What can I do?

I hear people say that a lot – “What can I do?”  “Is there anything I can do?”  Well, I’ve got something for you.

I hate cancer. My friend Jen died because of  brain cancer. My grandfather died from lung cancer – smoking until the day he died, I must add.  I have several friends who are breast cancer survivors. I don’t think there is anyone in the world who has not lost someone they  love or been afraid they would lose someone they love because of cancer. 

I can’t cure cancer.  I’m not a researcher who is working on a cure. But there are people who are doing that and I’m sure every day they  get closer and closer.  We could give money to the American Cancer Society --  but we won’t. We could all participate in Relay for Life  --but we won’t.  So what can we do, except talk about how much we hate it?

I’ve got a simple, simple thing we all can do.  Chevrolet has a program right now called Purple Roads. Purple is the official color for cancer survivors.  There is a website where you can “Purple your Profile.”  You click a few times and your profile picture on facebook turns purple. Yeah, it looks funny and weird. But here’s the thing: Chevrolet will donate up to ONE MILLION dollars to the American Cancer Society, one dollar for EACH purple profile on Tuesday.   So, a few clicks, and you help the American Cancer Society get money.  You can help fight cancer, and all it costs is a few seconds of your time and a purple profile for a few days. 

I have 434 friends on facebook.  My goal is 25 friends turn their profile purple.  Then, if 10 of their friends all turn theirs purple. . . Get it?? That could be a LOT of people.  All for a few seconds and few clicks.  PLEASE help!  What can YOU do?

http://www.chevrolet.com/purple-roads-world-cancer-day.html

Besides, PURPLE is my favorite color! It will make me happy to see purple profiles!!

I wish I could say he got it from me. . .

I have two nephews and one niece.  I love them all beyond words but they are by no means perfect. Almost, but not quite.    Of course, my sisters like to say that anything less than perfect that shows up in their characters is because of me, their Aunt Sandi.

Here are a few things that I do take partial credit for.  They are all very stubborn, HMM, let’s rephrase that to “determined.” I’ll take some of the blame for that.  They’ve all seen me hold on to something WAY longer than I should have, which has not always been a good thing.

Two of the three have turned into book lovers. We have one who loves to read, one who listens to books and one who prefers other things besides books.  I can’t take all the credit for that – our mom and dad were both readers and my sisters and I all love to read.  But, I did buy them an awful lot of books when they were little, so I’ll take SOME  credit for that.

Both of our boys like a good argument.  Ken will take the opposite side just to annoy you, and even argue against something he believes, just for a good “discussion.” Josh will tell you if you’re wrong, give you his reasons and he’s done. He doesn’t enjoy the argument as much as Ken, but sometimes he argues just to be ornery.  (This may be from me, sad to day.) 

They are all brilliant – and I’m not just saying that because I’m their aunt.  They are all gifted and talented in many different ways.   They are all MUCH better at Math than their Aunt Sandi, our Josh especially has an incredible gift for math.

But today, I spent most of the day with our Josh and I watched him. I have had a leaky bathroom faucet for a while and he kept changing the washer inside. He’s been pondering the whole thing,  I think and so today, he decided we needed to change the whole mess.  I don’t know the correct words for things, but whatever the washer goes up against was broken and the washers just kept getting chewed up.  So about 4:30 today, he started working on my faucets.  We made two trips to Lowe’s and one to Harbor Freight. He says the first trip to Lowe’s doesn’t really count, because it wasn’t really what we needed, but I count it!  

We turned off the water to our house several times, cut PVC pipe, assembled, un-assembled, re-assembled, turned on the water, had a small leak, turned off the water, un-assembled, re-assembled and repeated.  About 9:00 he pronounced it DONE. 

This is what amazes me --  he just keeps trying over and over and over.  And he never gets upset. I get irritated and start yelling at stuff. Yes, I yell at inanimate objects.   He stays calm and just carries on.  I kept thinking he reminded me of someone – but I couldn’t figure out who. It certainly isn’t me!! My reaction to stress is anger – and I’m certainly not proud of that.  But he is just amazingly calm.   

Then, it hit me. He reminds me of my daddy.  My daddy didn’t get upset about stuff.  He got excited about good things and he’d act silly sometimes, but he didn’t get angry or upset in stressful situations – he just stayed calm, quiet and tried again.   I know that I’ve passed on some things to Ken, Josh and Makiah, but it makes me happy to see their Grandpa in them too!

