Thankfully it's Friday!~ Here I am with Advice for the "Kids"!

"A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language."
~ W. H. Auden

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool."
~ Richard Feynman

"There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life when he has a raging urge to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure."
~ Mark Twain


Oh what a week this has been.. the older I get the faster times flies.. I want to slow things down and sit in the shade and rest a minute... I heard someone recently say that they ~ "thought that big tsunami.. you know the one that wiped out half of everything but America?.. and killed a thousand people over there in Africa.. I think that thing rocked the world and throwed time out of whack.. that's why we are so hot all the time.. I think anyway!"
~ and sometimes in my very wildest imaginings.. I am almost inclined to agree with him.. Time seems to move faster and faster.. I have a lot to say still.. I have a lot of things to tell people.. I'm going to be 50 this year... I have children who are part of the group I was never going to trust.. you know who you are those of you who are over thirty!... My youngest child was born yesterday.. yesterday I tell you and now she is planning a wedding.. what's up with that?? She asked me what I was planning to wear as mother of the bride.. I wanted to say a straight jacket! It is crazy that time has moved so fast.. I tell people who have a new baby.. slow time down as much as you can.. they will spread their wings and fly long before you will be ready to set them free! Now on to some things for my "kids!"

1~) ~ Listening to your enemies is not a sign of weakness nor defeat... ~ actually I would say don't have enemies but sometimes you just do.. but even they are entitled to have their own opinion.. the fact that it is different from yours doesn't make it any less worthy.. you should at least hear what they have to say... and if you can't come to an agreement.. listen as they talk to others.. you might hear their plans for the next few days.. consider their route and plan a place to whop them with a brick! OK. OK.... Maybe not.. I know I shouldn't encourage violence.. and if you hit them just right there won't be any.. one whop and they fall.. I am very careful to never ever make plans out loud.. that's why I am the whopper and not the whoppee!

2~) Before you complain and whine.. take time to count your blessings. ~ I myself am guilty of over looking simple blessings like food and a roof over my head.. I have not always been so blessed.. some of my adult life was tough.. I try to remember so I will know how to survive should fate and circumstance cast me back there.. times are tough for everyone now.. statistics say that most people are one paycheck away from failure.. If you have a job.. be thankful.. if you have food in your cabinet or refrigerator.. feel blessed... and if you have friends and family to comfort you in the darkest hours.. be grateful.. Now quit that whining and complaining.. I just told you times are tough.. roll with the punches or stay on the ground.. but watch out for flying bricks.. tough times can create new enemies from old friends who were so busy watching your hard earned blessings that they forgot to count their own..

3~)" Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else." ~ this quote is from Leonardo Da Vinci ~ I like it.. I wonder what he ever failed at? What else could you do? Try to learn a second talent.. Maybe you can cook and clean?.. or sing and dance?
Can you do something else? can you make a living doing something else?.. what if you had too?.. I have held a huge variety of jobs.. factory worker.. baby sitter... grill cook.. hotel desk clerk.. laundress.. housekeeper.. old people sitter.. cashier... It sounds easy enough to say that you will never need a different job.. but it also never hurts to be prepared... Learn how to do something else.. it might be important some day..

4~) A 7 year old can sometimes teach a 49 year old profound things about life. ~ this past week-end Kirstin and Emily and Luke came by just as we were eating.. Kirstin (Luke's daughter) likes potato chips and cookies and hot-dogs and cheetos and stuff.. like all kids.. she rather have that than real food.. again like all kids.. she wanted some junk.. not pork steak or veggies like the rest of us were having.. Luke cut her up a Pork chop and said well we have to eat some real food too.. I watched her eating.. washing each bite down with good healthy water.. she loves water but not beans.. she talked to me while she ate and I watched.. I noticed that every once in a while she counted and naturally I counted to.. 15 tiny bites then 14 and on and on.. finally she got down to only five and asked me where her Daddy was... I told her he and Dave were outside.. she ran out and then came hurrying back and hopped back up to the kitchen table and pulled three bites off to one side.. I asked her where she had been and she said to ask her daddy how many was half.... apparently he had told her to eat half.. I laughed and told her she had ate half a while ago.. she said he told her eat three more bites.. I told her again she had already eaten more than half.. she smiled and said I guess he doesn't have to know.. I was all set to agree with her and take away the plate but she sighed and said.. " But, it would be wrong to tell my Daddy a lie!" ~ I was speechless.. I know a few adults "kids" who could learn something from Kirstin.. she quickly ate the three tiny bites.. not really a whole bite between the three pieces.. I gotta tell Y'all that I had her some tater chips already in her bowl before she could put her fork down.. do I think she will stay that honest??.. I hope so.. But I know the world might teach her to lie.. we should all take time to hear what our children say and to love the child in them.. maybe you don't have a child of your own but I'll bet you know one.. do what you can to teach them good things.. and try to remember that if they hear you ( adults) lie.. they will think it is OK to tell a tale of their own..

5-) ~ Paint velvet beans~ Do something simply because it is fun.. pull the seed pods from your grandma's wisteria vine and paint them... buy a coloring book.. a bedtime story book or something that is simple fun.. then do it when you need to relax and forget that you are grown.. be seven years old again..color.. climb that big tree in the woods behind your house.. dance in the rain.. stomp in a puddle.. let the child deep inside you run loose. Buy some sidewalk chalk and sneak outside and color the neighborhood sidewalks in the middle of the night.. be sure you go down the street from your own house though.. draw bright big flowers in red and purple.. and sneaking creeping snakes in lime green and blue... draw grinning happy faces.. then wake up early to watch the early morning joggers or pet owners as they discover your art.. That way you can have fun twice.. can you really imagine living in a big city and waking up to walk your dog and finding a mural of huge bright bold flowers around your neighborhood block.. and chalk washes right off with the hose.. in fact I have a bucket full.. you should see my patio sometimes..
I know I say over and over have simple fun.. I think that concept in life is one of the most important.. I hope I have instilled ways to have simple fun into the minds of all of my "kids"..
If I haven't I'll be glad to load a bunch of you up and go on a wild flower hunt.. I don't know though.. I might not be able to get thirteen of you into my car these days!

I loved my kids and everyone Else's kids.. I was the hot spot in the trailer park.. the trailer where "Miss Meany" lived but where all the kids came around the string fence to knock politely on the door.. Miss Meany would talk with you when things were wrong at home and listen to you when you wanted to complain about how wrong your folks were.. then she would send you home with good advice and a lightened heart.. Sometimes.. Many times.. almost all the times.. a kid just needs someone to listen with out judging them.. Today's kids are wild and getting wilder.. their own parents are sometimes little more than kids themselves.. The children are our future.. be a listening ear for your own and other children.. lay flat down.. belly flopped.. in the grass and let a small child tell you their thoughts.. you might really be surprised at how profound their little minds really are.. Did you think that because they are innocent that they were dumb? Their brain is clicking faster than even time can travel.. even if time was knocked outta whack by a tsunami.. fast is for spinning in circles.. roller coasters and running a foot race.. let slow be for living and laughing and loving! Have a Fun and fabulous Friday!
Patsy