Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The Holiday Season

Every year since 1981, the holiday season is one I've greeted with mixed emotions. I lost my Dad that year in November and it really put a damper on the holidays for me... I was relatively young at the time, and while I had shared some good years with him, he had JUST retired and I was getting to see him in a whole new light. Unfortunately, he passed before either of my Daughters were born.

After their respective births, the holidays once again took on a new light. Not much matches the joy of children at the sight of a huge roasted beast, a table filled with non-customary foods and the smells that accompany them filling a house... or the purchase and trimming of a Christmas tree and seeing the presents start to appear under it. These are times made for families, and you get great joy from the opportunity to spend time together and draw upon memories from the past, and make new ones for the future.

As time has passed and my children (and I) have gotten older, the holidays changed again... my eldest moved out, and having her back for the holidays was always a welcome sight. She was local for a few years, but for the past four, she's been quite a distance away... but she always makes it home for at least ONE of the 'big holidays'. Seeing her now is even more enjoyable, knowing that she has survived college and is making rational decisions on her own, when she comes home it's a relief to know that she's making her way in the World. Fortunately, my youngest is still home with us, but it won't be long before she breaks free for college and we'll go through this transition again.

This year, once again, there is a major change in how the holiday season will be viewed. My Mom passed away a few months ago, and while losing Dad was tough... this is much tougher. She was the anchor of our family, and the source of those great sounds and smells you associate with the holidays from your youth. While they were young, the girls had the chance to spend the day with Gram while she was preparing things, including cooking and baking, and fortunately they were able to learn some of the tricks and the recipes (for the most part) were handed down. I'm just starting to feel the impact of this recent change.

For the past 6-7 years, she's spent most of her time house bound with arthritis and failing vision, and my Wife, Daughters and I have been taking care of many of her needs- medical appointments, financial services, shopping, chores and the like. Every holiday season, I was given the lists for food items to buy, early on accompanied with strict instructions of "make sure you get the right brand, don't buy that low fat crap, it's okay to buy a bigger one but not a smaller one" and other admonitions. But as time progressed, I think her faith in my ability to do the job right improved, and I just got the list.

Over the recent weeks, trips to the grocery store which is brimming with holiday food items and ingredients have been more emotional for me than I ever imagined them to be. Last week, the sight of pitted dates, walnut halves, nut bread mix and candied fruit... ingredients for something as stupid as fruitcake set me off. Last night, it was the bags of ribbon candy and peppermint straws- I wasn't a big fan of the stuff, but every year, a red ornament shaped covered candy dish and a cut glass stemmed dish filled with both was on the table.

Fortunately, we will be having Thanksgiving with my Wife's family this year... and I think I'll buy a turkey to smoke after the holiday, but I couldn't bring myself to make the traditional family stuffing or buy the ingredients to make any side dishes. Maybe next year.

As for Christmas, we've all decided we can't be home this year, so we're going away and spending it together as a family in a place substantially different than home... Disneyland. It's as make believe as it gets, and maybe it will give me a chance to make believe that everything in my world is alright again... even if it is just for a few days.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Happy Birthday, America!


Wow here we are on the edge of 233!! We've seen a lot of tumultuous times in this Nation of ours, and I'm hoping we're once again on the right track. The last 8 years were tough; I personally didn't agree with many of the course of action taken by the individuals granted power to rule the Nation, and about all we could do was stand by dumbfounded and wait for a changing of the guard. And Man-o-Man, did WE GET CHANGE!

There are some that aren't excited about where we've gone in the past 6 months, but I must remind everyone it's ONLY been 6 months... it took a lot longer for the Nation to get where it is than that, and the repair crew is working hard to bring things back on course, but you can't turn a ship as large as this on a dime.

Many among the minority (that would be the party whose candidate DID NOT get elected) are arguing that things are getting worse, especially financially, but again I ask who is to blame for that? Honestly, do you think ANY of the actions of the past 6 months have caused the stock market, job outlook, auto industry, increase in gasoline prices, or the slump in home sales and increase in foreclosures to be what they are?? All of these are attributable to past actions that were still taking effect set in motion by the previous administration.

Between the years 1992-2000, the debt increases from $16T to $27T; from 2000-2008? It increased from $27T to $52T!!

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, most commonly referred to as the "Stimulus Bill" was without a doubt a costly piece of legislation, but it has the potential to put many Americans to work, improve our infrastructure, education, health care and much more. And if you want to know where the money is going, is the place to find out.

But for this weekend, we celebrate... we honor our men and women in combat and our veterans, remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom, and support the efforts to bring America back to the proud status we once held as a Nation who supports the rights of all humans equally.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Happy America!

Wow... only 14 hours to go and once again, I can proudly refer to the individual who resides in the White House as MY PRESIDENT!!!

Haven't posted for awhile, been pretty busy and will fill in the gap later, but all that aside, I am **STOKED** about tomorrow and can't wait for the new era to begin. There is no question that there is a long way to go to get out of the pit that's been dug for all of us, and one man won't be able to make this happen, it's going to take all of us to help get the U.S. back on its feet and back where we belong.

So let's all do what we know needs to be done, find a public service project that suits you and dedicate some time to helping America stand up again. Personally? I'm dedicating time to a local public school- speaking to students that are ready to begin the next phase of their life when they graduate in June.


I'm intending to ensure THEY know about public service and what it means and the opportunities for them to give time and effort to helping in their local communities and beyond. And how to help them become better citizens themselves... many of our students voted this year, but that needs to continue. And they need to find issues they feel passionate about and find out how they can help support that cause with their time and voices. And when they go away to college, to continue that work.

I think it's time for all of the ugly rhetoric to stop and for us all to support the efforts of our Nation as one, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans.

Congratulations Mr. Obama and Mr Biden, but more to the point, CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA!