"Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit, and that you don't HAVE them, you PITCH them."
Reminds me of my sweet grandmama who accused me of 'pitching' a hissie fit or two in my younger days.
She was wrong.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Short, sweet... and oh, so true
"Before you change your thinking, you have to change what goes into your mind."~ Zig Ziglar
To that, Drexel adds: It's time to feed our brains health food... not junk food. What's on your mental menu this week?
Friday, December 9, 2011
Ho, Ho, Help!!
Every December, my family, fortified with hot chocolate and cookies, bundles into my husband’s truck, and heads to the tree farm to cut our Christmas tree. Every December, I have this vision of a Norman Rockwell experience.
Every December, I get “Mad Magazine!”
I kid you not. This hilarious attempt at creating the perfect Christmas memory has been going on for so many years it’s become one of our weirder family traditions! Usually, the holiday fantasy begins to go awry when we hit a country-road pothole and hot chocolate goes flying! We recover, pick the mini marshmallows off of our sweaters and out of our hair, and forge onward! We head into the maze of trees in search of the ‘perfect’ Virginia Pine for our home. Four family members--- four ideas of ‘perfect.’
Last year, we took home three trees.
We’ve had a tree fly out of the truck bed and land in a busy intersection; we’ve had a dog become lost in the labyrinth of pines; we’ve picked out the ‘practically perfect’ tree from a distance, only to have another family beat us to the excellent evergreen, and claim it for their own! Sigh.
The tree-cutting tradition has taught me a lot about holiday expectations. It seems to me that we set the bar so high in our quest for seasonal perfection that we lose sight of what is truly important- the love and warmth of spending this special time with our family and friends. And, just what is ‘perfection’ anyway? Is it the exquisitely shaped, perfectly balanced tree that *you* select? Or is it the ‘Charlie Brown” tree that makes your child’s eyes sparkle, and is small enough for them to help set up and decorate? Is it the ‘perfect dinner’ that you won’t allow anyone to help you prepare, for fear someone won’t ‘get it right?’ Or is it a dinner prepared by many hands, filled with love--- and a few lumps in the mashed potatoes? Is it control over traditions, or compromise over new possibilities?
What is it about the whimsy of a fat man in a red suit juxtaposed with the reverence of a Savior’s birth that causes us to fret and stress, to spend and overextend--- all in the quest of the ‘perfect holiday?’ Is it possible to stop the holiday-gone-wild and to survive the season with style and a smile? Yes, if only we can learn to master what I call the ‘ups and downs’ of the season!
First, CLIMB DOWN off that perch of perfection! Life is not a Norman Rockwell painting or a Southern Living magazine cover. Don’t’ get me wrong. You will have those Norman Rockwell moments. Cherish them. Document them through photos, videos and journals. Because, you will also have those moments straight out of Mad Magazine, as well! Your seventy pound German shepherd may turn over your Christmas tree, drag it into the middle of the living room floor, strip it of every ornament and eat most of them! (True story.) Your child may sprain his ankle the week before Santa Claus is set to deliver a brand new pair of roller blades. The grocery store may run out of cranberry sauce and you may put salt instead of sugar in the chocolate pie! So what? It’s not Christmas at my mom’s house unless someone burns the rolls! When you veer from Christmas “wonder” to Christmas “blunder” laugh it off, take a goofy picture for the scrapbook and move on!
SET UP your priorities. If you try to please everyone by saying ‘yes’ to every invitation, celebration or obligation, you’ll be so tired and crabby no one will want to spend the holidays with you! You will also lose sight of the magic of the season. Christmas will become just another chore. You end up emotionally drained and perhaps even physically ill. Don’t turn down every request or invitation (they’re part of what makes the season fun!) Just be selective!
WRITE IT DOWN! Make a daily, weekly, even monthly list of tasks you must complete. It will help you stay on schedule and when we are running on time, our stress level drops. A bonus: you’ll get great satisfaction every time you mark an item off of your ‘to do’ list!
