Hello, Mother – Part Two

Was it a trick of birth that I'm not one of them? Was I unlucky in the cards destiny dealt? Perhaps there is a God or Gods in some celestial plane or atop a mountain or at the end of a rainbow bridge charting out my future. Perhaps its Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos spinning, dispensing and cutting the thread of my fate. Determining my allotment of suffering and success with a fairly impartial regard. What if I am but ones and zeros embedded in a fiction of some superior intelligence's design? My existence could be the result of any or none of these. Perhaps there really is nothing and all is chaos.

Advertisement

Hello, Mother.

I have not been in my mother's keeping since I was seven years old. I can count on one hand the brief encounters I've had with her since that time. It's been twelve years since my last actual look at her person and eleven years since I've heard the rasp of her voice.

“An Authentic Experience” Kelly Wittmann #BookReview

"An Authentic Experience" is one of those books that I call a builder. At the beginning I didn't like Silver. Not even a little. She seems hollow, selfish and shallow. BUT....(and here is why I call this book a builder) by about the middle of the book I realized that her initial shallowness was part of her evolution as a character. This is one of those books about growing up. It's about gaining wisdom through experience. "An Authentic Experience" is really about how lifes challenges (whether they be our own challenges or those closest to us) morph us into someone different. Someone deeper. Someone wiser. Someone who is actually authentic.  

#worldkindnessday Walking The Talk

The old, "if i have to go through it, so do you" thing. I didn't understand it then and as I've gotten older, I understand it even less. Being hurt is not a rite of passage. Life does not have to be a contest of who can endure the most. 

Booklist – Kid Zone!

Every family has their list of holiday traditions. We incorporate books into every holiday and it's greatly anticipated by the kiddies. They both have a decent little library budding and the absolute joy on their face when they unwrap a brand new story brings me to tears every single time. Watching my children discover new worlds and gain new heroes is something I will forever treasure.

“Teach Us All” – You Should Watch It.

I'm pretty sure that most of us in the US have heard at least something about the segregation issues we have with our public school systems. I remember my step-father telling me about it when I was a kid. My mother in law was in school in Pine Bluff, Arkansas when they desegregated. She told …

Great Kids Books For Cheap!

As a single income family with two children, it's sometimes hard to find the money to get my kids the books I'd like them to have. We have blown through the better part of our local library and really need some new material. I know I'm not the only one trying to raise readers out there so here's a list of affordable books just for kids.

Age Appropriate Censoring Is Not The Same As Banning.

When you ban a book or a movie or a song, what you're really doing is taking away your kids ability to have empathy for another. You're taking away the chance that they will see another person as another person and not buy into some nonsensical stereotype. You're taking away the chance to build self esteem in your kid and you're taking away a chance for them to find who they are in the safety of a parent relationship. 

So, think about it before you swing that ban hammer. The consequences could be more than you bargained for.

Samuel L. Catson & Making Friends

We took Mason to one of our local parks and he found some kids close to his age (almost 4) to run around with. I was thankful he found some buddies but was quickly reminded why we don't often go to the public parks. The kids he was playing with weren't there for 30 minutes when their mom rounded them up to leave thanks for that jerkhole.

Books That Matter

When I was growing up war was just the way things were. No one took the time to explain to me that there were other ways to handle attacks from other countries. I remember sitting in my classroom in middle school as the Twin Towers were hit by those planes. We watched the people jumping from the buildings on our tiny bulbous screen hung in the top corner of our classroom. About the time my teacher realized that people were jumping to their death in front of a class of children she turned the TV off.