Validation.....

Validate:

1. to make valid; substantiate; confirm: Time validated our suspicions.

2. to give legal force to; legalize.

3. to give official sanction, confirmation, or approval to, as elected officials, election procedures, documents, etc.: to validate a passport.

I've been thinking a lot about the word 'validate' lately. Validate. Validation. Validated. Validating.

It started when Mary had jury duty. We were discussing where she should park when she went downtown and I commented that she should probably park in the court approved lot because then the court would most likely 'validate' her parking stub.

I then started to think of all the things we 'validate'......

--parking stubs

--passports

--legal documents

And then I began to wonder why we validate parking but we don't validate each other.......why don't we validate our friends, neighbors, family members? While thinking about this, I came across this video. It's kind of long, but WELL WORTH watching.

By the way......I think you're awesome!!

Memory Lane.........

I've been feeling a bit melancholy lately. I've been thinking about days gone by....things that I used to have, do, etc. And indulging myself a little bit in missing those things. So, lucky you, if you choose to read this, you get to walk with me down the proverbial 'memory lane'.

One of my favorite childhood memories is waking up to the sounds of the trains passing. The train track was right behind my house. It was house, back yard (big back yard), pond, then train tracks. If I woke up early enough to hear the first train whistle then I could jump out of bed, get dressed, and run down the path to the tracks early enough to put a penny on the track before the train got there. Then I would sit back on the path and wait for the train. The train almost always stopped when it got to my part of the track. That's because the end of the train would stretch far enough down the track to reach into town where it would unload lumber at the little lumber yard in town. The train would be stopped for maybe 30 minutes. Plenty of time to climb aboard. We would climb the ladders on the side of the cars, play on, around and under the train. We always knew when it was getting ready to start up again so we had plenty of time to jump off and get to safely back on the path. When the train had gone we would gather our pennies and maybe some coal that it had dropped and wander back home for breakfast.

I miss the lake house, too. When I was about 10 my parent's bought a lake house. It was about an hour drive from our house to the lake. We would go mostly on weekends, but often stayed longer. The lake house was a different world for us. There was one phone and it was a party line (shared with someone else) so we rarely used it. My mother declared early on that there would be NO TV at the lake, so on the days that it rained we would have marathon Monopoly games, get our exercise by pumping on the player piano or do puzzles. Outside, there was swimming, fishing, canoeing, water-skiing, a rope swing over the lake, mini-bikes to ride in the field or just laying in the hammock and listening to the water lap the shore. After my mom died my dad couldn't bear to go to the lake house any more....the memories were too much. I loved going there for the same reason. I could still feel her there. My dad sold the place to my oldest brother and that was that. It wasn't my lake house anymore. It changed the feel of the place and I couldn't go there anymore either.

It was a different world when I was a kid. The world was a safer place and we had SO much freedom. From the time I was about 7 or 8 years old we would walk the train tracks into town (or ride our bikes on a VERY busy road and across a VERY 'rickety' bridge!!)

We would spend the day in town, maybe going to Excelsior Beach to swim and buy Popsicles from the little concession stand, or go to a Saturday matinee movie. We would pay $1 for a movie ticket, small drink and popcorn. And sometimes, if we stayed after the movie to help clean up the theater, the manager would give us a free candy bar!! There was always a Saturday matinee. It was usually a cartoon movie or a cowboy one, and we would come out of the theater into the bright afternoon sunlight.

There was also an amusement park in our little town. We would need about $4-5 for that. But could spend hours there with that amount of money. Tickets were about $.10 and each ride was only 2 or 3 tickets. There was one ride where you would sit in a swing and it would swing out over the lake. There was a carousel, a wooden roller coaster, a ferris wheel, bumber cars and a fun house. We didn't go there as often as it was so expensive, but we did go a couple of times a month in the summer.

There was very little adult supervision. Mom would just give us a dollar for the movie and send us on our way. We would be gone for hours. Wandering around town, checking out the library, or the bakery, or the Ben Franklin store where you could buy almost anything you could ever need/want. Then, once we were tired we would ride or walk back home, usually in time for dinner.

I miss those childhood days. I sometimes long for them. I didn't have any worries in those days. No real challenges. Life was an adventure. The dangers of the railroad tracks or the 'rickety' bridge were very real, yet we ignored the dangers and lived for the adventure. I wish I could have the same bravado that I did when I was 8.

Maybe I'll give it a try!

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom Not My Own.......

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity!

--Henry David Thoreau

Reality Television......

I don't watch reality TV. I'm not judging anyone who does, I'm just not into it. I watched the first couple of seasons of Survivor, but then it got old. I run across some shows when I'm flipping channels so I'm familiar with some of them.

Jon and Kate? Yeah, I've heard of them. I know they have 8 children. I know that they have announced a separation and possible divorce. Not that anyone cares, but here's what I think......

