Zu Zu's Petals

A friend of mine once named his band, Zu Zu's Petals, but for me the memory of Zu Zu's Petals comes from my all-time favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life.

Zu Zu's petals played such an important role in that movie, because Zu Zu asked Daddy (George, played by Jimmy Stewart) to "fix" her broken flower. After pretending to affix the fallen petals to the flower, and after depositing the fallen petals into his pocked, George handed the broken flower back to her. Zu Zu didn't notice that the petals were missing and was just as happy with her flower, thinking Daddy had fixed it, as she was when she first got it.

To me that flower represented George's broken life, or at least his perception of his broken life.

Like the flower, our lives are fragile and when they break, we often try to fix them, tucking remnants that have fallen away deep inside the recesses of our minds. Sometimes the broken pieces represent something important to us. We hold onto them, because we realize that those who love us, love us just the way we are, broken or not.

On this final day of the A to Z Challenge, I would like to introduce you to my web site and to my other blogs and article sites. I would genuinely enjoy a visit from you at any of the below sites:


Your Weird Dreams

Your Blog Connection

Help For Single Parents 

My Heart Blogs To You 

Writing Creatively

Paranormal Minds

Product Favorites

Theresa Wiza's Blog 

My Associated Content Articles

My Xomba Articles 

And that completes Day #26, the final day, from the A-Z Challenge. Brought to you by the letter, Z.

Thank you for visiting!

Don't Eat Yellow Snow

Happy Birthday to my second oldest daughter, Lindsey, who turns 30 today. I'm hoping she'll remember a poem I wrote and read to her when she was young, entitled, Don't Eat Yellow Snow.  If nothing else, the name I chose for the main character will make her laugh (inside joke).

Today, if you Google "don't eat yellow snow," you will find close to 4 million results.

Here is my version of

Don't Eat Yellow Snow (written about 25 years ago)

I know my mommy loves me
'cause everywhere I go
I hear her yelling, "Jason,
don't eat yellow snow.

Put away the cookies.
Please don't make a mess.
Comb your hair now, Jason."
I really must confess

that sometimes I can't stand it
even though I know
there really is a reason
I can't eat yellow snow.

She says she tells me these things
because she loves me so.
But I don't understand why
I can't eat yellow snow.

O.K., a mess is ugly,
that I understand,
and if I touch the oven
I could burn my hand.

And if I eat the cookies,
I may not eat my lunch
but how could eating snow be bad?
I just don't have a hunch.

Maybe someone dropped a can
of yucky yellow paint.
Maybe that's the thing that made
old movie ladies faint.

Maybe Mommy's yellow pants
got buried in the snow.
I wonder if bananas dropped
a long, long time ago.

Just while I'm still wondering,
my dog comes out to play.
You'll never guess what "Puddles"
did on my snow today.

Now I understand things
'cause when Puddles had to go
he gave my mom a reason to say,
"Don't eat yellow snow!"

And that completes Day #25 from the A-Z Challenge. Brought to you by the letter, Y. 


Previous A-Z Challenge blogs:

Amazon Hates Me – Day #1 from the A-Z Challenge

Bored – Why? – Day #2 from the A-Z Challenge

Craziness – Day #3 from the A-Z Challenge

When Your Daughter Develops, DON'T DO THIS! – Day #4 from the A-Z Challenge

Ellen – Day #5 from the A-Z Challenge

Family and Friends – Day #6 from the A-Z Challenge

The Grownup Table – Day #7 from the A-Z Challenge

Happiness & Joy – Day #8 from the A-Z Challenge

Idiots in the Attic – Day #9 from the A-Z Challenge

Jokes Accidentally – Day #10 from the A-Z Challenge

The Kid That Wasn't Named Ker – Day #11 from the A-Z Challenge

Living Out of Suitcases – Day #12 from the A-Z Challenge

Misunderstandings – I KNOW You Didn't Say What I THINK You Said

Networked Blogs on Facebook


The Old and The Elderly – At What Age Do You FEEL Old?


Peacocks Are Not Penguins

Quiz That Changed My Thinking

Reading Les Miserable
  
Sense and Nonsense

The Traumatization of a Third Grader

Under Pressure

Vitality, Vivaciousness, and Victory

Wisdom and Intelligence


The X Factor With Simon Cowell

The X Factor With Simon Cowell

My good buddy, Simon Cowell, sent me an email. Really. He did. I share part of his email in the blog I will soon direct you to. As a fan of American Idol, I am anticipating his new show, The X Factor, with some expectations that he will provide me and all of his viewers with an outstanding experience.

I'll bet Simon Cowell fans everywhere are anticipating his new show, too. One has to wonder, though, if anybody on his program will encounter the Cowell critique. After all, if our expectations of Cowell's new program matches his expectations that the singers on his program are extraordinary, none of them should be bad enough to receive criticisms.

