Baby smokes 40 cigarettes a day

Here's the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpuye64qoqY

What's going to become of the gulf and it's beaches?

Here's a picture of Grand Isle, LA. This is a beach off the Gulf of Mexico. I'm from LA and I went to this beach as a child. It's a really a nice secluded beach and although it's not Florida, it's close. This beach is now closed because big swatches of oil have begun washing up on shore. People from home tell me the whole smell coming in from the gulf has changed from the usual smell into something"chemically smelling." How much of the nations coastline will have to be damaged before something is done? That oil flow has to be cutoff. Now.

Who needs a passport?

Bruce Redmon, the man who is a suspect in his wife's untimely and suspicious death in Cancun Mexico, somehow crossed the border back into the U.S. without a passport. Now he hasn't been charged with his wife's death, but the Mexican government did take his passport and tell him not to go anywhere. Who cares? He showed back up in L.A. yesterday. No passport needed. His wife's family is furious and distraught. I can understand why. I can just imagine what would happen if an everyday American citizen tried to get back across the border without a passport!

Sunday mornings and cell phones

It seems it doesn't matter where people are or what they're doing, they have to do it WITH a cell phone. I hate the text-n-drivers. That's a whole other subject. We're in Sunday school this morning and we're in there for almost an hour. That's it. We have 40 or so folks in our SS class and I watched as several people texted during class and nonchalantly checked email. As you can see I noticed this and was distracted by it. Has everyone lost their manners? Lost their self control? Can't all this wait anymore? Isn't it disrespectful? I'm sure people text and check mail during church also. I must just be missing it. This concerns me because it shows how we put OUR needs before anything else. Wow. I'm just so disheartened by this. Any thoughts?

Olive Kitteridge

This is one of those Pulitzer prize books and when I consider reading one it's almost the same as when I decide to watch a movie that's been given an Oscar. Prize winners are sometimes just a load of horse pucky. This borders on horse pucky. Each chapter of the book tells a different story about someone and how Olive fits into their story. Some chapters are from Olive's perspective and other chapters are about other people where Olive is just a character in their story. It's a book without an end. Suicide is also one of its major themes and I would like a heads up about this thank you very much, but the book description mentions nothing. It's an OK read. There are some parts where I thought, "This is great writing." I understand why it was given the Pulitzer. When you're done reading it you've been moved to another place--to a different understanding.

The Reliable Wife

I just got through reading this book and it was quite a surprise. I bought it weeks ago and have been moving it to the bottom of the reading pile until there was no more pile and this was all I had left to read. This is a great book. The author had written a story of his life before and in the process of doing so came up with the plot for this story. It all begins with an ad put in the paper for a reliable wife. The story is set in the early 1900s and has quite a few plot twists. The summary of the book on back doesn't even begin to do it justice. I think it's vague because it's hard to talk about this book and not give something away. It's sorta like Sarah Plain and Tall, but with a little more fuel to it.

Rest in Peace Ruby Ester Rock Robicheaux

My little 95 year old grandmother was laid to rest this Tuesday. She's finally with the people she loved the most--the Lord, her husband, my mother who was her only child, and her two brothers. My mom died eight months ago and she just wasn't the same after that.


Her funeral wasn't attended by many because let's face it, most of the people she knew were already dead. The guy who use to cut her grass came with his wife. This man is a saint. He would stay at her house for hours after cutting her grass because he knew my grandma was lonely. He knew her life story and he didn't mind listening. His family even took her with them when she had to evacuate during hurricane Katrina. He told us stories about her and how he met her in WalMart one day. It made me smile.


Good memories. She will be missed. 

Movie to see: Waiting for Superman

Just saw this trailer for an upcoming movie. It's probably more of a documentary, but it addresses some problems with our education system. It looks really good. Here's the link so you can take a look.

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/paramount_vantage/waitingforsuperman

Fin as in End

I've mentioned before that my mom died in September of last year of lung cancer. This is my first Mother's Day without her. She wasn't the "bestest" mom, but she was my mom. Even though it's been eight months since she died, I've still thought at least five times that I need to go and buy her a card and wondered if I should pick her up something else for Mother's Day. I'm still getting use to the fact I can't pick up the phone to call her and tell her the things that no one else in this world is interested in hearing but a mom. I just keep those ideas to myself now. Also I'm hoping one day soon tears will stop welling up in my eyes each time someone brings her up in conversation.

 Ruby, my 96 year-old grandmother is still alive. She is my mom's mom. My mom was her only child and my grandmother helped raise me through the years when my mother wasn't sure she wanted to be a mom. Ruby is laying in a hospital bed right now, ten hours away from me, and these are probably some of her last few days, possibly hours. She has been sad since her daughter has stopped visiting her and she can't really understand why. She just knows she misses her. Ruby also knows she has outlived almost everyone she's ever known. Her husband has been dead for 35 years, her brothers even longer than that. She's went to the funerals of all her friends, visiting some in the the nursing home as they took their last breaths.

The hardest part about living is the ending. There are many endings. Our childhood eventually ends. Our free young adult lives end when we have children. AND then moms this is the cruelest part, those same children that needed us for so long will grow up and leave us and not need us anymore. Try not worrying about them after 18 years of it being your sole duty to keep them safe and warm and you'll find it's not so easy. Everything has an end. Some ends lead to new beginnings here on this earth and other ends are more final.

This all leaves me to wonder what end is next and I'm anxious about it. Then with my next thought I realize I can't live my life anticipating the end because I'll miss what comes in between the beginning and the end. I'll miss the living. "Don't miss the now," I hear whispered to me.

                                                                           FIN