I can remember that day very clearly. I was sitting at the restaurant with french fries and a chocolate shake on the table in front of me, talking with my grandparents about my upcoming graduation from high school.
The reason I recall this day is not because of anything that was said, it was the feeling I had of becoming an adult and that my grandparents approved of the young man I was turning into and that made me feel good.
How did I know they approved? I suppose I didn’t for sure at that moment, but there are many other forms of communication that can’t be ignored.
His Name Was Leslie
My grandfather’s name was Leslie, I always thought how tough life must have been with
This is Leslie, I love this picture it shows his sense of humor, which I have inherited I think.
that name, but he did not give two shakes what anyone else thought about him. It was one of the things that I was often embarrassed by as a kid and one of the things I remember most fondly today.
Thoughts of Leslie came up today, I was thinking about how do you know if someone you love who has passed away would be proud of you today? Leslie died in 1993 from complications from heart surgery. It was unexpected, it was supposed to be a routine surgery, but there is nothing routine about any procedure as we found out.
I Never said Good bye
People of that generation were serious, they didn’t express emotions much, it wasn’t a proper thing to do. Leslie was great anyway!!
I never got a chance to say good-bye in person, and I have no idea how he really felt about me then. He was from a generation that didn’t talk about their emotions very much. You just had to kind of figure it out. There were signs, but you had to look to see them.
Wondering now as I move along in life, I have faced difficult times. I have made mistakes. I have been far from perfect. I accept that, and I wonder often if Leslie and I could sit down and have a conversation today, what would he say?
I would ask, “Grandfather are you proud of me? Knowing all that I have done and been through. I imagine the response goes something like this.
“I have always been proud of you, because you are the only one who can be who you are. You never saw my challenges and the struggles I had with my parents and finding my place in the world. I am not sure how I would have done in your shoes. I do know that where you are now, only you could get there, and I can’t wait to see what is going to happen in the future. I love you.” I don’t remember him ever saying that to me in my life, but in my heart I just know he did. Why else would he do so many fantastic things for me?
Gone but Never Forgotten
That conversation is what I imagine and it affects me almost like it were real and not the whispering of a ghost. In the end I guess it doesn’t matter, because I have to realize that I am a good person, I wouldn’t steal from you for any reason. I won’t lie if I can help it, (how does my hair look? If it looks bad, I don’t want to hurt feelings.) I would try to help anyone who needs it. In fact, when I look at the things like that I realize,
I am just like Leslie, and that makes me realize that even though he is no longer here, he lives inside of me and I owe it to him and all of my family to be the best human being I can be, including being proud of who I am and what I have become.
That is why I have no choice, when I eat an order of fries and a chocolate shake but to remember Leslie. I smile and feel happy for who I am.
Click Image to say HI to Raimy-D. She has an entourage and wears jewelry like a rapper. But she is great!
One of my favorite people in the blogisphere is my friend Raimy-D(creative-guru.com). She spends her time dreaming up stuff for me and others to try to experience. I am two activities behind but I am making an effort to do this one in real-time and let the chips fall where they will. I will take a lot of positive thinking to get this done.
Automatic Writing Assignment
This activity is called automatic writing and I was intrigued because I had such a good time when I tried her automatic drawing exercise, highlighted by Raimy-D and her expert analysis of my very talented drawings.
It was liberating and fun. So automatic writing, no problem, this should spark some positive thinking.
This is how it is supposed to work
So it should work like this: 1. Think of a question you want to have answered in your life.
start writing without a conscious thought. (easier for some than others)
write until you get tired I guess or until you feel like you are done.
The idea is that the subconscious mind will answer the question that you ask. I have told Raimy-D that I am a little fearful of doing this because what if the answer isn’t something I want to hear? But bravery is the better part of valor here and I am going to do this right now, right here and you can read my ramblings.
The question: What is my next step supposed to be in life? (Play the song at the bottom when you read, it is neat.)
