Rough Month

They say bad things happen in threes.  Hopefully, my three have come and gone for a long time.  As many of you know my grandpa died on April 2, 2007.  I was his first grandchild and the first offspring who had brown eyes – like him.  All of his children had blue eyes.  So as far as my grandpa was concerned I walked on water and hung the moon.   As you can see at 3 weeks of age I already had him wrapped around my finger. 

To me, he was larger than life – a hero who walked among us.  Yes, he served our country in WWII and came home with several medals and honors – including the Purple Heart, but to me he was just Grandpa and he was a hero to me: strong, tall and proud. 

As I said – bad things happen in threes.  On March 16th I had to put my beloved dog to sleep.  I had him for 14 years.  He was a pound dog – a beautiful, intelligent pound dog whom I rescued from death row.  He was protective and loyal and had the heart of a champion.  That was the first of three.

Then my hero, my grandpa, dies.  That was 2 of the three.

The third event just happened Saturday.  We had to have our other sweet dog put to sleep.  She was also 14 and since the other dog had died, she seemed to slowly fade away.  Maybe she was just old and sick, or maybe she was sad and missed her companion – we will never know.  On Friday, she went and laid down on the other dog’s bed and would not come when we called her.  Finally my husband brought her into the house and we took her in Saturday morning.  It reminded me of the dogs in the story, “Where the Red Fern Grows.”

Now my grandpa’s two favorite things in this world were babies (especially grandkids and great-grandkids) and dogs.  So if Heaven is the perfect place I imagine it to be.  My grandfather is standing tall and proud in an open field and my dogs, as well as all the dogs he loved over the years are running, playing and feeling young.

Tears are hard, they are never easy, but they do dry and life goes on.  

           Grandpa – you are loved and you are missed!    

This is dedicated to those Born 1930-1979!

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE

1930’s 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s !!

 First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints. 
 
 We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking . 
 
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat. 
 
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. 
 
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank kool-ade made with sugar, but we weren’t overweight because. . . . . . . . . WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING ! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem. 
 
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD’s, no surround-sound , CD’s or Ipods,  no cell phones, no personal computers , no Internet or chat rooms……. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. 
 
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. 
 
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes. 
 
We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them! 
 
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! 
 
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. 
 
They actually sided with the law! These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! 
 
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. 
 
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned   HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! If YOU are one of them . . CONGRATULATIONS! 
 
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good 
 
And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were. 
 Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?! 
 
This quote is by Jay Leno: 
 
With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks,”Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?”  What we were. . . . . .

               

Where we are now. . . . . . 

Growing up in the 80’s!

Growing up in the 80’s

Dear Kids of America:

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning uphill both ways through year ’round blizzards carrying their younger siblings on their backs to their one-room schoolhouse where they maintained a straight-A average despite their full-time after-school job at the local textile mill where they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their family from starving to death! And I remember promising myself that when I grew up there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of stuff like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they’ve got it. But…. Now that I’ve reached the ripe old age of forty, I can’t help but look around and notice the youth of today. You’ve got it so easy! Compared to my childhood, you live in a freaking Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today - you don’t know how good you’ve got it!When I was a kid we didn’t have The Internet — we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves! And there was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter — with a pen! –and then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! And there were no MP3s or Napster! You wanted to steal music, you had to go to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or we had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up!

We didn’t have fancy stuff like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal! And we didn’t have fancy Caller ID Boxes either. When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was. It could be your boss, your mom, a collections agent, you didn’t know! You just had to pick it up and take your chances!

We didn’t have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like “Space Invaders” and “Asteroids” and the graphics sucked! Your guy was a little square and in order to have any fun you had to rely on your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win, the game just kept on getting harder and faster until you died! When you went to the movie theater there was no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! A tall guy sat in front of you, you were out of luck. And sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 20 channels and there was no on screen menu! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! And there was no Cartoon Network! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning.  We had to wait all week for cartoons! That’s exactly what I’m talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You guys wouldn’t have lasted five minutes back in 1980! …..But I don’t want to lecture you.

