Serendipity

Okay folks, I admit it...I am square. I don't like the smell of pot. Period. I've been this way since I was 18 and nothing's changed since. When I left my last pot-smoking boyfriend, I had high hopes I would not smell that stuff ever again. Boy...was I wrong. When my son and I moved into this apartment last October, the fun began. The people who live across the hall from us, a fellow probably in his late 20s or early 30s and a couple of young gals who I would be inclined to think/hope were in their late teens or early 20s really seem to like to puff their days away. Constantly.  If we walk out our apartment door we plow into an unseen cloud of pot smoke that about chokes us to death. I am being dead serious here. It's horrible and it even seeps in under our door and into our apartment at times. Ticks me off. I know you are thinking that I should report them. I have...to the office that manages this place. They served the people across the hall with a warnin...

GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED: 1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats. 2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair. 3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person. 4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato. 5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food. 6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair. 7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time. 8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk. 9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts. 10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap. GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED: 1) Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree. 2) Wrinkles don't hurt. 3) Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts. 4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground. 5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside. 6...

Jesse Gourley, Founder of PTSD TKO Evansville, IN --  Jesse Gourley is a typical, fun-loving 8-year old, who loves camping, writing and drawing. Already she carries a heavy load on her heart for one so young, experiencing firsthand what PTSD has done to her father. Jesse has experienced fear, hurt and anxiety in a time of her life that she should be solely enjoying her childhood. Shawn and Jesse Her mom, author and owner/founder of  Military with PTSD , Shawn explains that she has done her best to ease things for her children, telling them no more than needed, about why daddy acts like he does and seems so angry at times. Shawn knows though, that children don't really understand PTSD. Unfortunately, most adults don't either. Shawn explained to me how TKO came to be: "Jesse came to me with the idea of TKO. They bet me they could raise more PTSD awareness than I could and said the theme was 'Momma said knock you out' and from th...

There are still no answers forthcoming as to what has caused 19 students in LeRoy, NY to develop uncontrollable twitching. In the past week, a new theory was suggested: that social media is to blame. As a form of mass hysteria, experts are now suggesting that the use of Facebook and other various forms of social media are spreading these symptoms through the students like wildfire. According to  Dr. Laszlo Mechtler , chief of neurology at the Dent Neurologic Institute in Buffalo, these students know each other...some are best friends...their bodies are picking up these symptoms and it's going from one student to the next and on to the next. That means that the brain is actually subconsciously mimicking the twitching felt by others. While the exact neurologic pathway is still unclear, researchers believe the common factor is stress and anxiety. Mechtler emphasized that the girls are not faking their twitching. And it all comes back to the original ideas that this is part ...

Tomorrow is my 53rd birthday. It's supposed to be a festive time...yet I am not feeling very festive at all. For the first time in the last 34 years, my family...meaning my 3 children...are farther apart mentally and emotionally than I ever thought I'd see. I never thought I'd see a day when one of my children would harbor such distrust and anger toward me...yet here it is, literally slapping me across my face. I admit that I wasn't the greatest mom on earth...not even close. I made mistakes...which I have asked forgiveness for and was forgiven...yet I am finding out now that I wasn't. Not even close. Suddenly, I've found myself looking at not one, but two letters nearly dripping with venom...getting blamed for things that I had no control over, for things that I did or did not do...and they both seemed to scream at me that I am a failure as a mother to him.  I have wrote letters attempting to defend myself...but I already know that he has the mind...

The words in this image say it all.  The very words, "You've changed" is something that two of my kids have told me time and time again...to the point that I am wondering what exactly their expectations of me are. I am the mother of three adult children, who are and have been out on their own for years. But when I had my breakdown, I moved in with my daughter and there I lived until the beginning of September.  She often would look at me and tell me that she missed the mom that she had when she was a teenager...and my response would be that I am not the same person that I was then. Too much life has been lived and too many changes have taken place. I have evolved, trying to find out who I am, apart from being a daughter, sister, mother and having been a wife three times. My oldest son, recently sent me a letter too, saying that I have changed...I am not the mom that he remembers. It wasn't a pleasant letter, and has caused me some anger, frustration and has m...

When I made my decision to move to Wisconsin to be with my boyfriend, the biggest obstacle  I had in front of me was telling each one of my (adult) children.  I was truthfully fearful of their reaction...not all sure HOW they would react.  Fortunately, my fears were unfounded. I told my youngest first, to gauge how the other two might react.  He was shocked at first, then admitted that he thought it was a good thing, and since he could come spend a week or two on a visit...he was fine!  That was almost three weeks ago. Last Friday, I had the opportunity to talk things out with my oldest son, and I was shocked that he suggested that I do move!  The reality here is that I have lived with my daughter for most of what will be 10 years this coming November, I am quickly approaching my 53rd birthday, and have not had a life to call my own, since I am a caregiver to 3 grandchildren as well as living with them.  He told me it was way past time for me to ...

My mom on her wedding day That's the day that changed the lives of my brother, sister and I forever.  February 8, 1975.  It's etched into my brain so that I can never forget that our mom was taken from us. It was a Saturday morning, like most others that Winter, where my mom would often get dressed-up in her one-piece snow outfit and take off for a while to enjoy the outdoors on her snow mobile.  That morning, it was mid-morning when she left...asking me to make sure that our dad got his hot lunch when he came in from doing chores at the dairy farm where we lived.   I said I would.   Dad came in for lunch about noon, and we (Dad, my brother, sister and I) all ate and talked about whatever the subject might have been that day.  After a bit, Dad headed back out to return to the barns which were less than a 5-minute walk up the road from our house.   I can't remember what I was doing at the time, maybe cleaning up after the meal and d...