For the first 50 years of my life, my perfectionist self mistakenly believed it was all about knowing more, getting it right, planning, attempting to prevent bad things from happening, and keeping all of my chicks in a row. It took me this long to discover that the JOURNEY is all that matters. This quote from Gilda Radner sums it all up:

"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.
"


Monday, November 4, 2013

Enough


Life is all about balance.  

How much is enough?  Too much?  

Sleep.  Food.  Time.  TV.  Make-up.  Money.  Sun.  Leisure.  Work.

How do you know when is "enough".

I think one of the hardest things as a parent/sister/daughter/friend is to know when help is needed and and when it's not needed.  
When to step in and when to step back.  
When to leave things alone. 


It would be nice to have a crystal ball to tell us what we need to know.


It would me nice to be able to see inside a loved one to know how they really feel.  

But we can't.  And sometimes they just don't tell you.  
They think they can handle it on their own.  
They don't want your help.  


So you go through life wanting the best for your loved ones.


You want to be there when for them in good times and in bad.


Boundaries.  When are you overstepping them?


When should you break them down?


Sometimes it's easy to figure out.


Sometimes it's not.




So you just have to be there.


Always.






Because sometimes their pain isn't obvious.


And just being there helps so much.



Wednesday, October 30, 2013

You're Never Too Old to Play

When we were visiting Annie on parent's weekend,  it wasn't ALL about music.  We went to a fabulous farmer's market, went out to dinner with Annie's friends and we spent a few hours in a museum.

NOT a science museum.

NOT an art museum.

It was a lot more fun than either of those.

Rochester is home to the National Museum of Play.


I was wishing I had young children once again as we walked through this wonderful place.  But after a while, I realized that anyone of any age can enjoy this museum.  It was just plain fun!


The huge aquarium at the entrance was full of interesting fish!


Annie really liked this one with the protruding teeth.


Everywhere you looked, there was a quote on the wall about the
importance of play.




One of the first things we came upon was a replica of the Sesame Street set.




Vance and Annie played a few tunes on these musical pipes.


Then Annie and I climbed a skyscraper!




Vance was occupied watching the tarantula...


while Annie and I made ourselves into superheroes!







Nobody is too old to play pretend!






Then there was a section of the museum devoted to "classic" toys of the past.









 Before leaving, we stopped at the Skyliner Diner which is actually inside the museum...


and we each got a scrumptious soft-serve cone.


Annie got a photo of all use using the mirror on the ceiling of the diner!