Breathe Deeply

May the spirit of the weekend wash you free of the worries of the week.

Relax.

Breathe Deeply.

Love Well.

Let the sunshine fill every bit of your soul.

Perhaps Some Good Old Fashioned TRUST

Mechanical pencils have been purchased, wide-ruled and college-ruled loose-leaf paper has been put into the 1 ½ inch (not 2 inch) binders and text books have been covered with stretchy colored fabric.  I have signed 3,258 forms swearing my children have read the rules for French class and promised to pay for all damages caused in Chemistry by my oldest should that occur and given approval for them to be photographed, have their name published (should they win a huge contest in PE or something), and to eat a hot pretzel at lunch instead of the normal hot meal.

I can only imagine the school files for each child in the office!!  How to even begin to organize such information?  This one can’t have tree nuts. This one can’t have their picture taken.  Craziness!

I don’t ever recall having to even get a permission slip to get on three huge buses and travel with the band to an out of town football game in a city an hour away.  Ever.

We were told to bring money for a snack, show up at 3:15pm and we left.  That simple.

The book damage forms my youngest had to complete this week for each text book that was checked out to him, required him to draw and label all the damage that was already on the book when he got it, list the pages that were torn previously and sign his name and his life away that it was accurate.  Trust me, it was more complicated than any car rental damage form I’ve ever had to complete for a $25,000 car.  Text books are meant to be used and dog-eared and loved and the occasional pencil smiley face on the bottom of page 248 isn’t going to hurt a soul. 

Our trust and good faith in people has been lost.  It really makes me a bit sad.

Who do the schools think they are dealing with? Don’t they think as parents, we teach our children to respect the rules their teacher tells them and to respect their classmates and supplies.  We really don’t need a five-page list of the rules and consequences if he forgets to turn in his homework 6 weeks late.  Trust me, if my child is turning in work six weeks late, there WILL be consequences.  

I think we’ve gone a little overboard on all the dotting of the “what if” i’s and the crossing of the “just in case” t’s.  Kids are kids and yes, this generation has a few more bells and whistles than I had, but they are kids.  They are going to run in the halls with a pencil in their hand so they can try and get a seat next to that cute girl in Science and they are going to forget their assignment in their locker on occasion because that’s what kids do. 

I don’t have the solution for every school issue, but I do think a little trust in parents and good faith in our children goes a long way in my book (which isn’t covered in a stretchy fabric and a few of the pages are underlined and I still managed to graduate from college and be a respectful grown-up).

Connections

Here is the truth.

Plain and simple.

We all want to connect with one another.

Read it again. (I’ll wait.)

When it comes right down to the nitty-gritty of life, we all want to be connected in one way or another.  It is a truth for me.  Maybe that’s why I cry when I watch this video.

Or this one.

I went on a walk in the neighborhood this morning and found myself saying hello to the mother walking her children to school, to the dog owner of a brown and white spotted puppy, to the woman fixing the broken sprinkler in her front yard and to the grandma collecting the weekly advertisements from her front door, still in her robe mind you.

They all said hello back to me. 

I texted a few people while I was walking too.  Thoughts of them came to mind, so decided to just text a hello or good morning.  I just made a little connection to let them know I was thinking of them.  Nothing fancy. 

They all replied back to me.

There is a desire in each of us to be kind and share ourselves.  We are all alike in this way. We are. Even our cats (who normally could care less about each other) want to connect to each other.

I hope today you will say hello to those you see or offer to help open the door or reach out and connect with someone just because. You don’t have to have a reason.  You really don’t. 

Sing My Song

my soul has been nourished by the afternoon light

my heart has been touched by the wind from the east

i now sing my own song

words I collect and gather together

to create my own melody of life

to sing aloud for the trees to hear

my soul has been nourished by the jasmine tea

my heart has been touched by the petals of white 

i now sing my own song.

Twenty-Two

We sat next to each other at a transfer/new student dinner the first time we met. We talked about school, and just remember laughing and laughing. I remember his smile.  We saw each other around campus once or twice that semester, but that was all. 

The fall semester came and we met again. We were both Resident Hall staff members at the college we both attended. This time was different.  I couldn’t stop looking at him. We talked after one of the training meetings and I knew at that moment that I would marry him.  I knew.  It’s one of the moments in my life I will never forget.  A moment when all the fuzziness becomes clear and the path stretches out before you with arrows pointing “this way, this way,” and you must follow it.

Within a few weeks, we both knew. (Ok, so it took me one day and him a few weeks.)  We got engaged almost 10 months later and married a year after that.   Today, marks twenty-two years of marriage.  Twenty-two years of being beside my best friend and love of my life.  It’s a wonderful feeling, I must admit.

Today we are celebrating the day with a short trip north, holding hands, a walk in the park, dinner and watching the sunset together. It’s our day.   I am a lucky woman to share my life with such a kind, loving, gentle and caring man.  

I can only imagine us twenty-two years from now, celebrating our 44th.  We will have a slower walk perhaps, and our hands will show we’ve aged, but our hearts will be the same as they are today and as we were twenty-two years ago; beating as one.

So, happy anniversary to us.  I love you sweetheart.