Sorry, Jon and Kate. You don't get to separate. You don't get to get divorced. You have no right to. Instead, you have obligations. You have 8 children that you chose to bring into this world. None of your problems are their fault. They should not have to pay the price for your stupidity. They deserve to be raise by both parents in a stable home.

I don't care about your personal happiness. I think you need to man up, honor your vows, renew your commitment to one another and raise your family. And I think you need to do it in private. I hope that you've set aside some of the millions that you've earned by parading your clan in front of the public. Now close the door, say goodbye to your adoring fans, and try actually being parents instead of actors. Your "fans" may be sad to see you go, but you owe infinitely more to your children than you do to your adoring public.

I know that it will be hard to live day-to-day without the cameras recording your every move for posterity. Without all the fan mail and millions of $$ rolling in. And how will you get by without the network paying for your vacations? But, maybe your family time will mean more when it's actually family time and not prime time.

Now cut your losses, and go be a family.

A Letter to Laura.....

This is my daughter, Laura. She is 25!!! today. Laura is my most independent child. She is strong and vibrant, smart and sassy, lovely and loving.

In honor of her birthday, I decided to write her a letter:

Dear Laura,

Thank you.......for 25 awesome years.

Thanks for the countless soccer games....in the rain, snow, stifling heat of a Georgia summer......I miss those days.

Thanks for the adventure of watching you grow...from a willfull wild child to a tough look-out-world-here-she-comes teenager to the lovely young woman that you are today.

Thanks for the memories that come flooding back when I think of your growing up years.....I know that we had our challenges, but looking back all I can remember are the good times. And there are plenty of those to remember!!

Thanks for being an awesome daughter. I am proud to be your mom and be able to claim you as my own. I love you, my dear, and I hope you have an AWESOME birthday!!

Love Always,
Mom

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom Not My Own.....

I'm thinking of posting this in my kitchen to encourage my kids to help more around the house. I get SO tired of the words: "It's not my job"

Whenever you see a job to do,

ask yourself these two questions:

If not by me - by whom?

If not now - when?

--Arthur Lagueux

Diabolical Plan - Part 1..............

Remember my concern about keeping my kids busy this summer?

I think I've got an idea.

Last week Jacob and Peter spent the entire week working on the yard. Their dad offered them an undisclosed amount of money to rake, weed, and mulch the 'natural area' in our backyard. It's a pretty big area and it needed LOTS of work. It kept them outside and busy most of the week. And they did a great job, too.

My plan for this week is even better. I signed up the four still at home (Jacob, Mary, Sam and Peter) to help out with Cub Scout Day Camp. They will spend the week serving as Den Leaders and Den Chiefs for a bunch of cub scouts. They will be gone every day from 8 until about 4:30.

I figure that if they can't find paying jobs, then I will find non-paying jobs for them. The next week, Mary will be volunteering at our church Girl's Camp for the week (that one is a sleepover camp!) And I may just send Jacob to Boy Scout camp in July if he is still unemployed. If this doesn't make them want to get 'real' jobs, I don't know what will!!

I wonder what other organizations need help this summer........

Incongruous........

Is it wrong that when you look in my fridge you see these.......

right next to this?............

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom Not My Own......

Even if you are on the right track,

you will get run over if you just stand there.

--Arthur Godfrey

Dreams.....

Seven words that make me want to run from the room....

"So I had this dream last night...."

I secretly HATE, (yes, HATE!) to listen to people's dreams.

When I share a dream with someone, it's usually a two or three liner: "I had this weird dream. So-and-so shot himself. I wonder where that came from." And then I'm done. I move on with my life.

When other people share dreams with me they D-R-A-G on interminably. Just the other morning my husband started to share his dream with me (I can blog about this because I know he doesn't read my blog!) Something about govenment conspiracies and death taxes. And on. And on. And on. After 20 minutes I interrupted him.......

Me: You know....my dreams are usually a lot shorter than this.
Him: Yeah, I know, it was a really long dream!

10 minutes later.....

Me: I usually don't remember much about my dreams once I'm awake.
Him: Sometimes that happens to me, too.

another 15 minutes later.......

Me: Maybe you should just write a book.

I try to be patient. I really do. But you can never accurately describe the feelings, emotions, and drama of a dream. It's one of those "you had to be there" things. Unless I happen to have the same dream I'm just not going to get it. No matter how long you drag it out.

I try to seem interested. But I'm really planning dinner menus in my head and wondering how much mulch it's going to take to do the back yard area.

I'm not sure how Joe's dream ended. I hope it ended happily, but with government conspiracies one can never be sure. He lost me when he started talking about drug lords and secret bank accounts.

I wish everyone sweet dreams. But please, don't share them with me.