Goodbye 2015...Reflections

I have not posted on my blog in so long and I have no excuses. Like that John Lennon quote “Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans!” So I decided to end 2015 with one last post. Ta-da…see, I meant to procrastinate… really I did…lol I started this blog to write about the lessons and the blessings and there certainly were a lot of them this year. I was blessed to travel with my husband to Niagara Falls to celebrate 32 years since our first date. I was blessed to meet my cousin who lives in California while she was in Massachusetts visiting her grandmother. Her grandmother happens to be my Godmother who is 98…and my superhero! I want to be her when I grow up! Among the blessings were some tough speed bumps...my husband has been suffering from chronic pain which not only makes his everyday living difficult, but also affects the quality of life. He just doesn’t know when it will be a good day or a bad day. So, we are thankful for the good days and try our best to get through the bad ones. For the most part, 2015 has been a peaceful year. Peace of mind and heart. Moreover, my husband and I know how blessed we are to have each other, our daughter and our fuzzy cat-who-thinks-he-is-a-dog Frankie. We have a home, we have food, but most of all we have each other. In these things, we are rich beyond compare and very thankful! 2016 will be an important year for my family. It is hard to believe that my husband and I will both be turning 50! But I cannot imagine spending life with anyone but him. He was my first love and he will be my last love. He is my strength and my best friend! Looking forward to holding hands for whatever else comes along during this adventure called life the next 50 years! Our daughter will be graduating college in May of 2016. She is an amazing human being and we could not be prouder of her. We are so excited to see what the future holds for her! She is a blessing! So as far as goals and inspirations for 2016, here are mine. I will learn patience by being patient with myself. I will remember that just because I have an opinion does not mean I need to voice it (all the time). I will make time each and every day for meditation, creativity and gratitude. I will smile at everyone I meet. Happy New Year!

The Sea of Love

Marriage is like the ocean. When you first fall in love, it is similar to when you see the ocean for the first time. You are in awe at the sight and you can’t imagine your life without it. You visit it frequently. You build your time around it. Everything is amazing! You notice the sparkle of the sun on the waves, the beauty of the seashells and the vibrancy of the sea glass! The feel of the sand on your toes! As time goes on, you still love it, but you get wrapped up in your life and you know where it is, but you don’t give it the same attention. When was the last time you showed appreciation for it? When was the last time you spent time and energy with it? Has it become too rocky for you? Is it too overwhelming? The ocean is not always a calm and gentle place. When a storm hits, the ocean can come smashing down and cause destruction. Riding those waves can seem impossible. But the ocean itself does not break. With each wave that crashes onto the sand, the ocean takes the roughness of the rocks and glass and makes them smooth. Over time, what was once something that you avoided becomes something that you don’t want to let go. Those rough patches of your marriage are just as important as the beautiful moments. The combination of time, attention and appreciation are what makes your marriage your story. No one else’s love story is the same. Only the two of you can write each line and while some chapters are not as exciting or some you would like to skim over and forget completely…take your lessons from the ocean. Enjoy your marriage for all that it is. Remember what brought you to each other. Marriage is hard work, but it can calm you and bring you peace. It is a love you will never experience in any other way. It can be strong and resilient and there is no storm it can’t withstand. There is salt in the water and salt in our tears. But when the sun shines on it, look at it sparkle!

Embracing Modesty

In this fast paced world in which we live in, our kids are growing up too fast. Innocence has gone by the wayside with exposure to whatever our kids can download to their phone or tablet. It is sad to see young girls wearing makeup far too early. When I was in high school, most girls didn’t start to wear makeup until they were around sixteen and even then it was more about wearing lip gloss than anything else. Take a stroll through any mall store and you will see that the choices for clothing for our young girls are far from modest. When I see the photos on Facebook of teen girls attending their school dances in strapless dresses that barely cover much else, it doesn’t take rocket science to figure out that something is drastically wrong with the message we are conveying to our children. When you look at a picture of a girl in a dress and wonder how in the world will she be able to sit in that dress without showing the world what only her doctor should see, then that is a problem. Hello! Lightbulb moment! It all begins at home. By instilling values and morals from a young age, our children understand the importance of embracing things such as respect and modesty. Too many kids nowadays feel the peer pressure to fit into what society seems to think they should be. Just because we live in a country where women are not forced to cover up including their faces while in public does not mean that our girls need to dress inappropriately to show our freedom. Girls taking scantily clad selfies and posting to Facebook for the internet world to view is just wrong. Even the kissy face selfies are sending the wrong message. You attract what you put out into the world. Our girls need to know that they are beautiful on the inside and on the outside. They don’t need to wear makeup or dress sexy to be more beautiful. You know what they need to be more beautiful? They need a smile on their face. Your smile is what you want people to remember you for, not how short is your skirt or how low is your shirt.

Mother Teresa said "We can do no great things, only small things with great love!"

We all tend to get caught up in our own worlds most days that we cannot see those in the world who are truly suffering. We get to shower every day. We get to eat three meals and snacks. We drink fancy coffee. We wear clean clothes. But what if suddenly the most basic of life's needs were taken away. Every time I go to visit my daughter at college, I see homeless folks panhandling for money. What to do? Throw a few dollars their way or drive by and try not to look them in the eyes to see their pain? We say what difference can one person make? But one person can make all the difference in a person's life. But we have to step outside of our own world to see those who need help. If just one person, helped one other person we could create the chain reaction of love and hope that would help change the world for the better. Suddenly our silly problems and complaints would have no justification. At this time of Lent when some are choosing to give something up, I am choosing to do something different by adding things to do instead. I am making the effort to take the money I would normally spend on coffee and food in my work cafeteria and I am choosing to put it to better use. I am taking that money and using it to purchase health and beauty supplies, socks, gloves and food to create "Blessing Bags" for the homeless. How easy would it be to just buy a few trial sized items on your next visit to the pharmacy. Or when you go to Walmart, but a package of socks. You get clean socks every day, but there are some that are not that fortunate. It is not the big things we do that make the most impact. It is the small things. Start small. We can all do something. The point is to do something. We are more blessed that we know and we can share some of that blessing with others. I read somewhere that a fifty dollar bill is still a fifty dollar bill even if it is crumpled up and dirty. Human beings are the same...would you want to be loved any less because you came upon hard times and found yourself struggling for the most basic of life's needs such as food and shelter. Please start today. We can be the change we want to see in the world! Let's do this together! Blessings!