Today was very nice. Holly gave me a pedicure and colored my hair. She and Dan bought me a set of salt and pepper shakers from Iraq and Holly cooked baked ham, potato salad and white beans for supper. Nicole gave me her special homemade Mother’s Day cards with a hand drawing of myself with a big smile on my face and big eyes twinkling. It truly amazes me when I see myself through Nicole’s eyes…and all that love makes me feel deeply! Stacy drove in to bring me a beautiful bouquet of flowers with a large chocolate heart. Maria called and wished me a Happy Mother’s Day and to say they will be here next Friday to stay the weekend. Then to top all of that Ken brought me a live trellis plant to remember Mother’s Day year after year. I called my own mother early this morning to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day too. Each breath she takes is a struggle and I know each year I have her is a blessing because her health is so bad. My cousins voiced their thoughts about their mother in heaven, as well as many of my friends sharing their loss ….thinking about what they would do if only they had one more day with their moms. Another cousin said she felt the urge to hug an older lady today….just because she needed it. I remember my mother braiding my hair so tightly that I just knew I was Chinese for many years.
However, the most important part of my day was spent with Holly this year. She and I laughed about all the things we remembered about growing up with me as her mom. I remembered the many times we were driving in the car and she would see something and scream for my attention…causing me to slam on the brakes because I thought something was wrong. We talked about school and her childhood friends and escapades…some of which I knew nothing about …but yet knew somehow. She told Stephen to eat his beans and they argued over it…and she said when she was his age she ate what was put in front of her with no argument…and that I wouldn’t let her argue. I remember driving her to school and singing to her in the car….her begging me to stop yet continued to sing. She remembered that oh so well. I have so many memories of each day she has lived on this earth and the road we both have travelled to get us to the relationship we now have together. Both of us have planted yucca plants under Stephen and Nicole’s bedroom windows…because we know how difficult it will be when they become teenagers to climb out their windows with pointy yucca plants in the way. Tomorrow Holly and I will go to her pre-op for her surgery on Thursday. This will be the very first time she will have surgery. Together we will do this…just like together we have travelled her life. The hours went by fast this Mother’s Day as we talked and talked and talked. I will cherish this day forever!
By Christian Struzan
YOU WANT TO GET MAD? We had eight years of Bush and Cheney, but now you get mad! You didn’t get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President. You didn’t get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy. You didn’t get mad when a covert CIA operative got ousted. You didn’t get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.. You didn’t get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us. You didn’t get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said illegal war. You didn’t get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq. You didn’t get mad when you found out we were torturing people. You didn’t get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans. You didn’t get mad when we didn’t catch Bin Laden. You didn’t get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed. You didn’t get mad when we let a major US city drown. You didn’t get mad when we gave a 900 billion tax break to the rich. You didn’t get mad when, using reconciliation; a trillion dollars of our tax dollars were redirected to insurance companies for Medicare Advantage which cost over 20 percent more for basically the same services that Medicare provides. You didn’t get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark, and our debt hit the thirteen trillion dollar mark. You finally got mad when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all okay with you, but helping other Americans… oh hell no. AND NOW YOU’RE MAD !
A facebook poster stated, “…I’m so conservative, I squeak!!! I’m sick of liberals trying to tell me what to do with my money too. I’m sick of them giving it all away to people who do nothing to earn or deserve it.”
REALLY? (1) ARE YOU GOING TO COLLECT SOCIAL SECURITY … that was voted in by liberal democrats years ago. Are you going to be on Medicare after you turn 65… that too was voted in by liberals!
And, all these so called “people who do nothing to earn or deserve it” are teachers who teach our children for pennies and law enforcement who protect the people but can’t afford to even put food on the table …. you better be more specific when you are saying liberals are the fault for the state of the economy…. make your point but show facts!
And why are you not concerned about all the money lost in the stock market and greedy conservatives in banking and the bailout that Bush and his cronies passed before a liberal got in? Debt was not brought into the subject until the Republicans decided what to do with “our” money….now we are in the process of cleaning everything up …liberally!
Are we to understand that as a Christian, your prayer to our Heavenly Father is to take the President of the United States away from his little girls and make a widow of his wife…all for political motivation? It is truly amazing what Christianity sanctions as prayer, constitutes murder. I Gotta rethink Christianity now.
The following so-called “prayer” is being sent all over facebook. I take offense to this! My comment above is in direct reaction to it. “DEAR LORD, THIS YEAR YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE ACTOR, PATRICK SWAYZIE. YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE ACTRESS, FARAH FAWCETT. YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE SINGER, MICHAEL JACKSON. I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW, MY FAVORITE PRESIDENT IS BARACK OBAMA. AMEN”
One of my fb friends wrote me saying, “Your political views make me sick. I will pray for you.” I am ok with the “political views make me sick” part. I’m concerned that this Christian thinks God takes sides and that her prayers will make “HIM” change my political views. God does not vote in elections….people with free choice vote in elections. God gave us all free choice and he isn’t taking that away.
I heard a legislature suggest we bring a chicken to the doctor, or offer to paint his/her house for medical attention. She said it worked in the “old days.” Well, I think she has a point here. Everyone needs to live like they did in the “old days” where modern medicine, diagnostics and high technology wasn’t available….. and people died very early in their lifetimes. That’s what she wants…in order to save money. You might also want to take away the computer because it allows people to find out the true facts about pending legislature in a timely manner.