Tracy's Thoughts Of The Day

I awoke this morning to a beautiful sun-shiny day with promises of temperatures in the mid 20's C.  Unusual for this time of year as mid October usual presents itself with that familiar fall nip in the air.
Today, is Thanksgiving and we're off to a rip roaring start.  Beautiful weather, family all here and the promise of festivities in the afternoon.
I find it interesting, on this one special occasion, that we set aside one day in particular to give thanks for all that we have and all the successes of the past year.
I do realize that Thanksgiving is usually about giving thanks for the harvest, for the hopefully bountiful crop that will sustain us all through the long winter months ahead.

I sit here and ponder about Thanksgivings past, of those who grew up on the homesteads or lived through the Great Depression, the war(s) that were fought so we all could enjoy the Thanksgivings of the future.  In peace.

So as we all gather around the dinner table and the poultry that gave it's life so all who partake can have a cranberry laden nosh with all the trimmings, we are asked the question that we all answer on this day of thanks...

"I am thankful for my family"
"I am thankful for my health"
"I am thankful for my home"

etc, etc, etc.

I believe that Thanksgiving isn't just a day to come together and say how thankful we are but should be a culmination of the 364 days that proceeded it.  Life is like a harvest, but until the fields are gleaned, they must be tended to with great care if the harvest is going to be a plentiful one.

The farmer rises at the crack of dawn, praying for good weather so his crops can grow healthy and bountiful.  Not too much rain, not too much drought, just enough of a mix of both to nourish the soil from which the crop springs.

On the days the farmer worries that his wheat fields cannot be ploughed by sunset, his neighbour will come and help him out.  Working together for a mutual goal, to plant a field that will yield a sea of shimmering gold.  And when the work is done and they can sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labors they give thanks...for the sun, the rain, the friend who comes along to help when the labors become too much.

Is life not like a wheat field?  Each day we plant the seeds of our lives.  Some days there is too much rain so we fret, but then comes a dry spell which dries up the field to keep the balance of life.  Each person that comes into our lives is a friend of the farmer in all of us who helps us tend our garden.  To offer assistance when it's needed, or just sit back and the end of a prosperous day to enjoy our company.

Each day I pray for rain.  I pray for sun.  I pray for friends, loved ones, calm winds and sunny skies.  I pray for waking up in the morning to enjoy each of these things for they all serve to enhance, enrich.  To teach and to nourish.

Happy Thanksgiving to all who read this.  Not just today, but for every day that came before, and every day we are thankful enough to have after wards.

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This is for everyone out there who's had a bad work day, whether it be at the office, underground, high up on a scaffold somewhere and the like.
This pretty much described my day yesterday to a T ^-^
Bad Day At Work

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Well here we are.  Just over half way through September which means the following:  School is IN, summer is OUT, leaves are falling south, birds are flying south and the Holidays, as they say, are just around the corner.
So with that life becomes, once again, the regimen of work/school, work/school with a bit of this and that mixed in for good measure.  The dog days of summer are now a distant memory and the new dog in our house hold is getting acquainted with pretty much everything she can get her tiny ( razor sharp ) teeth around.  It's like having a baby all over again.
My first baby has grown up and left me for greener pastures.  Meaning, he's off to the halls of higher learning in the big city and is finding his new found freedom very savory.  From high school lockers to University campus.
One of his options this year was to take Japanese.  Which is not your run of the mill first year elective.  In his pursuit of a degree in Computer Science, he thought that having the complex language of Japanese under his belt would be a nice pet to have, considering the technical hub of the globe happens to be somewhere smack in the middle of the Ginza.  Or therebouts.
Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana are a bit more complex than he thought and certainly not as easy as reading along with the pictures in an Anime book.  Couple that with King Lear, which is required learning in University English, and he's in for an interesting ride.  It's a good thing he loves to read while eating Sushi.
So Mama San has had to hand her only son over to a new Sensei.
Genki de ne Matthew San.

Times are changing.  Leaves are shivering in shades of gold and orange.  It's getting cold outside.  I find myself reflecting on the reality that my oldest is now out on his own ( and loving every minute of it ) and finding the adjustment a bit more saddening than I had bargained for.  This is a season of my life I have not yet had to experience.  Until now.  I am sure that I will find that with it will come it's summer.
All things being equal, there is much joy to come.

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As a Mom of teenagers, two of them girls, it's been a constant struggle since they entered the realm of "no longer a little girl, but not quite yet a woman".
This is a very crucial time in a girls life.  The time where she's still trying to figure out her own hopes and dreams for her adult future, while battling the forces of peer pressure and conformity.  The trick is how to navigate these years while still keeping those hopes and dreams ( and her dignity and self respect ) in tact.

The simple truth is this.  Young girls today are not being raised as young girls.  Show me a back to school commercial that is airing today where the supposed jr. high school girl doesn't look like she's well beyond her years.

When I was growing up, there were definite boundaries of how one conducted themselves in these in between years.  There was the "make-up wearing" rule.  First of all, you weren't allowed to wear it until you reached a certain age ( usually once you hit high school or later ) and less was always "more".
Then there was the dating rule....sixteen or older.  Today that rule has simply flown out the window with a myriad of others that, in my day, kept a girl from growing up too fast but at a pace she could handle.  Nature has it's own time line progression.
In other words, Mom made sure you didn't leave the house looking like a tramp.  Or acting like one.  And if you snuck out in the wee hours of the morning, you were eventually caught and there was hell to pay.  And it stuck.

With the exception of a small handful, girls today aren't being raised.  They are being "programmed".  Influenced, molded, brainwashed into thinking that if they are to have any value as a woman, they need to be aggressive, alluring, comely, a bitch.

WHOA!!!

Whatever happened to "little girls are made with sugar and spice and everything nice?"  I think someone lost the recipe...

I raised my girls the way my Mom raised me.  With boundaries and the knowledge that respecting ones self, their individuality, was more important than following the trends.  The masses.  The "popular" crowd.  The sugar and spice was accompanied with manners, self respect, respect for others, and good old fashioned common sense.  And a good work ethic.

The teenage girls of today are going to become the middle aged "Cougars" of tomorrow unless parents take back the rearing of their girls.  Keep them away from the less than wholesome music videos, TV shows and the like.  And if you can't do that...TALK to them about their world and how they move in it.  Getting into their business is a parental right.  Privacy be damned!  They will get plenty of that when they leave the nest, move out on their own and you basically have no say in how they move through the universe.

But for now...it's up to do your job as a parent.  Get involved in every nook and cranny, before you become a "Granny" years sooner than you'd like.

There is a lot to be said about house hold chores.  As much as your teen may moan and groan about missing that party because they have to do their own laundry.
Teaching them life skills is just that..teaching them how to live.

So get out there!  Get nosy, in their business and talk to your kids!  I'll guarantee you that, once they successfully navigate the in-between years and go off to realize their hopes and dreams...they will be glad you did.

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Oh...it makes the world go round.  Some people simply cannot live without it.
Woe are those who manufacture, invent, and re-hash the trash they so covet.
Their existence is validated only when they create turmoil and chaos.
Whatever happened to having peace, tranquility, and calm?  I happen to think those moments are truly the happiest ones.  Yet, some, in their black voids, cannot escape ( or don't wish to ) their everyday drama-rama fix.
Sad sad..so very sad.

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