There were twelve swans that went to a local pond to take a swim. The water was warm but the swans didn’t know about the secret underneath the water. There were worlds that they had never seen. one at a time the swans would dive for food and while under the water they saw what was there and went to investigate each finding their own world to explore for awhile. Until there was only one swan left and he looked around and realized that he was all alone. He called for help, but no one came. He wanted to fly away but also couldn’t leave his companions without knowing their fate. He had never seen anything but food on his dives so he was unaware of the mysteries below the water. Finally he dove deep and saw out of the corner of his eye a light that he couldn’t resist. He swam as hard a he could toward the light and with all of his effort he made it and emerged into a totally new world. It was colorful, and full of beautiful trees, sparkling lakes it had a lot of green grass to walk on and beautiful puffy white clouds that the swan couldn’t wait to fly into. There was no reason he could think of that this place existed but here it was he could touch it with his feet and taste it with his tongue. It seemed real to him and in the end I guess that is all that mattered.
Answer my questions please.
So there you go I am not going to read this until after Raimy-D looks at it and tells me what she thinks. The answer will be in the comments. Feel free to contribute your own interpretation of the story I am open to any and all guidance in this endeavor. I just want to learn about my next step.
I encourage you to give this a try for yourself and see what happens. I definitely encourage you to read the Creative Guru so that you can try all of this neat stuff as well.
A fantastically fabulous blogger from a magical kingdom has come up with a great idea to challenge the masses, a tug of war.
Always up for a challenge I accept wholeheartedly. The inaugural question was what came first, the chicken or the egg?
This was a softball to me, because of my rudimentary understanding of biology and evolution. The world has my excellent experience in the public education system of the 1970’s and 80’s to thank for this detailed answer.
The Chicken Wins
The Chicken of Course!!!
There are several arguments I could make. If I believed the religious teachings I heard every Sunday as a youth, God made chickens and chickens make eggs and that is the end of the story. That would make it simple, even if it makes no sense an leaves a “few” gaps.
That answer never satisfied me so I looked to education for my answer. As I understand life it worked something like this.
There was a Big Bang! (just had to get that reference in here)
Just looking at my drawing. The big bang looks like a fried egg, or a pile of pooh. We’ll stick with fried egg. :_)
The Earth and the atmosphere formed.
Life started to evolve.
Life begins
Where it came from, now that is debatable but here we are, not debatable. (at least we think we are here)
Life was made up of single cell organisms who due to environmental influences started to evolve over time to become more proficient at survival.
Things started to Evolve
Many forms of life evolved, why they didn’t just all turn into people or monkeys or dinosaurs, or chickens is a bit unclear to me, but what do you expect from a free education.
Now these single celled organisms multiplied through cell division. Over time cells bonded together to form multicell organisms. Some of these primitive life forms eventually evolved into chickens.
The Chicken may die, yet the eggs live on.
The early chickens found an evolutionary benefit to developing their young in eggs outside of their bodies, so it is clear that the Chicken definitely came first!
It had been years since I had ventured into that attic As I climbed the rickety pull down ladder my face was greeted with a musty, dusty smell and the cold air that stabbed my cheeks reminding me of the winter weather outside. As my body became fully engulfed by the cold I tried to make it a quick visit. I was looking for my copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, when something caught my eye.
It was a box. There was nothing about the box that separated it or made it seem that much different from the rest of the boxes in the attic, but the feeling I had was definitely not normal or routine. I picked it up almost subconsciously and maneuvered my way back down to the warmth of the house below with the box still closed in my hands.
There was a Christmas excitement that I was feeling as I started to pull the top of the box open to see what treasure was held inside. I am not sure if the contents glowed but there was a light that emanated from the container as I peeked inside. It could have been real light for all I know or remember because inside were memories that hadn’t been disturbed in years and they were being resurrected today.
The Book
Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. Beat modernization but became a furnace in the end!
The first thing I pulled out of the box was a book. It was a children’s book and a pretty ordinary one at that, but it brought to life, experiences that occurred long ago.
It was called Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. The contents of the book didn’t matter as much as the words. As I flipped through each page, the voices of those who read those pages to me in my youth came back. Most of them from the grave.
I was awash in nostalgia and even the love a kid feels when someone takes the time to read a story to you. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and even some teachers voices rose from the page.
When I was child the best time of day was just before I went to sleep when my mother or father would read a story to us. It was a ritual that lit my imagination on fire.
I dreamed of castles, monsters and being a hero. Those images crept back into my mind as I remembered my imaginary adventures from long ago. I wondered how many kids today get to experience this now.
