%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |
Thoughts and takes on the way life presents.... |
| Thoughts and takes on the way life presents.... |
| This Memorial Day weekend blessed me with tears from heaven. I tried to be happy and play games with my friends but the rain ... I don't know, I don't like to play in puddles and I don't like to watch concerts when it is wet and rainy. The sun came out on Sunday and Monday, and I could not enjoy it. It really hit me that so many in my family are not with me now, and I have had to send off good friends or loved ones of good friends. Ben and Brian were in February, AJ was in March, Richard was in April, DeGalynn in May ... Ben and DeGalynn had impacted lives to the extent that there was standing room only at their Celebrations of Life. Richard had only a handful of people, Brian had about a 100, and AJ did not have any because they shipped him out to SD before the father could screw things up with a Court injunction. These people had so very little in common, just little old me. Don't ever think you don't matter. You matter to someone. You matter to people in the love sphere cast by those who love you. And it will be enough to get you through whatever hardship or sadness you face. It just will. |
Let me tell you about DeGalynn. This is the story of a beautiful African American woman who was a wife and mother to two young boys. DeGalynn was a knock out and won beauty pageants. She was bursting with love of all people and could talk to anyone about anything. She was totally in another person’s interests and would only call up her own vast repertoire of values and beliefs only when she could not get a response from the other person. She truly was the hostess with the mostest. We had a benefit for her in January and she was so upbeat that she was going to beat cancer this time. She just had to because her sons needed her. DeGalynn and I got breast cancer at the same time. She is 12 years younger than me. She chose chemotherapy and I chose radiation only. While she was in chemo, I was in a PET scan to find out I had thyroid cancer and had to do radioiodine treatments and have my thyroid removed. We cried together, we prayed for each other, we supported each other. About the time I was getting the news I was cancer free, DeGalynn got the news her cancer moved to the bone and liver. While she was determining what course to take, I put in my advice to just stick with American doctors and no chemo. She chose Mexico, which is where my aunt went for Laetrile treatment. I tried to tell my aunt’s story, but DeGalynn went anyway. She died last night within two months of getting back to the States. My world mourns another beautiful soul lost to cancer. I know she made her choices based on her family and strong will to survive. I just wish she had taken heed from survivors instead of fighters. Because with cancer it really does come down to those willing to embrace their condition and those who are up for a fight. Me? I took one look at my family history and knew cancer would not be beat with chemo. I looked at Celest who had advanced liver disease. She embraced her condition and lived ten years than average. I chose to embrace my condition and let my body dictate what it needed to survive. Loving and accepting the cancer may not cure everybody, but it at least lets you live a little longer and happier than fighting the cancer ever could. DeGalynn: The world was better with you in it. Everything happens for a reason, maybe one day that reason will be revealed. Safe journey home, my friend. |
| Fun Fact Friday! On this day in 1958, US Vice President Richard Nixon's limousine was battered by rocks thrown by anti-US demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela. Have you ever protested something before, big or small? Loud, or silently? Mother Theresa once said “I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there.” That is my view. I rarely protest because it is negative energy. And you might get arrested. I will stand for many ideals if they are proven to me. I remember standing with a bunch of other Christians giving silent voice to the pain we felt when others went to see the Last Temptation of Christ. We watched some go in anyway. We watched others move on. We prayed. We sang. We were there. It was a peaceful demonstration and we did not get arrested or have police presence. So no, I do not do protests. I will do peaceful demonstration. I will work for the positive good that is in all of us if we just let it out. |
| Creation Saturday! Since Sunday is Mother's Day in the US, write a tribute to your mom, grandmother, favorite aunt, or friend that helped you in a motherly way. Let me tell you about Eileen. Eileen was about 20 years older than me, but we were such good friends. If there was ever a family event, I made sure to invite Eileen. If she had something going on, she would invite me. We had a standing Thursday outing during the time when I was unemployed. We would go to the bread line and then go grocery shopping. During those hours, she would tell me her stories from the 1950s to the present and I would tell her my stories from the 1980s to the present. Her neighbors thought I was her daughter and my son was her grandson. And she never corrected them. She was model beautiful and almost had a chance to be in the Airplane. She wanted to play the pregnant lady in the turbulance scene, but the doctor said the baby could not take it, so the part went to someone else. Eileen was a survivor. Her father looked and talked like Desi Arnez. The discrimination she experienced when she was growing up was disgusting. It led to a lot of poor choices and having to put up with a lot of revolting sexual harrassment type incidents. As she grew older, she was still mistreated by men, loved by babies and children, and a devout Catholic woman. I learned so much just by listening to her words of wisdom and watching the way she interacted with people of all ages, colors and cultural backgrounds. She was a female version of Dr. Doolittle. She had a pet duck in high school and after that dogs, cats, birds, squirrels,anything furry,really. She went through cancer ten years before I did and tried so hard to tell me what to do. I just could not see the sense in the chemo. It was the only bone of contention between us. Her cancer returned. She tried the chemo again. It killed her this last time. I miss her so much. If there was ever a chance to choose your mom, she would be my mom and best friend. |
| Talk Tuesday! When was the last time you heard good news? April 21 at a little after 7:00. I found I am going to be a grandma for the first time. The only thing to outshine that will occur at the end of December. Wink, wink. A happy of a lesser degree is when my boss pops for something that I like. Last night he paid admission for a group of friends, of which I managed to interject into the middle of, into a Laurel & Hardy film event. One of the cartoons was a Droopy cartoon that I had not seen. LOVE Droopy. "That makes me mad", bam, bam, bam, twirl and toss. I do that with arm gestures and voice effects. It is quite fun. It was good news. |
| Motivation Monday! Legendary guitarist Link Wray was born on this day in 1929, and once said "I'm not the same today as I was in '58, or '59 or even '71." How does not being the same as you were a year, five years, or twenty years ago influence you today? Seriously? I don't understand the question. Not being the same means you create each day based on nothing where everything and/or anything is possible. Right? The only thing I want to bring forward from my past are the foundational things: My family, my friends, my schooling, my skills. Everything else can be left in the past to collect dust. There are things that cannot be avoided like medical histories that influence my today choices, but for the most part, the future is limitless and abundant choice. Seems to me he was ahead of his time in understanding the need to live in the here and now and make choice based on what you are striving for rather than the what was. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
