Like the author of the article I'm posting the link to below, I tend to be too wordy at times. (Who? Me?). It's always been my nature. Oftentimes this little trait will cause me trouble.
I may use 127 words when actually 3 would do and confusion sets in with the party I'm attempting to communicate with. Shocking.
But the mom below (www.handsfreemama.com) said it best.
When we are trying to let our kids (or someone else) know how we feel, it doesn't always take a dissertation to relay the sentiment. We aren't always called to teach a lesson or guide a path. Sometimes we just need to say a few, albeit, monumental words.
Ben and Shelby...
I love to be with you.
I love hearing you laugh.
I love hearing you argue with each other.
I love knowing you will be there when I walk in at the end of a long day.
I love knowing you count on me.
I love more about you than you will ever know or I could ever put in a list.
I love you.
http://www.handsfreemama.com/2012/04/16/six-words-you-should-say-today/
Thank you to my friend Anna for bringing this wonderful blog to my attention. :) Sometimes it's the little things you do, like posting a blog link on your Facebook page, that turns someones day around. Sometimes we never know the impact we have on others. Well Anna...consider me 'impacted'!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
TECHNOLOGICAL GUT PUNCH
My son joined Facebook this weekend. He's 13...aka of Facebook age...and I honestly think it's more of a technological interest of his that hopefully passes. I say hopefully because it's something I'm beginning to think I need less and less of in my life.
I work in an office with no windows and 95% of the time, alone. It's what I've always referred to as my link to the outside world. My watercooler, if you will.
But on a night like tonight...and I'll admit I've had quiet a few of these nights in the past couple years...technology has put a sour taste in my mouth. My blog has become my main means to vent. And that's just when I make the time to log-in and do it.
Most of my time is spent hanging with the kiddos, but these first two days of summer break has been an eye-opener. They are stuck in this apartment so they have nothing better to do but...you guessed it...technology. Video games. Television. Crap. My youngest actually passed up the opportunity to go get a snocone tonight in order to stay home playing some stupid video game. Who does that? I was so baffled and thought she'd actually change her mind when we headed for the door, but she didn't. Next time, no choice. She's going.
I don't want them to turn into "those people".
You know the type. Heck...you may be the type. The kind of people who aren't there. Who, when family or friends call or come by, they are so preoccupied with the one-dimensional world, they don't pay attention. Or they just no longer make time for a phone call. When in a room with people, they're more interested in rudely carrying on a text conversation than a face-to-face one with people in the room.
If someone calls me, I answer. If I'm not with my kids or in the presence of someone else and you text me, I answer. If I'm with someone, I'll answer soon, but you definitely won't be ignored. And I do this NOT because I'm less busy than you. I do this because it's just what you do. Or at least, it's what you SHOULD do. I'm a busy as the next person (and believe me, I'm in no way glorifying being busy...we all are!), but I flat-out make time for those in my life (unless you yell and cuss at me, then not so much!).
I don't want my kids to forget what seems to be a HUGE thing missing in this world...communication. Not technological communication. Actually talking to someone. Making the time for them.
People don't pick up there phones anymore with a friend calls. It's disgusting. And I've been bad about it in the past, but have made concerted efforts in the last few years. Maybe because I'VE needed people to pick up, so it became evident to me just how important a phone call can be.
Regardless, for someone who has earned a paycheck due to technology...it's really punched me in the gut tonight.
I work in an office with no windows and 95% of the time, alone. It's what I've always referred to as my link to the outside world. My watercooler, if you will.
But on a night like tonight...and I'll admit I've had quiet a few of these nights in the past couple years...technology has put a sour taste in my mouth. My blog has become my main means to vent. And that's just when I make the time to log-in and do it.
Most of my time is spent hanging with the kiddos, but these first two days of summer break has been an eye-opener. They are stuck in this apartment so they have nothing better to do but...you guessed it...technology. Video games. Television. Crap. My youngest actually passed up the opportunity to go get a snocone tonight in order to stay home playing some stupid video game. Who does that? I was so baffled and thought she'd actually change her mind when we headed for the door, but she didn't. Next time, no choice. She's going.
I don't want them to turn into "those people".
You know the type. Heck...you may be the type. The kind of people who aren't there. Who, when family or friends call or come by, they are so preoccupied with the one-dimensional world, they don't pay attention. Or they just no longer make time for a phone call. When in a room with people, they're more interested in rudely carrying on a text conversation than a face-to-face one with people in the room.
If someone calls me, I answer. If I'm not with my kids or in the presence of someone else and you text me, I answer. If I'm with someone, I'll answer soon, but you definitely won't be ignored. And I do this NOT because I'm less busy than you. I do this because it's just what you do. Or at least, it's what you SHOULD do. I'm a busy as the next person (and believe me, I'm in no way glorifying being busy...we all are!), but I flat-out make time for those in my life (unless you yell and cuss at me, then not so much!).
I don't want my kids to forget what seems to be a HUGE thing missing in this world...communication. Not technological communication. Actually talking to someone. Making the time for them.
People don't pick up there phones anymore with a friend calls. It's disgusting. And I've been bad about it in the past, but have made concerted efforts in the last few years. Maybe because I'VE needed people to pick up, so it became evident to me just how important a phone call can be.
Regardless, for someone who has earned a paycheck due to technology...it's really punched me in the gut tonight.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
THE ONLY REAL TRAP IS GETTING ATTACHED TO ANY OF IT...
Dear David,
We haven’t had any communication in a while, and it’s given me time I needed to think.
Remember when you said we should live with each other and be unhappy so we could be happy? Consider it a testimony to how much I love you that I spent so long pouring myself into that offer, trying to make it work.
But my friend took me to the most amazing place the other day, it’s called the Augusteum. Octavian Augustus built it to house his remains. When the barbarians came, they trashed it along with everything else. The great Augustus, Rome’s first true great Emperor, how could he have imagined that Rome, the whole world as far as he was concerned, would one day be in ruins?
It’s one of the quietest and loneliest places in Rome. The city has grown up, around it over centuries, feels like a precious womb, like a heartache you won’t let go of…as it hurts too good. We all want things to stay the same, David. Settle for living in misery because we’re afraid of change, of things crumbling to ruins.
Then I looked around this place, at the chaos it’s endured, the way it’s been adapted, burnt, pillaged then found a way to build itself back up again and I was reassured. Maybe my life hasn’t been so chaotic, it’s just the world that is and the only real trap is getting attached to any of it.
Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.
Even in this eternal city, the Augusteum showed me that we must always be prepared for endless waves of transformation.
Both of us deserve better than staying together because we’re afraid we’ll be destroyed if we don’t.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
HEY...YOU TEXTING TO ME?
I look back on my text conversations with people from time-to-time and just have to laugh. I mean I have some interesting people in my life. I swear if someone got ahold of my phone who didn't know me and read all my texts, the word "diverse" would be one of the first words out of their mouths.
Here's just a few examples.
Just a simple question because I was frustrated our apartment complex had me move every, damn thing off my balcony because they SAID they were going to powerwash it...and they did NOT, turns into...
I've got some crazy people in my world who make me laugh both when I need it and when I have no idea how much I need it. They come through.
Thank you, God for simple blessings of hilarious texts (and sweet texts, too) that put a smile on my face when I need it most!
Here's just a few examples.
Just a simple question because I was frustrated our apartment complex had me move every, damn thing off my balcony because they SAID they were going to powerwash it...and they did NOT, turns into...
Alone on a weekend night, already in bed, thinking "everyone is out right now having fun or on a date or out with friends and here I am...really?" and surely on my way to a pity party of sorts (shocker), then from out of nowhere BING...
And, thankfully, I get some 'feel good' ones also... . This was sent to me by someone who I was telling about a story on the news that had to do with the horrible treatment of seniors in some area assisted living centers. The person I was telling happens to work for a large company who runs very nicely run and well-maintained Alzheimer's homes across the nation. After telling me, "Yeah...I could tell you some sad stories that happen to patients before they come to us" and me basically replying, "Stop! You're making me cry" he quickly followed up with this...
I've got some crazy people in my world who make me laugh both when I need it and when I have no idea how much I need it. They come through.
Thank you, God for simple blessings of hilarious texts (and sweet texts, too) that put a smile on my face when I need it most!
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