It's Lonely At The Top

I wonder how much I would want instant success, wealth, fame, or anything else that fell into that category. We all say it from time to time. 'If only I could win the lotto.' Well I don't know about that anymore. *I would find a financial advisor for sure if it ever did happen*

I look at people in the media who supposedly 'have it all' and look where it gets them. There are few and far between who have handled their fame and done it justice. Just because you are a super-star does not mean you want the lime light. Yes you should do a red carpet now and the, but that doe snot mean I want cameras following me into the local deli to see what kind of mustard I use on my pastrami sandwich.

But there are a few who seem to thrive on it (the spotlight that is) and then when it becomes to much they back away, giving more credence to their being an enigma. Well as my mother use to say, 'Don't dance if you can't pay the fiddler.' And you know what, she is right.

Why even pick a career that is its main objective to put you in the spot light but then turn your back on it. Don't get me wrong I know people are entitled to their privacy and I will be the first to admit that I like mine, here in Average Joe land. My sister is a perfect example. She has people in her home all-the-time. I don't know about you but I like a quite night at home with a movie and a bowl of popcorn.

But these super stars, what are they to do? Soak up the lime light? Live in it and then cringe every time someone decides they want to have their baby, or write letters every single day. I bet the list is extensive as to what these people go through. But when do they draw the line? How many festivities do they attend per year? If any. Only thee Oscars, or should we throw in the Grammy's. And do we have the right, as the people who got them there, to want to see them outside their profession.

I don't particularly need to see Farrah or Michael at some Red Carpet so some schlep can tear apart what they wear. they are movie stars...who cares?

I genuinely feel for those who have reached the top only to be brought down, snuffed out to early. Here are just but a few who have Gone Too Soon:

Elvis Presley
Judy Garland
Michael Jackson
River Phoenix
John Ritter
Brandon Lee
Bruce Lee
Heath Ledger
James Dean
John Belushi
Bob Marley
Jimi Hendrix
Kurt Cobain
Janis Joplin
Andy Kaufman
Princess Diana
Freddy Mercury
Freddy Prince
Bernie Mac

The list is endless. And they they leave us is just as diverse. Those who had not finished what there were put here to do. So when you feet hit the floor every morning, be grateful they did.

Blow Me A Kiss

It must be one of every parents dreams come true to see their child walk across the stage and accept their diploma, but not for some students and parents, especially one school and family in particular in Maine.

When I volunteered in the public school system, I did many a thing. I laminated cut-outs for the teachers, dusted off bags of books with cassette tapes, checked in books back in the library. In fact the library was where I usually ended up at. But on rare occasions I was with some students one on one, again, usually with something to do with reading.

And every year we had an orientation that reminded us of the rules. Do this, don't do that. And the one that always stuck out in my mind (and the one I usually ignored) was the one that said you cannot touch any student. OK, I get what they were pointing to, but you cold not hug them, greet them, you got to do nada, zip, zilch. Those kids faces lit up when they saw you. They would com barrelling down the hallway and nearly try to slam you over, but whoa!, you could not even acknowledge them, what-so-ever.

Another reason I LOVE home schooling. When my kids greet me at any function, I open my arms and look forward to their embrace, for they want it as much as I do.

The power of human touch.

I think it is a fundamental necessity. I am not saying that folks need to be fondling all over themselves, but to deny a basic human instinct? What is that crap? There is nothing more rewarding then for me to give and or receive a big bear hug. I prefer that to kisses.

I know many a society that gives those fake air kisses on the cheek, and I have been giving them to my in-laws for years. Can't stand that. I see them all the time. My mother-in law, finally got it, for I told her and she now does not expect me to kiss her every single time. But throw me a hug, and you are my friend for life.

But on this particular day in Maine as one student was crossing the stage to accept his diploma, he turned to his family and blew them a kiss. Well the principal decided that showing affection to his family was inappropriate and denied him his diploma...right there in front of thee entire class and assembly. What kind of nut job does that? One who has issues, obviously. Is there a Doctor Phil in the house?

Who would deny such a thing? And this is not the first time I have heard of this type of thing. What has society come to? Are we so paranoid that we need to stop human contact? I myself do not want to live in such a world. So the next time you are in need of a hug, please do not hesitate to give one to whomever you feel may need one.

Save Our Landfills

I am concerned about our Mother...Mother Earth that is. And I am doing everything in my power to see to it that she stays healthy. If she were to come to me on my death bed ask what I did for her, I have a list. So I feel confident that I am doing all I possibly can to keep her at her best.