LOOSEN UP your grip. Ask for help! Accept it when it’s offered! It doesn’t mean you are weak, or that you can’t ‘do it all.’ You probably can. But why? Let the kids decorate the tree. Who cares if it’s lopsided? Think of the memories they’ll be making while you take care of another task, like wrapping gifts, cooking or just sitting in front of a roaring fire, taking in their joy!
LIE DOWN. You hit the floor running at dawn and don’t stop until far into the night. There’s too much to do, and not enough time to do it in. Parties to attend, gifts to buy and wrap, holiday treats to buy or bake! Who has time to sleep? You must make the time! Rest is one of the best gifts you can give yourself this holiday season. Why? Research shows the body, and brain, go into ‘repair mode’ during sleep! A good night’s sleep can make you feel better and look better. It can make you healthier, smarter, and nicer! Perhaps if the Grinch had gotten more sleep he wouldn’t have been such a sourpuss!
LIGHTEN UP. Smile! Studies show smiling can increase your pain tolerance, strengthen your immune system, improve your mood, and on top of all that, it’s contagious! Spread the cheer! Wouldn’t you rather interact with happy people than a bunch of grumps? Smile! It lifts your face and makes you look younger! Smile when the cat climbs the Christmas tree! Smile when you look at the mountain of gifts to wrap! Smile when you pull the hopelessly tangled lights out of the box in which they’ve been packed away. And no, gritting your teeth doesn’t count.
Nothing will take away all of the stress of the holiday season. It’s life and sometimes we just have to get over it. But, if we practice these ‘ups and downs,’ we are more likely to have holidays to cherish and remember, instead of holidays we would rather forget!
*This article was orginally published in Baldwin County Living Magazine, Winter 2009 Edition. It is adapted from my holiday speech entitled: Ho, Ho, Help! Surviving the Holidays with Style and a Smile
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Many of you know that I returned to school a few months ago. Most of you also know that MATH gives me fits. But, finally, a math assignment I could sink my teeth into---because it involved WRITING! The assignment: to put together a creative, fun piece on a person who made a major contribution to the field of mathematics. We could go back as far as we wanted. I went back all the way to 287 B.C..... and here is the result. With tongue in cheek and hat tipped to a mathematical genius...
Ode to Archimedes
Archimedes was born in 287 B.C.. His dad had a thing for the stars.
Archimedes was more interested in things of the earth. Forget Jupiter and Mars.
He used mathematics to invent and to solve. His weapons of war brought him fame.
Those weapons helped hold off the enemies who attacked his homeland with war games.
But, Archimedes was killed in 212 B.C as Romans attacked Syracuse.
The exact manner of death is a mystery, but the irony you just can’t refuse.
His weapons of war may have won many battles. In the end, they did not save his life.
But his contributions to mathematics live on, and indeed, they continue to thrive!
When it came to integral calculus, Archimedes was ahead of the curve.
2000 years before Newton and Liebniz, the rate of change Archimedes observed.
Volumes, areas and solutions were all running around in his head.
He worked out his formulas, solutions and theorems which eventually became so widespread.
His most famous theorem, Archimedes’ principle, gives the weight of a body submerged.
His contributions to the area of geometry also gave mathematics a surge.
Angles and planes and shapes and degrees-- understanding them is not always easy.
Archimedes got it, though, but was his knowledge a gift? Did he really find math to be breezy?
Plutarch said his genius might be a gift---Or perhaps the result of hard work
If that that is the case, it gives us all hope that we’ll get it without going berserk!
Today, we use his work in all areas of life, from construction, to manufacturing… to counting!
And, though I’m a writer, and not into big cipherin’, my knowledge of math is mounting.
"Eureka, I have found it!"- Archimedes once said, as he searched for a ‘royal’ solution.
It’s a cry we can all utter when we study and try and eventually gain mathematical ‘absolution.’
So, thank you, Archimedes for all of your work and for helping increase my brain power.