 

Another tale of childhood for people my age.

That’s Cool -Blue County

Shootin’ Dr. Pepper cans with your brand new red rider
That old folding lawn chair makes the perfect x-wing fighter
Those no-name baseball cards spinning in your spokes
Now that’s coolTurnin’ 17 and daddy loosens up the curfew
Drivin’ home at midnight that old buick smells like perfume
Making your own money, having coffee with your folks
Now that’s cool(Chorus:)
Knowin’ where you’re goin’ embracin’ where you’ve been
Being criticized for standin’ strong in a battle you can’t win
Livin’ in a moment you may never see again
Let your heart break some rules
Now that’s cool Wakin’ up with your new bride in a room beside the ocean
10 years later goin’ back to relive that emotion
She tells you what she’s thinking but never says a word
Now that’s cool(Chorus)The pitcher is your six year old, you’re his full time catcher
He gets a new B.B gun and “you’ll put your eye out” lecture
Your 3 year old is singin’ the song that she just learned
Now that’s cool

(Chorus)

 

Live a life that matters

Live A Life That Matters

Ready or not,
someday it will all come to an end.
 

There will be no more sunrises,
no minutes, hours or days.

All the things you collected,
whether treasured or forgotten,
will pass to someone else.

Your wealth,
fame and temporal power
will shrivel to irrelevance.

It will not matter what you owned
or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations,
and jealousies will finally disappear.

So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans,
and to-do lists will expire.

The wins and losses
that once seemed so important
will fade away.

It won’t matter where you came from,
or on what side of the tracks you lived,
at the end.

It won’t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.

Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter?
How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought,
but what you built;
not what you got,
but what you gave?

What will matter is not your success,
but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned,
but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity,
compassion,
courage or sacrifice that enriched,
empowered or encouraged others
to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence,
but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew,
but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.

What will matter is not your memories,
but the memories that live in those who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered,
by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.
It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

Author Michael Josephson 

Different type of Childhood – much more fun! = }

I will be the first to admit that I was not a fan of Bucky Covington when he was on American Idol.  However, this song describes perfectly what life was like for those of use who were kids in the ‘70’s and early ‘80’s.  It truly was a different world – and you know what  . . . . .  we survived.  There were no problems with child-obesity, because we did not sit around long enough to gain weight.  No drive-by shootings, most Mom’s were home, we drank Kool-Aid with red dye and no child was labeled with any type of disorder.  We were disciplined when we did something wrong and the teacher was always right and always respected.  Yes, it was a different world, but what a wonderful world it was! 

A Different World
Bucky Covington

We were born to mothers who smoked and drank
Our cribs were covered in lead based paint
No child proof lids no seat belts in cars
Rode bikes with no helmets and still here we are, still here we are
We got daddy’s belt when we misbehaved
Had three TV channels you got up to change
No video games and no satellite
All we had were friends and they were outside, playin’ outside Chorus
It was a different life
When we were boys and girls
Not just a different time
It was a different worldSchool always started the same every day
The pledge of allegiance then someone would pray
Not every kid made the team when they tried
We got disappointed and that was all right, we turned out all right

Chorus

No bottled water, we drank from a garden hose
And every Sunday, all the stores were closed

Chorus

It was a different world

http://media.imeem.com/m/7OoK0z1nOn/aus=false/

Growing up.