I can only imagine that the singers themselves would be exceptional and that the only difference between those sensational singers and the American Idol winners is "stage presence," or The X Factor.

Without further ado, I invite you to read My Letter From Simon Cowell blog (click the link) where you will discover my relationship with Simon Cowell. (Don't get too X cited.)

And that completes Day #24 from the A-Z Challenge. Brought to you by the letter, X.


Previous A-Z Challenge blogs:

Amazon Hates Me – Day #1 from the A-Z Challenge

Bored – Why? – Day #2 from the A-Z Challenge

Craziness – Day #3 from the A-Z Challenge

When Your Daughter Develops, DON'T DO THIS! – Day #4 from the A-Z Challenge

Ellen – Day #5 from the A-Z Challenge

Family and Friends – Day #6 from the A-Z Challenge

The Grownup Table – Day #7 from the A-Z Challenge

Happiness & Joy – Day #8 from the A-Z Challenge

Idiots in the Attic – Day #9 from the A-Z Challenge

Jokes Accidentally – Day #10 from the A-Z Challenge

The Kid That Wasn't Named Ker – Day #11 from the A-Z Challenge

Living Out of Suitcases – Day #12 from the A-Z Challenge

Misunderstandings – I KNOW You Didn't Say What I THINK You Said

Networked Blogs on Facebook


The Old and The Elderly – At What Age Do You FEEL Old?


Peacocks Are Not Penguins

Quiz That Changed My Thinking

Reading Les Miserable
  
Sense and Nonsense

The Traumatization of a Third Grader

Under Pressure

Vitality, Vivaciousness, and Victory

Wisdom and Intelligence

Wisdom and Intelligence

I grew up thinking I was quite stupid, because I believed my father, who repeatedly asked me, "How can you be so stupid?"

I didn't quite know how to answer him. I mean if I'm truly stupid, why would he ask me questions that a stupid person couldn't answer?

What his comments did for me though, was make me want to be smart, very smart – no – genius smart. However, when I received A's on my report cards, I reasoned that they had to have been a fluke. Through some magical ability, I must have answered questions correctly or figured things out accidentally.

As an adult, I have learned that, despite the filter that absorbed the "stupid" comments, I really do have a brain, I really can think, and I really am reasonably intelligent, but, like Albert Einstein, I believe, "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."

And, as I've gotten even older, I've realized that I don't really want to be just smart, I want to be wise. Wisdom has become more important to me than intelligence.

According to the dictionary, wisdom comes from having experience, knowledge, and good judgment. Experience I have and continue to have, knowledge I am always attaining; good judgment, on the other hand, is a struggle for me. I want to believe that everybody is compassionate and caring and I am always surprised to find out that not all of them are. When will I learn?

Hopefully never. I hold out hope that conscienceless people will learn to be compassionate and caring. Hope truly does spring eternal in me.

I leave you with these words of wisdom, "The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind." ~ Kahlil Gibran

And that completes Day #23 from the A-Z Challenge. Brought to you by the letter, W.

Previous A-Z Challenge blogs:

Amazon Hates Me – Day #1 from the A-Z Challenge

Bored – Why? – Day #2 from the A-Z Challenge

Craziness – Day #3 from the A-Z Challenge

When Your Daughter Develops, DON'T DO THIS! – Day #4 from the A-Z Challenge

Ellen – Day #5 from the A-Z Challenge

Family and Friends – Day #6 from the A-Z Challenge

The Grownup Table – Day #7 from the A-Z Challenge

Happiness & Joy – Day #8 from the A-Z Challenge

Idiots in the Attic – Day #9 from the A-Z Challenge

Jokes Accidentally – Day #10 from the A-Z Challenge

The Kid That Wasn't Named Ker – Day #11 from the A-Z Challenge

Living Out of Suitcases – Day #12 from the A-Z Challenge

Misunderstandings – I KNOW You Didn't Say What I THINK You Said

Networked Blogs on Facebook


The Old and The Elderly – At What Age Do You FEEL Old?


Peacocks Are Not Penguins

Quiz That Changed My Thinking

Reading Les Miserable
  
Sense and Nonsense

The Traumatization of a Third Grader

Under Pressure

Vitality, Vivaciousness, and Victory

 

Vitality, Vivaciousness, and Victory

Growing older doesn't bother me. What bothers me about aging is losing my vitality – my energy. At one time I might have described myself as vivacious (lively and animated), but as I get older, vivaciousness appears to be dripping out of me like condensation from a cold bottle of water on a hot summer day.

