Family

"Family: A social unit where the father is concerned with parking space, the children with outer space, and the mother with closet space. ~Evan Esar"


Family.

What does family mean to you? For a long time, I thought it was just a word describing a lot of people genetically related.

As I get older, I realize what it really means, or what it SHOULD mean.

"The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck"


Being of Greek descent, family is very important to me. But it wasn't until recently that I realized how important my family really is. In the last year, my father had been diagnosed with Cancer, shortly after that, my Grandmother was diagnosed with a different kind of Cancer. That same Grandmother suffered a serious fall and a couple of bone breaks. My father passed away right after that and my family was reunited for the memorial service. It was such a sad and difficult time for us, but we were all there for each other.

Today's world has put the family in jeopardy. The days go by so fast, and everyone's trying to survive, all the while, missing out on what's truly important.

I miss the days when family reunions happened annually. When everyone got together to rejoice in the name of family. All the food and drinks and conversation and pitchin horse shoes. What great memories. Today, no one's able to attend such functions due to work or other commitments. Its sad that families only come together now for the sake of weddings or funerals.


"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. ~Jane Howard"


My kids always remind me that they don't know who their cousins are. If I speak of an Aunt or Uncle, they ask, "Why haven't we met them?". My kids attend school with one of their cousins and until recently, they didn't know he was their cousin.

I think its important to know your family members. The good ones and the "bad" ones. Someday, you may be calling on them for help.

When you think of your family members, think of them with love and respect. And if you can't do that, then remember them the way they were before you lost respect for them. But ultimately, love them. Life is too precious and too short to waste time not loving your family.

"At the end of the day, a loving family should find everything forgivable. ~Mark V. Olsen and Will Sheffer, Big Love, "Easter""

If you find yourself thinking that there are more important things in life than family, I'm here to tell you, you're wrong in thinking that.


"Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted. ~Paul Pearshall"

When things go wrong, and family members quarrel, be careful what you say, somethings can not be taken back and sometimes, family members die and you may never get the chance to say "I'm sorry" or "Good Bye"

I love my family, and I miss them terribly. I wish I could spend more time with them. One day, I'll wake up and find that we're all old and there's not too many of us left...I don't want to wake up to that. I haven't collected enough great memories yet.

just a little food for though
kT

What a great day!!!

Rams win....woohoo....
I have had a great birthday so far.....
Ray, buddy, I'm sorry your team lost, but they can win next week!!!
Rams can go back to their losing streak if they want!!

Have a great day guys!!!

kT

Happy Birthday to Me & Ambulance Driver...

Happy Birthday To Me, Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday dear Katie, Happy Birthday to me!!! Cha Cha Cha!!!


Well, today's the big day!! I'm 39 years old, and I'm pretty happy with my life today.
The love of my life got me Mario Kart for Wii......aaaaahhhhhhhhhh what fun!!
he also got me tickets to the Rams/Dallas game playing later today in St. Louis...
I can't wait to go. I had to give up my tickets last year because my dad was having surgery. So I'm really excited to go. The love of my life doesn't like football, so its a treat for him to go with me. He won't go to hockey games with me though, he just buys the tickets and I have to find someone who likes hockey to go with me. I should probably return the favor for him, maybe on his birthday, I'll go for a ride on the back of his bike with him...I hate motorcycles, but he loves them.
Well, wait a minute, I already go fishin with him...I don't need to ride on the back of his bike...okay, so forget that idea..LOL

I'm not a big video game person, infact, until the Wii came out, I really didn't care for them at all. The girls have a PS2 in the basement, but I never played it. The Wii is really easy and it doesn't take knowing what the purpose of each of the 15 buttons is...that is very difficult for me...I liked the simplicity of Atari, but the graphics sucked.

Mario Kart can be played over the internet and that puts me closer to my niece. She lives in Seattle and she's 9. Her and I can play Mario Kart together and be on speaker phone at the same time. She's so much fun. With my youngest daughter being 15, I forget what its like to have a 9 year old around.

I love my kids and I would totally enjoy being around my nieces and my nephew since they're still young, but we all live so far apart. Heck, my grandson lives 5 minutes from me and I can't see him as much as I'd like to...

Life is so valuable and can't be taken for granted. Oh if I had it to do all over again...

click on the link on the right side of my page, go over to Ambulance Driver's website and wish him a happy birthday!!!

He's a great read!!! He is so smart, funny and he's just a lovable guy!!
I highly recommend him!!!

have a great day!!

kT

A most powerful day of education!

I had history class today, we're in the midst of the roaring 20's about to dive into the depression...hmmm, perfect timing...

