2 wheeler

We got a new bike.  Shiny, red (your favorite), and no training wheels.   It's hard but we're practicing.  J on his new bike, me trying some new things.  I tell him not to quit.  I tell him we can go much further and have more fun without them.  I tell him he's ready. 

He trusts me.  I trust me.

The Games People Play

In our families, our friendships and our work places we're confronted by the Games People Play.  Coined by Eric Berne in the 1960's, his theories remain ever-relevant.

Recognizing the game and not engaging is critical to success and sanity. 

"People play games to fill up time if intimacy or productivity is unavailable.  Even stirring negative attention, anger, outrage, hurt, is more gratifying than being ignored, bored or useless."

which leads nicely to George Bernard Shaw's, "never wrestle with a pig.  You both get dirty and the pig likes it."

The best way to honor yourself and a painful mistake, is to evolve beyond making it again! 

Florida - April 2018

Age 5, we traveled to Florida to visit Papa.   We met your cousins there and had a lovely trip.  You loved swimming in the pool - tossing the rings, jumping off the sides, going in at night under the moon (thanks to your ever-loving Grammy!).     You made yourself at home at Papa's place and loved spending quality time with the girls.   We did an Easter egg hunt on the shuffleboard court, some outdoor dining and all around nice and relaxing trip to the sunshine state.   Grammy and Papa love you so much their hearts nearly explode. 

10 Ideas from Einstein

Kicking off spring with some motivation. 

1. Follow your curiosity - "I have no special talent.  I am only passionately curious."
2. Perserverence is priceless - "It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer."
3. Focus on the present - "Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."
4. The Imagination is powerful - "Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge."
5. Make mistakes - A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
6. Live in the moment - The future comes soon enough.
7. Create value - Strive not to be a success, but rather be of value.
8. Don't be repetitive - Insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
9. Knowledge comes from experience: Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience.
10. Learn the rules and then play better. You to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. 

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This moment

"Change even one moment, the whole thing unravels...  There is no other life than this.  You would not have stumbled into the vastly imperfect, beautiful, impossible present." - Dani Shapiro

Pausing for a moment of gratitude for the faith that I had, when I didn't have much, that following my path would lead me out of the fog and to this place.  Gratitude, only, for everything that brought me here. 

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Happy

"I urge you to please notice when you are happy and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'if this isn't nice, I don't know what is." - Kurt Vonnegut

My boy.  My heart.  

Monster Truck Show, February 2018

Weekend roundup

Dinners, coffee shops, Anderson Cooper live, a boat show, walks, movies and down-time.   It was great and I felt filled with the certainty that my new life is a good one. 

“The rainbow comes and goes. Enjoy it while it lasts. Don’t be surprised by its departure, and rejoice when it returns. There is so much to be joyful about, so many different kinds of rainbows in one’s life: making love is an incredible rainbow, as is falling in love; knowing friendship; being able to really talk with someone who has a problem and say something that will help; waking up in the morning, looking out, and seeing a tree that has suddenly blossomed, like the one I have outside my window—what joy that brings. It may seem a small thing, but rainbows come in all sizes. I think about Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz singing, about where “bluebirds fly,” and Jan Peerce singing about “a bluebird of happiness.” Well, they may never find it, they may never reach it, and that’s okay. The searching, that’s what I think life is really all about. Don’t you?"  - Anderson Cooper