Time does fly (It's true, the older you get, the faster it goes)

When someone close to you dies, you begin to look at life through the eyes they no longer have, or you find yourself doing things they loved to do because they no longer can. When I hear music that I know my Step Father, Bryan would have liked, I close my eyes and let it sink in, and I smile and shed a tear every time I hear a steal guitar solo.  I believe lessons present themselves everywhere, all around us, in daily life, in other people’s lives and in death, especially in death.

Losing a loved one prompts thinking, deep thinking.  I know I have been accused of this many times, but really this topic deserves it.  You go through several stages of grief before you start to challenge yourself to discover…is this normal, why do I have so many emotions, how do I deal?  What I have come to realize- Everyone loses someone, at some time.  The circle of life my friends, the circle of life.  Is it fair, hell no!  We never, ever have enough time with those we love.  We may not know it when we are in the trenches of life, but we sure do come to understand it when we are in the depths of death.

This post is a tribute to my dad, my father, my friend.  Although he was not my birth father, he was my LIFE father.   In our short time together he taught me unconditional love, the value of friendship, the love of music, I mean authentic heart felt music, the satisfaction of doing things that make YOU happy- do what you like, the peacefulness of intellectual /debating conversation, the love of heritage, the understanding that every action has a reaction.  The knowledge that life is short, be adventurous, go for it! Demand what is yours!  Love God, and just plain~ be nice, unless someone tries to invade your rights as an American Citizen, hence the 2^nd Amendment.

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or ever touched.  They must be felt with the heart.”

Love- just plain love.  It ends one day people.  "Give it away, give it away now, "while you still can :)

The 70's show. How did they miss us?  Perplexed!

Always been a fashion queen ;)

It's official, 40+1, but my faith in mankind is restored 100%

With so much publicity on what the young people of the world do wrong today, I want to let the universe know that an extremely large group of young people, by their very steadfastness, have shown that truth, beauty, and goodness exist in the world.  That no matter what, there are and always will be people loving people through thick and thin.  A tragic event this week has left us saddened, shocked, heartbroken, and perplexed.  At the same time it has left many of us astounded by the love and hope we have observed.
I have witnessed this love in many different forms over the past few days.  Love poured out toward a family in mourning, no act too small, but every single thing done with purpose and intent to show this dear family just how much they are loved!

• Teenagers (too many to count) running to hug, cry, and wipe tears from their friends' eyes.
• A young man showing up in his pick-up to take off the trash
• An entire basketball team piling up in two twin beds because their friend wants the comfort of  knowing they are there.
• 14 year old girls digging toilet paper wads out of the boys toilet, not once, but twice
• College friends braving the snowstorm to be with their buddy during this crucial time. I might mention that they were even considering staying in the Budget Inn, as not to impose.
• A high school friend driving with his family and his best friend to pick up his friend's brother, to relay what might have been the worse news of his life.
• Young girls backing off and not making their grieving friend choose between them, saying this is who is staying tonight!
• Young men gathering wood for the fireplace.
• A young fellow showing up at 8:30 am to shovel the driveway.
• A college fraternity painting a rock "in honor" and sending a picture to their buddy to show their love and support.
• A network of friends chipping in to purchase items for their friends to always carry a piece of their father with them.
• Teenage organization at it's finest.  I wish my t-shirt drawer looked like this.
• Young folks sharing stories...this might be my most memorable.  Everyday I have walked into a room and witnessed a Kokie story being told from a younger perspective, oh how he has no idea how these young adults loved and looked up to him!

I feel for certain I have left something that has just awed me out.  The moments have been countless. This really is a drop in the bucket compared to the outpouring of adult love that has been shown, but as not to divert from my subject of "young" compassion I will refrain.

"Grief is the last act of love we have to give to those we love.  Where there is deep grief, there is great love!"

My family loves you all!

Crazy, crazy for feeling so lonely, crazy, crazy for feeling so blue...

While some stress is normal, excessive stress can interfere with your productivity and impact your physical and emotional health, and your ability to deal with it can mean the difference between success or failure, SANITY and CRAZINESS. You can’t control everything in your environment, but that doesn’t mean you’re powerless—even when you’re stuck in a difficult situation. Finding ways to manage stress isn’t about making huge changes or rethinking ambitions or choices, but rather about focusing on the one thing that’s always within your control: you. This was one of those weeks for me.  At one point I thought that I was going to lose it, I mean really lose it.  Who me?  I'm not crazy, but the rest of these people are... I have found that with aging I do become stressed out a little easier, but I also find it very easy to convince myself that it isn't me, it's them!  So I salute all you crazies out there, and thanks for making me feel normal less crazy!

Lordy, Lordy my best friend is 40+1

25 years- really, how in the world did this happen?  The last time I focused I was 16, tanning on Hungry Mother Beach with my girls- checking out the lifeguards, (who were checking us out too, might I add, I mean they are the ones that provided us with the string tags with the metal clips) and planning our summer fun evening event.  This time of year we were attending basketball games and having sledding parties on "the hill".  I'm not saying that we haven't had our share of "cat" fights, but our appreciation of each other has remained constant and here we are... many years later.  We live 8 hours apart, talk when we are hiding in our bathrooms, visit- not often enough, and the fact that we can pick up wherever we have left off is just reassuring and stress free.
There is much to be said for relationships that are effortless.  High School, college, marriage, careers, mothering, losing, loving, hating, growing, letting loose, getting mad, death, growing old, wrinkle cream and smoothies all make us  BEST FRIENDS.
Happy, happy birthday Jules Vern!  You are sooooo much older than me :)!

Remember the pale pink lipstick?

25 years later...