The Scrapbook
Phones looked like this. You dialed the numbers. It was slower yet better. Unless you dialed wrong.
Anxiously I moved on, the next item was a scrapbook I had made in junior high of all of the pictures I could find with me in them. As most young people are, I suppose I was a bit self-centered at the time.
It hit me as I remembered teams I had played on or my seventh grade class picture, just how much life had changed. Not one of the kids including me in those pictures had ever heard of a cell phone or a personal computer for that part.
Yet we managed to live our lives, make friends, go places, and have fun anyway. I remembered how awkward it was to call someone’s house (from the phone attached to the wall) and have to talk to their mom to see if they were home.
Each of these pictures made me wonder how kids can manage to
This is Paddleball. Not much too it thank God.
pay attention at all today. They always have an electronic distraction within arm’s length.
I had a hard enough time concentrating when there was only a paddle ball to distract me. If you are not sure what that is, see the image, but the point is I was easily distracted.
I looked at the kid I was and was happy for him that he had never dreamed of Facebook. It was much more fun to talk to girls in person I think.
My Former Friend
The most painful feeling of looking for your friend and seeing only an enemy
The next item was not filled with pleasant memories. It was filled with pain and sadness. It was a homemade award that one of my best friends had given me.
It represented some joke between us. We used to work together and I thought we were very good friends. It struck me that I had not seen nor heard from this person in over five years.
Something in my heart sunk as I thought about the temporary nature of all things in life and particularly the fleeting ideas of friendship. Why weren’t we friends anymore? What had happened?
It all seems so silly now. There was this award, a joke shared long ago that now only echos in hollow silence. They say that everything happens for a reason and some day perhaps I will understand the reason friendship ends, but it won’t be today.
The Game Changer
I was out of time and had to run, but I reached in the box one more time and this time I came out with a total shock. My collectors edition of thoughts by William George Jordan! The book I think is only significant to me as my reading of it changed my life from one of a taker to one of a giver.
Reading opened doors in my mind I never knew were there.
That book was the gateway for me into a world of wonder and wisdom. It planted the seed of an idea, that every thought you form affected your experience in life was a concept that I had never conceived of, much less ever heard of before.
I recalled how as one book turned into another that philosophies started to make sense in my mind. I remember not only feeling more positive about life but more hopeful about the fate of the world.
There were greater powers available to mankind than simply watching tiny plays acted out on a television screen. Learning is a lifelong thing and how much you want to learn is controlled only by your own personal desire and ability to put away your phone, turn off your television or computer and allow words to seep into your mind. The reward is knowledge of anything you want. Aladdin had a lamp, you have a book, each can make any wish you have come true.
The End
I closed the box and placed it in a very safe place and hurried off to my pressing appointment with work. Even though I left the room physically, my mind was still stretching back to what was inside that box.
I made my own adventure pack, just in case. I use it in case of danger. Click the image to learn more
by Jonathan Hilton
I thought, “This looks like trouble.” When I saw this tag game going around. I want to participate and yet I have this daily writing prompt to take care of because I am committed. When I was tagged by the illustrious DJMatticus I had no choice to respond. I don’t have time for two posts today, what am I going to do. (Visit Matticus Kingdom HERE)
Then the trouble continued as I was tagged by the wonderful Kim of Tanquil Dreams, and since I write on every post she makes, I have no choice but to answer her questions as well. It really looked like trouble, trying to answer all of those questions. (Kim at Tranquil Dreams HERE!)
Being flexible in my actions and as dexterous as a cat, my solution took away any trouble I had, combine the two into one grand and exciting post that will inform and entertain all that come this way today, tomorrow or next week.
The rules of this game:
The Rules –
Post these rules.
Post a photo of yourself and eleven random facts about you.
Answer the questions given to you in the tagger’s post.
Create eleven new questions and tag new people to answer them.
Go to their blog/twitter and let them know they have been tagged.
Note*********There is a post coming later to describe my new social demographic that I created this morning, but suffice it to say, we make our own rules so I am doing what I want in the case of entertainment. I am tagging everyone in the world, everyone in the galaxy, everyone who has ever lived. If you know my philosophy, either you will answer some questions or you will keep them to yourself. I will love you no matter what you decide to do. Free will, baby enjoy it!!
