Why I Hate TV

We got married a month after college graduation. My husband was an engineer, interning at a company that moved us to a new location every 6 months. I was a nurse and it was easy for me to find temporary jobs. Being young and moving all over the country together was fun! And adventurous. I was always amazed how quickly we adapted to our new environment. We would try the regional foods, understand the dialects, and have pictures up on the walls in a short amount of time. We got used to the pace of the area in less than a week. That is when I discovered how adaptable humans are. And it is really amazing! Probably the reason we view so little minutes of TV our house. If I turn on the TV I am shocked! I cannot believe what I see on the screen and that this is ok with so many people. I am just not used to it, and because I watch it so rarely, I become disturbed by what I see. I know if my kids were watching this stuff day after day, Hollywood's definitions of what is acceptable would seep into their unconsciousness too. We start plopping our high energy toddlers in front of Big Bird so we caregivers can have a break, then move on to Disney channel which moves on to sitcoms. It is easier in the short term to have kids just sit in front of a TV. Life is hands down easier when kids are still, quiet and undemanding, being entertained by a box. We do not have to clean up toys, feed them unending snacks, negotiate disputes, or even play with them. But what are the trade offs? The little kids no longer have to learn to figure out how to entertain themselves and so do not learn how to entertain themselves. Thus begins, at an early age, being passively indoctrinated with values, while TV conduct insidiously becomes acceptable. We are adaptable creatures. What we see over and over on the boob tube becomes normal in our psyche. Not shocking at all. All acceptable. Sports, the last domain of unscripted human drama has become a showcase for highly paid men pounding on their chests or dancing in the end zone. News? No such thing. Only the commentary of the producers, slanted to convince you of their view. A doctor friend told us once he put a TV in the waiting room, complaints became nonexistent. I blame TV for society's loss of ethics, instead of independent evaluators of life situations, we have become passive and brainwashed and think everything is decent. Yes, TV is the opiate of the masses.

Overheard Conversations At The Gym

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I was at the point in To Kill A Mockingbird, where the jury begins to deliberate. I was not going to get any further in this book if I stayed home. Too many people asking me questions. So I went to the gym and scouted the most isolated cardio machine in the place. No one was anywhere near me. I read and exercised happily for 6 minutes. Another woman comes up beside me, and starts happily exercising also. Just then, a man walks up to her, leans on the machine and says, "Hey! How you been? What's this I hear about you getten a divorce?" She says it's true. He says he couldn't believe it, he thought he was so nice and took good care of her. She said, "Oh, yea, he was nice. He just had too many secrets." The man asked, "What kind of secrets?" She explained how she didn't know about his other name, and when all of this mail was being delivered to the house, she thought something was strange. Oh, the man definitely understood why she would wonder about that, and was there anything else?  She then went on to tell him, "And I didn't know nothing about another marriage. When his 3 kids showed up at the door, I said what are you saying?" The man was very interested in her situation and wanted to talk and talk. I realized I was not going to finish my book if I stayed next to this conversation, so I picked up my stuff and moved to another spot and did not hear more revealed secrets. None of my business anyway. But I was distracted and kept thinking her marriage would make a good book club read that I could be reading at the gym.

Wordless Wednesday

Can you see it moving?

What Did We Even Do Before The Dog?

First snowfall started today. When the boys got up for school and saw the snow was sticking they were excited. The dog, Herc, was happily curled up on his bed. Immediately they went to the dog, "Herc, wanna go outside? Herc! Herc!" The dog woke up, stretched and accommodated the kids who wanted to see what he thought of the first snowfall. Which was not much at all. He sniffed around, worked on lifting his leg, but then just squatted and came back inside. They were disappointed, they expected him to be rejoicing and frolicking in the snow. So they got his favorite toy and started running laps around the house, him chasing them and them chasing him. Nonstop, one kid after another. 6:30am. And that is why this weekend when he was so sick, we all got worried. On Thanksgiving, and even the day before, he was not his usual pest in the kitchen. We chalked that up to the added commotion. Friday, he woke up limping and crying. Everyone pleaded innocence. The dog just laid around all day, didn't eat or drink. Didn't go outside. Didn't do laps with the boys. Didn't beg. The kids took turns petting him and Herc didn't move his head or wag his tale. Saturday morning when my son got up early for a wrestling scrimmage he alerted us that Herc was not at all right. When we evaluated him, the dog was barely moving or breathing. I thought he was dead. We walked over to him and petted him. His breaths were slow and shallow and he didn't even open his eyes. The vet said bring him in at  8:40.  He couldn't stand, he just cried. My husband and I rolled him onto his bed, he was whimpering the whole time, and my husband scooped him up and carried him to the back seat of the car. His ears perked up a little in the waiting room when he saw the other animals, but otherwise, the dog didn't move. When the boys got up and my husband was still at the vets I prepared them for the worst. There was a gloom in the house. The vet gave him a pain shot and antibiotics and diagnosed him with lyme disease. 6 hours later the dog rose from the dead and started running laps. We were explaining how sick he was to the other kids and they just nodded in confusion as they watched this crazy puppy running all over the house.  Another thing I wish I would have camcorded for proof.

