A Dream Come True

A dream has come true. I am going to be a grandmother! My older son and his wife are expecting their first child. I wanted to post this blog earlier, but I needed to tell a few people in person first. That is what is so crazy about the internet age. People find out things electronically rather than the old fashioned human way. I am so excited. First, to see a new baby and then to see my son and daughter-in-law as parents. The new baby is a lucky one and he/she doesn't even know it yet. The baby will be born into a wonderful family. Two sets of grandparents, one set of great grandparents, two uncles, one aunt and lots of cousins. Each and every one of these people are the nicest you can find. He/she will live in a beautiful home with two hard working parents and will learn how to live a productive life. His parents will teach by example. They are both smart and kind and caring. I wish my "kids" the best in life. No one deserves it more than them!

Hands Free

The Queen of England is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee. She is marking her 60th year as a reigning monarch. As she tours the country, I am noticing that she is always clutching her handbag. Holding it tight on her arm. What could she be carrying? Her keys to Buckingham Palace? A wallet just in case she needs money to by coffee and a doughnut? A tissue? Gum? For 60 years, she has never been hands free. I would love to walk around with an entourage and have my arms swinging in the air. Godfathers have the right idea. Even when it is raining, they let the other guy carry an umbrella over their heads. I guess that is how they differ from royalty.

Happy Birthday Little Mama

I remember it like it was yesterday. The birth of "my little girl". My sister and I were pregnant with our first children, but she was due two weeks earlier. I can vividly remember getting the phone call early in the morning that she was in labor. There were no cell phones in those days, so wherever I went that day, I called the hospital pay phone for an update. As soon as I was told that our "princess" was born, I could not wait to see her. Within a few hours I was at the hospital, pressing my nose against the nursery window. She was so tiny and so beautiful. As she grew older her physical beauty was matched my her inner beauty. She is kind, caring, sympathetic and just an all around good person. This year will be an extra special day for her, as it is the first birthday that she is a mother. She will spend the day with my parents and her daughter. Could life be better? Today, the day is almost as beautiful as she is. Happy, happy birthday to a very special girl.

Kaleidoscope

When we were children, kaleidoscopes were popular toys. Tin tubes filled with mirrors, beads and colored papers. We were all mesmerized  at how the patterns changed by just turning the outer cylinder. I can still hear the noise as the colorful beads fell into place and reflected on the inner mirrors. Each pattern was unique and I remember thinking that the design I was looking at was the most beautiful ever, until I turned the dial and viewed the next one. I recently purchased a kaleidoscope, to use as a Life Coaching tool. It is a metaphor for life. In a kaleidoscope, the variables are always the same. The same beads, the same mirrors and the same colorful papers. By turning the dial we become in control of those variables and help to determine the outcome. The beauty and wonder of life is in our hands, we just need to know how to create it.

Everything You Need To Know

Years ago, I read the following essay and today it is as relevant as when it was written. Last night, I attended a social gathering and came across a man that I have know for years. He has lacked social graces since we met in the 1970's and all of his friends have let him get away with his gross lack of social skills. As people grow older, so does the concept of accepting behavior that to use a common term, "needs a good smack down". I realized that I cannot and will not condone anyone's behavior that I find offensive. I am at the age where I just do not care enough to put any effort into people that I no longer care about. I need to channel my energy into those who deserve it. Some people need a "How-to" lesson on being a decent human being. Below are a few of the important skills that everyone needs to live by: 
All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

What A Difference

What a difference a day or week or year make. Last year, my younger son bought a house. It had not had any updates done to it and we worked for months making the inside beautiful. On the outside it still looked sad. It was surrounded by beautiful homes that had been renovated over the years. After saving money for a year, my son had enough money to put all new windows and siding on. Everyone in the neighborhood walks by and stops to look. It is as if a poor orphan has finally found its family. As of last night, most of the work was done and I could see the beginning of a smile coming through the siding. Even a house wants to feel part of the gang.

A First

I disagree with the old saying that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. While I do not consider myself old, I am at the age where most people do not tread in new waters. Since I do not swim in real life, I will tread instead. Today is the first session of my life coaching series at the New York Public Library. After a few months of negotiations, the library has hired me to come on board as a speaker. Every Friday, for the month of June, I will lecture on a new topic, all related to quality of life. I am excited to do this and hope that this will be the beginning of many future lectures. I will teach this to the people that come to hear me speak. You are never too old to have dreams. You are never too old to have goals. You are never too old to try something new. You are never too old to disagree with people when they tell you that you are too old. You are never too old to learn a new trick.