This was taken today, February 20, 2013
So the picture of me? I love pictures of me so I am giving you a few, because I look different all the time depending on length of hair, facial hair at the moment or the peace within my heart. 🙂
Eleven Random Facts About Me:
Until yesterday I had no idea what a hipster was.
I enjoy thinking about thinking
I like the color blue because of my personality
This is what I look like without a beard.
Music is important to me. (see link)
I am a positive thinker
I have been best friends with the same person since kindergarten
I am very stubborn sometimes, apparently when others are wrong, and don’t listen to reason.
My uniform numbers for various sports I played in high school were, Soccer #10, Basketball #14 then #12 as a senior and baseball #4.
There were only two things I liked about high school, sports and girls.
I taught high school history for 14 years, loved it for 13 hated it for one.
I have fought a chicken. Read the details here.
The Questions from Kim at Tranquil Dreams:
1) Cookies or Cakes?
Cookies, chocolate chip are my favorites.
2) What was your first Blu-ray or DVD you ever purchased?
No idea. I have Netflix.
3) Whats the most inspiring book/movie you’ve ever read/seen?
Into the Wild, I really don’t know if this is true or not, but I am thinking about that movie, it is pretty great if you haven’t seen it. Alexander Supertramp!
4) Cats or Dogs? Or other pets?
Dogs, they are like big (or little) people who never learn to use the toilet.
5) What type of music do you like?
All types at some point. I can listen to most anything.
6) Whats your favorite Grimm’s Fairy Tales?
Hansel and Gretel
7) Console, Handheld, PC or Arcades?
None of the above. Because I understand myself enough to know I would be addicted, I refrain from playing any games.
8) Favorite flavor of chips?
Salt and Vinegar
9) What animal do you visit first at the zoo?
Sea creatures of any kind, or apes, or apes fighting any type of sea creature.
10) What food could you eat every single day?
Chinese food
11) Who is your favorite superhero?
Kim of Tranquil Dreams
Following are Matt’s Questions
My questions for the unlucky few I just tagged:
1) What does “inconceivable” mean to you?
That what you are seeing can’t possibly be happening. but it really doesn’t matter because when I hear that word I think of the Princess Bride and many quotes enter my head.
no more rhyming now, I mean it!” , “Anybody want a peanut?
You seem a decent fellow, I hate to kill you. You seem a decent fellow, I hate to die.
On and on it goes!
2) Have you ever had fun storming a castle? If yes, please elaborate.
No, because I was unfortunately caught without a Holocaust Cloak.
3) Can you name the three terrors of the Fire Swamp?
Bursts of fire, they make a popping sound before they ignite, easily avoided.
Lightning sands- must be avoided
R.O.U.S. – Rodents of unusual size? I don’t think they exist.
4) If you were named “Buttercup” would you keep that as a name or change it once you could legally do so?
Yes I believe I would.
5) Have you ever been walking around and just happened upon four white horses?
This ironically happened to me today and I thought, there are four of us, if you count the lady. hey lady! So it worked out wonderfully. RIP Andre the Giant
6) If you could pick new actors to play Inigo and Fezzick, who would you pick?
Antonio Banderas to play Inigo and The Rock to play Fezzick. He really isn’t a giant but with today’s technology it would be good. He could layeth the smacketh down on the castle.
7) Have you ever pondered if you would make a good Dread Pirate Roberts?
I have, in fact I have been thinking of a career change. All you have to do is never make exceptions because once you do, its nothing but work, work, work.
8) Do you prefer your magic pills coated in chocolate or vanilla?
Chocolate, they always go down smoother, you just have to wait 30 minutes before you go in the water.
9) Do you have a wheelbarrow or a cloak?
As I mentioned before no cloak so I guess that leaves a wheelbarrow to help me find the tourture chamber where the man in black is being held captive.
10) Have you ever said “As you wish,” and really meant “I love you?”
Not once, but I think this is a practice I am going to start.
11) What could quite possibly be the greatest movie ever made?
The Princess Bride could be the greatest movie ever made. Either that or A few Good Men, I only included that for Matt because it didn’t make his list. I’m difficult like that.
11 new questions that anyone who feels moved by the Universe to answer are:
What is a hipster?
Are you a hipster? (if you answer yes, you clearly aren’t, if no then maybe you are.)