It Is A New World

And I see it changing right before my eyes. I remember Thanksgiving time when I was in school, making pilgrim hats and learning about the faith of the new settlers and how they joined together and gave praise and thanks to God for the harvest. Thanksgiving day was a day when family got together and shared a meal in thankfulness for blessings from God. Today the world calls this time fall break not Thanksgiving break and praises the sun for its rays, the clouds for the rain and the soil for its fertility. We have become a pagan society. And during this fall secular break we can shop 24/7 for discounts for the next pagan festival, which the world will now call winter break. No mention of Jesus. No mention of Christmas. Just lots of snowflakes and winter landscape scenes, paying homage again to mother earth, while ignoring the creator of the earth. I think it is sad.

Thanksgiving At Our House

Wordless Wednesday

It's All About Perspective

My daughter's 5th year high school reunion is Wednesday. It seems to me my 5th year high school reunion was not too long ago, no way 28 years ago! I can clearly picture my high school classmates, the desks, the cafeteria, the teachers. I really don't believe I was in high school that long ago. I do not think my kids can even imagine me ever being in high school.
My birthday was this past weekend. The boys at home made me thoughtful, appreciative cards. Inside the cards the message included their sentiments "And for 51, you do so much!" Their perspective is that 51 is so old! My perspective is that life is just starting.

Scenes From Today

A fun day. Went to a party, I asked an older gentleman how he was enjoying newly retired life. He said "Good, but I can't sleep in anyway. My wife wakes me up so she can make the bed."
Then I went to a grade school poetry coffee house where the students presented their poems to an audience of mostly parents. The assignments had prompts to help them, such as ...makes me happy, ...makes me scared. 2 of the boys poems said what they disliked was writing and reading poetry.
And then my college son who is preparing to study abroad next semester and is finalizing his paper work, calls. He called to tell me he needed a copy of his immunizations, a TB test and a hematocrit test, and what are they anyway?  I explained a TB test was a skin test for tuberculous and a hematocrit was a simple blood test. He said, "Well, what if I have TB?"  I explained there are medicines to treat it but I am very sure you do to have TB. He was relieved. Then he asked, "Well,what if I have hematocrit?"

Men On The Yoga Mats

Sometimes my husband and I are on the same gym schedule. That is fun, kind of like a mini date. Yesterday, we didn't plan on being there together and when I saw him around lunch time, I knew he was crushed for time. He was focused and pushing himself with not much time for socializing. Just like the guy next to him. They were self absorbed and not paying attention to anything but their work out. I do not think they noticed each other, even though they were side by side. They were both doing intense ab work outs, and were concentrating and sweating. I walked up to them both and said, "Oh, just look at you two working so hard on those comfy yoga mats. You would fit right in in our ladies class!" I could tell by their glances they didn't think that was as funny as I did.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

Do you believe this?

Sometimes Only Girls Night Out Makes Things Right

Last night the dog got skunked. I was the only one home and was making dinner, and the way the dog was barking I knew something was up. I called my husband who was at the gym. He said,"Well, I guess I won't even shower if I have to give him a bath." He came immediately to the rescue as always but my house and the whole block smelled like skunk.
Moving along, this morning my 12 year old son got up for school, poured a bowl of Captain Crunch and read the sports page. He knew if his 2 brothers did not get up soon they would miss the bus. When he woke them up they started complaining at him for waking them up at 4:30am, that is when he knew why he was the only one awake. Moving along to 7am, another son had his second physical therapy appointment. He broke his finger 5 weeks ago and could not play sports. Yesterday he want to therapy, they evaluated his finger positively and gave him a wrap, so he he went to wrestling practice last night. Well, his finger is now 10X the size as it was yesterday, and the therapist and my kid were not happy. It's only 10am, 8 more hours until bunko.

