Faith defined

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“A god you can comprehend is a god not worth comprehending.”

It was said during the homily, one sentence among many. But this particular sentence planted itself in my brain and took root.

Days went by, then weeks.

But the sentence wouldn’t budge. There it was, front and center.

So I grabbed the little fella and looked it over. What about this sentence was so special?

Then it hit me. It was the BEST definition of faith EVER!

Rarely is something so complicated so succinctly defined.

Now I’m glad that little sentence took root. There’s a lot I can learn from it.

 

Importance of parenting

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The way we parent is one of the things that sets us apart from most other creatures on our planet. We humans nourish, protect, and cherish our offspring long after they are able to stand on their own two feet and feed themselves.

Because of that, I tend to judge a person’s humanity by how s/he treats her/his child.
I mean, you’re either a human or you’re not. Pick a side.

I’ve seen people get so caught up in work, causes, and networking that they forget what life is really about.  By that, I mean they forget their children. The desire to make a name for themselves, to leave their mark on the world, is so strong they treat their kids like last week’s emails.

You know. The old I’ll-take-care-of-it-later thing. Which really means it’ll be forgotten until it becomes no longer relevant and can be deleted.

News flash! Kids will never be irrelevant. And no deleting allowed.
Second news flash! Kids will continue to grow and learn, even without parental guidance and support. Of course they might learn to hate and grow into villains, twisted versions…

Never mind. I don’t want to go there.

Instead, I want to talk to ‘driven’ parents who think success is measured in dollars and fame.
It’s not.

Children are, and will always be, the best, most powerful way to leave a mark on the world.
You are training a human to be human! Put some effort into it!

-Teach kids that although they are important, that doesn’t make them the center of the universe.
-Make them understand that they may have to fight for their place in the world, but that doesn’t give then to right to obliterate someone else to do it.
-Help them to understand that no one should achieve success at the expense of their fellow humans.

Respect. Kindness. Friendship. Good manners.
Not old-fashioned, but in fashion.
Or, at least, they should be!

We humans need to talk to each other and cooperate.
We are, after all, a social species.

So hug your children and spend time with them. Teach them to be human.
The world will thank you.

Beauty alert!

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Guest Post by Pepper Curious:

I’ve been busy taking care of my family.

It has been long time since I last visited the beauty parlor. Look at my fur! What a mess.

I think I have more tangles than hair.

I guess it’s my own fault, I love to roll around in lovely smells.

I’ve found some great smells lately, like the one across the street.

But what kind of monster turns on a sprinkler just when a dog is having a good roll?

I barely got out of there alive, and now, look at the tangles!

I’ve got to talk my family into taking me soon, before anyone I know sees me like this.

Temper tantrum, anyone?

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Just got back from the grocery story. While there I witnessed one of those human interactions that make you shake your head.

First, I probably should say that the store has multiple, very obvious signs posted that state that  pets, especially dogs, are not allowed. It even has one of those pictures of a dog crossed out.

I arrived in the produce section just as a woman with a child politely told a woman with a dog that dogs aren’t allowed in the store.

Did I mention that the woman with the child was polite?

You’d never know it, ’cause the woman with the dog IMMEDIATELY, and I mean IMMEDIATELY in all caps, began yelling, “Why are you attacking me! Leave me alone. Get away from me. I don’t know you. Don’t talk to me.” And then a stream of words came out of her mouth that would make a sailor blush. It was not at all subtle. I’m sure everyone in the store heard it.

To understand why this scenario struck me as…well…weird, I should give a short description of the participants.

Woman with 9-year-old boy:  Maybe 5’2″, hair pulled back out of her face, lanyard with a badge around her neck, business casual attire, mid-forties.

Woman with Chihuahua:  Nearly 6 feet tall, long brown hair with bangs, dressed in fishnet stockings, short shorts, late twenties.

See why it seems so odd? The dog-woman reacted as if she were in being attacked and in physical danger. She yelled, she screamed, she accused, she did all the appropriate things to let everyone know that she feared for her life.

But she could not have been afraid of a woman half her size and twice her age.

Maybe she had had a bad day and was angry at the world.
Or maybe she was several cards short of a full deck.

I just don’t know. She took her little dog and headed for the dairy section and I never saw her again.

What I do know is that dog-woman’s response was overblown, vulgar, and totally ludicrous.

I got the distinct impression that this wasn’t the first time she’s acted in this manner. It came too easy for her. She didn’t even look embarrassed.

Which makes me assume it’s probably her normal way of getting what she wants.

Hey, if it works for a two-year-old…

Temper tantrum, anyone?

Obsessed

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I used to be one of those people who was never, and I mean NEVER, without something to read. If I didn’t have a book handy I’d read a magazine, a newspaper, an encyclopedia, a label, or even someone’s t-shirt.

I would read several books at the same time. I’d have one book in the bedroom for late night reading, another in the living room for those rare spare moments, and a third in my purse for the times I had to wait for my kids after school or a sport.

And okay, I’ll admit it. I can read upside down. Though I tried not to do it, ’cause other people do have a right to their privacy, after all.

Long story short, I was obsessed with reading.