What’s your “bookprint?”

Scholastic.com has a list of celebrity “bookprints.”  Check out your favorite celebrity’s famous books here:  http://www.scholastic.com/readeveryday/celeb-bookprints.htm

 

Your bookprint is a list of books that changed your life or helped  make you who you are.  I like to look at other’s people’s lists and go “OOOO, I love that book!” or “HMMM, I wonder what’s in THAT book that changed him or her?”  I just recently looked at Nora Robert’s bookprint. I love her, I read all the books of hers I can get my hands on.  I buy her hardbacks at used book stores and from the Friends of the Library book sale.

I think everyone should have a bookprint.  Thinking about our lives and the books that have made an impression on us is important.  If you have children, this is one way to help them become readers!  When kids see adults reading, it reinforces the fact that reading is important.  Some research says that it’s not even so important WHAT you read, as it is that you read SOMETHING.

Scholastic’s list of bookprints has 5 books each. I don’t know if I can narrow my list down to 5.  I’ve often wondered if I was stranded on a deserted island what books I would want with me. (Because as long as I had some books and something to eat, being stranded on a deserted island wouldn’t be a bad thing.)

So what’s your bookprint? What books made you? What books changed your life?

A Love Letter

I got a love letter tonight. It came in an envelope, with a stamp.

 

The envelope was even signed:

 

My letter had an illustration: 

 

And it said:

 

It came from this cutie:

And it made my week!!

Losing Even When Your Team Wins. . .

At USF, when I was a student, there was no such thing as Bulls football.  But late in 2006, , I got accepted at FSU.  The instant I got that  acceptance letter,  I felt this strange sense of  HISTORY. FSU has been around for a LONG time, and sports has been a huge part of that.  Personally, I had no lifelong feelings towards any college football team, although my dad always like Florida State.  He was the chaplain for the Pahokee High School football team for years and several of his "boys” went to FSU, and I’ve always known of Bobby Bowden. My dear, dear friends Al and Susan Smith are die hard 'Noles fans, because Mr. Al went to law school there!  I have several other friends who are FSU fans, but I also have dear friends w ho are loyal Gator fans. 

That being said, my school gets my loyalty.   I told a friend once that in my opinion, “degree trumps fan.”  I meant it and still do. As long as I have my degrees from FSU and USF, I will always want FSU and USF to win.  It works the same way with kids. My nephew goes to USF so it will be important to us.  If your kid and/or your money goes somewhere, that’s your team, right? I mean a wise man once said “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” 

I read a great  quote several years ago, and I’m not even sure where I read it. I have a “Words of Wisdom” board in my room and I’m always looking for good stuff to put up there.   This one just kind of hung out in my brain: “Sports do not build character. They reveal it.”  John Wooden said it and I knew NOTHING about him,   until I just read about him on Wikipedia.  (I find it interesting he’s called "the Wizard of Westwood” since I teach at Westwood, but  I’m digressing.

I've never agreed with it so much as after last night's football game. I’m amazed at some of the comments and reactions that flew across my screens.  I thought last night’s game was FABULOUS. Not the kind of game I like – I like it when my team wins by a TON of points, so I’ve been a happy camper all this season.  But here’s what I noticed: sports reveals character, not just of players, but of fans.   To my dismay, several people that I’ve always thought a lot of. . . kind of disappointed  me.  Some of the comments I read were just disheartening.  

Was I excited that “MY” team won? Absolutely!!

Am I thrilled that “MY” team is the National Champions? You bet! 

Am I proud to be a Seminole? From the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. 

Did I have ANYTHING to do with it? Absolutely NOT.

Would I have been sad if Auburn had won? Absolutely!

Would I be  bitter if Auburn won? You bet! 

Would I still be proud to be a Seminole? From the top of my head to the bottom of my feet.

Do my opinions of the game and my feelings have ANYTHING to do with the outcome? Absolutely NOT.

So here’s my question – why did so many people who “had no dog in that fight” have so many icky things to say?

Nobody that I know lost their job today because FSU won. Nobody  that I know would have a better life today if Auburn held that crystal trophy. Yet there were those who said nasty, hateful things about wanting players to be injured  People maligned the character of young men, who played their guts out to give US a good game. 

So here’s the thing: my team won! Tomorrow, your favorite team wins and mine loses.   Whether it was luck or skill or karma or whatever,  my favorite team won a GAME.    And if one or two things happened differently,  my favorite team  would have lost a GAME.  But the sun still came up this morning, I still had a job to go to, birds still sang, the tide still moved in an out.

