Ruby Tuesday and Other Assorted Nonsense

The photo above was taken at my kids' school on Friday, November 6th. The gentleman wearing this shirt proudly told me that he was at the school's Veterans Day celebration at the request of his granddaughter. The granddaughter wanted her grandfather to be thanked and recognized for his service in the US Marine Corps.

Semper Fi.

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Speaking of school, I'm wondering why if I haven't been a student now for xx years, why am I stressing over incomplete homework assignments? Yeah, I know, the responsibility should lie with my son, but as bright as that kid is, he sure is obstinate about doing the actual work. Sigh. I just wish all of his assignments and tests could be turned in verbally; he'd be a straight A student!

It's difficult to comprehend how quickly time has been flying. We're facing Thanksgiving in just a few days, and soon thereafter it will be Christmas. When the kids go back to school in January, we're halfway to my daughter completing her final year in grade school. She and I are both having trouble contemplating the thought of high school next year.

A few weeks ago, I was asked specifically by our school principal to proofread and edit some important documents, one that will set the tone for our school's direction for the next few years, and one that is an application for a special recognition for our school. In the midst of all that, I've had friends who have suffered with health ailments, the possible loss of homes, the death of a parent, and other less tragic but still difficult challenges.

I found myself feeling a bit overwhelmed emotionally, but I stiffened my back and weathered on. Then came a comment on a very old post, one that accused me of only wanting people to feel sorry for me and that "sooooooo many people know the real truth about the kind of person you are."

Really?

Do I seem pathetic to some? Do I really appear to want sympathy from all? Hmmm....let's take stock of my life:

1. I have been happily married for over 18 years to a highly intelligent, loyal, funny, and trustworthy man who is a fabulous father to our kids.
2. I have two healthy, extremely bright, affectionate, and compassionate children.
3. I am educated and have ample opportunities for personal growth.
4. My health is stable.
5. I live in a very comfortable home in a safe community.
6. I have fantastic friends who love me, trust me, laugh with me, and give me strength.
7. I have sisters who drive me nuts but who love me nonetheless and would be by my side if I needed them.
8. I have an outstanding relationship with my mother-in-law and father-in-law.
9. I am a perfect creation and daughter of God.

What more could I want?

Never Forget...

...what they've done for us.

Never forget their sacrifice.

Dona Nobis Pacem

Peace is...embracing the goodness in oneself...and in each other.

Bear with me for posting this repeat from November 2007; this is for Mimi:

Are You Ready?

BlogBlast for Peace is coming up on November 5th! Is your peace globe ready to fly?

It's NOT?!?!

Go HERE to get your globe template. Share your message of peace.

And while you're at it, send some peaceful, warm thoughts to Mimi as she continues to grieve on the loss of her beloved daddy.

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Sorry I haven't been around much. I'm having a minor health issue, and it's really kicking my butt. I'm resting up, but I'll be posting on November 5th, and I hope to make blog rounds even sooner.

Virtual Reality

Their joy is my joy. Their pain is my pain, too.

One has a daughter who continues to fight fever after fever. Another one has a daughter who has migraine after migraine and now fights a kidney infection in a hospital. And yet another friend had to say goodbye to a dearly loved, dying father.

I "stood" by my friend as she sat in her father's hospital bed. I "sit" by my other friend as she sits with her daughter in the hospital, waiting for her pain to go away for good. I laugh with yet another friend as she nurses her daughter through another fever.

How did this happen? How did these people transcend the written words on their blogs to living, breathing friends whose lives are important to me?

It begins simply enough. You find a blog and start reading it. They start reading yours. You comment, they comment. You find common ground in their words. You trade e-mails. You trade stories. Then you trade "real" names.

There. That's it. When you know a person's given name, then the transformation is complete.

I have names, home addresses, e-mails, and phone numbers. I've talked on the phone with them, laughed and cried, been invited to their weddings and to their homes. All of these pieces complete what I know about someone that I first met through the written word.

And it makes the picture three dimensional. The face on the page, the avatar, breathes life.

It has broadened my world and my perspective.

It is my new reality.

Also thinking about and praying for someone with whom I once was close as he fights pneumonia in the hospital. I still care. Of course.

Who is This?

So last week I posted this photo and asked if anyone could guess who it was. What started this was a simple conversation The Engineer and I were having while watching Sunday Night Football last week. We were talking about different players throughout the years, their strengths, their weaknesses, their college careers, etc. The subject then came back to a player that I had THOUGHT was from my hometown in Florida. Turns out I was incorrect, but the search for details on that person led me to this photo.