While I still prefer words over numbers and shapes, from mathematics I no longer do cower.
Source: math.about.com
Thursday, October 6, 2011
One Person
An online devotional I read this week was written by a father who was recently diagnosed with cancer. After his initial shock, confusion and anxiety, the man decided to take a loved one’s advice and view cancer as an unexpected “speed bump on the highway of life.” Please understand, as a woman of faith and a woman who spends much of her time teaching the value of a positive attitude, I respect, appreciate and admire the writer’s faith and optimistic outlook. I find his attitude an inspiration beyond measure. However, events of the past several days have led me to understand that while cancer may, indeed, be a speed bump in many life journeys; in others… it is a stop sign.
An ugly, red, unwelcome intruder that emerges out of nowhere and sends life to a screeching, shocking halt.
Two dear friends buried their young, vibrant, athletic 21 year old son this week. He died less than a week after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. His family and friends barely had time to wrap our minds around the diagnosis, before the young man’s body went into crisis mode. Despite valiant medical efforts and countless prayers that went up around the globe, there was no getting around this stop sign.
Cancer is an ugly word. It is an ugly disease. A recent Facebook post making the rounds reads “I hate cancer.” Don’t we all?
But the death of this young man and the suffering that cancer has inflicted on so many of my family members and my friends has caused me to do some serious thinking about my approach to this threat on the journey called Life. Rather than just get angry about the damage cancer is inflicting, I want to do something. I want to fight back. But, what can one person do? Well, I’ve begun researching possibilities. I’ve started the process of joining the national bone marrow registry. One person-- who is the right match-- can make all the difference. There are a number of fundraisers for cancer research that could use my help. Volunteers are always needed for programs that provide care and comfort to those fighting this disease, and to those who are grieving a loss. What can one person do? I’m finding that the possibilities are countless.
21 year old John Paxton Dean was one person...one person who was always looking for a way to help others...a way to make a difference... a way to make the world a better place. Perhaps you would like to follow his lead and seek to make a dfference as well. If you know someone whose highway of life has been hit with the speed bump--or the stop sign-- called “cancer” perhaps you will join me in searching for a way to channel the anger, sadness and helplessness we feel into positive and proactive steps to fight this disease. One person can make a difference.
Rest in Peace, John Paxton Dean
1989-2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Love Drops
Today would have been my grandmother’s birthday. She’s been in Heaven many years now, but I think of her often, and always on this day.
Mama was the wife of a preacher. But, she also had a ministry of her own. It was a ministry to children, and it went beyond Sunday morning children’s church and summertime Vacation Bible School. She was often invited to various churches to hold week-long children's ministry events.. and they were events! She would have the children singing, making crafts, and marching around the sanctuary. She would have them spellbound as she used vivid illustrations to tell the children well-known Bible stories that demonstrate God’s love.
My grandfather even penned a song called “Love Drops.” The lyrics depict God’s love as cleansing and restoring raindrops from Heaven.
Today, on my grandmother’s birthday, I pulled out the Love Drops prop. It's been around a long time and is showing its age. But, as I looked at it, I began to think about God’s ageless ‘love drops.’ They may take many forms. They may come in the form of the water of baptism. They may come in the form of an afternoon rain shower that cools us down on a hot summer’s day. Then, again, God’s love drops may not come in the form of water at all, but in the form of a loving word, a kind act, a promise kept, a hand held, a need met, a relationship restored, and a heart forever changed.
God’s love was ultimately shown on a hill, on a cross… on a day when the skies opened wide and LOVE came down… and in dying, was reborn into a love that will live forever.
I've lost track of which birthday this would have been for my grandmother. It doesn’t really matter. The most important thing to remember is that no matter how many birthdays we’ve had…God's 'love drops' still fall on us. He loves us through the people who come into our lives, through the unexpected blessings that may come our way….and even through the occasional storms of life.
Birthday or not- that’s a gift to cherish.
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