You Are Making History


Everyday we wake up and maneuver our way through the day. We are constantly making choices...Should I stay in bed? Hit the snooze alarm? Get Up? What will I wear? What will I eat? Etc., etc., etc. Many of our choices are habitual, they are automatic. We have been doing the same things daily.


Sometimes during the course of a day we have what we have deemed to call "major decisions" to make. They might include whether to get a new job, buy a new home, get married. Etc., etc., etc.


It is the accumulation of our daily choices that create the tapestry of our life. It constitutes our personal history.


You are important. You make a difference.


Look over your shoulder...I bet you will surprise yourself. You have left smiles in your wake. Not just on the faces of your family and friends. You have left smiles on the faces of people who have just passed your way.


You Are Making History

Duh


On Oprah they would probably call it a lightbulb moment, an epiphany, a revelation. I just feel "duh" foolish to have not realized it sooner.


On New Years it is traditional for people to make resolutions. It is equally traditional that sooner than later the resolution evaporates, a broken promise to ourself.


It has become my daily habit to create a plan each day...things that I am going to accomplish. The plan includes everything from eating healthy, exercise, to giving myself a myriad of things to accomplish before the days end.


Just like a New Year's Resolution, the plan ends up unfulfilled and I get frustrated.


Duh, time to change the pattern and in the imortal words of NIKE... "Just Do It. It is time to stop being disappointed in myself. It is time to stop creating have to lists that I subconciously rebel against instead of embracing as a blueprint to move forward.


Time to Just Do It. Hmm, has anyone seen the off switch or pause switch for my brain (smile). Duh, time to stop mind phucking things.

FEAR


Know the meaning of fear....

False

Evidence

Appearing

Real

My Best Friend’s Mom Funeral Was Today

I have never been comfortable with the funeral ceremony.

Funerals are for those that survive, not for those that have died. The purpose is to comfort family and friends.

I know that everyone does the best they can to comfort the loved ones, however I feel uncomfortable listening to people make comments like, “She looks beautiful, she looks so at peace.” There is nothing wrong with what they say…it is loving and kind, I just feel uncomfortable.

As I sat in the church, I turned to my son and said that he won’t have to participate in this type of ritual when I die.

I am uncomfortable being looked at now. The thought of having people gaze at me in a coffin is a nightmare.

My son turned and looked at me and said, “Mom when you are dead, we can do whatever we want.” And then he smiled. He was teasing me but he is right. Funerals should be designed to give comfort to the living – they aren’t the business of the dead.

Instead of the normal Greyhound Bus Commercial, let me suggest... live your life happily and leave the funeral arrangements to us (smile).

I have noticed...


Everytime I close the door on reality, it comes through the window (smile).

Thanksgiving


Today is a special day of remembrance. I have chosen today to be a day of Thanksgiving. A day to say thank you for all the blessings in my life.


Our world, our lives were forever changed September 11, 2001. May the legacy be a more caring, charitable world. May the worst of times lead us eventually to the best of times.


Take a moment today to care about someone. Take a moment to do something good for yourself.


May God Bless You And Your Family.

Caution


"You really think you can.......?"

Never try to take someone's hope away. It may be all they have.

Happy Grandparent's Day!


There are lots of holidays. Sometimes I think some of them have just been conjured up by American Greeting and Hallmark.

When my sons, Tom and Jim, were growing up we celebrated Ground Hog's Day and the First Day of Spring. It was our way of celebrating the winding down of winter and the hope and renewal that Spring brings. It has been fun having our own special holiday celebrations. Even now, grown with their own families they celebrate these special days.

September 8th is Grandparent's Day. A special friend and colleague shared some quotes and poignant words about this special relationship between adult and child.

My favorite went something like this....Happiness is your grandchildren fighting to be on your lap.

Happy Grandparent's Day to all the world's grandparents.

A special prayer and blessing to my Nanas, Uncle Carl and Alfred - my grandparents. They each taught me so much in their own unique way. Now they join my parents in watching over me from Heaven.

America Responds - Stamps that make a difference


The 9/11 Heroes Stamp Act of 2001 directs the Postal Service to transfer the net proceeds from the sale of these stamps to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide assistance to the families of emergency relief personnel who died or were permanently disabled in the line of duty in connection with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Each "Heroes" stamp is valid postage at the First Class, first ounce rate of .37 the remaining difference between that and the .45 cost of the stamp is donated.

It is a wonderful way to commemorate the bravery of these heroes. The stamp depicts the firefighters raising the American Flag. Please purchase some today. Help make a difference.

Guiliani Remembers


"I remember one particular firefighter. He'd gotten hurt the day before September 11th, and that morning, just after the doctor informed him that he couldn't go back to duty for several weeks, he heard about the attack. And instead of going home, he raced to a nearby firehouse. All the firefighters had gone to the World Trade Center, so he put on some gear and wrote a note explaining why he had taken it. Then he wrote, "Please tell my mother and father that I love them very much and that I owe everything to them."

I try to recreate in my mind what he did. He drove across the Brooklyn Bridge - and to drive across the Brooklyn Bridge on the morning of September 11th, you had to feel you were driving into hell. You saw an inferno unlike anything I could possibly describe to you. He had every reason not to go. He was injured; he had been told not to report for duty - but he drove there. He went into one of the buildings and he saved people, twice, and then he went in again right before it collapsed, and he died.

Think of the courage that he had. It wasn't a lack of fear. Courage isn't a lack of fear. Courage is about being afraid, but being able to do what you have to do anyway. Courage is knowing you're going into the worst fire you'll ever face and that you may never return. But it is also understanding that you're a firefighter, that you can carry people down. Maybe I can't do that, but he could do that. That's what his life was about; that's what he swore to do.

Every once in a while, when I would give a firefighter or a police officer an award for bravery, he would come up to the podium and be very nervous. His hands would shake, and he would be unable to speak. And it never ceased to amaze me. How could this man, who jumped into the East River and taken out a 10-year-old child and put his own life at risk, how could he be afraid to speak? I finally realized it was because he hadn't learned how to manage that fear.

That's what courage is about, managing your fears. You have to do that all your life. If you want to be happy, you need a belief, and you need courage. You need to know what you believe in and have the courage to act on those beliefs. If you have both those things, there's no way on earth you're not going to succeed."

This is an excerpt from former Mayor Giuliani's commencement address at Syracuse University on May 13, 2002.

I wanted to share this with you. There were many heros on September 11th. Some wore uniforms, many were unsung men and woman who reached out to help family, friends and strangers. There are many television shows, and special ceremonies planned to remember the events of September 11, 2001. When you take time to remember how the world forever changed that day, please take a moment to remember the people who have been heros in your life.

When were you a hero to someone? It doesn't have to have involved a rescue as enormous as the gift of life this firefighter gave. Sometimes being a hero takes courage, sometimes a hero is someone who cares and helps a person find the courage or direction within themselves to change their life.

Thank you to all the everyday heros.