"In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures." ---Khalil Gibran
Warning: This post contains some crude moments, which may make you visualize something you do not care to visualize. Ye are warned.
Gasoline prices have mass transit companies very crowded. Our state is no different and my day job (sounds far more sexy than simply saying I work for) is actually working for a mass transit company in my state. Something happened last Friday that was shocking, funny and educational all in one.
I happened to be on a crowded bus and it was stopped at a signal light on a busy street. The wind blowing and on the far side of the intersection was a group of people at a bus stop waiting for us to arrive. Among this group were three adult women, three children and one adult male. Although the wind was blowing, it was unseasonably warm. I noticed that one adult woman was wearing very tight clothing. In fact, she was showing a great deal of skin. She was wearing a tube-top and the tightest dress pants I have ever seen. Her pants were so tight it was pushing her fat above the waist. I honestly wondered how she possibly got these pants buttoned or zipped. In addition, she was wearing high heels. Now, she was not enormous in size, nor was she unattractive. Due to the tube-top, her mid-section and her shoulders were bare.
The group was patiently waiting, when suddenly a piece of paper blew out of the hand of one of the children. The woman described above looked on in horror as the wind carried the paper into the middle of the intersection. Immediately, she began to move quickly towards the intersection. She ran quickly, high heels and all. Once in the middle of the intersection, her back towards the bus, she placed her foot on the piece of paper to keep it from blowing away again. Knowing she was holding up traffic and not in a safe place she quickly bent over to pick up the paper.
I am not sure which of the four fundamental forces came into play electromagnetism, strong interaction, weak interaction or gravitation. I was certain of the outcome. When this woman bent over in her extremely tight pants, they did not rip or split, but rather fell all the way to the ground right to her ankles. There she was bent over, rear facing us, in the center of the intersection, exposing her now very visible pink thong. Oddly, she had no idea she had lost her pants. She was busy keeping the paper from blowing away. I looked at the rest of her group and the remaining adults were laughing hysterically. People on the bus were shouting comments inside the bus and we were all laughing. She stood up and looked at her friends who were now shouting at her to look down. She looks down and realizes her pants are at her ankles. Embarrassed and flustered, she clumsily turns around to face the bus. In one quick motion, she slightly bends and reaches for her pants. Doing this threw her right back into the four fundamental forces. When she quickly reached her arms down in a slight bending and twisting motion, it managed to drag her tube-top right down to her waist. Did I mention she was now facing the busload of people?
"The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter." ---Mark Twain
The people on the bus were laughing and one woman makes a comment, she is losing everything. This resulted in more laughter. Finally, she manages to gather her clothes and move out of the intersection. Now, I am thinking to myself that there is no way she is going to get on this bus. She will certainly wait for the next one, hoping she would never see anyone on that bus again. Wrong again, as she boards the bus with her group. This is where the educational part of the story enters. Standing at the front of the bus, with people laughing and a few people making wise comments, she speaks. Looking at us all without any fear, she says, hi ya all my name is Christina. I thought you should have a name to go with that image that is now stuck in your mind. The entire bus erupted into laughter, which was led by her laughter. This remarkable woman knew the wise meaning of it is better to laugh with, than be laughed at. It is the best way I have ever witnessed anyone handle complete embarrassment and humiliation. Her comments drew people to her and made the ongoing and certain harassment stop instantly. It was very well handled.
"Laugh at yourself and at life. Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity, but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective that seemingly terrible defeat and worry with laughter at your predicaments, thus freeing your mind to think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come. Never take yourself too seriously." ---Og Mandino
"We pay just as dearly for our triumphs as we do for our defeats. Go ahead and fail. But fail with wit, fail with grace, fail with style. A mediocre failure is as insufferable as a mediocre success. Embrace failure! Seek it out. Learn to love it. That may be the only way any of us will ever be free. Tom Robbins Before you give up hope, turn back and read the attacks that were made on Lincoln." ---Bruce Barton
Monday, March 26, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
The Eyes of a Child
"My children cause me the most exquisite suffering of which I have any experience. It is the suffering of ambivalence: the murderous alternation between bitter resentment and raw-edged nerves, and blissful gratification and tenderness. Sometimes I seem to myself, in my feelings toward these tiny guiltless beings, a monster of selfishness and intolerance." ---Adrienne Rich
Monday I found myself in a place, I do not enjoy all that much… a Walmart Supercenter. It was a bit crowded and honestly somewhat dirty for only being the noon hour. I was browsing the cereal isle, looking for cereal for the teenagers and seven-year-old that reside in my home. That is where I witnessed something that will be remembered forever. It will not be remembered by me forever, but for one little girl it will forever be etched in her mind. This young woman was about five or six years of age. She was shopping with her little sister that was riding inside the cart. Since her little sister had digs on the seat with a view, she was given the “Big Girl” responsibility of walking the store along side the cart. In addition to the two young girls shopping, the Captain in charge was a lovely young woman with a familiar title we call Mom.
I could hear Mom before I could see her or the two girls. Mom was obviously stressed and in no mood to be meddled with. I could hear her shouting two isles away. The closer she got the more intense the shouting became. Then suddenly they appeared headed down the cereal isle. Wisely, I step aside to allow the ship (cart), her crew and the angry captain clear passage. As they pass, I smile at the young girl walking along side the cart and she returns the smile. Then, the ship suddenly stops and the captain steps over and grabs a bag of cereal. Excitedly, the young girl walks around the cart to see what cereal passed the selection process of the captain. She watches, as do I, as the captain throws the bagged cereal about three-feet into the cart. Then the captain quickly steps back to the helm ready to proceed and takes two quick steps. Suddenly the ship stops immediately as does the captain to avoid a certain collision. If only we as humans could pause at a precise moment, walk away and ponder. Unfortunately, we cannot and usually do not. The collision, narrowly avoided was with this young crewmember, which stepped in front of the ship to return to the side of the ship.
"Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them." ---Oscar Wilde
I could see the stress and anger in the captains’ face. Her skin color darkened with redness and her eyes squinting and focused. Staring directly at the young crewmember, her beautiful daughter this captain unloads a verbal lashing that could be heard for many isles. It was filled with angry foul words and insults aimed directly towards this young child. Shouting and nearly spitting as the harsh words exited her mouth. The captain was so angry she could not be stopped and the lashing lasted a good forty-five seconds. When she finished she looked me in the eyes, I was staring her down. Instantly, I could tell she wish she had that forty-five seconds of her life back. I thought that perhaps she would come to her senses. Unfortunately, realizing that I had witnessed the entire event, she must have felt embarrassed as she once again unloaded on the child for causing her to lose her temper. Oddly, she lost her temper, while she shouted at the child for making her lose her temper. Witnessing a second lashing, I looked at the child. The look in this Childs eyes said it all. Heartbroken, fearful, disappointed, saddened, confused, her eyes had many tear-filled emotions. It was a moment that will replay in her mind for the rest of her life upon this beautiful earth. I know this because I lived that exact moment several times in the presence of my father.
We all lose our temper with our children and I am no exception. Aging has wisdom attached with it. It really is too bad that we do not begin parenting at age forty. I look back at how I react with my children now as opposed to just seven to ten years ago and I am wiser and more patient. However, given my experience with my father in those moments when I lost it, I always made it a point to calm down, immediately return, and apologize. I would explain the situation that made me angry. I would hug, kiss and laugh with them and do my very best to replace those feelings of hurt with positive feelings of laughter and love. A few weeks ago, our family was gathered together and the children in our home were talking about angry parents. My stepchildren were telling some harsh stories about moments with their fathers. Then my gorgeous daughter began to speak. She had many stories about her mother’s anger, stepfather’s anger and then my heart sank. She revealed a story of the worst parenting moment of my life. A moment I had forgotten, but a moment that will live in her mind for the rest of her life. Life is precious and children are a great gift and one of the best parts of our earthly experience. Challenging as it may be, I hope I remember this and use patience in difficult times.
"If men do not keep on speaking terms with children, they cease to be men, and become merely machines for eating and for earning money." ---John Updike
"The best way to make children good is to make them happy." ---Oscar Wilde
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." ---Ralph Waldo Emerson
Monday I found myself in a place, I do not enjoy all that much… a Walmart Supercenter. It was a bit crowded and honestly somewhat dirty for only being the noon hour. I was browsing the cereal isle, looking for cereal for the teenagers and seven-year-old that reside in my home. That is where I witnessed something that will be remembered forever. It will not be remembered by me forever, but for one little girl it will forever be etched in her mind. This young woman was about five or six years of age. She was shopping with her little sister that was riding inside the cart. Since her little sister had digs on the seat with a view, she was given the “Big Girl” responsibility of walking the store along side the cart. In addition to the two young girls shopping, the Captain in charge was a lovely young woman with a familiar title we call Mom.
I could hear Mom before I could see her or the two girls. Mom was obviously stressed and in no mood to be meddled with. I could hear her shouting two isles away. The closer she got the more intense the shouting became. Then suddenly they appeared headed down the cereal isle. Wisely, I step aside to allow the ship (cart), her crew and the angry captain clear passage. As they pass, I smile at the young girl walking along side the cart and she returns the smile. Then, the ship suddenly stops and the captain steps over and grabs a bag of cereal. Excitedly, the young girl walks around the cart to see what cereal passed the selection process of the captain. She watches, as do I, as the captain throws the bagged cereal about three-feet into the cart. Then the captain quickly steps back to the helm ready to proceed and takes two quick steps. Suddenly the ship stops immediately as does the captain to avoid a certain collision. If only we as humans could pause at a precise moment, walk away and ponder. Unfortunately, we cannot and usually do not. The collision, narrowly avoided was with this young crewmember, which stepped in front of the ship to return to the side of the ship.
"Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them." ---Oscar Wilde
I could see the stress and anger in the captains’ face. Her skin color darkened with redness and her eyes squinting and focused. Staring directly at the young crewmember, her beautiful daughter this captain unloads a verbal lashing that could be heard for many isles. It was filled with angry foul words and insults aimed directly towards this young child. Shouting and nearly spitting as the harsh words exited her mouth. The captain was so angry she could not be stopped and the lashing lasted a good forty-five seconds. When she finished she looked me in the eyes, I was staring her down. Instantly, I could tell she wish she had that forty-five seconds of her life back. I thought that perhaps she would come to her senses. Unfortunately, realizing that I had witnessed the entire event, she must have felt embarrassed as she once again unloaded on the child for causing her to lose her temper. Oddly, she lost her temper, while she shouted at the child for making her lose her temper. Witnessing a second lashing, I looked at the child. The look in this Childs eyes said it all. Heartbroken, fearful, disappointed, saddened, confused, her eyes had many tear-filled emotions. It was a moment that will replay in her mind for the rest of her life upon this beautiful earth. I know this because I lived that exact moment several times in the presence of my father.
We all lose our temper with our children and I am no exception. Aging has wisdom attached with it. It really is too bad that we do not begin parenting at age forty. I look back at how I react with my children now as opposed to just seven to ten years ago and I am wiser and more patient. However, given my experience with my father in those moments when I lost it, I always made it a point to calm down, immediately return, and apologize. I would explain the situation that made me angry. I would hug, kiss and laugh with them and do my very best to replace those feelings of hurt with positive feelings of laughter and love. A few weeks ago, our family was gathered together and the children in our home were talking about angry parents. My stepchildren were telling some harsh stories about moments with their fathers. Then my gorgeous daughter began to speak. She had many stories about her mother’s anger, stepfather’s anger and then my heart sank. She revealed a story of the worst parenting moment of my life. A moment I had forgotten, but a moment that will live in her mind for the rest of her life. Life is precious and children are a great gift and one of the best parts of our earthly experience. Challenging as it may be, I hope I remember this and use patience in difficult times.
"If men do not keep on speaking terms with children, they cease to be men, and become merely machines for eating and for earning money." ---John Updike
"The best way to make children good is to make them happy." ---Oscar Wilde
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." ---Ralph Waldo Emerson
Monday, March 19, 2012
Purpose and Passion
"There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it." ---Napoleon Hill
What is your purpose? What ignites your passion? We humans are amazing creatures and we can make almost anything we do a pleasant experience. We have the ability to live a happy life, even if we are doing the last thing we ever wanted to do for a living. I think that is remarkable and wonderful. However, imagine for a moment what life would be like if we actually fulfilled our purpose; that which ignites a burning passion. I am not talking about money, fame or unrealistic, outrageous dreams. I am speaking of our unfulfilled purpose. Is there something that you think of, or would like to do that gets your mind, body and soul stirred? What gets you wound up with excitement? Is there anything that stirs your passion and excites you?