So many things animate me – kids, writing, conversations that deeply engage me, ideas, creativity, and surprising discoveries. Twitches of excitement cause electrical impulses to race through my brain at an alarming speed.

I become a ball of energy (perhaps too) tightly wound. Often, I grab thoughts as quickly as possible for fear of losing them before they escape my attention. Thankfully, I'm fairly quick about capturing them and recording them.

But what if – one day – I sit down to write and I can't think?

My biggest fear about aging is losing that vitality, that essence of energy that drives my body, my thoughts, and my spirit.

Will my brain slow down as I get older? Will my body fall apart? I already have a bad back and a bunch of other physical ailments. Getting older can't mean that I will lose my vitality.

Can it?

Breast cancer slowed me down, but it didn't stop me. Although I still don't have the same level of energy I had before I got breast cancer, I look forward to the day – four and a half years from now – when I'm finished with chemo, so I can regain some of my former energy.

And then I think about all those residents I've seen in nursing homes. Their lethargic stance with their slumped shoulders, their sad eyes, and their non-smiling mouths seem so pitiful to me.

The thought of being in a nursing home saddens me. I want to ask the residents, "Did you accomplish your goals? Were you happy? Did you ever feel victorious?

Or do you find joy only in your memories?"

My mom is 77 years old and as vivacious as many 30 year olds. She could walk circles around me. Though my age sounds old (I will turn 60 this year), I don't feel old. Maybe I come by that naturally. I hope to be as full of vitality as my mom is when I get to be her age.

I also hope to experience joy, hope, and love all the way up until the time I depart this world.

After all, what is life without joy – without hope – without love? I want a life filled with joy, with laughter, and with love. I want to feel victorious.

Want some laughter in your life? Check out Humor Outcasts (click the link) for some amusing stories. It will tickle your funny bone.

And from there, the rest of you will respond, because, as we all know, your funny bone's connected to your head bone (I know – most people call it a skull), your head bone's connected to your shoulder bones…and as you feel shivers running all the way down to your feet, you'll find your toes are tingling with vitality.

And that completes Day #22 from the A-Z Challenge. Brought to you by the letter, V. 


Previous A-Z Challenge blogs:

Amazon Hates Me – Day #1 from the A-Z Challenge

Bored – Why? – Day #2 from the A-Z Challenge

Craziness – Day #3 from the A-Z Challenge

When Your Daughter Develops, DON'T DO THIS! – Day #4 from the A-Z Challenge

Ellen – Day #5 from the A-Z Challenge

Family and Friends – Day #6 from the A-Z Challenge

The Grownup Table – Day #7 from the A-Z Challenge

Happiness & Joy – Day #8 from the A-Z Challenge

Idiots in the Attic – Day #9 from the A-Z Challenge

Jokes Accidentally – Day #10 from the A-Z Challenge

The Kid That Wasn't Named Ker – Day #11 from the A-Z Challenge

Living Out of Suitcases – Day #12 from the A-Z Challenge

Misunderstandings – I KNOW You Didn't Say What I THINK You Said

Networked Blogs on Facebook


The Old and The Elderly – At What Age Do You FEEL Old?


Peacocks Are Not Penguins

Quiz That Changed My Thinking

Reading Les Miserable
  
Sense and Nonsense

The Traumatization of a Third Grader

Under Pressure

Under Pressure

Before I undertook this A-Z Challenge, I battled with myself over whether or not I wanted to join it. Having to commit to a writing challenge for which I was expected to produce something EVERY DAY was not something that fit well with my lifestyle. My grandchildren interrupted every word I wrote with things like, "Grandma, it's freezing out here with no coat on. Please let us back into the house!"

OK, I'm kidding – about letting them back into the house – not about them interrupting me while I tried to complete a sentence.

But seriously I felt as if I had suddenly become a tea kettle and somebody had poured a very tiny amount of water inside of me. With the burner turned to high, and within a very short period of time I was, in two words, under pressure!

Factor in that I'm tired – a lot – add all of my physical problems (bad back, asthma, cancer, migraines), consider the hours I care for my grandchildren – from early morning to late night – every day from Monday through Friday, and I had to ask myself, "Should I commit?"

I definitely felt under pressure, unbearably so! I bit the skin around my fingernails (never the nails themselves – ewww), got migraines, paced back and forth (in my head), and finally decided that for some insane reason, I had to pour out even more water from the kettle. As my insides boiled and spurt forth from inside me, I took that as a genuine sign from God to commit myself – to a hospital. I mean, to the A-Z Challenge.

Reminiscent of my high school years when my shorthand teacher, on Fridays, would give the class homework for the following week – one assignment due for each day of the week – I rushed home to complete all of the assignments that Friday night. So, yes, under pressure of not being able to complete my blog assignments, I took it upon myself to complete all of my blogs at once, too.

