I Will Never Regret

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly.
As I've aged, I've become  kinder to myself, and less critical of  myself. I've become my own friend.
I don't chide myself for eating  that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly
cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat,
to be messy, to be extravagant.

I  have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great
freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon?
I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60  &70's, and if I, at the same time,
wish to weep over a lost love  ..... I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and  will dive into
the waves with  abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.
They, too, will get  old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten.
And I eventually remember the important  things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when
you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets
hit by a car?  But broken  hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion.
A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I  am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my
youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.

So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As  you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think.
I don't question myself anymore.  I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I  like the person I have
become.  I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time
lamenting what could  have been,  or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert
every single day (if I feel like it).

(I received this in an email and liked it so well that I decided to post it here for all to read. It speaks to my exact thinking.)

Time To Think!

Imagine that you had won the following prize in a contest:

Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400.00 in your private account for your use. However, this prize had rules, just as any game has certain rules.

The first set of rules would be:

1. Everything that you didn't spend during each day would be taken away from you.
2. You may not simply transfer money into some other account.     
3. You may only spend it.
4. Each morning upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another $86,400.00 for that day.
 
The second set of rules:

1. The bank can end the game without warning; at any time it can say, It's over, the game is over!
2. It can close the account and you will not receive a new one.

What would you personally do?
You would buy anything and everything you wanted, right?
Not only for yourself, but for all the people you love, right?
Even for people you don't know, because you couldn't possibly spend it all on yourself, right?
You would try to spend every cent, and use it all, right?
 
 
ACTUALLY, this GAME is REALITY!

Each of us is in possession of such a magical bank. We just can't seem to see it.

The MAGICAL BANK is TIME!
Each morning we awaken to receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life, and when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is NOT credited to us.
What we haven't lived up to that day is forever lost.
Yesterday is forever gone.
Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at
any time....WITHOUT WARNING.

SO, what will YOU do with your 86,400 seconds?

Aren't they worth so much more than the same amount in dollars?

Think about that, and always think of this:
Enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you think.
So take care of yourself, and enjoy life!

Here's wishing you a wonderfully beautiful day!!!

Author Unknown

May you have a fun July 4th and remember why we celebrate this day.

Celebration Of Freedom

July 4, 2010

A day of celebration by enjoying fireworks, picnics, getting together with family and friends and eating out.

"In the United States, Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain." ~~ Wikipedia

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

And to the Republic for which it stands

One nation under God

Indivisible with liberty

And Justice for all.

"We must never forget who
Gets the credit for the freedoms we have, of which we should be
Eternally grateful...

How many pilots' planes Shot down? 

How many died at sea

How many foxholes were soldiers' Graves ? 

No, freedom isn't free 

I heard the sound of Taps One night, 

When everything was still, 

I listened to the bugler Play

And felt a sudden chill. 

I wondered just how many times 

That Taps had meant 'Amen,'  

When a flag had draped a Coffin. 

Of a brother or a friend.   

I thought of all the Children, 

Of the mothers and the wives, 

Of fathers, sons and Husbands

With interrupted lives.   

I Thought about a graveyard 

At the bottom of the sea  

Of unmarked graves in Arlington . 

No, freedom isn't free."  

By Unknown Poet

Enjoy Your Freedom!! 

Give Thanks to All That Have Sacrificed So We Can Be Free!!

 
Please keep safe this holiday.

Blessings to you all...

Hope you enjoy this special gift from The Singing Man:
Fourth 2010

"Kindness"

Kindness

Poem by Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing. 
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
     purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you every where
like a shadow or a friend.

Is Your Landing Page Converting? http://ping.fm/n45Zs

Thank You For All You Have Done and All You Do

Did you know that Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day? I didn't. I do now. Memorial Day honors all of our men and women that have lost their lives defending our rights and freedoms. It was enacted to honor the Union fallen warriors of the Civil War. Interesting history about this day so if you would like to read more go here:

 Memorial Day on Wikipedia

Yes, this is a holiday here in the United States. Many will be traveling. Many will be having cook-outs with family and friends. Many will be sad. Many will remember their loved ones that have fallen and their loved ones that are now in harms way. But let us not forget exactly why it is a holiday. 

Let us remember those that have fallen and give respect with honor. But, also let us remember those that are now serving us by being thankful that they give so much.

May God Bless all that have served and all that are serving...

It is time to ease your financial situation. http://ping.fm/eLyGl

Don't Be Afraid of Change

Just Go For It!

Most of us enjoy watching flash movies, flash presentations, or whatever you want to call them. Flash movies, most of the time, have beautiful pictures and words that speak to our inner self. We can watch them and somehow we begin to relax and reflect just how wonderful life can be. They take us away from the now and transplant us into a world where we would really like to be.

But, in reality what flash movies do for us is to change our thinking processes. Flash movies can change us from negative to positive, from a turned-down lip to an up-turned smile, and from depression into hopeful. Tears may fill our eyes as our smile grows inward and our mind becomes less stressed.

How does this happen by just watching some flash movie on our computer screens? Attitude! Focus! We are moved away from where we are to someplace in our dream world of a beautiful life and surroundings.

Flash movies help us to deal with our poor, negative attitudes and to change our minds so we can move ahead with our life; for we can only move ahead to a more fulfilled life when we let go of the present and past negative thoughts.

Flash presentations can be inspirational, motivational, and even funny. There are also educational flash movies that can give us some insight into a subject. 

With all this said I hope you watch this presentation and from it learn that change is an absolute positive. Don't be afraid to go for failure and the no's. Think of them as nothing more than stepping stones on your path.

Change Is Possible

Take Wings

Thank You Mother

"... Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart." Job 1:21

 

In 1872 Julia Ward Howe, women's suffrage leader and author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"  made the first suggestion for Mother's Day. She wanted it to be a day dedicated to peace and to be celebrated on June 2. Ms Howe never saw her suggestion come to fruition. Several attempts were made later in the 1880s and 1890s but , again, never got anywhere. Then in 1908, Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Virginia comes along and begins campaigning for a national observance of Mother's Day to be the second Sunday in May. She didn't give up and finally in 1914 or 1915, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mother's Day as an annual national observance.

But, to Anna Jarvis's dismay the proclaimed Mother's Day became so commercialized that she campaigned against it. To this day, Mother's Day is one of the biggest days for sales of flowers and greeting cards. It is the most used day for long distance telephone calls.

Regardless of it's value to business it is still a day of giving thanks to Mothers. It is a day to stop and remember all of the gifts of life that she so willingly gave so our steps may be a little easier.

I am inserting this poem here for all of us that have lost our Mother:

"What a Friend We Have In Mother"

What a friend we have in Mother, Who will all our secrets share.

We should never keep things from her,Tell her all and she'll be there.

Oh, what tender love she gives us, When in sorrow or despair.

Tell her gently, whisper softly, she will listen, she'll be there.

Day by day as she grows older, she's the nation's guiding star.

Don't forget the prayers she taught you, you will need them where you are.

Though her hair has turned to silver, send her flowers sweet and fair.

Drop a card or send a letter, she'll be waiting, she'll be there.

When her eyes have closed to slumber, gently kiss he icy brow.

Fold he hands upon her bosom, she will rest in heaven now.

When your days are dark and dreary, and your cross is hard to bear.

Do not let your memory fail you, think of Mother, she'll be there.

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavour by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts." - Inspirational sayings by Washington Irving

As simple and little as it may seem the words "Thank you Mother" are never heard with deaf ears.