In order to fulfill your passion, it does not always require that you leave your current career or take great financial risk. In fact, many people that are living with passion and fulfilling their purpose continue working the job they already have. Still, many find that if possible they would much rather devote their working hours to their purpose. How do we find our purpose? That is the million-dollar question. Exactly how does one go about finding their purpose, their why, their passion-filled reason for ultimate satisfaction? The book I mentioned a couple of posts ago goes into detail about finding your purpose. I am almost finished with the book and I think it is an excellent book about finding our purpose and living with passion. I think it is a necessary read for everyone and I definitely will be certain that my children read it as they prepare for college and adulthood. The book is Unstoppable by Cynthia Kersey.
"Purpose directs passion and passion ignites purpose." ---Rhonda Britten
I once had a Professor tell me that it is impossible for everyone to live their dreams or in this case, fulfill their purpose. He said the world needs ditch-diggers, house cleaners, trash collectors, fast-food employees and those willing to do what the majority refuse. I responded is being a Professor included in that group of what the majority refuse. He got very defensive and a little heated. I explained that being a Professor is not high on millions of people’s list of desires. I added his dream fulfilled is teaching and expanding the minds of others, however that would be misery to someone else. In the book Unstoppable, there are examples of people that keep their jobs and their purpose fits in with what they do for a living.
We humans are an amazing bunch. We have the ability to change the world, simply by making a change within ourselves. How might the world be better served and our happiness increased ten-fold if we live with passion and fulfill our purpose? The obstacles and challenges will fall to the side when we are finally living our purpose and doing so with passion. When we are fulfilling our purpose, we are energized and suddenly we find the energy to work beyond our current capacity. When we are excited beyond our imagination, we simply cannot sleep and our mind constantly works in overdrive. It brings with it vitality and youth. It becomes contagious and those all around us benefit from our satisfaction and passion. Your purpose, your passion, your satisfaction, your world, all can change this life for the better.
"Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life. Meaning does not lie in things. Meaning lies in us." ---Marianne Williamson
"I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose." ---George Carlin
"Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of others...for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day, I realize how much my outer and inner life is built upon the labors of people, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received." ---Albert Einstein
What is your purpose? What ignites your passion? We humans are amazing creatures and we can make almost anything we do a pleasant experience. We have the ability to live a happy life, even if we are doing the last thing we ever wanted to do for a living. I think that is remarkable and wonderful. However, imagine for a moment what life would be like if we actually fulfilled our purpose; that which ignites a burning passion. I am not talking about money, fame or unrealistic, outrageous dreams. I am speaking of our unfulfilled purpose. Is there something that you think of, or would like to do that gets your mind, body and soul stirred? What gets you wound up with excitement? Is there anything that stirs your passion and excites you?
In order to fulfill your passion, it does not always require that you leave your current career or take great financial risk. In fact, many people that are living with passion and fulfilling their purpose continue working the job they already have. Still, many find that if possible they would much rather devote their working hours to their purpose. How do we find our purpose? That is the million-dollar question. Exactly how does one go about finding their purpose, their why, their passion-filled reason for ultimate satisfaction? The book I mentioned a couple of posts ago goes into detail about finding your purpose. I am almost finished with the book and I think it is an excellent book about finding our purpose and living with passion. I think it is a necessary read for everyone and I definitely will be certain that my children read it as they prepare for college and adulthood. The book is Unstoppable by Cynthia Kersey.
"Purpose directs passion and passion ignites purpose." ---Rhonda Britten
I once had a Professor tell me that it is impossible for everyone to live their dreams or in this case, fulfill their purpose. He said the world needs ditch-diggers, house cleaners, trash collectors, fast-food employees and those willing to do what the majority refuse. I responded is being a Professor included in that group of what the majority refuse. He got very defensive and a little heated. I explained that being a Professor is not high on millions of people’s list of desires. I added his dream fulfilled is teaching and expanding the minds of others, however that would be misery to someone else. In the book Unstoppable, there are examples of people that keep their jobs and their purpose fits in with what they do for a living.
We humans are an amazing bunch. We have the ability to change the world, simply by making a change within ourselves. How might the world be better served and our happiness increased ten-fold if we live with passion and fulfill our purpose? The obstacles and challenges will fall to the side when we are finally living our purpose and doing so with passion. When we are fulfilling our purpose, we are energized and suddenly we find the energy to work beyond our current capacity. When we are excited beyond our imagination, we simply cannot sleep and our mind constantly works in overdrive. It brings with it vitality and youth. It becomes contagious and those all around us benefit from our satisfaction and passion. Your purpose, your passion, your satisfaction, your world, all can change this life for the better.
"Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life. Meaning does not lie in things. Meaning lies in us." ---Marianne Williamson
"I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose." ---George Carlin
"Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of others...for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day, I realize how much my outer and inner life is built upon the labors of people, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received." ---Albert Einstein
Monday, March 12, 2012
Small Things in Life are Huge
"Happiness can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually." ---Stephen R. Covey
I will get right to the point. This past weekend I have been blue, down, in the dumps, depressed, just flirting with an unsettled feeling. I desire to live big, huge, and enormous. I do not desire to be big, huge and enormous; I just desire to live that way. I desire to travel and see the world; I want to take my spouse and children. I desire to go where it is warm during the winter and visit cooler places during the summer. I desire to take long cruises and be treated like Royalty. I desire to stay at Hotels in many cities and learn all I can about their culture. I desire to meet the world and spend life in the grandest adventure.
However, reality is always a bubble-bursting phenomenon. Reality dictates that I cannot leave my day job. Reality dictates that I do not enjoy full custody of my amazing children. Reality dictates that while I can work towards such desires on this grand scale, I must first take care of the necessities of life. I guess that is where we come down to dreams and whether or not they are reality-based and practical dreams.
“Check your attitude, all you desire may be right before you.” ---Todd Hurley
I certainly need to heed the above quote. Sometimes I get so impatient and so anxious to have all that I desire; I lose sight of what I have before me. I remember not long ago that my main goal and new journey was to become part of a family once again. I have accomplished this in the grandest style. When my birth children are with us, we are an amazing family. I love my family and I love spending time with my family. I miss my birth children when they are away and it saddens me greatly. However, when we are all together I am one very happy and content man.
I am going to leave you with a story that was shared with me. It touched my heart and made me realize how the simple, small things in life are huge. Yes, I still desire the grandest adventure, but after reading this story and witnessing the children on my street chase down vehicles to stop at their Kool-Aid stand, I understand that our attitude determines our altitude. This story demonstrates how the simple, small things are huge in the overall happiness of the human experience.