This photo was in my high school yearbook. So was this one.


This man was a member of the school's soccer team his freshman year and played in the band. As far as I could tell, I had no activities in common with him, and I certainly never had class with him as I was a senior when he was freshman.

Later I went to the alumni site for my high school and came across this photo. This man was awarded an Alumni Recognition Award in 1997. (Recognize him yet?)


Still don't know who it is? Okay, here's the last clue. This is a fairly recent photo of him.



Figured it out yet? Those of you who are National Football League fans should know who it is by now. It's John Carney, kicker for the New Orleans Saints, graduate of the University of Notre Dame (GO IRISH!), and my high school, Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The Newman Crusaders' own claim to fame, and I never even figured it out.

Until now.

Can they take away my fan membership card for this infraction? *hanging head in shame*

Later daze, y'all...

Ruby Tuesday - Pinwheels for Peace

On September 21st, the kids at our school took part in the International Day of Peace by participating in Pinwheels for Peace.

Kids participating in a peace movement? Why not? And why not you?

Join the BlogBlast for Peace movement on November 5, 2009. As Mimi of Mimi Writes says, "We will speak with one voice. One subject. One day."

Won't you join us?

Go HERE for details on how to get your Peace Globe, and on November 5th, fly your globe. Peace starts with a dream in your heart and spreads from person to person.

Blog Blast for Peace - A Meme

BlogBlast For Peace Meme ~ Join The Revolution

Here are the rules and the story.

Copy this into a post and tag as many people as you'd like.

The Peace Globe project began in the fall of 2006 with a simple post from one blog, Mimi Writes. The post ignited a flame in the blogosphere. The flame became a passion. The passion became a movement. It amazingly traveled from blog to blog to blog across the globe. Bloggers wrote passionate articles on what peace means to them, along with the promise of three Latin words scribbled on a globe - Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant Us Peace) - branded with the integrity of their names or blog names. It was positively inspiring to watch. And it began to happen all over the world - from Singapore to China to Afghanistan to Brooklyn.

It was simple. And powerful.

We will speak with one voice. One subject. One day.

Won't you join us?

On 5 November 2009, DISPLAY YOUR GLOBE IN A POST. Title your post "Dona Nobis Pacem". This is important. The goal is for all blog post titles to say the same thing on the same day. Write about peace that day or simply fly your globe.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE TAGGED TO PLAY.

Please consider passing this meme through the blogosphere.

This is Mimi Pencil Skirt reporting from the lovely land of the Peace Globes.

Memeing the Movement.

End quote from Mimi Writes...

You're all tagged. Everything you need to know about how to participate can be found in the links at the top of my sidebar. And once you've created your Peace Globe, email it to blogblastforpeace@yahoo.com so it can be included in the Gallery.

This is a worthy thing. It's a community thing. It's a blog thing. It's a human thing.

Do it. Post your globe on 5 November. And visit Mimi on that day. Sign Mr Linky and click on the hundreds of other links to travel through the bloggosphere and see other Globes, and read heart felt words about Peace.

Be a Peace Blogger.

Dona Nobis Pacem.

This and That

I've been running in all sorts of directions of late (which, as you all know, is nothing new), and for the last two days, I've spent hours in bed, utterly exhausted. So I've got just some bullet items to bring up here:

• The Ice Box is officially three years old now. Yeah, I missed my bloggoversary this past Monday, but my friend Bond over at The Couch did a super job highlighting not only my bloggoversary but also a cause near and dear to my heart (and lungs). Check out his post HERE.
• My son got another cast put on his arm. When he went for his three week check up last Wednesday, the doctor said the break was healing nicely, but it still needed some more time to finish the process, so off with the red cast and on with the blue one. Oh well, best to play it safe.
• My daughter battled a bad cold and sinus infection, which resulted in her getting another ear infection. Ugh. Yes, at near 14 years old, she still gets those dreaded things.
• Basketball tryouts for the school team are in two weeks, and the Lass is getting in shape for that. Wish her luck!
• Our school was featured in a segment on a local morning show last week. We had a visit from the helicopter, and the kids got lots of on-air time.
• BlogBlast for Peace is coming up on November 5th? Are you ready? Have you completed your Peace Globe?
• Next Tuesday night, I'll be movin', groovin', and rockin' out with Bono and Da Boyz. Woooooooo! Can NOT wait!!!!

That's all for now. Oh, wait....just for kicks and giggles, can you guess who this is? More on this later in the week.