Who is your hero?
Which planet do you like the best and why?
What president of the United States do you admire the most excluding Lincoln, Roosevelt and Washington?
If you were in charge of the world for a day what is the first thing you would do?
Describe your Mental image of the state of Maine in two sentences.
Are you tall or short? Explain your answer.
If you were a car, what kind of car would you be? Explain.
Why is love important to you?
Aren’t you glad you have answered all of these questions.
If you are still reading way down here you are certainly dedicated and you deserve a special Kozo hug. Have a great day!!
You don’t have to go through the whole tag thing, because I make up my own rules, but you can answer my 11 questions in the comment if you want to share your knowledge!!
There are a lot of people who look at a book and make a judgement based on the cover and fail to even open the pages and read even a little of the story that is contained inside. That is something that I try to avoid doing all the time and I appreciate it when it is done for me.
The insight about me that is offered here is to let you know what my guilty pleasures in life are. These are defined as interests and likes that you have that may be embarrassing for others to know about because of their low brow or uncultured appeal. Everyone has these interests, here are my top guilty pleasures in life.
The Big Bang Theory
There is a little Sheldon in all of us!
This is a show that I just recently became infatuated with. It is the tale of four nerds and their good-looking female neighbor. Pretty basic plot lines, but I seem to enjoy watching Sheldon Cooper struggle through life. From his fear of birds to being unable to understand sarcasm. If this is on and I have a moment I will watch it. I can’t stop myself.
The Music of Taylor Swift
I would not mention this anywhere else, but for some reason the music of Taylor Swift that is about nothing I can relate to, I really like. It has been going on for years and I have secretly liked songs as old as Tim McGraw and as new as We’re Never Ever Getting Back Together. Her act of continually getting dumped is going to have to end eventually. If it never does, that will be fine with me.
Red Sox Baseball
This is not a shock to anyone who knows me but I love the Red Sox. I watch a part of most games and follow the side stories that the team provides. Even though I have never played Major League Baseball I am like many people I think that I know what is best for the team. I have always been infatuated with the statistics of certain players and am not ashamed to say there were a few tears when they won it all in 2004.
Duck Dynasty
“Everybody, happy, happy.”
Another show that I happened to accidentally see and now I watch them quite often. There is something interesting about watching Grandpa Phil try to kill beavers and talk about the old times being , “Everybody, happy, happy!” I was born and raised in Maine so there is a bit of red neck in me that I can’t escape from. This show touches this. A lot of the situations are clearly created just for television but that is OK, it entertains anyway.
Country Music
Up until I turned 39 I believed that all country music was really a joke. I was one of those that laughed about playing a country song backward, you get your wife, your dog and your truck back. Then it all suddenly changed as I was listening to a song once and thinking, “Wow, that makes a lot of sense.”
From that day on I was hooked, and even though I enjoy all types of music, country music is high on my list. Kenny Chesney, Dirks Bentley, Tim McGraw, you name it and if they have a good song I probably like it. I think my rural heritage has a lot to do with this, but there is something about a country girl that is indescribably beautiful!
Romantic Comedies
I hate to admit this but the more of them I see the more I think I am a hopeless romantic. Recently a fellow blogger had been reviewing her favorite romantic comedies which got me to watch a few. The more I watched the more I liked them. Not all of them but most of them. I did have someone in my past who liked those types of movies and I would watch them with her. If I am by myself and Sweet Home Alabama is on I can’t help but watch it. There are a thousand others but lets suffice it to say this is a guilty pleasure of mine. Don’t tell anyone!!
Learning Stuff
This is one thing that makes me kind of a super nerd because I find learning new things fascinating. Especially in the realm of psychology, human behavior, quantum physics, string theory or any science what so ever. This is not only in substance but I like learning how to do new things as well, particularly in the field of technology.
I am old enough to remember life before there was an internet and having access for the first time and asking,”What do you do with it.” Even though no one gave a satisfactory answer back in 1996, we figured it out. I am not one of those who sees technology as something you fear but I see it as something new to master. I enjoy learning how to do things from working on new platforms to building websites. Learning stuff is fun!
Reading and Writing are a Good Time
Along with the learning new stuff revelation is my love of reading and writing. It probably wouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who reads this blog, but to people who just know me from any endeavor in my life, it would be a shock. Reading to me is not done to read a story or something like that, it is done to teach me something. Expose me to a new idea. I can’t remember that last book I read for “fun”, it seems I just don’t have time.
Writing is an ongoing process for me, as I expand my comfort with words and let the emotions and thoughts I have in me, flow freely without a filter. That has been the biggest challenge of writing for me. The fact that I have a biggest challenge of writing would surprise many of my “friends” from the past.
I am sure that I can come up with about fifty-five more but I am out of time for this writing experience. So that will have to do. I am sure that I am not the only one who has embarrassing interests.
So here it is Valentine’s Day. I initially was going to rant about how this day is not about love and only about how much money a person has to spend to adequately show their love to another. That this isn’t actually a holiday at all, but a manufactured event of greeting card companies to sell more greeting cards between Christmas and Easter. But that is just being miserable for the sake of being miserable so I decided to focus on what the focus should be on this day, LOVE.
Love Has Everything to Do With It
When I heard the word love, for much of my life I thought about the romantic emotion of love. However love is more than just an emotion that you feel when you are around someone you care about, it is a force that can help make your life and those of others better each and every day. Love is the fertile soil from which kindness, charity, acceptance, understand all grow out of.
Kindness Counts Today
Best Valentine EVER!
Kindness seems to me to be one of the things that we should be focusing on every Valentine’s Day. There are opportunities in each of our lives to just show a little kindness to another person. It doesn’t cost a dime to be kind to anyone. So the next time you interact with someone, be it, someone, you have known your whole life or a complete stranger, just approach them with kindness and not only will they feel better about the world and themselves but you will too.
Patience is definitely a Virtue
Another branch of the plant of love is patience. When you get frustrated it is usually because you are not focused on the here and now but because you are thinking about what might not happen in the future if something goes wrong. Being patient is simply recognizing any moment for what it is. A line is long because it is long, not for the sole purpose of messing up your day. A person who makes a mistake that you think could have been avoided is more than likely doing their best, and a little guidance from someone else might be all they need to be more productive and to have a better day. The point is that it doesn’t matter if you’re dealing with a teller at a bank, your kids or your spouse, practice patience and understanding over being impatient and mean and you and those around you will see the world in a much brighter light.
It’s What You Give That You Get
The rules of life are mysterious and nobody knows them for sure, we take guesses based on experience but there is no rule book to guide you. One thing that I have found to be true is that what you give in life, most often you get back. If your focus is on solely meeting your needs, then you are probably going to be surrounded by people who are solely focused on their needs. The same is true for love if you are focused on making sure those you care about are having their needs met, then you are going to find that others are looking out for yours. It is what you give that you get, for the most part in my experience.
Love Stinks When You Lose Your Focus
If you have ever been in love, you know that it is the greatest feeling in all of the world. To care about someone so much and know they care about you. It is so great that often times we lose our focus on the love and focus on the fear of losing it.
This is what happens when jealousy enters the picture. Jealousy is a powerful manifestation of fear and can work to not only destroy a loving relationship but rob you of any enjoyment that relationship might bring you. Fear of losing the love that means so much to you is a recipe to lose everything you have. That is my experience that fear is the destroyer of relationships and needs to be discarded on a regular basis. Focus on the things that you love and they will be accentuated.
So I hope that all of you people who love this day have a great time today. Those of you who dislike this day because of the fact that it is over commercialized foolishness, trying to make money off of the purest emotion in the world, I wish you the biggest and best Valentine’s Day you have ever had. You deserve it.
It is difficult to explain to someone who lives in a warm climate the power and majesty of a snow day. Sometimes they are a surprise, and sometimes they are expected, but they are always awesome. It is like having extra holidays in your life and you never really know when they are going to hit.
Definition of a Snow Day
What is a snow day? I guess that some explanation is needed. When mother nature decides to pour down many inches of the white stuff, the entire area that is covered generally shuts down and there is no work, no school, no NOTHING!! All there is to do is hope the power doesn’t go out, watch the snow fall or play in it. I personally can drive well in the snow, but it is the other people who can’t I fear. I would just as soon wait.
