People come into your life…for a REASON!
(Reposted from earlier to serve as a reminder that people are important no matter how long you’ve known them)
During a recent four hour flight I was lucky enough to be seated next to a very impressive lady. She and I apparently have a lot in common and talked the entire way. We quickly discovered that our lives, although different in the paths chosen, parallel each other. We are four years apart in age, grew up across the nation from each other, and as I was choosing marriage and children after high school, she chose a career with the military. I would proudly stand beside her on a poster for women’s rights.
Our discussions led me to think about the paths women have opposed to men. In the last ten years I have heard of “house husbands”, but never once have I heard of a man choosing to get married and have kids over a career. It’s just the reality of how the roles are changing and there will come a time (if it’s not here already) when it will not be an anomaly for men to have to choose. Granted…we obviously cannot choose who will actually carry and birth those kiddos, but wouldn’t that be awesome?!!
The progress of women in the workforce has come a long way (…baby?!). In fact, my new friend told me when she entered the military; the only female role models that paved her way had not been able to achieve a rank higher than an E-5 (Sergeant). This is not any indication that they did a bad job; it’s just that females weren’t yet prevalent in the military field. I know…it sounds like we are discussing the 1950’s, but we’re actually talking late 1980′s, early 1990′s! As proud as I am of my new friend, you will be too…she’s a very successful E-9 (Sergeant Major!).
She and I are both in career fields that are male dominated, but will readily admit that is how we prefer it. Our personality types are not for the girly-girl atmospheres, which is how we have gotten to this point in our lives. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been called “strong-willed”, “strong-minded”, “type A personality”, etc. And although I haven’t heard of men being called these names, I’ve come to the opinion that it is a compliment and I’ll gladly accept those terms. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the girly girl atmospheres, we just realized a long time ago it is not a good fit for us.
So, as I was working my way up from waitressing, trying doggedly to juggle family life, college, and gain a career, she was juggling soldiers, deployments, and military warfare. Now we’re both at a point where we can enjoy life for what it is….take a big deep breath and watch those around us who may be either beginning or in the middle of the road we just carved…dabble in a hobby or two…take vacations…and hey, while we’re at it…meet new friends!
People come into your life for a reason and I’m a firm believer that it is up to each and every one of us to capitalize from the visit. My new friend and I are in similar careers in that we work with the military. As I develop my career, I know I can turn to her for advice. As she enters the civilian workforce or maybe chooses to start a family, she knows she can turn to me for advice. We were placed on that plane, seated side by side, for a reason. I’m very grateful. Wonder how many other opportunities I’ve missed like this because I chose to put in my earphones and read during a flight instead of finding out who was next to me?
“Technology got us into this; technology can get us out!”
As I spend the evening figuring out how to transfer my blog from here to Bluehost…no worries, nothing should change…here is a revisit of a post from January 2012…hope you enjoy it! Oh, and any bloggers who have completed this transfer, please let me know what you think! Thanks…
(Photo Credit: Hothardware.com)
We are all too distracted. Not only teens…it’s everyone. On a quick roadtrip this weekend we were almost hit…TWICE! Adults using cell phones are just as distracted as trying to fry an egg and shower at the same time. In fact, we should start a law. This option should become free and mandatory for EVERYONE!!
But in the meantime…sign me up! For $7.95 per month we can block all cell phone usage while driving? I’m in…
Here’s the article from USA Today:
Devices target distracted driving
Anxious parents worried about teens and distracted driving are tapping new technology to keep their young drivers from texting, surfing andeven talking behind the wheel.
“Absolutely, it gives me peace of mind,” says Jack Lavender, 50, a consultant in Berwyn, Pa., who uses a product called Cellcontrol, which parents can buy for $7.95 a month for up to six phones. It prevents his 21-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son from using their phones while driving. “They live so much on the phone, and they do so much of their communication using texting. I know how dangerousit is, so for me, it’s really reassuring to know that they’re not doing it.”
Parents say the technology makes the roads safer and provides reassurance at a time when nearly half of young drivers use their phones to surf the Internet and more than a third use them to access social-media networks.
Applications that prevent people from using phones while a vehicle is moving also are gaining popularity with corporate fleet managers. A new federal regulation penalizes commercial truckand bus drivers each time they’re caught reaching for or dialing a phone while driving.
“Driving while distracted is quickly becoming the new DUI/DWI,” says Daniel Maier, of Illume Software, which produces the iZup line of distracted-driving prevention products for Android and BlackBerry devices.
Jennifer Smith, 37, of Chicago says she plans to use iZup, which costs $20 annually, to block the cellphone of her daughter, Emani Lawrence, 16, while she is driving. “Technology got us into this;technology can get us out,” Smith says.
Some of the technology has been around about three years but has grown in popularity with the focus on distracted driving. Chuck Cox of Baton Rouge, La.-based Cellcontrol says about 15% of the company’s business is private users, mostly parents.
