DREAM!

"If you don't have a dream, how can you have a dream come true?"
Dan Zadra.
"Your imagination is the preview to life's coming attractions."
Albert Einstein

TAKE TIME FOR SPONTANEITY

"We get so busy making a living that we forget to live."  (That's my favorite part!)  But then Dan Zadra goes on to say, "At what point did you lose the right to do something in your day just because you feel like it at the moment-just because you're alive?"

TAKE TIME TO BE YOURSELF!

I've never been a trend follower.  Ever!  But my mother was.  The sentence I most remember her using on me throughout my life was:  "This is what they're wearing now."  And I would always counter with one of two responses:  "Who is 'they'?" and /or "Who cares??"  (There's a reason that I am the sibling with the label, "rebel!")  But really, I wasn't trying to be a rebel, but rather just true to myself.  Why would I want to look like everyone else??  So, when I found this quote in a new book of mine, I just had to use one of its' quotes from an unknown author:
" Embrace your uniqueness.  Time is much too short to be living someone else's life."

A LOUD VOICE IS SILENCED

Roger Ebert, a well-known vocal movie critic, has lost his ability to speak due to thyroid and salivary gland cancer.  Because his jaw had to be removed, he has been permanently disfigured.  For one who made his living speaking and being in the public eye, it has to have been devastating.  However, he's definitely made lemonade out of lemons.  With modern technology, he can still do what he loves to do.  When being interviewed recently on TV, he had this to say about his disability:  "It's a waste of time feeling sorry for yourself, because it doesn't change anything or help anything.  You just have to keep on, keeping on."

AN AWESOME TATTOO!

Kevin, a young man now, who was just a boy when his father was killed in 9/11, had this inscription tattooed on himself and it was so beautifully inscripted:  "If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again."

September 11 - 10 years later

As we come up to the anniversary of that fateful day, I have been reading lots of personal accounts of fellow Texans, who had first hand experiences with the horror of Sept. 11.  This first quote is from Christopher Wynn, who was living in NYC at the time, but moved back to Texas a year later to be near family:
"I'm grateful for what I gleaned from tragedy:  Love the people in your life, because the world is temporary.  On the most quiet, unassuming and clear-sky morning, everything around you can change in an instant."
The second one comes from a Katie Nelson, who was a high school senior in 2001.  The year before, she had spent the fall studying in NYC with an urban studies program.  She took a photo with her classmates then at the top of WTC on Sept. 12, 2000, "looking at everything we had experienced over the last semester."  A friend's father was on board the plane that crashed into the north tower.  She says now, "At first I wished that we could just go back to our old way of life.  A life which we lived in blissful ignorance in a world in which our buildings didn't come crashing down on top of us."
And finally, this from firefighter, Allen Richards, who, after 9-11, was intent on getting further training in public safety with an emphasis on emergency management.  He trains paramedics in the field and quotes Dr. Red Duke of Houston: "EMS does not save lives.  G-d does.  It's our job to keep our patients entertained till he makes up his mind."  He also tells his students that they can't change the bad things that people do, but they can be prepared to react."
September 11, 2001 changed us all........ hopefully for the better.

THE FLIP SIDE OF LOVE

I'm a people watcher.  Actually, I study people more than merely watch them.  One thing I love studying is the cycle of love. Watch couples as they fall in love and can't keep their eyes, or hands, off each other......their eyes lock with one another, they lean in, so as to capture every little word the other is saying.....they giggle at inside jokes, etc. Pretty awesome!  Next level: engagement.  The man gets the spotlight on him, albeit INDIRECTLY, for a brief shining moment with:  "How did he propose?  Did he get down on one knee?  Let me see the ring!"  Then, all too quickly, the light dims on him and shines brightly on his fiance. Just moving up from "girlfriend" to "fiance" is HUGE! From every direction, come hundreds of questions and concerns about the upcoming wedding.  The couple are still "stuck" on each other and look forward to their future with much anticipation, but the courtship takes a backseat to THE day!  The man may be "consulted" on (some) decisions, but he's not the head honcho anymore.  Next level: the big day.  Of course, all eyes are on the bride.  (I've always felt sorry for the groom on his wedding day, because just as is in ballroom dancing, he is there to be the frame for his bride, who is the picture).  He can't get his eyes, or his hands, off his new wife, for all the world to see.  A beautiful sight, indeed!  He tears up as he glimpses her in her wedding gown, slowly walking down the aisle.  They have never loved each other more than they do at this very moment!   They cannot wait to start their lives together!  They have so many hopes and dreams.  Next level: post wedding, post honeymoon, reality.  A happy couple- yes- but also a couple who are separate now.  No hanging on each other, as one.  In fact, at parties, the woman usually talks with the women and the man, with the men, often, not even in the same room.  They are definitely more relaxed with one another- comfort is a good thing- but sadly, that high intensity passion and yearning are not as obvious.  It's probably still there at home, but I'm talking about the public domain.  Things are different.  They're married!  OK.  Let's move on down the road, at least, 9 months down the road.  The focus changes dramatically again.  During the woman's pregnancy, the entire focus is on her.  She's the one with all the baby showers, the cute maternity clothes, the "glow!"  Once the baby is born, the focus is not only off the couple, but it's off her, as well!  Nine months of attention and poof!  It's gone!  Baby is #1!  No more gazing into each other's eyes, since neither one seems to be able to even keep their eyes open long enough to do so!  Sleep deprivation leads to temporary insanity!  Their new job is one for which neither one has had any experience or training, and yet, one for which they've signed up for life!  How to do it!  Where to begin? Is this poor little thing REALLY depending on US, who know nothing about anything????  HELP!!!
  What sparked this article was a family wedding I attended this past weekend.  I, the student, was back in the classroom of human behavior, my favorite place to be!  As I observed this young bride and groom exchanging vows, I couldn't help but hope that they always be as in love and attentive to one another as they were that wonderful summer night when they professed their love in front of all their family and friends.   Love and life, weddings and babies- happy, sad tears.