Being a Kid Praying for Snow
There were many nights when I was growing up that I would gamble that the snow would come and I would not have to have my homework done. In the town I grew up in they had a fire whistle that you could hear everywhere. (very small rural town in Maine) They would blare out a special signal, three short blasts for no school. As I got older and moved, I relied on the radio for this vital information. (no internet then).
It was so comforting to be able to fall back asleep, somehow the blankets were warmer, and the pillow more comforting. Finally you would inevitably get up, dressing in 42 layers of clothing and going outside to play until you got frostbite or hungry which ever came first. I was fortunate enough to have two brothers and about 40 neighbors to throw snowballs at and go sliding with .Then finally after a long day of play with your friends, you had to do the homework you put off. Snow days were a free day, probably the best thing about dealing with winter.
A Snow Day for Adults
For much of my adult life I was a teacher, and the snow day magic persisted. It was even more intense and fun. I would wait to get the call, school was cancelled. Then happily sleep until I felt like getting up. A lot of days, I would go meet some fellow teachers for breakfast, because it is never too snowy for that. The great thing was, no work, no rules, nothing to do but have fun. Snow days as a teacher were 100 times better than snow days as a kid.
For other “normal” people, it takes a lot but they occasionally get a snow day too. When there is just too much snow, then everything closes. The mood is usually set by the state government, if they call off work, most everyone else does as well. Businesses might as well close, because nobody is coming to buy anything. Snow day is here.
The Hype of the Snow Storm
This picture is from the blizzard of 1978.
Now with the news and social media there are no shortage of the impending storm. What will happen is that it will snow like crazy tomorrow, Friday February 8, everyone will stay home, on Saturday the roads will be clear and it will be business as usual.
People are strange because they will stock up like there will never be another trip to the store, in the near future. The stores run low on food. The warning of a snow storm is great for business. Everywhere you go, people talk about the storm. Strangers conversing about the impending doom that is on its way. This is the biggest storm since 1978. I heard the following nonfactual statements this morning:
*This is the biggest storm since 1978
*It is going to snow for two days. (That never happens)
*The world is most likely going to end anyway, so let it snow.
People get all hyped up about the storm, probably from latent feelings of loving snow days in their youths, and then the event is usually quite a let down. It only snows 18 inches instead of 24. If you live in a snowy area then you know what I mean.
Reality of A Snow Day
Tomorrow has already been cancelled in Maine. Schools are going to be closed, stores are going to be closed, roads are going to be slippery, the state is going to shut down and it is going to snow a lot. I am not going to have to go to work. I will get to sleep in until 6:30, the latest I am capable of sleeping. I will be able to spend the day doing stuff like reading, writing, and learning. It is going to be awesome.
So if you live in a warm climate, enjoy the heat and enjoy your normal day at work. I will be busy doing whatever I want and can do with snow up to my rump.
What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
Are you truly living?
by Jonathan Hilton
All people are going to answer this question differently depending on where they are in their life. To me being alive is a fact of nature, and enjoying life and living for a purpose is truly living. But how do you enjoy life?
Other people will answer this very differently. It only takes a few visits to any number of blogs to experience the wide variety of philosophies and beliefs that exist.
Young people are struggling to master life, yet so hopeful about living it is encouraging While older people are resigned to the fact that you may never figure it out everything there is to know about life, but they share their thoughts and experiences.
One of the things I like about reading so many different people’s opinions is to be exposed to ideas that are different from mine. Valid yet different and I think that is a powerful force of growth. These are my thoughts on truly living.
The problem with Life
For me there is a question that came to me as I got older and thought that I was on the
We all have questions, I know I did.
path I should be on. After carefully contemplating the experiences I have been fortunate enough to have in life I came to the conclusion that being alive was not enough and that I needed to start truly living and for me that meant I had to make a lot of changes in my perceptions of people, life, God and everything that at one time I was sure of.
I wasn’t sure what was “right”, but I knew there was more to life than a conditioned accumulation of material goods to supply comfort to life.
What comfort did I ever give to others? What did I contribute? Even as an educator, I was contributing stories about living which happened long ago, espousing the morals and actions that young people should aspire to follow, with the awareness of the world around me the size of the head of a pin.
