Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Graduation message: Dear Digital Son ...

Graduation season is upon us, and words of wisdom will be flowing to the class of 2012 in commencement speeches from boldface personalities such as Michelle Obama, Steve Wozniak and Steve Carell.

A little closer to home, I would like to offer a few insights from my dying analog generation to one high school senior in particular, who will soon be heading to the University of Chicago. Because he spends most of his time locked in his room, on his computer, ignoring my emails and texts, this is what I hope to share with him during one of our rare face-to-face encounters.

• Your friends will become your surrogate family once the cruel, Darwinian abandonment of your parents and siblings is complete. And by friends, I refer to those rare few people who will bring you soup when you are sick, correct your tendency toward self-aggrandizement and do whatever onerous favors that are the Digital Age equivalent of driving you to the airport. A Facebook friend will not drag you to the health clinic when you develop a mysterious and fast-spreading rash.

• Read books for pleasure. Buy old books you hope to dive into someday, even if you never do. Cherish the weight of a book on your chest as you fall asleep on a lazy winter afternoon. Books will still be here in 1,000 years. Pinterest will not.

• A dive bar is a social platform. Tumblr is for publicly sharing awful photographs of railroad tracks and snowy branches no one wants to see, not even your mother.

• Despite the ongoing existence of "Transformers," a movie is not the first layer of a multi-platform marketing scheme but rather a singular act of art to be experienced, debated with good friends over food, drinks and revisited years later. To see a film projected in a common, shared space is central to the experience; feeling the audience catch its breath when Peter O'Toole blows out the match in "Lawrence of Arabia" is a moment you will never forget. You will be hard-pressed to recall to your children the exact surroundings when you first enjoyed the serotonin-flooding epiphany that was "Charlie bit my finger" on YouTube.

• Since the age of 20, I have started every day with strong coffee and several major daily newspapers. A newspaper provides a robust and reliable frame for my mental visualization of the world. Please do not let your frame be filled up by the Kardashians, conjoined twins, conspiracy theories, 46-pound cats and cancer-fighting Amazon lichens.

• Though I can no longer imagine life before Google or Yelp, I do remember that I was happy, productive and healthy, the sun streamed with equal brightness, and my mind was deeply occupied by the mysteries of the universe.

• Religious extremists, imprisoned serial killers and porn stars have followers. People who read your Twitter feed are probably just avoiding doing their actual work.

• Texting is a wonderful way to avoid the intrusiveness of the average, non-urgent phone call, but outside of that narrow context, it serves only to enable people who cannot write a simple declarative sentence.

• I have nothing helpful to say about your ability to hear, acquire and share new music. I cannot defend playing my vinyl copy of "The White Album" on any terms other than petty nostalgia, and I will take that false moral superiority to my grave.

Finally, a liberal arts education is an idea that has fallen out of favor with my generation and yours, and I am insanely proud that you have chosen that path. Let others pursue a narrow and relentless path toward one percentagery, but remember that very few people wake up every day and look forward to their labors. Most people only look forward to lunch.

Go out and discover the world and yourself. And if you have a chance, read that old copy of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." You can ignore the notes scribbled in the margins. I'll explain that phenomenon another time.

Monday, May 21, 2012

I had an eye opening moment as a parent yesterday....

My daughter is very much like me, when we get emotional or upset about things, we tend to hold them on because we don't want people to feel our hurt or pain. She has been having some thoughts about how she feels as a teenager and all the changes that are coming about and it hurt my heart to know she was holding it all in. She is a smart girl and she was smart enough to go and talk to my BFF's daughter (who is also her age) and she in turn talked to her Mom who talked to me. It felt good to know that she has an outlet to talk to someone and even better to know that she is doing much better after talking with me about how she feels.

Every person has been a teenager and had the feelings of hating Acne, trying to fit in and all the things teenagers deal with but I am proud of my daughter and think she is the most beautiful person inside and out.

Parents make sure you talk to your kids, tell them how you feel and give them that outlet when they need it the most.


It truly takes a village to raise a child..


Thursday, May 17, 2012

Memory Miles - Supporting Veterans though...

Memory Miles - Supporting Veterans though...

May 19th, 2012 – May 31st 2012 – Active Heroes across America will walk, run, hike or bike to complete miles in memory of our Nation’s fallen Heroes and to raise funds for military families in need as part of the Memory Miles annual event. You can get involved this year with our new fundraising pages with tools to engage your friends, families and neighbors and by purchasing the memory miles shirt.

The world is on my shoulders... HELP

Today is one of those days where I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders... The stress if life is getting to me and I don't know how to control it. I have Work, being a Parent, Cheer, Wedding and just breathing each day seems to be alot for me.

I don't feel like I have time for a break or can catch a break.

R.I.P Donna Summer

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

So Cute, I had to share....

Dear Mr. Someday,

Since you are a male, and I am a female, there is one thing I know for sure: I am going to confuse you sometimes. Probably a lot. So, I thought I’d give you some pointers, now, ahead of time, to help a brother out. Because it would probably be pretty annoying if I was giving you pointers once we were dating. Plus I won’t want to, because I’m going to want you to magically know how to deal with treat me. Amiright, ladies? Oh sorry Mr. Someday, back to you. So, here’s my list of handy dandy tips, which I may casually print and leave lying around somewhere for you to find one day, when you’re mine. (These not in order of importance, or any order at all, really.)