A life without Left Turns
By Michael Gartner
My father never drove a car.
Well, that's not quite right.
I should say I never saw him drive a car. He quit driving in 1927, when he was 25 years old, and the last car he drove was a 1926 Whippet.
"In those days," he told me when he was in his 90s, "to drive a car you had to do things with your hands, and do things with your feet, and look every which way, and I decided you could walk through life and enjoy it or drive through life and miss it."
At which point my mother, a sometimes salty Irishwoman, chimed in: "Oh, bullshit!" she said. "He hit a horse." "Well," my father said, "there was that, too."
So my brother and I grew up in a household without a car. The neighbors all had cars — the Kollingses next door had a green 1941 Dodge, the VanLaninghams across the street a gray 1936 Plymouth, the Hopsons two doors down a black 1941 Ford — but we had none. My father, a newspaperman in Des Moines, would take the streetcar to work and, often as not, walk the 3 miles home. If he took the streetcar home, my mother and brother and I would walk the three blocks to the streetcar stop, meet him and walk home together.
Our 1950 Chevy
My brother, David, was born in 1935, and I was born in 1938, and sometimes, at dinner, we'd ask how come all the neighbors had cars but we had none. "No one in the family drives," my mother would explain, and that was that. But, sometimes, my father would say, "But as soon as one of you boys turns 16, we'll get one." It was as if he wasn't sure which one of us would turn 16 first.
But, sure enough, my brother turned 16 before I did, so in 1951 my parents bought a used 1950 Chevrolet from a friend who ran the parts department at a Chevy dealership downtown. It was a four-door, white model, stick shift, fender skirts, loaded with everything, and, since my parents didn't drive, it more or less became my brother's car.
Having a car but not being able to drive didn't bother my father, but it didn't make sense to my mother. So in 1952, when she was 43 years old, she asked a friend to teach her to drive. She learned in a nearby cemetery, the place where I learned to drive the following year and where, a generation later, I took my two sons to practice driving. The cemetery probably was my father's idea. "Who can your mother hurt in the cemetery?" I remember him saying once.
For the next 45 years or so, until she was 90, my mother was the driver in the family. Neither she nor my father had any sense of direction, but he loaded up on maps — though they seldom left the city limits — and appointed himself navigator. It seemed to work.
The ritual walk to church
Still, they both continued to walk a lot. My mother was a devout Catholic, and my father an equally devout agnostic, an arrangement that didn't seem to bother either of them through their 75 years of marriage. (Yes, 75 years, and they were deeply in love the entire time.) He retired when he was 70, and nearly every morning for the next 20 years or so, he would walk with her the mile to St. Augustin's Church. She would walk down and sit in the front pew, and he would wait in the back until he saw which of the parish's two priests was on duty that morning. If it was the pastor, my father then would go out and take a 2-mile walk, meeting my mother at the end of the service and walking her home. If it was the assistant pastor, he'd take just a 1-mile walk and then head back to the church. He called the priests "Father Fast" and "Father Slow."
After he retired, my father almost always accompanied my mother whenever she drove anywhere, even if he had no reason to go along. If she were going to the beauty parlor, he'd sit in the car and read, or go take a stroll or, if it was summer, have her keep the engine running so he could listen to the Cubs game on the radio. (In the evening, then, when I'd stop by, he'd explain: "The Cubs lost again. The millionaire on second base made a bad throw to the millionaire on first base, so the multimillionaire on third base scored.") If she were going to the grocery store, he would go along to carry the bags out — and to make sure she loaded up on ice cream.
As I said, he was always the navigator, and once, when he was 95 and she was 88 and still driving, he said to me, "Do you want to know the secret of a long life?" "I guess so," I said, knowing it probably would be something bizarre. "No left turns," he said. "What?" I asked. "No left turns," he repeated. "Several years ago, your mother and I read an article that said most accidents that old people are in happen when they turn left in front of oncoming traffic. As you get older, your eyesight worsens, and you can lose your depth perception, it said. So your mother and I decided never again to make a left turn."
"What?" I said again. "No left turns," he said. "Think about it. Three rights are the same as a left, and that's a lot safer. So we always make three rights." You're kidding!" I said, and I turned to my mother for support. "No," she said, "your father is right. We make three rights. It works." But then she added: "Except when your father loses count."
I was driving at the time, and I almost drove off the road as I started laughing. "Loses count?" I asked. "Yes," my father admitted, "that sometimes happens. But it's not a problem. You just make seven rights, and you're okay again." I couldn't resist. "Do you ever go for 11?" I asked.
"No," he said. "If we miss it at seven, we just come home and call it a bad day. Besides, nothing in life is so important it can't be put off another day or another week."
My mother was never in an accident, but one evening she handed me her car keys and said she had decided to quit driving. That was in 1999, when she was 90. She lived four more years, until 2003. My father died the next year, at 102. They both died in the bungalow they had moved into in 1937 and bought a few years later for $3,000. (Sixty years later, my brother and I paid $8,000 to have a shower put in the tiny bathroom — the house had never had one. My father would have died then and there if he knew the shower cost nearly three times what he paid for the house.) He continued to walk daily — he had me get him a treadmill when he was 101 because he was afraid he'd fall on the icy sidewalks but wanted to keep exercising — and he was of sound mind and sound body until the moment he died.
A happy life
One September afternoon in 2004, he and my son went with me when I had to give a talk in a neighboring town, and it was clear to all three of us that he was wearing out, though we had the usual wide-ranging conversation about politics and newspapers and things in the news. A few weeks earlier, he had told my son, "You know, Mike, the first hundred years are a lot easier than the second hundred." At one point in our drive that Saturday, he said, "You know, I'm probably not going to live much longer." "You're probably right," I said. "Why would you say that?" he countered, somewhat irritated. "Because you're 102 years old," I said. "Yes," he said, "you're right." He stayed in bed all the next day. That night, I suggested to my son and daughter that we sit up with him through the night. He appreciated it, he said, though at one point, apparently seeing us look gloomy, he said: "I would like to make an announcement. No one in this room is dead yet." An hour or so later, he spoke his last words:
"I want you to know," he said, clearly and lucidly, "that I am in no pain. I am very comfortable. And I have had as happy a life as anyone on this earth could ever have." A short time later, he died.
