Good Deed

It makes me feel good to think visiting people brightens their day. The bonus for me, is being able to smile for making someone else feel special.

Face the Day

Sometimes you need to have someone tell you to unwrap yourself from the fuzzy blanket and get out of the comfy chair.

Laughter at Dinner

Today was a particularly stressful day. But I heard something I haven't heard in awhile.

Laughter at the dinner table.

Safety Goggles

Benjamin is very creative, and I never know what device or apparatus will end up on the kitchen counter daily.

Today, he made a carbon dioxide, simple for lack of better term, distillery. Of course, it involved plastic cups, water bottle, multiple straws and a mixture of sugar, water and yeast.

Madeline saw this apparatus on the counter, and in a not so lady like fashion inquired as to the purpose of the device.

Laughing, I advised her to leave it alone. She couldn't resist and squeezed the water bottle.

Later when I was picking up Benjamin, the two of us decided to play a prank on Madeline.

Considering how gullible she is, Benjamin walked in the house and approached Madeline.

Benjamin: "Madeline. You know that thing on the counter? I don't want Mom to get mad, but I need to tell you. Whatever you do, don't squeeze the bottle. If you do it releases A LOT of poison gas into the air. It could be dangerous."

A few minutes later as I enter the room.

Madeline: "Mom? You know how you told us we should never tattle unless it is life threatening? Ummm. That thing on the counter releases poison gas and I squeezed the bottle making it release a lot more."

Benjamin and I burst out laughing. Yes, she is gullible. However, I think I need to keep some safety goggles in the kitchen because who knows what he is going to build. Now that I think about it, maybe a fire extinguisher.

Am I Really Different, or Just Me?

I have been told multiple times that I have changed and I am a different person.

I don't think so.

I think I have become the person I am suppose to be.

The Gift of Poetry

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
and though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love, but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward, nor tarries with yesterday.

--Khalil Gibran

Many years ago, I befriended a geologist at Wayne State University. He gave The Prophet by Khalil Gibran to me as a gift. Every once in awhile, I turn to this book of poetry and find something new, or read something again with new eyes.

His words have soothed my soul and provoked my thoughts. I am grateful to the man who introduced me to this poet, and now, so many years later, wonder what compelled him to give this gift to me.

Definitely, Maybe

In the fall, I wrote about something a priest said that bothered me. Many months later, I stand my ground.

I guess he never saw the love story of Will and April.