As I said in one of my earlier posts, I haven't ever taken American History before, and since there are no prereqs for this class, the adviser threw me into AHII

Early on in this semester, we were covering the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. I swear, everyone I spoke with knows all about the Constitution of the United States of America...everyone but me that is...

When I was in high school, many freakin years ago...I lived in Texas...Texas says, you must learn Texas history!!! then, after that, you're free to take whatever history class you would like!

I didn't like the teacher for AH, so I took World History....it was semi-fascinating...
But I didn't learn about the Constitution in that class

but that was my 10th grade year and in my 10th grade year, I was pregnant with my oldest daughter...I was practically forced into a "special" school for pregnant/unwed mothers...The state of Texas thought it would be best for me...in my condition and all...

There were about 14 of us in this "special" school, all pregnant and due at different times...

Since the classes were small, I learned better and we learned at a "faster" pace than say, a class of 30 kids would...

but after my daughter was born, I returned to "regular" high school...The ASSistant principal knew of my circumstances and loathed me! I should probably say, he loved me because he chose to follow me from my last class to the front door, everyday religiously, telling me the whole way how much better it would be for my daughter if I stayed at home instead of fulfilling my education requirements in hopes I might graduate never from his school....and he made it quite clear that if I changed schools, something terrible would happen to my records and well, I just wouldn't have my stunning A/B average when the records arrived over there....

He followed me everyday for 1.5 years...I ended up quitting school just so I could never have to see him again...

anyways...that abruptly ended my formal education...
The rest of my education would be spent at home or at work...

I never did get to learn history, the constitution or any other subject for that matter the way the rest of the kids did, so everything I learn in history is brand spankin new for me...

I took a bunch of classes and did very well in them in respiratory school, but I wasn't required to take a history class there...

And really, I don't like history...but I finally, got to read the constitution and some other stuff from like 1866 on and so now, we're going into the "depression" era, I find myself more into it. I'm surprised at my willingness to read the chapters and I'm really fascinated to see myself actually trying to do the work he assigns...

My brother, is a history fan...so it blows me away how much he knows and when I tell him something that I learned that I would expect maybe he wouldn't remember, he already freakin knows it!! that part sucks!!

but, he's very patient with me, he always has been...
sometimes I wonder if he hangs up the phone scratching his head in disbelief at how uneducated I really am about some things...

Respiratory...hey, I know my stuff....
but history...I don't know jack!!!

So, today, we were going over the chapters that are going to be on the test next week, and well, lets just say, I have no, zero, none, zilch short term memory...
but today I remembered stuff....I was soooo excited...I remembered lots of stuff...

I read some things yesterday in the book, and when I am not familiar with stuff, I look it up on the internet if what the book says doesn't suffice...
so last night, I looked up Buck vs. Bell...
This is that part in history that says, if you're an imbecile, they'll sterilize you, because 3 generations of imbeciles are too friggin many....( I love that line)
and Buck vs. Bell overturned the forced sterilization law

of course, you know me, I forward the link to my brother...he knows....duh...what was I thinking???

But today I was very excited because I actually remembered that!! woohoo, I'm makin progress....

I'm reading history, I'm liking what I'm reading, I'm interested in it, and I'm remembering it...

That's progress!!

Will I remember all this stuff next week for the test??
That's the million dollar question...

and God...I sure hope so!

good night everyone..
kT

oh, I'm still on vacation!!! isn't it lovely?
:)

7th week.....not good so far

Well, here I am......ON VACATION........yay!!!
School is going ok, made a few mistakes, had a bad week last week with grades and stuff. I broke my toe a couple of weeks ago and I've been trying to get over that as well...

I'm so tired....

day one of my vacation, I set the books aside and went fishing and I caught a small bass.
day two of my vacation, I spent a little time playing Wii's Mario Kart
day three, went to school
day four is today!!! had my jeep inspected today, the blasted fools tried to talk me into some "expensive" wipers, I thought, shit, it's a leased vehicle and I return it next October, why would I put high $$$ wipers on the thing??
so, I had them put the cheapies on and that'll be good enough I suppose....

now, I have to hit the history, there's a test tomorrow and if I'm going to pick up my grades, I have to study........

I must say, having this site gives me the freedom to abandon all the rules...
the rules of writing, perfect sentence structure, perfect punctuation!!! Gotta love that!!
the writing is on the wall, the way I want to write it and the way I choose to express myself!!
And nothing else matters!!! I can start out capitalizing letters and finish without keeping in sync!!

wooooooooo go freedom, go me!!!

I love this place! :)
kT