Even though my team won, I lost.  I’ve lost some respect for people  whose character was revealed during that game.

A Few of My Favorite (Christmas) Things. . .

I have a lot of STUFF. Too much, if I’m completely honest. I could have a year long yard sale and still have stuff I think. My friend Laquita says she will never buy me any more “things” for presents because I have too much stuff already.  Here’s my problem: I love my stuff. It all means something and I can’t seem to throw it all away. This is some of my favorite Christmas stuff.

My library:

I actually keep it out all year, even thought it has wreaths and Christmas greenery on it. My library was a  gift my from my friends Mr. Al and Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith and I worked together for 14 years before she left me and retired.  The day I got my email telling me I was selected for Project LEAD at FSU,  Mrs. Smith was the first person I told. I went running down the hallway at our school, yelling.  I  (Luckily, it was nearly 5:00 and no one else was there.) I used her phone to call my sisters, because mine was dead!   It was a Wednesday and on Thursday, she and Mr. Al took me to dinner to celebrate.  Mr. Al brought me a gift from the both of them.  He brought me my library and my first FSU item – a little make up bag.   I don’t think any of us realized it would be my only library, even after all this time!!  

My next favorite Christmas “thing” is the little wooden ornament that I call “Butt Boy.”  I just love him.  . .

Years ago, when I was a little girl, my mom painted a set of wooden ornaments for our tree.  He is one of them. I love his little candle and his little footy pajamas.  She let us paint some too, but I was so little mine is a terrible mess. I painted a horribly ugly orange teddy bear, I have it too, but I don’t hang it up.   I always loved this one the best.  These ornaments are double sided- the other side is different.

See why his name is “Butt Boy?”  When we were little, we were VERY sheltered. This was the naughtiest thing we ever saw.  We always decorated our Christmas tree the day we got home from school, the last day before Christmas break. My oldest sister always made us divide up the ornaments evenly, we each chose one and went around and around until all the ornaments were divvied up.  I always tried to grab Butt Boy first.  When my mom died, we each got some of her Christmas ornament. Butt Boy was the first one I grabbed.

I love my Butt Boy and my library. Butt Boy doesn’t necessarily match the rest of my Christmas tree.  I keep my library out all year round. It’s stuff.  I have lots of other stuff. I have my mother’s punch bowl and the 18 or so punch cups that came with it (minus the ones I probably  broke when I was little.)    I have a box of baby quilts that she started and never finished.  I have the scissors with her name on them that she only used for fabric. She used them when she first wen to work when I was a little girl – and when she made all our clothes. I  have some new stuff this year.  I have a copy of the book “Last of the Breed” that I stole from the Seminole County Library system. It’s just a paperback, but I won’t get rid of it either. 

I really don’t need this stuff.  But especially, this time of year, it all means much more.  Laquita, you’re my friend and I love you, but some stuff, we’ll just have to deal with!  

I’m thankful but not for the car dealership. . .

I’m thankful for lots of things, but I haven’t been doing the 28 Days of Thankfulness this year. I’m a little discombobulated  and that just felt like one more thing I’d have to keep up with and feel guilty if I got behind on. That’s not the intention, but that’s how I felt. I’m feeling some odd feelings lately, but the grief lady says that’s OK.

But today, I am particularly thankful for Donald and Kathy Robbins.  They take good care of me.  Today, they took care of my battery issue.  I needed a man to do a nasty job for me, not because I couldn’t do it, but because unfortunately, some places treat you differently if you’re a woman than if you’re a man.  (Just for the record, the Chevrolet Center in Winter Haven is one of those places!)  I had taken myself down there twice and called on the phone and every person I talked to told me something different.  No one wanted to be helpful and everyone just kept giving me the runaround. Unfortunately, I had to deal with them, since that’s where my battery came from. They were pretty icky  - and they made me cry.  I almost cried because I was so mad at them, and then I got even more mad because I almost cried.  Mr. Donald took my battery out of my car, took it back to them, and didn’t leave until they did what they could have done on Monday.  Then, he and Mrs., Kathy brought it back and he put it BACK in my car.  They even tried to give him a little run-around, but he just “out-stubborned” them.

It shouldn’t’ have to be this way, but I’m glad they took care of it for me. I’m thankful for them. They had other things they could have been doing, but they took care of me! I’m very grateful for them.