I miss him a lot, and I think about him a lot. I've wondered now and then how it was that my family and I were so lucky that he lived so long. I can't figure out if it was because he walked through life. Or because he quit taking left turns.
Michael Gartner has been editor of newspapers large and small and president of NBC News. In 1997, he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing.
"Success in life is founded upon attention to the small things rather than to the large things; to the every day things nearest to us rather than to the things that are remote and uncommon." ---Booker T. Washington
I will get right to the point. This past weekend I have been blue, down, in the dumps, depressed, just flirting with an unsettled feeling. I desire to live big, huge, and enormous. I do not desire to be big, huge and enormous; I just desire to live that way. I desire to travel and see the world; I want to take my spouse and children. I desire to go where it is warm during the winter and visit cooler places during the summer. I desire to take long cruises and be treated like Royalty. I desire to stay at Hotels in many cities and learn all I can about their culture. I desire to meet the world and spend life in the grandest adventure.
However, reality is always a bubble-bursting phenomenon. Reality dictates that I cannot leave my day job. Reality dictates that I do not enjoy full custody of my amazing children. Reality dictates that while I can work towards such desires on this grand scale, I must first take care of the necessities of life. I guess that is where we come down to dreams and whether or not they are reality-based and practical dreams.
“Check your attitude, all you desire may be right before you.” ---Todd Hurley
I certainly need to heed the above quote. Sometimes I get so impatient and so anxious to have all that I desire; I lose sight of what I have before me. I remember not long ago that my main goal and new journey was to become part of a family once again. I have accomplished this in the grandest style. When my birth children are with us, we are an amazing family. I love my family and I love spending time with my family. I miss my birth children when they are away and it saddens me greatly. However, when we are all together I am one very happy and content man.
I am going to leave you with a story that was shared with me. It touched my heart and made me realize how the simple, small things in life are huge. Yes, I still desire the grandest adventure, but after reading this story and witnessing the children on my street chase down vehicles to stop at their Kool-Aid stand, I understand that our attitude determines our altitude. This story demonstrates how the simple, small things are huge in the overall happiness of the human experience.
A life without Left Turns
By Michael Gartner
My father never drove a car.
Well, that's not quite right.
I should say I never saw him drive a car. He quit driving in 1927, when he was 25 years old, and the last car he drove was a 1926 Whippet.
"In those days," he told me when he was in his 90s, "to drive a car you had to do things with your hands, and do things with your feet, and look every which way, and I decided you could walk through life and enjoy it or drive through life and miss it."
At which point my mother, a sometimes salty Irishwoman, chimed in: "Oh, bullshit!" she said. "He hit a horse." "Well," my father said, "there was that, too."
So my brother and I grew up in a household without a car. The neighbors all had cars — the Kollingses next door had a green 1941 Dodge, the VanLaninghams across the street a gray 1936 Plymouth, the Hopsons two doors down a black 1941 Ford — but we had none. My father, a newspaperman in Des Moines, would take the streetcar to work and, often as not, walk the 3 miles home. If he took the streetcar home, my mother and brother and I would walk the three blocks to the streetcar stop, meet him and walk home together.
Our 1950 Chevy
My brother, David, was born in 1935, and I was born in 1938, and sometimes, at dinner, we'd ask how come all the neighbors had cars but we had none. "No one in the family drives," my mother would explain, and that was that. But, sometimes, my father would say, "But as soon as one of you boys turns 16, we'll get one." It was as if he wasn't sure which one of us would turn 16 first.
But, sure enough, my brother turned 16 before I did, so in 1951 my parents bought a used 1950 Chevrolet from a friend who ran the parts department at a Chevy dealership downtown. It was a four-door, white model, stick shift, fender skirts, loaded with everything, and, since my parents didn't drive, it more or less became my brother's car.
Having a car but not being able to drive didn't bother my father, but it didn't make sense to my mother. So in 1952, when she was 43 years old, she asked a friend to teach her to drive. She learned in a nearby cemetery, the place where I learned to drive the following year and where, a generation later, I took my two sons to practice driving. The cemetery probably was my father's idea. "Who can your mother hurt in the cemetery?" I remember him saying once.
For the next 45 years or so, until she was 90, my mother was the driver in the family. Neither she nor my father had any sense of direction, but he loaded up on maps — though they seldom left the city limits — and appointed himself navigator. It seemed to work.
The ritual walk to church
Still, they both continued to walk a lot. My mother was a devout Catholic, and my father an equally devout agnostic, an arrangement that didn't seem to bother either of them through their 75 years of marriage. (Yes, 75 years, and they were deeply in love the entire time.) He retired when he was 70, and nearly every morning for the next 20 years or so, he would walk with her the mile to St. Augustin's Church. She would walk down and sit in the front pew, and he would wait in the back until he saw which of the parish's two priests was on duty that morning. If it was the pastor, my father then would go out and take a 2-mile walk, meeting my mother at the end of the service and walking her home. If it was the assistant pastor, he'd take just a 1-mile walk and then head back to the church. He called the priests "Father Fast" and "Father Slow."
After he retired, my father almost always accompanied my mother whenever she drove anywhere, even if he had no reason to go along. If she were going to the beauty parlor, he'd sit in the car and read, or go take a stroll or, if it was summer, have her keep the engine running so he could listen to the Cubs game on the radio. (In the evening, then, when I'd stop by, he'd explain: "The Cubs lost again. The millionaire on second base made a bad throw to the millionaire on first base, so the multimillionaire on third base scored.") If she were going to the grocery store, he would go along to carry the bags out — and to make sure she loaded up on ice cream.
As I said, he was always the navigator, and once, when he was 95 and she was 88 and still driving, he said to me, "Do you want to know the secret of a long life?" "I guess so," I said, knowing it probably would be something bizarre. "No left turns," he said. "What?" I asked. "No left turns," he repeated. "Several years ago, your mother and I read an article that said most accidents that old people are in happen when they turn left in front of oncoming traffic. As you get older, your eyesight worsens, and you can lose your depth perception, it said. So your mother and I decided never again to make a left turn."
"What?" I said again. "No left turns," he said. "Think about it. Three rights are the same as a left, and that's a lot safer. So we always make three rights." You're kidding!" I said, and I turned to my mother for support. "No," she said, "your father is right. We make three rights. It works." But then she added: "Except when your father loses count."
I was driving at the time, and I almost drove off the road as I started laughing. "Loses count?" I asked. "Yes," my father admitted, "that sometimes happens. But it's not a problem. You just make seven rights, and you're okay again." I couldn't resist. "Do you ever go for 11?" I asked.
