Upside down

Tonight as I sat watching my granddaughter sing in her chorale concert I learned that her school is doing away with their music program.  Teachers have not been paid in a month and our governor refuses to pass a budget so schools can pay their bills. 
I personally feel young minds need structure n learning to help them focus. 
I also think that Americans need to take back control when politicians who make bad choices and hold our children hostage.  There is no shame in politics today and no honor.  I am sure our governor is getting his paycheck unlike our teachers who are suffering at the hands of a dictator.  I have hated politics most of my life but you are messing with our grand children’s education that we have worked long and hard to pay for with our taxes. 
People of Pennsylvania unite and spread the word about being held hostage by our governor.  Tell anyone and everyone until he is impeached or resigns.  If any one of us did what he is doing to our children and others in his way, we would be fired.  Help get our children’s education back.

Watching your grandchildren blossom is a blessing like no other.  Holding them when they are first born makes you realize that love is not enough to describe the feelings you experience.  Following their milestones, being there when they fall and allowing them to pick themselves up is how we grandparents teach them because we know they can.  Recently my first grandchild realized she is at the “end” of her high school career.  She is feeling nostalgia about seeing all this end because the future is uncertain.  While we have no doubt she will do great things with her life, she remains unsure. 
I can recall those feelings of excitement and fear mixed together like a knot in my stomach.  Taking one day at a time to enjoy life as it comes is good advise but it is not until you wake one day to realize those days have slipped by.  They may have been fleeting but are there to enjoy in your memories.
Go and find your memories knowing we love you and will always be in your heart.  Love Pap n Gram.

Play Ball!!

It is almost that time again where the players who have gone south for camp to practice baseball will soon begin playing.  It is no different for our local girls softball team.  They have been practicing for a while inside of a gym while the cold, snowy weather made it seem like the season would never begin.  You have been working on all your skills and honing your pitching.  You have become more confident, a team player and a good sport.  You keep a cool head when the playing gets heated.

Just think how it is going to feel in another week when you get to have that first outside game.  Today would have been warm enough but the wet muddy ground might have reeked havoc.  Keep building those guns and working on your accuracy.  Each year I see how much you have improved in skill and teamwork.  All of these qualities will prepare you for your future.  While the softball you play is a much more organized machine than when I was growing up, the lessons I learned have helped me in my career.

I for one am looking forward to coming and watching your games, my granddaughter.  Enjoy your season as you only have this year and next year before you fly out on your own.  Take the time to make as many memories as you can store for this time is fleeting.  I was looking at your pictures when you were little and I can’t believe how quickly this day has arrived.  Keep up the good work, we are so proud of the young lady you have become.  Meme

Whether or Weather

Whether we choose to be affected by the weather depends a great deal on where we glean our perspectives.  Reality shows bring us life in Alaska or the desert or the ocean.  Many of us never get to go far from home and so the day to day drudgery of winter wears on those of us in the northeast.  I watch the weather forecast tell me that we are in for 8-12 inches of snow by morning and my joints tell me it is coming before it even drops a flake.

It begins at first as a fine mist almost rain like and then the white dots begin to appear.  It is fine droplets at first and then picks up in intensity and begins to blanket the ground with a fresh outlook.  Hour by hour goes by and I see outside my window the areas where my flowers bloomed covered in total white.  Knowing we are probably not going to get to work tomorrow I watch as my family gets out the snow machines in anticipation of fun rides on the mountains nearby.

As I get older I recall all the fun times I got out and did the very same things, snow angels, preparing for a fun day off to play in the snow and barely sleeping in anticipation of flying across the fields with the wind and cold.  Now my arthritic hands don’t work very well and my bones tell me it is time to watch from the window as my grandchildren do those very same things I used to do.  When they ask me to join them I fear going out and breaking something instead of havng the bravado of not caring and come what may.

So whether you choose to participate in the weather at large or watch from afar, life’s perspectives change over time and circumstances.  My heart says I am still twenty but my body says “oh no you are not!”

Cee’s Odd Ball Challenge

Little boys have a way of rebelling the norm when forced to go with Mom or Gram to the store.  My grandson is no different.  He had been exposed to a day of shopping and when we hit a big store with large shopping carts he decided he wanted to ride the bottom of the cart and inspect the world from below.  He rode the entire store and had quite the worms eye view.  He had great fun watching peoples reactions, and even once he grabbed his mother’s ankle and made her jump.  He giggled all the way to the car.  Even at the checkout he watched the people go by and would say “bye” to them just to watch their reactions to him.

Curiosity, imagination and ingenuity are what bring about change and many great ideas come from the minds of those not afraid to step outside their comfort zones and try something different.  Some people will try things multiple times until they get their ideas to work.  So the next time you see odd behavior, think about my grandson who did not think it odd at all to glide across the floor of a big warehouse on the bottom of a shopping cart.  He just may one day be the inventor that brings us great things.