19- something – by Mark Willis
I saw Star Wars at least 8 times
Had the pac-man pattern memorized
And I’ve seen the stuff they put inside
Stretch Armstrong

I was Roger Stauback back in my back yard
Had a shoebox full of baseball cards
And a couple of Evil Kinevil scars
On my right arm
Well, I was a kid when Elvis died
And my mama cried

Chorus:
It was 1970- something
In the world that I grew up in
Farrah Faucett hair-do days
Bell bottoms and 8-track tapes
Lookin’ back now I can see me
And oh, man did I look cheesy
But I wouldn’t trade those days for nothin’
It was 1970-something

It was the dawning of a new decade
When we got our first microwave
And Dad broke down and finally shaved
Those sideburns off
I took the stickers off of my Rubix cube
Watched MTV all afternoon
My first love was Daisy Duke
In them cut off jeans
A Space Shuttle fell out of the sky
And the whole world cried

Chorus:
It was 1980-something
In the world that I grew up in
Skating rinks and Black Trans Ams
Big hair and parachute pants
Lookin’ back now I can see me
And oh, man did I look cheesy
But I wouldn’t trade those days for nothin’
It was 1980-something

Now I got a mortgage and an SUV
But all this responsibility
Makes me wish sometimes
Sometimes….

chorus:
It was 1980-something
In the world that I grew up in
Skating rinks and Black Trans Ams
Big hair and parachute pants
Lookin’ back now I can see me
And oh, man did I look cheesy
But I wouldn’t trade those days for nothin’
It was 1980-something

1970-something
Aw, it was 19-Something

http://media.imeem.com/m/HmdY02QHT0/aus=false/

Reason not to drink and drive.

“Nothin’ To Die For”

Tim McGraw

Worth listening to and to think about!

http://media.imeem.com/m/c_ZgngxSYl/aus=false/ 

Stopped to have a few at five now you’re crossing that center line for the third time
Second time like this this week had a friend ask you for your keys
You said ‘no I’m fine’
You sure do act like you don’t got a thing to lose
But every car you pass might be the one’s you take with you [Chorus]
You’d give your last breath to your wife
Take a bullet for your kids
Lay your life down for your country for your Jesus for your friends
There’s a whole lot of things you say you’re living for
You’ve got to fight it somehow, stop and turn around
‘Cause this ain’t nothin’ to die forSo what’s the harm in a little fun
‘Cause you’re off to work before the sun everyday
And the inbox outbox locks you in and the money you make ain’t worth the time you spend to make your pay
The doctor says ‘man your numbers they don’t lie’
The graveyard’s full of folks that didn’t have time to die [Chorus]

Straight through that guardrail up into that white light
You hear a sweet voice saying just this side of the other side
Just this side of the other side

[Chorus]

Ain’t nothin’ to die for
Nothin’ to die for
Ain’t nothin’ to die for

Never take life for granted.

“Live Like You Were Dyin’”

Tim McGraw

http://media.imeem.com/m/wV5HZZWrvr/aus=false/

He said I was in my early 40’s,
With a lot of life before me,
And a moment came that stopped me on a dime.
I spent most of the next days, lookin’ at the x-rays,
Talkin’ ’bout the options and talkin’ ’bout sweet time.
Asked him when it sank in, that this might really be the real end.
How’s it hit ya, when you get that kind of news.
Man what ya do.
And he says, [Chorus]I went sky divin’,
I went rocky mountain climbin’,
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull name Fumanchu.
And I loved deeper,
And I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I’ve been denying,
And he said someday I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin’.He said I was finally the husband,
That most the time I wasn’t.
And I became a friend a friend would like to have.
And all the sudden goin’ fishing,
Wasn’t such an imposition.
And I went three times that year I lost my dad.
Well I finally read the good book,
And I took a good long hard look at what I’d do
If I could do it all again.
And then. [Chorus]

Like tomorrow was a gift and you’ve got eternity
To think about what you do with it,
What could you do with it, what can
I do with with it, what would I do with it.

[Chorus]
Sky divin’,
I went rocky mountain climbin’,
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull name Fumanchu.
And I loved deeper,
And I spoke sweeter,
And I watched an eagle as it was flyin’.
And he said someday I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin’.

To live like you were dyin’.
To live like you were dyin’.
To live like you were dyin’.
To live like you were dyin’.