
Last night I read:
"How old were you when you first realized that your parents
were human? That they were not omnipotent, that what
they said did not, in fact, go, they had dreams
and feelings and scars? Or have you not realized that yet?
Do you still call your parents and have a one-sided
conversation with them, child to parent,
not adult to adult?"
I became teary-eyed when I read this.
My note I added was,
"Oh how I wish I could"
At major life altering times like what I am experiencing now,
It is my daddy I want, my daddy who I could ask advice
from and would make me feel better.
I know I am blessed to still have my Momma,
but she is not the momma that she had been in my
growing up years. She is more child-like.
Us siblings, more like her parent now.
How, last night I longed to be young again,
to be 20 again when my daddy was still alive
and would have supported any decision his baby
girl had made.
Today's lesson?
Love your parents, take advantage of the fact that
you can still call them and ask advice if needed.
That they are human, that they have
"have dreams and feelings and scars"
I have never missed my parents so much as I do today.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

the bean




This is how me and the bean roll...
She is fun to bring anywhere, a people watcher
like her Mumsie.
When she sees something that excites her
she makes this surprise face which
cracks me up each time...
ahhhh I love her so!

Monday, January 9, 2012

LSU Everywhere!

Today I went out to run some errands and
All I saw was purple and gold, LSU...
I understand that this game is a big deal for us
I mean as big as Saints winning the playoffs.
But I mean everyone,everyone, except me of course
Had LSU attire on.
From the youngest of babies to the oldest
Of papa and mama's all were dressed.
Businesses were closing half days lines of people
At Walmart buying party foods and party drinks.
It made me wonder....do all states support
Their college teams in this way like south Louisiana does?
Do they dress daily in the colors of the teams?
I do believe this is a bayou tradition

Saturday, January 7, 2012

A birthday party to monitor

After leaving Kd and the bean yesterday I decided
to go home through Baton Rouge.
I am doing a talk today for a confirmation class and
wanted something to wear.
As I got something to eat at the Mall of Louisiana,
I noticed a birthday party being set up right
there in the food court near the carousel.
You know I had to position myself where I could monitor
this party.
There is a lot you can either find out or imagine in your
mind when people watching.
This party was going to be a treat for me,
entertainment as I ate.
The birthday boy must have been about 4,
all his little friends were 4 and under.
I noted the grandparents, I could tell which
ones they were, you know the ones
who wave each time the carousel made a loop,
no matter how many times it went around.
Grandpa was also the photographer,
yes, he snapped a picture each time the Birthday boy
came around.
Now 4 year old children are a treat to watch.
Two of the little boys held hands and just ran around
screaming, "Zac, Zac, Zac" over and over.
Another little boy held his little hands on his
cheeks trying to cup his lips as he too
screamed "Zac"
Zac must have been the birthday boy, funny thing is
he was right with them.
There was this one little girl in the bunch of these boys.
She wasn't particularly pretty.
Yet when she smiled, she could melt a heart.
She sat there right by her mommy who had
another baby strapped to her, such the little lady.
I thought, that for sure, will not be our Bean...
There were many young mommy's there.
Some with another baby attached, some pregnant
at this time. It made me happy to see so many young Mommy's'
staying home to raise their babies.
A treat right there for me.
It was a good day!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

A Vietnam story

As you all know, I am a people person, a people watcher.
I can't just go into a small store and not find out the history
of the owner, what brought him there.
It's no wonder that I find myself in Gatlinburg
8 mile craft stores speaking to the owner of one of
these stores. His wares are of paintings of
cabins and woods, snow and wilderness.
Behind his glass case is vietnam memorabilia
so I have to ask,
"What brought you here to Gatlinburg and
this cute little store?"
He goes into a long story that had me enthralled.
When he was discharged from the war of Vietnam,
he was lost. A mess who had lost his wife and could
not be around anyone. The vets were not accepted home
so he felt he had no home. He felt that the only way to
save himself was to go away. He sold all he had and moved to
the wilderness of Alaska. He lived there for 22 months
where his closest and only neighbor was 9 miles away.
For almost two years he kept to himself and lived off the
wilderness. Had no electricity except on the coldest of months.
Enjoyed his 6 months of days and then 6 months of nights.
He worked odd jobs only to make enough money to feed himself
and provide the basic necessities.
He shows me this huge scar on his left arm, put there by a bear.
He did not go into society to take care of this.
Rather went to his neighbor 9 miles away and
together they doctored it up and he cared for it every
day until it became just a scar on his arm.
Finally, after 22 months he felt strong and well enough
to enter society once again.
He truly believed had it not been for his time away, he would have
killed himself or been trapped in a drug life.
I share that my brother was in Vietnam and he doesn't talk about
it much and I wondered often had he been a different man
had he not gone into Vietnam.
This stranger who now feels like a friend says
"We all would have been different men without that war."
I wonder, if the scar on his arm is smaller than the scar on
his heart brought on by the things he saw in Vietnam.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

It's a New Year!

Right before the holidays I was betrayed by a friend.
I will not go into detail about it so don't ask
any questions but it knocked me up just a little bit.
So when the holidays came I was really having to make
conscious decisions to let it go and put it aside and
be happy for the holidays.
I thank God for allowing me to do just that and I had
a wonderful holiday.
I am glad I did this as I was talking to another friend
and she was talking about how she is miserable and
depressed most of her days.
I thought to myself,
"Well, I am not miserable, I am happy most of the time"
I listened and was thankful that I, most of the time,
am a very happy and content person.
Which brings me to the title
IT'S A NEW YEAR
I am finally accepting of the fact that I will not be
returning to work and even that is a positive for me
this morning as I sit and type this.
The vacation was something I needed.
I have come back with a different state of mind
remembering that I, and no one else, can control
what I think and feel.
So for this year, I choose to be happy and content.
I will not live my life trying to please others but
to make happiness for myself and in doing so
that happiness will benefit those I love the most.
Last night, I sat in my scrap room and did what I do
every year, wrote down my resolutions.
Most years I don't get through January and they
are already broken. This year though those
resolutions are about personal growth.
In the last few months I have allowed pain
to control my life.
Now that I have pain management and have taken control
of that, I need to get back to my basics.
Every day I will sit in that wonderful scrap room
and journal, scrap, blog, something that my personal
self will benefit from.
There is something about entering that room that
gets me energized, makes me want to create.
I also need to get back to my God.
The one I still pray to but have lost a bit in all of this
stuff that I have called my life.
I have missed many Sunday masses and that is one thing
that keeps me grounded, happy and positive.
I need to get back to my Alanon meetings, another thing
I have neglected due to my own issues.
Yet I know that I must give back to those who are suffering.
These are just a few as I will not bore you readers to tears
on all those things that I have written.
Think about your new year, every day we wake up and
how much we have to be thankful for.
Don't let your days be filled with a whole lot of nothing.
I know that my mind set has changed
over the holidays about work, shoot I have worked for
30 years, it's time to enjoy some different kind of living.
I hope 2012 will be the year that finds myself and HOBL
a lake house.... that would be FANTASTIC!!!!
Prayers for our Kelli as she is having her tonsils out this
morning, actually pray that Baby girl is a good nurse to her....



Monday, January 2, 2012

home sweet home

We made the trip back from Tennessee last night in record time.
Drove straight through.
You know how that is, once vacation is over, you want to be home.
We got in around 8:30 and I went straight to bed...
It was a fun time, did everything I wanted to do but
glad to be home to get back to a normal routine once more.
Lots to do today so will blog more later.
Happy new year to all my peeps!