"No," he said. "If we miss it at seven, we just come home and call it a bad day. Besides, nothing in life is so important it can't be put off another day or another week."
My mother was never in an accident, but one evening she handed me her car keys and said she had decided to quit driving. That was in 1999, when she was 90. She lived four more years, until 2003. My father died the next year, at 102. They both died in the bungalow they had moved into in 1937 and bought a few years later for $3,000. (Sixty years later, my brother and I paid $8,000 to have a shower put in the tiny bathroom — the house had never had one. My father would have died then and there if he knew the shower cost nearly three times what he paid for the house.) He continued to walk daily — he had me get him a treadmill when he was 101 because he was afraid he'd fall on the icy sidewalks but wanted to keep exercising — and he was of sound mind and sound body until the moment he died.
A happy life
One September afternoon in 2004, he and my son went with me when I had to give a talk in a neighboring town, and it was clear to all three of us that he was wearing out, though we had the usual wide-ranging conversation about politics and newspapers and things in the news. A few weeks earlier, he had told my son, "You know, Mike, the first hundred years are a lot easier than the second hundred." At one point in our drive that Saturday, he said, "You know, I'm probably not going to live much longer." "You're probably right," I said. "Why would you say that?" he countered, somewhat irritated. "Because you're 102 years old," I said. "Yes," he said, "you're right." He stayed in bed all the next day. That night, I suggested to my son and daughter that we sit up with him through the night. He appreciated it, he said, though at one point, apparently seeing us look gloomy, he said: "I would like to make an announcement. No one in this room is dead yet." An hour or so later, he spoke his last words:
"I want you to know," he said, clearly and lucidly, "that I am in no pain. I am very comfortable. And I have had as happy a life as anyone on this earth could ever have." A short time later, he died.
I miss him a lot, and I think about him a lot. I've wondered now and then how it was that my family and I were so lucky that he lived so long. I can't figure out if it was because he walked through life. Or because he quit taking left turns.
Michael Gartner has been editor of newspapers large and small and president of NBC News. In 1997, he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing.
"Success in life is founded upon attention to the small things rather than to the large things; to the every day things nearest to us rather than to the things that are remote and uncommon." ---Booker T. Washington
Monday, March 5, 2012
Cross to Bear
"If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings." ---Brian Tracy
Last night my family sat down to watch a movie. I liked the movie; it was “The Way” with Martin Sheen and son Emilio Estevez. However, about midway through the movie I had a horrible, sinking, sad feeling. The feeling was one of great loss and some despair. The lights were out in our home theater room and I looked over to my right on our curved sofa. On the far right was my son, his face illuminated by the Nintendo 3DS he was playing with his ear buds plugged into his ears. His gorgeous face glowing from the backlight of the 3DS screen. Next to him was my gorgeous daughter. Her face, illuminated from the large screen television appeared angelic.
That very moment I realized for more than the hundredth time that my beautiful children would be leaving in the morning. They would be boarding a train to travel back to their Mother’s home. This time it hurt a great deal more than in times past. Looking at these two amazing children, I realized the enormous cost of divorce. Their Mother has always viewed time from these two as a break. During our marriage, she looked forward to vacations without them as a wonderful break. I never really enjoyed our vacations without them. I always felt like I was leaving the best part of which I am behind and felt that I had left my best friends home. I cannot really explain it properly; I just had this sinking feeling that leaving them behind was wrong.
Sitting there looking at their beautiful faces and all that their personalities encompass, I was saddened. A horrible cross to bear for a man that views his children as two of his best friends and a gift from God. I will forever question why their Mother did not leave these two children in my care while she set out on a new adventure to build a new life, with a new man and a new baby. Her own cousin’s wife did this and it has worked out the best for all those involved, especially the children. Using her cousin’s example, it also removed any lingering bad feelings due to his wife leaving for another man. They all get along splendidly and the children get to visit their Mother whenever possible and she comes back to visit them occasionally. She got her new life, the children stayed in the more stable home with their father and all contention and hurt feelings were eliminated from this selfless act of the Mother.
Early this morning I stood on the train platform with my beautiful children and waited for the train to arrive. A sick feeling came over me as I watched the train pull in to the platform. I hugged and kissed my two beautiful children and best friends and watched them find a seat. As the train pulled away, we wave to one another and blow kisses. Within seconds, the train went from my sight and with it the two most precious things to rock my world. Gone for the week, not to be reunited until the next weekend. I am deeply grateful that I have the custody agreement that I have with their Mother. However, as she never understood in marriage and even understands less in divorce. These two children have rocked my world the day(s) they were born and every day since.
"Children intrinsically understand that a home is not just the bricks and mortar that physically safeguard them, but the love, encouragement and togetherness they experience with their families within the walls of their homes." ---Charlie Young
"The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence." ---Denis Waitley
Last night my family sat down to watch a movie. I liked the movie; it was “The Way” with Martin Sheen and son Emilio Estevez. However, about midway through the movie I had a horrible, sinking, sad feeling. The feeling was one of great loss and some despair. The lights were out in our home theater room and I looked over to my right on our curved sofa. On the far right was my son, his face illuminated by the Nintendo 3DS he was playing with his ear buds plugged into his ears. His gorgeous face glowing from the backlight of the 3DS screen. Next to him was my gorgeous daughter. Her face, illuminated from the large screen television appeared angelic.
That very moment I realized for more than the hundredth time that my beautiful children would be leaving in the morning. They would be boarding a train to travel back to their Mother’s home. This time it hurt a great deal more than in times past. Looking at these two amazing children, I realized the enormous cost of divorce. Their Mother has always viewed time from these two as a break. During our marriage, she looked forward to vacations without them as a wonderful break. I never really enjoyed our vacations without them. I always felt like I was leaving the best part of which I am behind and felt that I had left my best friends home. I cannot really explain it properly; I just had this sinking feeling that leaving them behind was wrong.
Sitting there looking at their beautiful faces and all that their personalities encompass, I was saddened. A horrible cross to bear for a man that views his children as two of his best friends and a gift from God. I will forever question why their Mother did not leave these two children in my care while she set out on a new adventure to build a new life, with a new man and a new baby. Her own cousin’s wife did this and it has worked out the best for all those involved, especially the children. Using her cousin’s example, it also removed any lingering bad feelings due to his wife leaving for another man. They all get along splendidly and the children get to visit their Mother whenever possible and she comes back to visit them occasionally. She got her new life, the children stayed in the more stable home with their father and all contention and hurt feelings were eliminated from this selfless act of the Mother.