What Is It Like To Be The Youngest of 8?

Good and bad.
Good because he has lots of stuff! Toys, games. And always someone to play with. Bad because he is the smallest. My youngest son is Mark and he always had an attraction to computers. He played Putt Putt for hours and taught himself how to read at a very young age by using the computer. One time he got a reader rabbit spelling game, and his brothers started bringing their friends to see this new game. We were pleased with this and then realized it didn't really make sense they were showing their friends a computer spelling game. That is when we discovered the game was about syllables and the boys would play over and over the computer voice saying GR-ASS..and they thought this was the funniest thing in the world. It was pretty funny. So, my youngest child learned syllables and how to read by about age 4 and also became somewhat computer savvy. One day when he was preschool age he got in a fight with his oldest brother. He knew complaining was useless and so was trying to physically fight. So what he decided on was a bigger pay back than anyone could have imagined. He went into the program administrator on the computer and changed the password. This meant no access to the computer, no access to all school work that was saved on the computer, without the password. We could not figure out what was going on. When Mark realized he created the problem and confessed, he also confessed he forgot the password. He said it had to be a three letter word because that was all he was sure how to spell. So after 2 days the family exhausted our recall of all the 3 letters words we could think of, and none of them worked. This was a huge problem! We had to call Verizon to come out to our house and reset the whole computer!  I was reminded of this today when I turned on the computer and got scared when and an unexpected computer voice loudly said, "Mark is better than Luke (his brother)".

Unsung Heroes

Finally, a good day.
My son was awarded the silent leadership award from his college. He does not know details, but cash awards are always appreciated... Also today we went to a nursing award ceremony for my daughter. She received a scholarship for graduate school. So far, so good! And the day got even better with the speech by the director of nursing. She described how modern technology transformed patient care...and elaborated on the wonderful and amazing advances in science. She went on to explain that despite this new technology, the best gift of all of us, is really the gift of self. It is the human touch, the human love, the human interaction that describes the great nurse. I have been thinking about her message and I am re energized with a new awareness! For the teachers, the coaches, friends, family... who do little things, often unnoticed, with great love. So many good people! What perfect timing to hear her perspective, just what I needed.

Women Lost A Battle

 My heart is so heavy. Planned parenthood swept this election. 3,322 abortions per DAY are accepted and condoned, and will be paid for by people who work and pay taxes. I cannot be ok with this. I have seen my own ultrasounds of the tissue that was a human being. Society names that human being other things; fetus, tissue, blob, to make it easier to get rid of. Fast. This is easy to arrange, and women are waiting and eager to help. Just get the procedure, worry about it later. Bury the guilt. Rationalize. Stay so busy at work, you don't have time or energy to think. Try drinking or pills to sleep better. Run marathons to sleep better. Obsess over your vegan menu. Maybe go back to school, get smarter, just stay distracted. That is key. Keep the radio on, the tv on, noise gives you something to listen to and focus on. But you still cannot hide. The back pain is a needed distraction, and so much easier to deal with than the truth. The headaches, palpitations, stomach problems... physical symptoms attempt to suppress the emotional pain, keep it buried, keep you from thinking, knowing, regretting. Easier all around. But the mom knows... deep down buried inside your mind and heart, that was life. Yes, the vote was a vote for revenge, just like the president said. Revenge for those circumstances, revenge for a uterus that makes you want a relationship with sex, revenge that he used your body for his pleasure, revenge that you feel you have to choose between your life and the life of another inside you. And that is the real war on women.

Wordless Wednesday

 Love the photographer!

Raising Kids...Do It Anyway

We had a busy filled weekend of family. My husband and I sat on the sofa together, he had his arm around me, enjoying the stillness and a glass of wine. I said, "Do you think the kids will ever appreciate how much we do for them?" He responded, "Well, I hope not yet." I said, "What do you mean?" He explained, "If they realize it now, while they are young, it might scare them, and they would think... I'm not doing all that, I'm not having kids." Interesting perspective, one which I would not want to foster. And so, because we know the love and joy found in family life far outweighs all that effort, we'll just keep plugging along.

Another Reason I Could Never be A Teacher

 School instructions given to 5th graders running for student council :
Remember when you give your speech you do NOT have authority to set policy about class room pets or food served in the cafeteria.