A little boy asked his mother, “Why are you crying?” “Because I’m a woman,” she told him.
“I don’t understand,” he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, “And you never will.”
Later the little boy asked his father, “Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?”
“All women cry for no reason,” was all his dad could say.
The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry.
Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone, he asked, “God, why do women cry so easily?”
God said:
“When I made the woman she had to be special.
I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world,
yet gentle enough to give comfort.
I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children.
I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining.
I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly.
I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.
I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly.
And finally, I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed.”
“You see my son,” said God, “the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart – the place where love resides.”

Friendship is like pissing your pants,

Everyone can see it,

but only you

can feel it’s true warmth.

Thank you  to all my friends and family

for being the

piss in my pants. 

This post is for Danny, even though he will probably never read it.  I read this poem yesterday and thought of him and the love that he recently lost. 

The Dash

By Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend.  He referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning…to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth and spoke of the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth and now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own, the cars, the house, the cash.  What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard;  Are there things you’d like to change?  For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough to consider what’s true and real and always try to understand the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more, and love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile, remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy is being read with your life’s actions to rehash would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?

YOU GOTTA LOVE JERSEY WOMEN!!

A woman from New Jersey and another woman were seated side-by-side on an airplane. The woman from New Jersey, being friendly and all, said: “So, where are you from?”

The other woman said, “From a place where they know better than to use a preposition at the end of a sentence.

“The woman from New Jersey sat quietly for a moment and then replied:“So, where are you from, bitch?”

Quando omni flunkus moritati:  When all else fails, play dead.

Matt is married to our oldest daughter, Carol. He has been in our family for a lot of years now, and has seen me and my girls through a lot of crap.  When we didn’t have anyone else to take care of us, he was there and done the best he could. And I love you for that. He’s just as stubborn as the rest of the family, but he sticks by what he believes in and will freely give you his opinion even if you don’t like it.  Also like the rest of the family.

Matt, you are like my own son, and I love you very much.  I will always stand behind you and support you.  Even though some of your beliefs are different from mine, I will still support you, because that’s what you do with family.  Even if I don’t agree with them.

(And yes, you will have fried bread for your birthday meal.)

Happy Birthday Matthew, I love you!

Mom 

I love my husband more than I could ever put into words.    We were friends for a lot of years before we started seeing each other, and I think that made a lot of difference in our relationship.  We knew each other, he knew what I was like and I knew what he was like.  Neither one of us tried to change the other, because we already knew each others faults, likes and dislikes.  And we were both ok with that.

When we first started seeing each other I was coming out of a 21 year long BAD marriage, and it has left scars that are still not gone, and probably won’t be for some time.  He has supported me and helped me in every way that he can.  A lot of that healing has to be done on my own, but I know that he is there for me when I need him.

We have cried on each others shoulders, laughed together and at each other, and also fought with each other.  (And let me tell ya, I don’t know who is more stubborn and hard headed, me or him.)  And at the end of every day, we snuggle up together in bed and tell each other how much we love one another.  It’s the most wonderful feeling in the world, true love.  We have been together for 5 years and we have had some tough times, but I think mostly wonderful times.

Baby, I love you with all my heart. More than words could ever say.  Thanks for supporting me during some rough times, and thanks for loving me the way you do.  You are my soul mate, and I could never go on with out you.  I am very proud to be your wife.  I want to grow old with you, granted I will get there first, but that’s alright.  Your a wonderful husband, you help me around the house when I need it and even when I don’t, which I appreciate and don’t tell you enough.  You listen to me when I have had a bad day, and you let me cry on your shoulder when I need to, and most of all  you love me, and that’s the most important part.  Never doubt my love for you.

I love you with all my heart and thanks for being my husband. 

This is mine and The Bastard’s luck for the last week.

Faith.  What is faith, does anyone really know? 

I don’t like to talk much about religion because I don’t know a whole lot about it.  I have never been a religious person, I don’t go to church, never have.  I do think that if you believe in God, you shouldn’t have to go to a special place to pray.  God will hear you anywhere you choose to do it. 

When I lost my brother 9 years ago people would say that he is in a better place now, God has taken him for better things.  At the time I wasn’t too sure about that.  All I knew is that God took my brother from me before I was ready for him to go.  My brother had been sick for some time and we knew he was going be leaving us, but I just wasn’t prepared. I thought I was but I wasn’t, a person never is in that situation.  I always thought that was rather selfish on God’s part.  I was very angry at God and wasn’t too sure if I had any faith left.  I am still not sure. 

Why would He take a young women and strike her down with cancer and take her away from a loving husband and three beautiful children?  If that’s not being selfish on God’s part I don’t know what is. Michiyo was a nurse in Japan, she was a giver, not a taker.  Why would God take her off this Earth for his own benefit?  I have been asking myself that all day, and don’t have an answer.  The death of my sister-in-law, which I was never blessed with the chance to meet, has stirred up some old resentful feelings. And I am not sure how to deal with them.  I believe there is a God, but I just am not sure what He is up to sometimes.  And I just don’t know if I have any faith left in him.  I just don’t understand how He works.

So love your children like you will never see them again, tell them you love them, cherish them, show them.  And Mark, my husband, my soul mate, if anything were to ever happen to you, I don’t know if I could go on.  My heart would break into a million pieces.  And my parents, oh my parents,  I love you so much.  And my brother, I love you dearly, even though I don’t show it like I should, I am thankful that I have you in my life. 

So show your loved ones that you love them, tell them every day, you never know when God will decide that their time is up and take them.

BASE jumping(bās)
n.

A parachute jump from high structures and precipitous earth formations, typically from heights of 305 meters (1,000 feet) or less.

I think that when a person gets in their 40’s they start thinking about things that they would like to do before they turn 50.  For me that is getting pretty damn close.  I have wanted to go base jumping since I was in my early 20’s. More so now than ever.  I think that it would be so awesome to jump off the Grand Canyon with a parachute.    God, that would be such a rush! (Kind of like playing chicken on motorcycles with your brother at 13, but that’s another post.) Of course with my luck I would land right square in the middle of the Snake River. I doubt that I will ever see that dream since you have to have 700 hours of parachute time before you can do it.  (And jumping out of a perfectly good airplane doesn’t do much for me, I would rather jump off a cliff.) Of course I could do it without those hours and all training that goes with them, but I might spend some time in jail or the hospital.  Probably get better food and service in jail then in the hospital.

That’s what I want to do before I turn 50.  Granted it will never happen, but it doesn’t hurt to dream.

What do you want to do before you turn 50, or if your already there, before you are too old to function?