Types of technology:
- uSoftware that uses on-phone GPS or in-vehicle Blue-tooth systems to determinewhen the vehicle is moving.
- uDevices that connect with the vehicle’s onboard diagnostics port or integrate into vehicle electronics or infotainment platform, shutting off gadgets while the vehicle is moving. (They include Cellcontrol, Key2SafeDriving and Taser International’s Protector.)
- uDetection, jamming, monitoring and sensors. They include Trinity-Noble’s Guardian Angel, which locks the keys of a cellphone when a vehicle is going over a pre-set speed.
(Photo Credit: SamuelKee.com)
Are you raising your kids or are they raising you??
(Photo Credit: parentinginfo.org)
A recent facebook post by one of my favorite people in the world, Ms. Carol Cipollini, got me thinking. The post explains that a friend of Carol’s has a son who was placed on a basketball team that doesn’t consist of one current friend; therefore he will not be playing this year. Carol, rightfully so, was frustrated that a parent would not openly embrace an opportunity for his/her child to meet new people. I am in absolute agreement with Carol. When did we begin to overprotect and shelter our children so much that we would take away an opportunity to develop much needed social skills?Maybe this is the Army brat in me, or just the evidence I’m the product of wonderful parents, but I feel this parent has failed her child. It is not the job of the parent to make life the easiest possible for her children, or provide the “most” of everything…most toys, most money, most stuff…it is the job of the parent to teach the SKILLS to become the best possible adult …best communicator, best worker, best supporter, best spouse, best friend…and if the parent doesn’t provide that training, they have failed.
Now, I’m NOT saying that a parent has failed if they have provided the groundwork for the child to be the most productive person as an adult and the child chooses not to utilize those skills. Every person is responsible for their own actions and a troubled adult does not mean the parent didn’t do the best possible job. But, what I am saying is that a parent has the responsibility to raise his or her children to be able to stand on their own two feet as productive citizens. Just my personal opinion and clearly no one has written the “absolute only right way to raise a child handbook”, nor could I.
I fully understand the love a mother has for her children, as I have three. Since my older two are off at college, I also understand the roller coaster ride of bringing a child into the world and then developing that child into an adult. I would accept NOTHING in place of that experience. Having twins at 19 years old meant my husband and I were responsible for growing up at the very same time as we were assisting our children in their growth. I know we both consider our children to be our lifelong best friends, along with being labeled our children. But, that doesn’t mean the best friend label comes before the child label. That’s where I believe we have made our first mistake in parenting.
Too many times I’ve witnessed parents try harder at being their teenager’s best friend than in teaching the child life skills. Heaven forbid the child be angry at the parent for denying a privilege that EVERY OTHER FRIEND IS DOING. The child can’t be the only person in the whole wide world that goes without something, right? What a bad parent his Mom is for taking away his cell phone for the “D” in math! Shame on her! Some parents just don’t like being the bad guy and won’t do anything to harm the child’s image amongst all those friends. I jest but the sad fact is this happens more often than any of us realize.
The child who has been withdrawn from his basketball team because he knows none of the other children appointed to this team has been served an injustice. Is he never going to enter a classroom where he knows no one? What about college? Is he going to go to college with friends he has had since birth? And good grief, we can’t even contemplate how this child will function in the workforce.
None of us will ever do every single thing right by our children, but if we keep the focus on loving our kids straight into productive adults, great things will happen.
(Photo Credit: betterparenting.org)
Taxpayer’s dollars spent wisely!
Good Morning everyone! Thank you all for the well wishes…that was so sweet of you! As I lift my head from the Nyquil induced fog I decided to reblog a piece I did early on, somewhere around January of this year. I hope you enjoy….
These awesome discoveries are from The Huffpost online paper, but the sarcasm underneath is all mine…enjoy!
Please don’t turn right Grandma!!
Umm sexist…I get all my gossip from him.
I did get a public education, but I’m thinking go straight?
Should I provide candlelight and champagne? Bow – chicka – wow – wow
Free plastic surgery for those unwanted elbows!
(And shouldn’t it be too far? Another victim of texting lingo)
They’re not THAT drunk if they can still crawl.
Remind me not to walk there with my briefcase.
Spellcheck…sometimes it’s just not enough!
It’s Wild Wednesday everyone and after reading part of the news this morning, I think we all need to pay closer attention to the headlines that should never have been. I haven’t worked in actual Newspaper office, but I have sent in items for publication. Normally what happens to me is the editor (or whoever has five minutes) will perform a review and edit the crap out of my article. Visualize red pen mania, but in a computer techy way. Then they will usually include it in the next run without any kind of review on my end. If I were a top notch columnist, I’m sure I could whine about that and get one last review (possibly) before it is splashed for the public, but apparently some of the reporters out there really don’t know how to write or are being edited beyond repair. Either way, to me it’s like ‘friends don’t let friends drive drunk’, well…friends shouldn’t let friends have their names underneath some of these headlines! (and as usual, free sarcasm in italics and bold are donated solely from the author of this blog and should not reflect negatively on the publication or reporter……or blog author, for that matter!)