I don’t think I consistently enjoyed what life gave me. There are easy things to enjoy and appreciate, like those we love, and those that love us, a sunny, beautiful day, a large sum of money, all of these can be easily enjoyed, but how many people pass through a day without having gratitude for anything in their life, because they are too busy looking at what they don’t have.
I was one of these, searching for the right amount of stuff that would bring happiness with it. I never found that.
The Past
Which direction do you follow?
One of the biggest problems people face,when trying to truly live is that they always seem to distract themselves from the moment they are currently experiencing.
Perhaps spending time with someone you love, reading a book, exercising, or doing whatever it is you do, because you allow yourself to be distracted by things that make you feel the moment you are in is not a good enough thing.
One distraction is the past, which often allows you to reminisce about the past and feel that things were so much better back then, when you were happy.
Often the past is not quite what we remember it to be and it really doesn’t matter in the scope of today. It is over and gone, good or bad and to short change today for yesterday is selling something tangible and of extreme value for nothing but a fantasy.
Often I had looked to the past to the good old days, which were nice memories, but other than lending experience to today, couldn’t help make me very happy or allow me to truly live.
The Future
Others choose to focus on the future, planning and scheming the best way to route their lives to get to the point where finally they will be happy. They think that if they do this particular thing, at this particular time then I will be happy, satisfied, successful, or whatever.
The problem with this is that when you put all of your focus onto tomorrow you miss the great things that are happening today. You can prepare for the future with the actions of today and enjoy today at the same time, the difference is that you don’t put anything off, like being happy and satisfied with life or anything else. Tomorrow may never come and rarely does it happen as you plan, so putting happiness off is a bad gamble that will most likely never pay off.
I’ll Be Happy When I am Rich
Materialism is another distraction that keeps people from enjoying the moment, often it goes hand in hand with waiting for the future, but tying your happiness into the acquisition of some material thing is going to stop you from appreciating today, because you are going to be thinking that happiness is going to come when you get that house, or car, or Ipad or whatever.
The satisfaction of that acquisition will be short-lived and soon you will be looking for the next thing that should bring happiness and satisfaction to your life, as you ignore the opportunity for happiness that you have in your experience today. Being grateful for what you have will allow you to enjoy the day. If you don’t believe me, then try it. Be truly grateful for what you have.
Your Choice
You can choose if you are alive or truly living
So truly living to me is the appreciation of what life is giving you right now in this moment.
That doesn’t mean that it will always be perfect. Sometimes there are painful things in life, and we have to deal with feelings that are not so nice, people get sick, accidents happen, people die, life is not perfect and there is no guarantee that everything is going to go your way.
However, there is a choice that comes pinned to each of those experiences to make it a positive or a negative factor in your life. Only you can decide for yourself the difference between being alive and truly living.
Poetry is not something that I have never written much of. One of the great blogs I read, shared a sonnet on Thursday. I am taking the opportunity to write one myself, because I never have and it should be a unique experience. It was an interesting : first I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed rhyming. Secondly I apparently have some unresolved issues inside. I think they are resolving.
I Remember You
by Jonathan Hilton
Oh, yes I remember you,
As a deep dark mystery I sought to reveal.
I never found or discovered, what was due,
The truth about you, hurts too much to feel.
We used to talk and be together every day,
Laughing and sharing each special time.
Now you have left, and moved along your way,
The emptiness inside alone is mine
Where is the justice? Where is the Peace?
I destroy all the selfish evidence of us.
There is a thought that this will bring a release,
Nothing worked, nothings fixed, It wasn’t worth the fuss.
The dusty, empty room is inside of me,
It is as vast and as deep as the mightiest Sea.
So what did you think of my first poem? I know, but it is the first try.
Here are a couple I remember you songs to help set the mood.
Skid Row: I Remember You
Someone Like You
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Sonnet V: The Peace Prayer | David Emeron: Sonnets
I can remember that day very clearly. I was sitting at the restaurant with french fries and a chocolate shake on the table in front of me, talking with my grandparents about my upcoming graduation from high school.
Wiped Out
Sharing some wisdom…
Shut Up and Be Grateful
8 ways money can buy happiness
Sonnet X: | David Emeron: Sonnets
Sonnet V: The Peace Prayer | David Emeron: Sonnets
Sonnet V: The Peace Prayer | David Emeron: Sonnets
Sonnet X:
