Life is Good celebrates volunteers

Life is Good.  Isn't this the truth?  I have now been working on and off at the tornado relief center since June 1st.  The experience has been devastating, uplifting, challenging, life changing, loving, and unforgettable.

Yesterday, the volunteers were gifted with t-shirts or hats from Life is Good.  Certainly none of us did this work for a reward, but the thank you was much appreciated.

It is still unbelievable how much work is left.  The clean up will not be marked in days or months, but years.  It will also be marked in the countless miracles we have all witnessed, and the friendships that have been formed.

Maybe a new design for Life is good is hands in hands.  When many hands make light work, Life is Good.

Tornadoes in Massachusetts

There are many things that you think about when you choose where to live.  Certainly there are considerations about jobs, family, education, etc, but often there is part of you that is searching for safety.  When you live in the northeast, you figure that you are fairly safe: major hurricanes only come by every ten years or so, earthquakes are generally minor, forest fires are usually contained, and tornadoes are usually small and rarely affect the population.  We do have winter storms, but they eventually melt.  All and all comparatively, it seems to be a fairly safe place to be until June 1st of this year, when a tornado swept through Western Massachusetts extending from Westfield to Charlton (almost 50 miles).  It was like the tornadoes that you see on the news in the Midwest except the Midwest doesn't have trees like we do.  The devastation was extreme.

Fortunately, this is not my home.  We were very lucky, but the area near our church not so much.  The impact was unbelievable in width, length, and general impact.  Trees look like toothpicks sticking from the ground.  Areas that couldn't see the sky due to a canopy of trees are now bathed in sunlight and blanketed in the night sky.  Houses are covered in blue tarps, split in half, or town completely from their foundations. The cleanup will not be measured in days but more likely months and probably years.

The one amazing portion that I have been blessed to witness is the coming together of a community to help those in need.  I have worked all of last month at the tornado aide center.  The outpouring of support not just from locals but from those that came miles and miles just to help has been incredible.  One night, one of the people asked, "Do you make all this food?  It is delicious."  While I may have wanted to take credit, I was able to say that no, all the food was donated.  We had not had to make anything.

When people wonder if there are still good people on this earth, I know without a doubt that the answer to this question is a resounding, "Yes."  It is a shame sometimes that it takes devastating emergencies to bring us all together, but you can surely know that in a time of need, we can and will come together.  This is one of the great things about people in general and specifically about the USA.  As different as we all are, we truly are all United.

God Bless the USA!  Happy Independence Day!

Mother Daughter Time

Finding time to spend with your daughter is critical.  As they get older, it may be harder and harder and schedule, but truly they need your time more now than they did when they were little.

Yesterday, as all the men were away,  dd and I had a morning and evening time.  Of course the morning was getting up at 4am for the Royal Wedding.  I personally found this special, because I remember getting up at 4 am for Diana and Fergie's weddings.  Unfortunately, when I was a child, I got up alone.  To get up with my daughter and share this special memory was wonderful (I think I did nod off a bit - we were up until midnight the night before).

Last night, we had to do some errands and so we shared a dinner together and then came back for one of our favorite mother daughter times.  We did a foot soak with a hand and foot massage while we watched a movie. 

The foot soak recipe is so easy.  I'm not even sure where we picked it up, but it is simply: hot water, powdered milk, and a few drops of extract (we use almond).  We put the mixture in a large aluminum foil tray (one for each) on towels and make sure that everything is within a hand's reach so that we don't have to be disturbed. And then after soaking a while, we use salt and oil as a scrub.  We follow that with a hand and foot rub with handcreams from Bath and Body Works; specifically, my daughter loves Moonlight Path.

Not only did we have some wonderful food (Farmer's Market deep dish pizza at Uno's), great conversation, but the pampering reminded me of when dd what a baby and I would give her a baby massage. There is something about touch that creates intimacy and reminds us that we are all human.

If you think your baby is all grown up and doesn't need you anymore, you are wrong. Take time today to schedule a date with your daughter, whether she is 16, 36, or 56.   You will both benefit from the time.

Greg Mortenson and the beautiful lie?

This is such a sad story. I have found Greg's mission to be such an inspiration. I hope somehow there may be an error in this report.


Greg Mortenson and the beautiful lie?

The End of an Era - All My Children and One Life to Live Cancelled

I have to begin this post with a confession: I was once a Soap Opera junkie.  I watched the ABC Soap Opera line up from the time I was 12 or 13 until well into my 20's.  The first love of my life was "Blackie" (John Stamos) and the first concert I went to was Rick Springfield.  Granted those are both General Hospital characters, which was the easiest for me to watch based on the school bus times,  but I certainly knew my Erika Kane and Asa Bucchanan too.  I haven't had the time to watch them in years, but to hear that they are stopping production on AMC OLTL is sad.  And frankly, I feel for the actors too, many who have acted for years and years on these shows.  I hope for them new opportunities await.  As for me, it will be interesting to see what the new generation of tv brings (not that I'm home to watch it), but from a sociological perspective.  Are we back to game shows, cooking shows, or more reality tv.  Maybe there is something new that we haven't even considered.  If we're lucky, maybe it will mean that people will shut the tv off and start getting outside and interacting one on one, but somehow I doubt that as it is pretty hard to sell commercials to that.

Lent - Giving something up & Gaining something New

Lent has traditionally been a time of giving something up.  In our old church, Lent was celebrated more by taking something new on.  This year, I have kind of done both. 

Many people choose to give up sweets during Lent, but I don't eat that many sweets so how many times will I really be tempted - one or two during the forty days. I decided to give up coffee.  Maybe I need to explain what that means to me.  I generally get up with coffee, have at least one during the day, and my favorite time of the whole day is a coffee before I go to bed.  Now mind you, until now, this "sacrifice" was not a public thing.    I really felt like I wanted to experience this myself, I didn't want to share this plan with anyone: so I put a little codicil in my Lenten fast - I would not get myself coffee. However, If someone else bought me a coffee, I would gratefully accept it.  (Note:  I could not ask someone else to get it for me.  It had to be a random act of kindness of which I had no control.) This may seem like just wishful thinking, but I have at least two angels in my life that suprise me with coffee, so this was a real consideration. I will also note for those of you that are not familiar with Lent, that I became very thankful for Sundays which are not included in the Lenten 40 days.  I didn't over indulge but I surely did partake. 

Coffee was a really good thing to give up because it literally made me think of Lent every single day.  I could feel the temptation of Christ.  I could feel loss and sadness.  I know that sounds a bit extreme and I certainly don't mean to the extreme, but I would liken it to running sandpaper over you arm repetitively making you think about how it might feel to have a deep cut.  The feeling is not the same, but it is a little hurt that makes you ever mindful of a deeper, darker, more painful possibility.

At the same time, we took on attending our church's Lenten series of dinners with a conversation about the movies Economy of Love.  And we made our once a month Breakfast with the Bible a weekly experience.  These times of togetherness, which originally felt like just another responsibility have actually translated into the oasis of my week.  It is like swimming miles, but knowing when I touch that buoy that I will be relieved and have finished the race.

These two Lenten experiences have broadened my faith and deepened my Christian love.  I'm hoping the lessons will far exceed the 40 days of action.

What did you give up or add on during this Lenten season?  How has it changed your views or experience?

Scouting Sunday

Can you believe that she is up there again?  I may have to soon call DD, "Reverend DD".

We have started a wonderful tradition at our new church of Scouting Sunday.  This is by no means our tradition, but in fact a worldwide tradition that we have just established here.  This is the second year that we have done it up here.  We did it in our old church with much wider success as it was an established tradition.  Here, it is only in its second year; so we have had moderate participation so far.  This year was better than last and hopefully next year will be better than this one.

Traditionally, according to the Boy Scouts of America, Scouting Sunday is set as the Sunday prior to February 8th. However, variations are acceptable.  We have actually been using the last Sunday of February.  What Scouting Sunday means varies from one church to another.  For us, basically, the kids take over the entire church service.  Our daughter has actually been the one to facilitate the service and give the sermon (one of the downfalls of having parents in charge of something). All the other kids and in some cases adults do the other readings, ushering, lighting of candles, etc.  But frankly such a celebration can be whatever you wish to make of it. 

I think Scouting Sunday is a wonderful celebration to infuse the church with people that might not ordinarily attend.  It also offers the Scouts a deeper insight into their religion and may even inspire them to take a step into the clergy.  Any way you look at it, there is not too much of a down side.  I encourage you to plan an event with your church.  If you have any questions about the actual structure of the service we planned, feel free to contact me with questions.