Early this morning I stood on the train platform with my beautiful children and waited for the train to arrive. A sick feeling came over me as I watched the train pull in to the platform. I hugged and kissed my two beautiful children and best friends and watched them find a seat. As the train pulled away, we wave to one another and blow kisses. Within seconds, the train went from my sight and with it the two most precious things to rock my world. Gone for the week, not to be reunited until the next weekend. I am deeply grateful that I have the custody agreement that I have with their Mother. However, as she never understood in marriage and even understands less in divorce. These two children have rocked my world the day(s) they were born and every day since.
"Children intrinsically understand that a home is not just the bricks and mortar that physically safeguard them, but the love, encouragement and togetherness they experience with their families within the walls of their homes." ---Charlie Young
"The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence." ---Denis Waitley
Saturday, March 3, 2012
“Why” and “Why Not”
"Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind." ---Leonardo da Vinci
If you were to go out and do exactly that which you have always desired, what would it be? Do you go to work with a smile on your face and look forward to the day ahead? I am not talking about a positive attitude, where you can make anything a wonderful experience. I am talking about pure, passionate desire and the fulfillment of your dreams. I deeply admire those people that can do this, regardless of where they finish. Having the courage and the audacity to take the journey you once passionately desired is an amazing accomplishment.
I read a story this evening about a woman and her dream. The amazing thing about this woman is that she was by most measures living the dream so many other women would want. She was wealthy, healthy and enjoying a very successful career. However, it was not her dream, not her passion and not what she felt was her calling in life. She and her husband’s willingness to change their complete lives and lifestyle so that she could pursue her dream are nothing short of amazing.
"Dreams do come true, if we only wish hard enough. You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it." ---James M. Barrie
Would you have the courage to quit your job, sell your car, sell your house, and seriously downsize your life to pursue your dream? Would you be willing to let go of the life you know to obtain the life you dream? Letting go of all you are familiar with, comfortable with, stuck with, to achieve a dream unfulfilled. This woman did just that and there were difficult times and rough patches where she though she would never accomplish that which she dreamed. This woman is an amazing woman and her book “Unstoppable” by Cynthia Kersey is a wonderful book and part of her dream. A friend of hers questioning her sanity and decisions asked her, “You think YOU can write a bestseller?” Her response, “Why Not?”
The catalyst behind our most cherished accomplishments of our lives is our why or why not. Looking over my life it is the moments of having a strong why or the courage of why not that has the most appeal. Losing weight, getting in shape, pursuing a dream, falling in love, embarking on an adventure, all of it requires a strong why or a powerful, courageous why not.
"You have all the reason in the world to achieve your grandest dreams. Imagination plus innovation equals realization." ---Denis Waitley
I have a short-term why that I invite anyone reading this to join in this competition. I am going to dinner with friends with whom I have not seen since shortly after high school. The goal is to lose as much weight or percentage of weight possible in the next 19 days. Beginning Monday morning March 5th and ending Saturday morning March 24th. The why is the dinner out with friends and the plan is to see how well I can do knowing that the Dinner will be the 24th of March.
"Our life is composed greatly from dreams, from the unconscious, and they must be brought into connection with action. They must be woven together." ---Anais Nin
"Ah, there are so many things betwixt heaven and earth of which only the poets have dreamed!" ---Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
Only One Pound
Hello, do you know me?
If you don't, you should. I'm a pound of fat,
And I'm the HAPPIEST pound of fat that you would ever want to meet.
Want to know why?
It's because no one ever wants to lose me;
I'm ONLY ONE POUND, just a pound!
Everyone wants to lose three pounds, five pounds, or fifteen pounds, but never only one.
So I just stick around and happily keep you fat.
Then I add to myself, ever so slyly, so that you never seem to notice it.
That is, until I've grown to ten, twenty, thirty or even more pounds in weight.
Yes, it's fun being ONLY ONE POUND OF FAT, left to do as I please.
So, when you weigh in, keep right on saying, "Oh, I only lost one pound."
For you see, if you do this, you'll encourage others to keep me around because they'll think I'm not worth losing.
And, I love being around you - your arms, your legs, your chin, your hips and every part of you.
Happy Days!!!
After all, I'm ONLY ONE POUND OF FAT!!! ---Author Unknown
If you were to go out and do exactly that which you have always desired, what would it be? Do you go to work with a smile on your face and look forward to the day ahead? I am not talking about a positive attitude, where you can make anything a wonderful experience. I am talking about pure, passionate desire and the fulfillment of your dreams. I deeply admire those people that can do this, regardless of where they finish. Having the courage and the audacity to take the journey you once passionately desired is an amazing accomplishment.
I read a story this evening about a woman and her dream. The amazing thing about this woman is that she was by most measures living the dream so many other women would want. She was wealthy, healthy and enjoying a very successful career. However, it was not her dream, not her passion and not what she felt was her calling in life. She and her husband’s willingness to change their complete lives and lifestyle so that she could pursue her dream are nothing short of amazing.
"Dreams do come true, if we only wish hard enough. You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it." ---James M. Barrie
Would you have the courage to quit your job, sell your car, sell your house, and seriously downsize your life to pursue your dream? Would you be willing to let go of the life you know to obtain the life you dream? Letting go of all you are familiar with, comfortable with, stuck with, to achieve a dream unfulfilled. This woman did just that and there were difficult times and rough patches where she though she would never accomplish that which she dreamed. This woman is an amazing woman and her book “Unstoppable” by Cynthia Kersey is a wonderful book and part of her dream. A friend of hers questioning her sanity and decisions asked her, “You think YOU can write a bestseller?” Her response, “Why Not?”
The catalyst behind our most cherished accomplishments of our lives is our why or why not. Looking over my life it is the moments of having a strong why or the courage of why not that has the most appeal. Losing weight, getting in shape, pursuing a dream, falling in love, embarking on an adventure, all of it requires a strong why or a powerful, courageous why not.
"You have all the reason in the world to achieve your grandest dreams. Imagination plus innovation equals realization." ---Denis Waitley
I have a short-term why that I invite anyone reading this to join in this competition. I am going to dinner with friends with whom I have not seen since shortly after high school. The goal is to lose as much weight or percentage of weight possible in the next 19 days. Beginning Monday morning March 5th and ending Saturday morning March 24th. The why is the dinner out with friends and the plan is to see how well I can do knowing that the Dinner will be the 24th of March.