So here I was just days prior to April, stressing out, when I decided that I had to come up with ideas for all of them RIGHT NOW or I couldn't commit! I wrote down several ideas (about 20 of the 26), signed up, and over the next few days, completed all of the blogs except one.

The ONLY one that stumped me, the only one that caused extreme pressure was this one, the letter U. Unique? Unorthodox? Unusual? What should I write about? SO MUCH PRESSURE!

And then the light bulb in my head went off. At first it flickered, and then as I heard the tea kettle whistle, it came to me – Under Pressure.

And that completes Day #21 from the A-Z Challenge. Brought to you by the letter, U. 


Previous A-Z Challenge blogs:

Amazon Hates Me – Day #1 from the A-Z Challenge

Bored – Why? – Day #2 from the A-Z Challenge

Craziness – Day #3 from the A-Z Challenge

When Your Daughter Develops, DON'T DO THIS! – Day #4 from the A-Z Challenge

Ellen – Day #5 from the A-Z Challenge

Family and Friends – Day #6 from the A-Z Challenge

The Grownup Table – Day #7 from the A-Z Challenge

Happiness & Joy – Day #8 from the A-Z Challenge

Idiots in the Attic – Day #9 from the A-Z Challenge

Jokes Accidentally – Day #10 from the A-Z Challenge

The Kid That Wasn't Named Ker – Day #11 from the A-Z Challenge

Living Out of Suitcases – Day #12 from the A-Z Challenge

Misunderstandings – I KNOW You Didn't Say What I THINK You Said

Networked Blogs on Facebook


The Old and The Elderly – At What Age Do You FEEL Old?


Peacocks Are Not Penguins

Quiz That Changed My Thinking

Reading Les Miserable
  
Sense and Nonsense

The Traumatization of a Third Grader

 

The Traumatization of a Third Grader

Certain moments remain frozen in time. For reasons I will never understand, frozen moments clamp down on the hands of a clock and force me to remember the most embarrassing and humiliating moments of my life. This is one of those moments.

Once a month, every month while I was growing up, students in our Catholic classrooms would walk single file down the hallway to go to church. When church was over, we would return to our classrooms.

For some reason, on this frozen-in-time day, Dale Reiser and I made it to our third grade classroom long before any of the other students arrived. Perhaps we were running. I don't remember that part, but I do remember seeing his beautiful curly head of blonde hair and thinking that he was so cute, I just had to run up and tickle him.

Why adults from every corner of the school didn't leap forward to stop me, I don't know. Absolutely no thoughts whatsoever ran through my head saying things like, "Don't you think this idea is stupid?" or "Stop yourself before you embarrass yourself!" Absolutely no thoughts whatsoever ran through my mind, period.

And so, in what must have looked like a deranged psychopath to Dale Reiser as I raced toward his desk (the look on his face was one of sheer terror), Dale Reiser's eyes nearly exploded out of his head as I ran up to him and tickled him.

Instantly I was horrified. What had I done? Of course, I didn't think those words until he looked up at me with appalling fear written all over his face and asked, "Why'd you DO that?"

My eyes sprung open. Why DID I do that? Could I dare tell him that it was because I thought he was so cute that I HAD to tickle him? Could I admit that I didn't have the ability to stop myself from tickling him or that I hadn't yet developed impulse control?

No, I just meekly said, "I don't know," slumped my shoulders forward, and returned to my seat.

It was the first time I ever felt blood rush to my face. And I never again looked at him.

And that completes Day #20 from the A-Z Challenge. Brought to you by the letter, T.

Previous A-Z Challenge blogs:

Amazon Hates Me – Day #1 from the A-Z Challenge

Bored – Why? – Day #2 from the A-Z Challenge

Craziness – Day #3 from the A-Z Challenge

When Your Daughter Develops, DON'T DO THIS! – Day #4 from the A-Z Challenge

Ellen – Day #5 from the A-Z Challenge

Family and Friends – Day #6 from the A-Z Challenge

The Grownup Table – Day #7 from the A-Z Challenge

Happiness & Joy – Day #8 from the A-Z Challenge

Idiots in the Attic – Day #9 from the A-Z Challenge

Jokes Accidentally – Day #10 from the A-Z Challenge

The Kid That Wasn't Named Ker – Day #11 from the A-Z Challenge

Living Out of Suitcases – Day #12 from the A-Z Challenge

Misunderstandings – I KNOW You Didn't Say What I THINK You Said

Networked Blogs on Facebook


The Old and The Elderly – At What Age Do You FEEL Old?


Peacocks Are Not Penguins

Quiz That Changed My Thinking

Reading Les Miserable
  
Sense and Nonsense