Waiting to be Invited.

George and I went to the play, "Waiting to be Invited" this afternoon. A play focusing on the lunch counter sit ins. The play was well done and one needing to be done here in central Kansas. Not everyone remembers those days of civil rights activism.
I think we are missing something by not remembering. We become complacent in our daily lives.
So I challenge you to remember. Remember a time, make a difference. I don't know what mine will be or how I will do it. Opportunities abound everyday, we just have to watch and listen.
Is this a repeat blog? I think I have written something similar before. Hmmm. Maybe I ought to remember. Maybe I ought to listen.

A Boy and His Dog

Yesterday was not an easy day. In fact it was downright hard. We are dealing with budget cuts (all of education is) and the middle school students are at heathen level. Spring Break cannot come soon enough.
God must have known. An incredible moment was given to us.
About a week and a half ago, a young man at our school posted on Facebook his dog was missing. He continued to post and to look. All his family was looking. They lived in the country and were beginning to fear the worst.
Yesterday the boy's mom called and asked to have her son meet her outside the school. She had found the dog. He had traveled to a farm near Hudson and the farmer took him to the vet the next time he went to the big city. It just happened be the vet this dog was used to.
So chain of events led the vet to call the mom and the mom calling us. She wanted to bring the dog to the school to see the boy.
Well, we all wanted to see this reunion, so she brought the dog inside and we called the boy to the office.
Four women and a dog waited. It was worth the wait. The look on the boy's face and the reaction of the dog was worthy of a movie and hanky moment. All were weeping. The dog had it's paws around the boy's neck and the boy was ecstatic. They had each other again.

Amazonian

I went to Amazon the other day and started adding to my shopping cart.
It started with looking at various types of music recommended based on past purchases. That looked good and so did one of those.... From there, I went on to movies. The ones I never got to the cinema to see and I don't really want to wait until they come out on tv.
And I know George wanted yeast that can only be bought through this site. And cookware, yeah! That looked good too!

I looked at the cart this morning and thought, "My God woman! Were you on some sort of drinking binge?"

The shopping cart is now empty.

I think I need to give Amazon up for Lent.

Be careful out there

As we raise our children, one of things we have to get across is right or wrong, you can be judged merely by who you hang around with or by what you say. As I say this, I have to remember to keep it ever before me as well, and it falls into my belief that I am not a judge.
So reading a letter to the editor this morning from someone decrying what was written about their group earlier in the month. They were painted with what I believe to be with pretty accurate colors. The letter's author disagrees. She felt just because some whom they are associated with spew remarks about the landscape that inflammatory, her group should not be lumped into the same category.
Hmmmm.
Does not seem to deter the writer from doing the same in maligning the government or anyone in suppport. Does not seem to deter those in her coalition from maligning those of a different ethnicity or religion.
But the author does not wish her coalition to be judged on the appearance of its spectrum of membership or affilitaion.
Ah.

Sundays at home

It is Sunday morning and the ice and snow kept us from traveling miles to church. We chose, instead, to watch a favored Sunday morning show. George made pancakes and the morning was slow and warm.
I think we need these types of mornings every now and then.
Just step back. No demands. The batteries are recharged and yet our brains and bodies are just relaxed.
Oh, I could get riled about the commentary in today's paper. I could type up a letter to the editor about the state of education, the narrow mindedness of local editorialists and pastors, the lack of focus on those in need. But for now, my heart and brain are just relaxing and listening.
It feels nice. It feels needed.
Here's to Sunday at home.
Hope yours was a good one as well.

Parenting from a Different Perspective

I really try to understand where someone I do not agree with is coming from in their perspective. Lately, there have been some I just cannot for the life of me wrap my mind around.
What will benefit the kid if the parent lies for him or her? What is being taught? Where is the ethic that needs to be instilled?
I work in a school setting and it seems to have become more apparent this year than in the past. I don't get it. We all worry about some of these kids and how they will get along later in life. Will a kid grow up without and ethic of honesty be able to really be happy? Or will the life be a lie?
Things that make you go hmmm.

Things that go bump in the night

My youngest daughter and I like to watch Ghost Hunters together. Get a little creeped out and giggle. There is lot shown we have no explanation for and neither do the people with the show.
It isn't as though we are watching to be scared or to be convinced in ghosties and ghoulies. Quite honestly, we both believe there are some things in this world not defined by a single explanation.
We watch because it is just fun and takes the edge off the unknown. Still unknown, but we can talk. Brings us closer over nothing (sometimes literally). Fiona and I don't need to have "Mother - Daughter talks" to be close. We just are.
Pretty cool.

Ash Wednesday

Tonight we celebrated Shrove Tuesday at our church. Some came in costume ala Mardi Gras style and others just came as they were. In past years we have had pancakes and sausage or other years we carried on a Cajun theme. The men of our church were do the cooking. Maybe that happened, maybe it didn't, but a good time would be had by all. This year there was still a gathering, but with a different perspective. We had leftovers from the funeral dinner of this past weekend. Food was good, but it was different, no doubt about it.
Believe it or not, I think this was all a good thing. Going into Ash Wednesday, should be a leveling matter. To me, and it is just my interpretation, the imposition makes us all on the same playing field. From ashes you have come and to ashes you shall return. In doing so, it makes us responsible for one another.
You know, that "what you do for the least of these, you do for me."? Yes, that one. The ashes remind us what we are to be about.
I hope I can keep that in front of me.