"Our life is composed greatly from dreams, from the unconscious, and they must be brought into connection with action. They must be woven together." ---Anais Nin
"Ah, there are so many things betwixt heaven and earth of which only the poets have dreamed!" ---Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
Only One Pound
Hello, do you know me?
If you don't, you should. I'm a pound of fat,
And I'm the HAPPIEST pound of fat that you would ever want to meet.
Want to know why?
It's because no one ever wants to lose me;
I'm ONLY ONE POUND, just a pound!
Everyone wants to lose three pounds, five pounds, or fifteen pounds, but never only one.
So I just stick around and happily keep you fat.
Then I add to myself, ever so slyly, so that you never seem to notice it.
That is, until I've grown to ten, twenty, thirty or even more pounds in weight.
Yes, it's fun being ONLY ONE POUND OF FAT, left to do as I please.
So, when you weigh in, keep right on saying, "Oh, I only lost one pound."
For you see, if you do this, you'll encourage others to keep me around because they'll think I'm not worth losing.
And, I love being around you - your arms, your legs, your chin, your hips and every part of you.
Happy Days!!!
After all, I'm ONLY ONE POUND OF FAT!!! ---Author Unknown
Sexy Stores
"Some of the greater things in life are unseen; that's why you close your eyes when you kiss, cry, or dream." ---Author Unknown
Is it I, or are there some stores that just have a sexy feel to them? I am not speaking about lingerie or novelty stores; I am talking about ordinary grocery and department stores. I remember when I was in High School there was one store that had a sexy feeling to it. If I recollect the name properly, it was Weinstocks. The company, sold twice; any remaining stores are now Macy’s. However, the store I frequented during and shortly after High School is no longer standing. Recently, I have visited a few stores within the state I reside that I find rather sexy or perhaps a better word is luring.
No, I am not talking Home Depot or Lowes. However, they are running a very close second. =) Harmon’s is a locally owned company that is building new stores that are amazing. They are also remodeling their old stores to have the same feel. The amazing thing about these new stores is that I find them to have a wonderful mix of organic, non-organic, healthy and unhealthy foods. The lighting, display and variety are wonderful. Be ye warned that their salad bar by the ounce can set you back a good ten bucks for a salad to go. Stay away from the heavy items such as dressings, pineapple, etc. Their non-sale prices are steep on many items, but I guess building a sexy store as opposed to a Walmart with skylights and warehouse lighting costs a bit more to build and maintain.
The cream of the crop for me though is a new Whole Foods location. This new store, built a few blocks from their old location. I did not think it would be that much different. Boy was I wrong. This new Whole Foods is a sexy store. I feel healthier just walking through the isles. Looking around at all the amazing, healthy people shopping makes me feel thinner, healthier and more gorgeous! I put my best game forward and place only organic produce, vegetables and vegan items in the cart when others are watching or I think they are watching. When no one is looking, I sneak over to the bakery for an amazingly, mouth-watering gluten free soft chewy cookie. I mean a raw celery stick with a side of broccoli. ;-)
Yes, I love to spend the occasional Monday browsing the isles looking for that one perfect product. I love people watching at this store and the environment is very luring and appealing. A relative of mine informed me that their pizza from the deli area is incredible. I can tell you from experience, I mean I have heard rumors, that their soft-chewy cookies are exceptional. I must not be the only health food shopper sneaking over to the bakery, because many times they are out of my favorite. Probably the beautiful people I was creeping on in the isles have already been there. I never thought a grocery store would feel sexy or that shopping there would be so appealing and luring. I enjoy visiting these two companies and their newest stores.
"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves." ---Albert Einstein
"Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment." ---Grenville Kleiser
"Outward beauty is not enough; to be attractive a woman (or man) must use words, wit, playfulness, sweet-talk, and laughter to transcend the gifts of Nature" ---Petronius
Is it I, or are there some stores that just have a sexy feel to them? I am not speaking about lingerie or novelty stores; I am talking about ordinary grocery and department stores. I remember when I was in High School there was one store that had a sexy feeling to it. If I recollect the name properly, it was Weinstocks. The company, sold twice; any remaining stores are now Macy’s. However, the store I frequented during and shortly after High School is no longer standing. Recently, I have visited a few stores within the state I reside that I find rather sexy or perhaps a better word is luring.
No, I am not talking Home Depot or Lowes. However, they are running a very close second. =) Harmon’s is a locally owned company that is building new stores that are amazing. They are also remodeling their old stores to have the same feel. The amazing thing about these new stores is that I find them to have a wonderful mix of organic, non-organic, healthy and unhealthy foods. The lighting, display and variety are wonderful. Be ye warned that their salad bar by the ounce can set you back a good ten bucks for a salad to go. Stay away from the heavy items such as dressings, pineapple, etc. Their non-sale prices are steep on many items, but I guess building a sexy store as opposed to a Walmart with skylights and warehouse lighting costs a bit more to build and maintain.
The cream of the crop for me though is a new Whole Foods location. This new store, built a few blocks from their old location. I did not think it would be that much different. Boy was I wrong. This new Whole Foods is a sexy store. I feel healthier just walking through the isles. Looking around at all the amazing, healthy people shopping makes me feel thinner, healthier and more gorgeous! I put my best game forward and place only organic produce, vegetables and vegan items in the cart when others are watching or I think they are watching. When no one is looking, I sneak over to the bakery for an amazingly, mouth-watering gluten free soft chewy cookie. I mean a raw celery stick with a side of broccoli. ;-)
Yes, I love to spend the occasional Monday browsing the isles looking for that one perfect product. I love people watching at this store and the environment is very luring and appealing. A relative of mine informed me that their pizza from the deli area is incredible. I can tell you from experience, I mean I have heard rumors, that their soft-chewy cookies are exceptional. I must not be the only health food shopper sneaking over to the bakery, because many times they are out of my favorite. Probably the beautiful people I was creeping on in the isles have already been there. I never thought a grocery store would feel sexy or that shopping there would be so appealing and luring. I enjoy visiting these two companies and their newest stores.
"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves." ---Albert Einstein
"Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment." ---Grenville Kleiser
"Outward beauty is not enough; to be attractive a woman (or man) must use words, wit, playfulness, sweet-talk, and laughter to transcend the gifts of Nature" ---Petronius
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