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.

I Can't Outrun a Tagger

And no, I don't mean the spray-paint can carrying kind. I'm talking about the illustrious, the luminous, the certified crazy mistress of the stars and dark, Starrlight of Here Comes a Storm fame. She tagged me for this list a while ago, and I'm just now getting to it. So here goes; my answers are bolded:


1. What was the last thing you put in your mouth? An ice cube

2. Where was your profile picture taken? The parking lot of the martial arts academy where my son trains.

3. Can you play Guitar Hero? Hell no.

4. Name someone who made you laugh today. What was it about? It was...you, darling Starr, and I shall not divulge what the subject content was.

5. How late did you stay up last night and why? Only until 10:00 p.m. because I was freakin' exhausted!

6. If you could move somewhere else where would you and why? Coronado, California. It's all about the beach, baby.

7. Ever been kissed under fireworks? Kissed by what?

8. Which of your friends lives closest to you? Laura, about a five minute drive from here. Two, if there are no cops in the neighborhood.

9. Do you believe ex's can be friends? With benefits? Yes, and yes

10. Do you like Dr. Pepper? Blech

11. When was the last time you cried really hard? Really hard as opposed to just sniveling? Yesterday, when I heard that my son would have to endure another three weeks with a cast.

12. Who took your profile picture? I did.

13. Who was the last person you took a picture of? My baby boy

14. Was yesterday better than today? Why? No.

15. Can you live a day without TV? Yes, absolutely. That's why man invented DVRs. *grin*

16. Are you upset about anything now? Nope.

17. Do you think relationships are ever really worth it? Yup.

18. Are you a bad influence? Depends. Ask my BlogFest friends. *evil grin*

19. Night out or night in? Depends on my mood.

20. What items could you not go without during the day? Blackberry, laptop, wallet, lip balm, iPod, house keys

21. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital? Hmmmm...myself? Doesn't count? Well....dunno then.

22. What does the last text message in your inbox say? "thank you!" (from my daughter, thanking me for buying her ice cream at the store)

23. How do you feel about your life right now? Pretty peaceful

24. Do you hate anyone? Not really. I get pissed at people who hurt my loved ones.

25. If we were to look in your Facebook inbox, what would we find? Old messages all read.

26. Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass? Depends on for what they were screening. I take a boatload of medications.

27. Has anyone ever called you perfect before? Yes, but only once. He learned.

28. What song is stuck in your head? The Ramones, "I Wanna Be Sedated." Thanks a lot, Starr.

29. Someone knocks on your window at 2 a.m., whom do you want it to be? Santa because he's a wish granter and he's waking me up to tell me that Adrian Paul is waiting in the kitchen with a surprise...

30. Do you (or did you) want to have grandkids before you’re 50? God, I hope not! That would mean my daughter was a mother by age 16!

31. Tell us your Saturday night. Don't remember it.

32. Do you think too much or too little? Depends on the time of day, what the kids are doing, if I'm in the midst of an invigorating e-mail convo, how I'm feeling.....

33. Do you smile a lot? Yes, I think so.

I Need to Fire my Scheduling Secretary

Whoever scheduled me to run back to front and back to front starting at 7:30 a.m. today needs to be fired, shot, hanged, and quartered, because I'm the proverbial chicken. Sigh. The good news is that one thing on my calendar which was to have me away from home from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. has been canceled, I musta done something good somewhere. With any good karma that might be leftover, and by the grace of the Big Guy Upstairs, my son will get his cast off today. That is, they ARE removing it to do an x-ray; we're hoping that they won't need to put on another one.

I doubt that anyone who knows me as a parent would accuse me of being indulgent of my kids. In fact, I've been called too strict by others who like to softsoap their progeny. Maybe it's because I'm old-fashioned, but I think kids should have excellent manners, work hard, play harder, and laugh often. Because I'm pretty strict, I felt bad about breaking my daughter's heart a week ago - I had to tell her that her father and I just couldn't afford to send her on her school trip to Washington, DC. Now before you go yelling at me and say that I should get off my lazy ass, get a job, and find a way to finance the trip, might I remind you that a) I'm disabled and not able to get a job at the drop of a hat, and b) (and more importantly) because we live rather far away from the East Coast, a trip of this magnitude involves an amount of money that equals a year at community college. Yeah, see my point? Bus trip = not possible; therefore, must fly on airplane. Sigh. The upside is that now we're planning a trip to DC for the entire family which will cost in the ballpark of what we would have spent for just the girl to go. I know it won't be quite as fun for her, and we won't go to nearly as many places as the tour would have taken her, but since it will be her last summer before she starts high school, I figure it might be our last chance to take an extended vacation as a family unit. Wait...did I just admit to having a daughter who will start high school next year? Oy...

Some where in the midst of planning for next summer (yes, I know the school year is only seven weeks old, but a mom always has to plan ahead), in addition to Washington, DC we are working on plans to visit OH to celebrate the in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary, and I'm trying to work out a trip to Atlanta to meet some friends. All that needs to be squeezed between voice camp, basketball camp, martial arts training, etc., etc., etc.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And even the best laid plans by a Super Mom wannabe get knocked askew....

The call that every parent doesn't like getting. The one that makes you sigh and think, "Oh, great." Yeah, that one. I had been at the school this morning for my usual stint, which was after arriving an hour early in order to participate in the filming of a segment for a local news morning show, when after only an hour home I got...The Call. The one where the voice says, "Hi, Songbird. It's Tracey. Wanna come back to get your daughter?" Tracey, as in the school nurse. [insert heavy, mournful sigh here] Seems a fever of 101.5 was enough to stop Bonnie Lass dead in her school-spirited tracks, even though she tried to tough it out until noon, which was when school ended for today. The call came at 11:10 a.m., by the way.

I think my cape order has been put on hold.

Later daze...

Happy One Month Anniversary...

...to two people who (almost) make me believe in fairy tales.

Now go HERE and wish the two love birds a happy one month.