And one way of doing that is by keeping unwanted items out of the landfills. I have found a way to help us all out. Join Free Cycle. Think of it as an on line sort of garage sale, minus the money exchange. You are there to offer items you no longer want, or are replacing. For instance:

Offer: Working, automatic drip coffee maker with a bit of the protective layer coming off on the warmer
Offer: Women's clothes, size 8-10
or
Wanted: Box of pencils
Wanted: Cloth napkins

You see where I am coming from. What you no longer want is what someone else is in need of. Trust me, I have already gotten rid of 2 five gallon painter style buckets so someone could make their own tomato planters. And my husband just cleaned out his closet for he has lost 25 pounds and needed to lighten the load in his closet. So why not help out a fellow man/woman.

I put these items on the Yahoo Group I belong to for my part of town and they were snatched up within 24 hours. So go check them out and see what they have to offer you. If I may make a suggestion. If you do join a Yahoo Group, sign up for the daily digest for if not you 'will' be bombarded with anywhere from 10-3- Emails per day...no joke. And I am guessing bigger cities it could be way worse.

I love this new found way of exchanging items and helping out where we can. Try them and see what you think.

One For The Road

I do not like Dr. Phil. I think he is full of himself. But even windbags have something to say every now and then. My husband was at the gym today and Dr. Phil was on. So he read the closed caption while he listened to his music. Today's show was about DUI's. I did not get to see the show, but as my husband began to tell us what he saw on the show, I could see his blood pressure rising. There were three families on there who had lost children to drunk drivers. Then there was a former judge. And then there was your leech, I mean defense attorney for DUI's specifically. And then a Barbie doll who has had 3 offenses.

I can only remember once in my driving career (which is30 years now) that I have gotten in the cart when I should not have. After that night I knew I never wanted to do that again. I could not sit here and complain about folks who drink and rive when I had, in fact, did the very same thing. What was I thinking? I wasn't, for my judgement had been impaired. And what if I had taken someones life. That would not have been my intent. I was just hanging out with a few friends after a long days work in the parking lot. What harm was there in relaxing a little bit. LOTS!

I have grown up since then, and that is not to say I was immature, I just got really wise that night. I imagine I am one in a million. How many others are doing thee exact opposite and keep on drinking, keep on driving and are sliding under the radar...until. By then it is too late. I no longer drive with any alcohol in my system. And if my husband and both decide we want to drink somewhere, which is rare, we flip a coin. I have an occasional drink at home, so I do not feel the need to drink when we go out if he wants to let loose a bit. So the decision is easy for me.

What got me toasted (no pun intended) about this show, was the Barbie Doll who has gotten 3 DUI's and since her daddy has bookoo bucks, has gotten her off on all three charges. What happens when the next time she is drinking and driving, she, or the person she hits, is not so lucky. What then? What about the judges and lawyers who have just been giving her slaps on the wrist and letting her go on her merry way. What do you say to the parent of a dead child, when they look at this persons track record and nothing had been done about it...until. By then it is too late.

The parent of one of the dead teens told the Barbie Doll that her son had been killed, by someone most likely like her. the Barbie Doll said that she thought the .08 limit was and I quote, "Stupid." And the little miss sassy pants went on to tell the grieving mother that maybe it had not been the .09 drunk driver that had been the cause of thee accident. A hush fell over the audience. The mother then stated through clenched teeth I am guessing, that if this had been a different style show and she would have been a different style of mother, they would be going at it right now. Thee audience cheered the mother.

I believe that what goes around, comes around. You get what is due to you. Law of Attraction, if you will. Your next life. Thee after life. Take your pick. But for those who are not serving thee appropriate time for their crime will pay at some point. And even for those who do kill someone with thier vehicle they are not doing time like they should. they are serving minimal time in jail and it is a white collar jail. Let me get this straight. I pick up a gun and kill someone I am labeled a murderer and do hard time for my crime. Easy enough. But, I go have one too many, slam into an innocent person, kill them and I am someone with a social problem who is not labeled a murder. Something is definitely wrong with this picture. Murder is murder no matter the weapon. A car, gun, bat, knife, the list goes on. You can't own a gun after a murder? Then why should you ever get behind a wheel after you kill someone with your vehicle.

Driving is a privilege. You earn it. The privilege should be taken away if you abuse that right.

My uncle was killed by a drunk driver. That driver was himself. Think twice before downing that extra beer, drink or cocktail before slipping behind a wheel thinking you can handle it. No You Can't. Trust me on this one.

But I'm So Ugly

I recently heard of a conversation that took place and it was quite interesting to me. There is a young lady I know that grows her hair out all the time, just so she can donate it to Locks of Love.
This is a big thing for many, if not most of the teenage girl population I know. But this young girl has gone outside of her comfort zone and donated her hair to those less fortunate.

Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that takes hair that is donated and makes wigs for children that are victims of cancer. Now I know that some people are offended by the word victim. But let me tell you how Merriam-Webster explains victim:

One that is acted on and usually adversely affected by a force or agent: as (1) One that is injured or destroyed or sacrificed under of any various conditions

Even Merriam knows these kids are done wrong. With that said, this young lady knows that she can keep growing her hair over and over again. These children to not have that advantage. And some of them may not even get the chance to enjoy the wig that is being made for them.

I have seen people tear down what locks of love does, saying they take monies and spend them unwisely. Hell, our own government does that, I don't see them moving to another country. For the most part I applaud what this organization does. And, what they cannot use for the wig itself, is sold off to other wig companies and the money is turned back into Locks of Love for other expenditures.

What had been said from an outside party was this, (And I am paraphrasing) "After my mother cut off my hair, I realized she had cut it too short and within a few seconds, I thought how ugly I really was." Hello, you think you are ugly? How about the little girl or boy who has no hair and a good possibility of dying. And you are worried about how much hair gel or spray you are going to need to make yourself beautiful. Puh-leaze. Give me a break.

Nothing is that important that I cannot give it up to help a fellow man, and moreso one who is handling a grave disease. Kudos to the young lady who is growing her hair out for those in need. What a very adult thing to do, and unselfish at that. I know there are going to be people who say, "Well if it works for her that is all fine and dandy, but it may not be my cup of tea." Again that person is correct, but do not sit there and have the gumption to tell me how ugly you are or that you could never do it, when a child's life is hanging in the balance.

To each his own, but I applaud fervently to all those who give up something that is so precious to many a female. But bottom line, it's only hair, for us it will grow back, for those with cancer, it may very well not.

I Swear

After blogging about my daughters wonderful ability to stand on her won two feet about what she believes in, it got me to thinking. Why do we swear, curse, use foul language. My sister says because we, as adults, have earned that right. I disagree. Like I stated previously, I can stand toe to toe with the best...or worse of sailors. But I came to a decision about swearing.

I am going to swear off swearing for 30 days, just to see if I can do it. I mean I am guessing that most of us can hold on a normal conversation without having to colorize it with that sort of language. Does swearing make us feel more important, get us noticed more, make the joke funnier? Think about it. We will still talk if the swear words are taken away, I am always important, I don't know about you folks, and I can tell a joke and never let a swear word slip through my lips.

I did have 2 slip ups already. The first one was last night at dinner, but I swerved that one off to the side, but my daughter heard it and caught it as well. This morning I was in my garden, barefoot, and on the way back into the house I stepped on a dried up stem from a thorn bush. the language flew. My daughter was right beside me and I told her this was an exception to the rule. That $@!&*) thorn drew blood. We both laughed.

I am about one week into going egg free for one month and now the swearing. Dag-nab-it, I hope to succeed on both fronts. Wish me luck.

She Stood Her Ground

There is nothing that makes a parent more proud then when all the discussions you have with your children finally pay off. You have to remember, I do not talk 'TO' my children, I talk 'WITH' my children. Big difference. And if you don't know the difference, ask me sometime.

We (my family and myself), went to Miami this past weekend, to see our families...my husbands and mine. And the adults got to hang out while the kids did thier thing as well. Granted, we knew where the kids were and with cell phones galore, everyone was just a text message away.

Saturday afternoon, my son and daughter went with a decent sized group to go see the new Star Trek movie (go see it, even if you are not a Trekkie, and take the kids). Well, there was a good friend of my nieces who we have met on more than one occasion and he was being taken home before they all traipsed to the theatre.

Well Mr. Know-It-All, started throwing down the 'F' bomb and the 'N' bomb (reference to black kids, this kid is also black) and my daughter had finally had enough and asked him to stop with the language. Now mind you none of tee other kids, my son included, asked this kid to back off. And form what my daughter said , he was letting them fly like geese going south in the winter.

Do not get me wrong, I can stand toe to toe with the best sailor, but to what end. Is swearing absolutely necessary? My sister thinks it is deserved. She says she is an adult and has no problem with her language. For those who have never met my sister, I fairly warn them. I go back to a snippet of an interview I once saw with Bill Cosby, and he asked Eddie Murphy if he felt it necessary, to throw around the 'F' bomb? Bill wanted to know if the jokes were only funny with that language in it , or could the act stand on its own? Something to think about.

We hear swearing all the time, but do we really need to say those words? Can we not make our point or have conversation without all the colorful language? For some people I think it is an impossibility. It's like the people who like need to say like and they like would not know how to speak and like carry on a conversation without the word like.

You will always be judged by:

1) The company you keep
2) How you dress
3) And you conduct yourself in conversation.

I am so terribly proud of my daughter for standing her ground in a matter that meant something to her. And I told her all afternoon in the car ride on the way home from our afternoon errands.

Go Nana!