But no more. The obsession is gone. I now catagorise myself as a casual reader.

That ravenous hunger for the written word – the one that once made me stay up all night to read five books, just because – is gone.

Pouf!

Before you congratulate me on getting my obsession under control I probably should let you in on a secret. Well, it’s more like a confession.

Sigh.

Here goes. I didn’t so much as get my reading obsession under control as I switched it. I no longer have the insatiable craving to read because I have the insatiable craving to write.

Now I’m the person who is never, and I mean NEVER, without a writing project.

Phew! It felt good to get that off my chest!

In some ways it’s easier. I can do a lot of the prewriting anywhere. I don’t really need pen and paper to plot a story or explore a character’s personality traits. Much of that can be done in my head while I’m in line at the grocery store, or listening to a friend’s overlong, boring story about…

What?

Oh, no! Of course I’m not talking about you! I’d never zone out while listening to one of YOUR stories. I promise. See, my eyes aren’t glazed over even the tiniest bit.

Anyway, the strange thing is that I’m the same type of writer as I was a reader. I always have multiple projects going the same time.

Well, I guess if I have to be obsessed with something…

 

Stone Woman novel excerpt

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I adapted the Stone Woman screenplay into novel form and now it’s time to begin the rewrites.

I’m not yet sure what the final version will read like – I’ll rewrite it a zillion and three times before it goes to print – but here’s where it is now.

Open the first page to:

“No, no, and again no!” Nicole yelled over her shoulder as she bulldozed her way through the thick jungle brush and stumbled into a clearing.

The honeymoon was not going as planned. Not only was she tired and sweaty from the long trek through the jungle, but a mosquito had just bitten her elbow and those ever-present howler monkeys would give a concert just when she wanted to think.

But to be honest, jungle inconveniences weren’t the problem. The problem was Michael. She didn’t know if it was because he was tall while she was petite, or because he was two years older than her, but he insisted that he had every bit as much right to make decisions for the two of them as Nicole did.

Only—he didn’t.

*   *   *

So much work to do. But hey, I like the story. It’ll be worth it!

Letter to Seattle City Leaders

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Seattle has a new nickname – City in Ruins.

I know, I know. You’re trying to fix the homeless problem. I’ve heard you say it a thousand times. Just give you more money and-

-And nothing!

You CAN’T solve the problem by throwing more money at it.
You CAN solve it by enforcing the law.
That’s right. We already have laws in place to stop most of this mess. It has never been legal to camp in city parks or on sidewalks.

Have you ever been around people? I sometimes wonder. Because people do what is easiest.

Make it hard to camp illegally in Seattle, make the campers uncomfortable and ill at ease, and they’ll stop.

Before you know it those droves of interlopers who have polluted our city with waste and drugs  will be gone. They’ll tuck their tails between their legs and scurry back to wherever they came from.

My neighborhood is one of the forgotten ones. A neighborhood full of families and small businesses, a neighborhood struggling to overcome the constant mismanagement of the City Council.

There’s a corner a few blocks from my house where sketchy people hang out. Right about when the City Council decided that citizens of Seattle mattered less than whatever drifter rolled into our town, the population of that corner exploded.

So now if I want to walk from my house to the business district I’d have to stroll through a disorderly crowd, most of them obviously drunk or loopy on drugs. I can’t count the number of times I’ve witnessed one or more of them dropping their drawers and…well, you know. It’s not at all hygenic.

As you might guess, my family has decided to use our cars to visit nearby stores and restaurants. And if there are sketchy people hanging out in those parking lots, we keep driving.

I’d rather take my business to a nearby town rather than put my family at risk.

But today, while walking our dog, my daughter found a tent in our very neighborhood. Not on the outskirts, not at the sanctioned site just up the road.

It makes me feel unsafe in my own neighborhood.

My question to you, Seattle City Leaders, is what are you going to do about it?

Happy Mother’s Day!

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To all the moms out there in this crazy world, I wish you a beautiful, relaxing day with your child. Or children, if you are so blessed to have multiple!

Watch, listen, and remember. Notice, really notice, the wonderful creature you’ve helped create.

This is your kid. Your greatest achievement.

Even if you’re instrumental in finding the cure for cancer, it won’t compare to the importance of nurturing a little human into a big human.

All those nights without sleep,
the messy house,
the worry,
the hours spent shuttling the little monster hither and yon…
all worth it.

It’s about the survival of our species.

And that special bond between a mother and her child.

Close cat call

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Guest Post by Pepper Curious: 

I was following a very interesting scent today when I almost got to have a private conversation with one of those pesky cats in my neighborhood.

I say almost because just as I got close enough to realize the scent I was following was that of a certain black cat that always does his best to irritate me–right when I looked up and saw that very cat sitting at the top of a set of steps–he took an olympic leap right over my head and shot off around the house to the backyard.

A fenced backyard, of course. This cat is sneaky and knows exactly which yards are out of my reach.

It is probably just as well, since I hadn’t had time to plan what I would say.

I’d probably tell him to stay out of my yard. I just hate going outside first thing in the morning to be met by the lingering odor of cat. Yuck!

I’ll catch up with him sometime. One of these days….