1. Hold my hand. As often as humanly possible. I’ve been waiting for you my. whole. life. I have not settled for less, or wasted time dating people that I knew I wasn’t going to marry, because that’s just not my style. But waiting has not been easy, my friend. Not at all. So please make up for lost time (which wasn’t your fault, but what has that got to do with anything?) and hold my hand as often as you can. In the movies, at the beach, in the grocery store, at the DMV… Whenever, wherever. Even when our hands get sweaty. Even when we get old. The only exception to this rule is if we are hanging out with a single friend, just the three of us, and they are already feeling like a third wheel. That’s just rude. Let’s not do that to them. Ok moving on.

2. Listen. This is a good tip actually for any person who is of the human variety. I learned a lot about this in my counseling classes. I’m going to do a really good job at listening to you, so try to do the same, k? (This is my joking voice, I promise I won’t be this snarky in person… most of the time.) Anyhow, the major tips for good listening: eye contact, body language, empathy (you feel ____ because ____) it sounds stupid but it works. I do it to people all the time and they don’t even know I’m doing my “counselor” thing. They just feel validated. I like feeling validated too.

3. Empathize. Ok I brought that up already because it goes with listening, but it’s worth repeating. Since you are a guy, you are going to want to fix things, because that is just part of your genetic makeup. I am going to appreciate this about you, I promise. Especially when it’s the sink. But when I’m really upset (aka “the ugly cry”) there is nothing you are going to be able to do to fix it. The majority of the time, anyway. It doesn’t matter why I’m upset. (There is often no rhyme or reason to my emotions – this you will learn.) Or if you’ve already realized that you can’t fix it, you may want to say, “everything’s going to be ok” which is very sweet of you and I totally know where you’re coming from with that, but I want to warn you ahead of time that if I’m really upset, I will probably yell, “no it isn’t!” at you. And then you will look at me with puppy dog eyes, and I will feel terribly guilty, and that will only add to my sorrows. So, an alternative option is for you to do that empathy thing I talked about before. Just repeat back what I’m saying that I feel, in a voice that sounds like you understand. (Even if you don’t. It’s ok if you don’t. I don’t, half the time.) And then I will look at you like “You totally get me and are the best boyfriend/husband ever.” And it will be way better than the previous scenario. Another response that will most likely be a winner every time is “I love you.” (If and when you do.) Those words are magical and have healing powers.

4. Lead me. I am stubborn, and strong-willed, and have a slightly rebellious streak and a tendency to question authority all the time. Only people who know me really well know this about me, because most of the time I am mellow and easy going. But when people try to make me do things, I have a strange desire to stomp my feet and cross my arms and tell them I refuse. I guess I just like to be independent and am a bit of a free spirit (that’s the nice, PC way to describe those character qualities… I prefer them to other terms that could be used.) Anyway, this is something I’m always working on, in my relationship with God and other authorities in my life. Despite my desire to be independent and in control, there is a stronger, deeper desire at the core of my being to let go and just be taken care of. (I think if more ladies were honest with themselves, they would admit that they secretly want this too.) If and when I try to take control of you and/or our relationship, stop me. Be a man. Be in control. I will like it, even if I pout about it sometimes. (And I’ll try to do that when you’re not looking.)

5. Put God first. (If I was ordering these appropriately, this would be #1.) Your relationship with Jesus should come before your relationship with me. Just as my relationship with Jesus should come before my relationship with you. (You might have to remind me that sometimes, I’m probably going to be really distracted by you at first, like a shiny new toy. Not to totally objectify you or anything.) But in seriousness, I know that any days/weeks/months, etc when either or both of us is not putting God first, will be the hardest ones in our relationship. And when we are putting Him first, He will bless it and our relationship. Come to think of it… I’m pretty sure the reason that I didn’t put this as number one is because this is the one that I’m most confident you will already know. That’s just the kind of guy I would choose. (Not to toot my own horn or anything.) So thanks for being awesome.

6. Surprise me. It’s ok if you’re not the most creative or romantic guy that has ever walked the earth. Or even close to that. Or even an iota of that, really. It doesn’t take much. It doesn’t have to be fancy, elaborate, or expensive. It just has to be something that I didn’t know was coming, and is a sign that you were thinking of me, or that you went out of your way to do something for me. I’m not even going to list ideas, because I believe in you. You can do this one on your own.

There are a lot of others (make me laugh, take me on adventures, pray for me and with me, tell me stories, tolerate my constant singing and act like you love it, give me space when I need it, hold me when I cry, tell me to stop when I’m being ridiculous, apologize when you’re wrong, forgive me when I’m wrong, love my dogs or at least pretend to… actually no you have to really love them… and the list goes on.) You’ll be good at all those things though, because that’s why I chose you. And we will both make mistakes, and we will learn from them, and it’s going to be an amazing journey, and I can’t wait to start it with you. So hurry up already.

xoxo

Miss You Cousin

I got some bad news yesterday but good news in a sense... My cousin Machelle Woolbright went to be with the lord. I will miss her but I know that she is in a better place.

I will miss you and you calling out the Popsicles. (Insider)

Rest in Peace Machelle.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Kiddie Kitchen

Hey There,

I have started a new blog called Kiddies Kitchen. This blog will be for Kid friendly receipes for Parents to make with their children. I am looking for content from Friends and Family to use on the site so if you have a receipe, dishes or photos of you and your child/children cooking, feel free to send over to me to post. The blog address is http://kiddieskook.blogspot.com/.

All receipes and photos can be submitted to me at miss776@gmail.com.

Thanks!

Jasmine