Happy Birthday Daughter

Jaime

It is a beautiful gift to be able to be here with you on your birthday. It triggers so many happy memories watching you parent your little ones. It seems like only yesterday when you were smiling back at me while you were eating a bowl of noodles. Your Shirley Temple curls in two little pony-tails and your uneven bangs from where you put gum in your hair and tried to cut it out with your friend John.

Is this the little girl who rode her tricycle up and down the sidewalk stark naked every day?

Is this the little girl who in her Wonder Woman Underoos went sailing off the couch trying to fly and landed smack on the end of the coffee table only to receive ten stitches on her little cheek. You had a major shiner that year for your Easter pictures.

Is this the little girl who had tea parties with her imaginary friends and an entire conversation? I used to love to watch you ask a question and then jump up from the chair, run over to the other side of the table sit down and answer the question.

Is this the little girl who gave 100% and tried so hard to be more than Annie’s little sister?

Is this the little girl who found her own in high school and starred in the H.S. musical? You honed your musical talents and went on to become a drum corps performer able to perform solos in front of stadiums of 40,000 people. You would take daddy and my breath away.

As a young married woman you blossomed. You are assertive, gentle, loving, caring and successful in your business career. As a working mother, you amaze us. Juggling day care, pumping your breasts, hectic schedules and still running your house making gourmet meals and entertaining friends. Although, I did chuckle when you spent an hour cleaning up the house yesterday before the cleaning lady got there. LOL.

Your dad and I are so proud of all you have accomplished in life. You are determined, a goal setter. You make me feel good about myself too because I must have done something right because you are so special. You have climbed mountains.
We love you.

Happy Birthday Jaime.

Plant People

At first glance you might think that this blog is reference to the Invasion of Body Snatchers or Aliens. Wrong. This week I found this wonderful little Chinese Proverb.

If your vision is for a year, plant wheat. If your vision is for ten years, plant trees. If your vision is for a lifetime, plant people.

This reference is really what life is all about. Relationship building. Our children, our grandchildren are the vessels of hope for the future. If we instill the value that the most important things in life are not things then there is hope.

Whenever there is a real crisis like earthquakes, floods, hurricanes people come forward and do the right thing. These are people who had parents, teachers or loved ones that saw and taught the value of people.

It doesn’t matter what religion you follow, all of the major religions of the world instill and call their followers to Love One Another or reach out to the poor by giving of their substance.

So this back to school season when the kids come home and ask for extra school supplies for a drive at school, or a few canned goods for the Thanksgiving Drive or a sponsor for a Relay for Life race...remember the proverb or even the biblical expression “ You reap what you sow” and know that you are “planting people”.