What now?

As I listen half-heartedly to the State of the Union address I have to say I'm listening with an anxious heart. My faith in a certain field of work has been tested in recent days and my thoughts of that arena have only been confirmed.

Some Days

Some days rev your engines, other days siphon your tank. Since I don't like to run idle I guess I either go all out or park it in the driveway. A little idle running is good for anyone but it makes me uncomfortable.

Expectations

Almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.


Steve Jobs (1955 - )

Define Vacation

This question came up today and I'm curious what the answer to you might be?
What is a vacation to you?
Is it just getting away from your home turf? Or is it something exotic and resort like? For so many in my family a vacation was a weekend away from home turf. Often when accompanying another family member on a trip for work. But once in a while my Aunt and Uncle would take me along on their family vacation (by my definition) and those are certainly memorable to me. I think maybe a vacation could be qualified by the memory you make?
We've gone places for competitive purposes such as dance or football and those are some great memories in mine and my kids minds. So in a way that was a vacation because it was not our normal routine. They call it spring vacation or break, holiday vacation or break from school. Summer vacation...
So what does vacation mean to you?

The Fray

As I watch my newly turned teenage daughter ride that roller coaster called adolescence I can vaguely remember being in that stage. It's an evil time of life. Everything anyone says or does to, at or near you has an impact. Depending on the situation too, you are really only capable of being over the top excited or so down that you can barely bring yourself to hold your head up. It's a good thing hoodies are in fashion right now or my daughter wouldn't have anything to hold her bottom lip up when she's in "blue" phase.
Your emotions are right at the edge of that ratty sleeved shirt (which you begged your parents to by that way but when they said "no" you called grandma). As if someone were to pull one string on that tattered edge you would just fall apart. Or if you're in "spastic sunshine" mode, it would send you off into a trail of giggledom that would cause otherwise normal folks to stare and shake their heads.
I feel sympathy, empathy, apathy or any other athy's that apply here for her. But I also know that those feelings become somewhat jaded as an adult and your super passion for life in general can get weighed down by the boring adult stuff. So while I know sometimes she feels pain in her heart and her mind, it's good to feel it all. With grand euphoria comes those lowly dips as well. But you would not know what it means to feel good if you never hurt, need if you never lost or to respect if you were never acknowledged.
I know your heart may ache at times but when you find the key that truly belongs the dips are only wrinkles.

Never Understimate the Power of...

The impact of doing something small and the right time over something large at another
or something for someone that may not be convenient for you but make a big difference to another.

Observation-technology & communication

Recently my family took a long weekend and took in a few baseball games and other activities. Oddly one of the most humorous things I noticed was the change in what the kids priorities were.
I remember taking extended vacations with my aunt and uncle and two cousins. We couldn't wait to get to the hotel and it seemed to take even longer because my aunt and uncle loved the scenic route to everything! But once we arrived we took enough time to squeeze our suitcases in the door, rip open our bags and grab our swim suits. Had to hit the pool! Had to be ready for the pool before my aunt and uncle got too settled into something else.
Flash forward, we've been at a ballgame and it's late into the evening and we've squeezed in the door of our hotel room. The kids have mentioned swimming but not 30 seconds after we're in the door, all four of us are walking around with a cell phone in one hand and the charger in the other as if our lives depended on finding a power source. As we all vie for a plug-in and you know how there's never enough in a hotel room...
I had to chuckle to myself.
We took a little weekend trip to have some family time and communicate at a different level but it was almost as if we didn't charge that cell phone we wouldn't be able to speak.
I know cell phones are a communication vehicle but I also wonder if they aren't the roadblock to communication too. We text instead of converse therefore losing some of the emotion involved. It's hard to get a read on someones "lol" if you can't hear it in their voice.
I often wonder what sort of communicators we will be in the future? We don't let the media deliver a broad brush of subjects, we like to narrow our "search" for items of interest. Will that make us too narrow minded and too narrow knowledgeable? Will we only learn more about the things that intrigue us but then maybe we would be missing something else that would interest us because we never knew about it or further investigated?
Will manners become a thing of the past because the world we know comes from a screen instead of human interaction?