Does the mud-slinging HAVE to get so personal?
Wow girlie…looks like you really let yourself go…
Uhm…are you SURE??
Can we have a meeting on closed meetings then?!
This one probably should just have said, “Woman Goes Bananas Over Chocolate”!!
Look for Part Two tomorrow…and by the way, most of these were borrowed from Oddee and greatly appreciated! Happy Bloggin’ peeps…
Have a wonderful Tuesday!
While reading a newspaper, Walter came across an article about a beautiful actress and model who married a boxer who was noted for his IQ.
“I’ll never understand,” he said to his wife, “why the biggest jerks get the most attractive wives.”
His wife replied, “Why, thank you, dear.”
~Charlie Chuckster
I’M NOT THAT OLD…
Have you ever been guilty of looking at others your own age and thinking, surely I can’t look that old. Well, you’ll love this one….
My name is Alice Smith and I was sitting in the waiting room for my first appointment with a new dentist. I noticed his diploma, which had his full name.
Suddenly, I remembered a tall, handsome, dark-haired boy with the same name had been in my high school class some 30-odd years ago. Could he be the same guy that i had a secret crush on, way back then?
Upon seeing him, however, I quickly discarded any such thought. This balding, gray-haired man with the deeply lined face was way too old to have been my classmate.
After he examined my teeth, I asked him if he had attended Morgan Park High school.
‘Yes. Yes, I did.’ he gleamed with pride.
‘When did you graduate?’ I asked.
He answered, ‘In 1967. Why do you ask?’
‘You were in my class!’ I exclaimed.
He looked at me closely. Then, that ugly, old, bald, wrinkled, fat, gray-haired man asked, ‘What did you teach?’
SMART BLONDE!
One day a blonde office worker comes out to the warehouse to walk around. As she is walking she looks up and sees a co-worker hanging upside down from an I-Beam in the ceiling.
She asks “What ARE you doing”?
The co-worker says “I need a few days off but the boss won’t let me have them so I’m hanging upside down from this I-Beam acting crazy.
The boss will see me, think I need rest and send me home for a few days”.
The blonde says “That won’t work…uh ohh…here comes the boss now, you’re in for it”.
The boss spots the blode looking up and sees the man hanging up there and asks him “Just WHAT do you think you are DOING?!!”
The man says (in a “crazy” voice) I’m a light bulb…I’m a light bulb”
The boss says “Buddy, you need some rest..take the rest of today and tomorrow off and get some sleep”.
As he is climbing down he winks at the blonde showing her it worked.
The blonde thinks about this for a moment and starts to follow the man out the door.
The boss asks her “WHERE do you think YOU’RE going?”
The blonde says “I can’t work in the dark”.
Thanks Squeaky Dude!!!
Life isn’t worth living if you can’t laugh…
Clean Joke – R.I.P.
When I was a young minister, a funeral director asked me to hold a grave side service for a homeless man with no family or friends. The funeral was to be at a cemetery way out in the country. This was a new cemetery and this man was the first to be laid to rest there.
I was not familiar with the area and became lost. Being a typical man, of course, I did not ask for directions. I finally found the cemetery about an hour late. The back hoe was there and the crew was eating their lunch. The hearse was nowhere to be seen.
I apologized to the workers for being late. As I looked into the open grave, I saw the vault lid already in place. I told the workers I would not keep them long, but that this was the proper thing to do. The workers, still eating their lunch, gathered around the opening.
I was young and enthusiastic and poured out my heart and soul as I preached. The workers joined in with, “Praise the Lord,” “Amen,” and “Glory!” I got so into the service that I preached and preached and preached, from Genesis to The Revelation.
When the service was over, I said a prayer and walked to my car. As I opened the door, I heard one of the workers say, “I never saw anything like that before and I’ve been putting in septic systems for twenty years.”
Bedside Manners
Susie’s husband had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months. Things looked grim, but she was by his bedside every single day. One day as he slipped back into consciousness, he motioned for her to come close to him. She pulled the chair close to the bed and leaned her ear close to be able to hear him.
“You know” he whispered, his eyes filling with tears, “you have been with me through all the bad times. When I got fired, you stuck right beside me. When my business went under, there you were. When we lost the house, you were there. When I got shot, you stuck with me. When my health started failing, you were still by my side. “And you know what?”
“What, dear?” she asked gently, smiling to herself.
“I think you’re bad luck.”
Thanks to www.jokesclean.com!!