Things that make you go hmmmm.

I wrote a letter to the editor of our local paper. Sent it by email on Sunday morning. It was printed in the Wednesday edition. Ok, not a problem.
In this morning's (one day later), Thursday issue, was a response from a local pastor who dropped his title for his letter.
The very next day....
Hmmmm.
Should I be paranoid?

No, No, I Really Shouldn't

I really shouldn't read books. Books make me think and then apply what I have read to other articles written by individuals supposedly in the same field.
Ok,ok, I will stop making vague allusions and get to the point.
I am reading a book of sermons and homilies be a noted bishop. I then read a letter in the paper from someone with the title Pastor in front of his name. Even though both individuals work within the clergy field, working on spreading the word of God, the two could not be more diverse. The bishop is promoting ministering to the "little ones", the "least of these". Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, tending the sick.... You know the passages. Something like those very lines are found in every religion, contrary to some folks belief. The pastor is promoting an anti-islamic stance and seems to be even encouraging an aggressive stance against those who do not believe as he does. Taking passages from the bible out of context and molding them to bolster his platform of isolation and bigotry.
I believe in what the bishop is promoting. We have to work (and it is work) to feed, to clothe, to tend and more importantly, to change.
Write, listen, speak and work.
Start now.

Today, I am thankful for my kids. Yup, they may drive stark raving mad some days but I am thankful for who the people they are right this instant. My kids know I am not going to lie or cover up for them. Don't even think of asking and there are times I am sure they would really like me to.
After dealing with parents refusing to believe little Johnny or Susie could do anything wrong and the rest of the world is picking on them... I give thanks for my knowingly human kids.
I give thanks I am their mom - not trying to achieve "bestest friend" status. The kids probably give thanks for that too.
I love them.
That's it.

Getting what you ask for

I received a love letter. An honest to BY GOD love letter. It just makes me giggle and tingle all in one fell swoop.
Now let me back up. My husband writes a weekly column for 5 small newspapers. Every Sunday afternoon he sits down to write. Prior to that, the ritual is for George to ask what I think he should write about. This week with Valentine's coming up I said he needed to write me a love letter for the papers.
I was kidding.
Well, maybe not completely....
What I received was wonderful. It won't be in the papers. Kinda glad about that one.
Another actual column was written and sent on.
But my letter, all wives should get one just like it. So should the husbands.
Every day. Not just Valentine's. Let'em know they are loved.

I have my morning coffee beside me, dogs at my feet and the house is beautifully quiet. The papers are read and no real demand for the day has started. One of the best times of the day.
George and I occasionally get a whole day just like this. Usually the weather is not conducive to being outs.ide but the kids have other places to be and we are not a part of the plan. Those are the days we plan. Plan to paint, plan to expand the garden (growing more peppers than we could ever hope to eat), plan to cook and plan to go - anywhere. Not that some of these plans will come to fruition or that we are setting ourselves up for disappointment if we don't do all that is set out. Not the case at all. It is just out loud thinking between the two of us.
If just one thing transpires because of these talks, well that is icing on the cake. For now, plans are painting the kitchen, new types of squash in the garden. New petunias and geraniums out front. Santa Fe in June.
A lovely way to start the day.

Start Writing

Start writing now. I like blogs and I like writing when I get the time. The time does not come as easily as I would like, but when it does, writing can be a joy.
For the life of me, after reading this morning's Great Bend Tribune, it becomes painfully clear the writing for some is not joyful at all. It is bigoted, harmful and detrimental to the public it is intended for in Midwest Kansas.
So, my request to any who might read this. Write what you believe. Send it in to any local papers. Please encourage tolerance, compassion and reason.
Please.

The thing you can't have

I wrote that our stove needs help. In this house, that kind of event can cause life altering trauma. Really.
I love to cook. It helps me relax. It helps me focus. The first thing I thought of when George said, yup, we need a repairman (6:00 in the evening when one is not available), was all the food I wanted to make that I had not even considered 15 minutes before. In fact, our oldest was in the process of cutting up veggies to use in a chili she was making for the family. I wasn't even doing dinner.
Didn't matter. The stove was sick. "Oh no! What are we going to do? Oh the humanity!"
The repairman will be here this afternoon. I work during the day. All should be well. I will even eat lunch at school. I won't have to look at the wounded and feel its pain.
Perhaps I need therapy for this?

It is February. Traditionally known as the "F" month in our household. Tradition held true to form today.
Our stove, only 1 year plus a couple months old, blew a connection, leaving a charred place on the wall behind and a melted connection at the back of the stove itself. Lovely.
The only thing to do is have the stove fixed.
I don't mean to be pessimistic, but what is next?

Budgets

Our USD is facing budget cuts, again. Along with all the other school districts in the state, we are having to cut because of mismanagement at a state level and an ongoing face of the country right now. Staff will be cut and duties shifted to others with no additional remuneration.
Lovely.
Is this a bit of a rant? Yup.
But, I have a job. Some can't say that. And I can see my kids every day. I can see my husband at lunch. I can be with my family when they need me and it is ok. When my father died, my coworkers picked up when I could not. I have had kids (not my own) rely on me to be there when they are having a bad day.
Hmm.
The perks still out weigh the cons.