The little one's

I just watched this really sad film, My Sister's Keeper. The premise is a little girl who is being asked to give up a kidney for her dying sister who takes the case to court to maintain control of her own body, in the end because her dying sister has asked her to do this for her.

I was reminded of a conversation I had with my son last week. We were talking about middle school and life, and all the important things kids want to talk about, in the car on the way home from school.


life is easy when you're 10



Saunders was expressing how in 30 years he would be 40 years old and how he would be driving me around instead of me driving him around...and I stopped him and told him that he would have his own family, and a job, and his own car. That "we" would not be living together. Then it occurred to him that if he was 40 years old, I would be in my 70's. I laughed and said, I may be 73, I may be dead, you never know.
He said, "Mom, you won't be dead. You always be here", and I responded, "you never know, I could get hit by a car, or get a disease, and may not live 30 or 40 more years.
If there is one thing in the cycle of life that we know for sure, we are all going to die".

He was so sweet, and said, "you'll be around a long time Mommy".

And I hope I am...to see this smiley little sugar face.

Video Blog #1: On the subject of Women's Magazines and the downfall of our self esteem

This is my 1st Vlog. So, bear with me.
I havent figured out how to run the video - full length...tidbits between writing...etc, the platform of video is new to me, so if these 1st few are awkward, give me a little slack.
Take 1:

What I did not get to in the video, was how detrimental it is to constantly be told we aren't thin enough, aren't pretty enough, aren't sexy enough, etc etc etc...
We are all unique and should not be compared to one another in the first place. We are all beautiful. Every smile. Every tooth. Every wrinkle. Every round bottom.
In conjunction with that, I am sick of reading about how some tired assed man didn't treat you right.
Here are some tips Shape Magazine did not share:
Get over it!
He's just a guy.
There are a billion other one's.
If you think you are fantastic, someone else will too.
If your friends havent told you this week how fabulous you are - get new friends.
Surround yourself with positive people who support you;
Not people who are trying to change how you look, how you dress, how you smile and take it like a man.

Surround yourself with love and you will get love, as you give it.
Happy Tuesday.

Bats...

I recently visited Austin Tx, one of the cutest little towns I have ever seen. If I was going to be from Texas, I'd only want to be from Austin. It is like the cool little sister to all the other Texas cities.

University/ intellectual/ energy...good looking/ fit people...live music everywhere...great beer...what else could you ask for?

Oh, an interesting point of attraction...a bridge with 1.5 million bats living underneath.
Yes, bats.
Bats that come out every evening at sunset to seek food.

People boat, bike, walk, ride to this area to watch the droves of bats as they exit under the bridge and fly out to hunt. The people above the bridge are just a small number of the specatators this attraction collects.

just outside the action

The cruise ships that carry passengers are filled with eager bat-watchers.

There are also kayak tours and bike tours.
Restaurants in the area seat diners so they can view the activity from the comfort of a patio with adult beverages...I like.


This was my perch (note: I got eaten alive by mosquitos or chiggers or something totally disgusting and my legs are covered in bites...still):

I failed to mention I ran from my hotel to get to this location which turned out to be the perfect place to observe the tourists and the bat migration into the Austin community.

Plato

My daughter is in a Philosophy class and is reading Plato's Republic right now.
Painful for me at best, I could barely get through this read in high school. Matter of fact, this may be the one book I did not read...cliffnotes...holla. She just asked for my help in getting through this work.
What to do?
Tell her NO, Mommy just can't wrap her head around the words of Plato. Pretend to listen then tell her she needs to figure it out herself? Actually try to read it with her...
We all know the correct answer here, but I just can't make myself listen to the words of this literary work...again.
Someone carefully explained The Cave to me, and I remembered, this was actually the only work I could relate to. The concept of trying to explain to others "the truth". What is the truth? The truth is your perception of your reality, but there is a reality outside of that as well.
I look inside myself and know my perception is also manipulated by history.
Truth is a world of a word.
Your truth is more reasonable because it is defined by you in terms you can understand. When Jack Nicholson screams, "You can't handle the truth" in the war crime film "A Few Good Men", he speaks the truth. We can not handle the truth. The truth is so far greater than what we know or understand. The truth makes men. The truth defines heros. The truth is a concept so expansive, even as I type it, I realize it is not even what I have believed up until this day. My truth is different from yours. There is a world of truth that is a planet I haven't traveled to...yet.

Incidents themselves are not manipulated by perception, but an objective retell is hardly possible. Action sparks feeling, feeling generates opinion, and the truth becomes "a truth", not the truth.
How you remember everything is your own truth, not THE truth. How we interpret life is our truth, not the truth.

Step outside the cave and look into the light, this is still only our truth because we defined the sun.
We can only relate to what we know, not what exists outside of our reality.
Then there's the emotional attachment to what that means.
Have you ever had a moment where you read something, or someone told you a story, and you didn't have a direct reaction to it without even thinking? A moment ever, where what you know didn't affect what you heard? What is truth, really?

Great concepts and traveling

I have finally decided where my creative drive is going to take me this week.
I have a full week off, and so many stories in my head from the past month or so, I hadn't quite decided how to get all these idea on paper. I finally decided, 3 short stories. 1 novel. All flight related.
125 pages each, a deadline, and 3 very interesting stories.
GO!

Travel Attire

I flew on a USAir flight from Phoenix to Denver and became acutely aware of the difference between American travelers and travelers from anywhere else in the world. Somehow we have become the lazy, sloppy tourist, turning air travel into bus travel, with our pajamas and head scarves and lack of respect for public presentation.

The people of Wal-Mart have nothing on the air travelers of our nation.

In twenty minutes I watched women in head scarves traipse through the airport chewing with their mouths full. I saw small children in pajamas, being led by adults in sweats and house slippers. It occurred to me that we have no pride.
Gone are the days of dressing up to go see family and friends on the other side of the country or the world. I actually saw a man in a suit with flip flops on. Whether you are going to a business meeting or going home from a day of business - what if your company CEO happened to be on the same flight? What if your CFO happened to be at the airport picking up his wife or mother as you bounced off of a airplane with no damn socks on?
We have taken this "comfort thing" too far.
For shame.
No offense, but I will never take anyone seriously who approaches me in a house coat and curlers in their hair. Did you really leave the house like that? What is wrong with you? With us, as a nation?

Lies and their value

What do these people have in common:
Actors, lovers, kids, lawyers, corporations, and politicians.
They all lie.

The one group not on this list: Your friends.
Your true, loyal, til death do you part, friends.
Friends don't lie to you.
No matter how much it sucks, no matter what the consequence, even if it hurts your feelings - your friends will always tell you the truth.
That is their job in life.
Even when you don't want to hear it.
Your best interest is at hand and the truth is always in your best interest. Whether you know it or not, the truth allows you freedoms you don't even know are good for you.
What freedoms you wonder?
The freedom to choose based on facts...not a story, made up by someone who does not have your best interest at hand, but their own.
The freedom to live in integrity with someone who walks with you.
The freedom to believe in someone other than self.
The freedom to know the value of your own life.

"Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity."
~Robert Green Ingersoll