On My Mind Today

We recently returned from a mini vacation to Block Island (located 13 miles off the coast of Rhode Island). The entire island is just over 9 square miles and is beautiful, peaceful and a great place to rejuvenate your soul. Since it was after the Labor Day holiday it was very quiet which only enhanced our experience. We are blessed to have some wonderful friends who have been going there for several years, and they invited us to join them for a few days. Spending time with them is always a joy, and this trip was great fun. The house we stayed in was wonderful and most places around us were empty so we had a great deal of privacy. These houses and condos on the property had access to a private beach which we pretty much had to ourselves the entire time. The guys did some salt water fishing while the rest of us either walked the beach or just soaked up the sun. We went to the National Hotel for dinner and sat out on the porch overlooking the ocean - what a spectacular view to enjoy

We all have them - the things that bring fear to our hearts and make us shake at the thought of facing them. One of the biggest is public speaking - right at the top of my list. I would rather do most anything than stand in front of a crowd to speak. I started my own small business about a year ago, and to try and grow this business I attend networking meetings. As part of these meetings we all have to say who we are, what we do and what a good referral would be. After a year I still get extremely nervous, my mouth gets dry and I almost forget what I need to say. Once it is done I am so relieved but the shaking stays with me for a few minutes more. Oh how I envy those who make it look easy - wishing I could take some of what they have that appears to work so well. I know I need to overcome this fear to some degree. I may never be a great public speaker, but I at least need to have some comfort in promoting my business. So, I am taking a first step by being interviewed on a radio pr

When we are in high school our friends are the main focus of our lives. We cannot get through a day without being with or talking to them - their opinions are so important to us during this time. When we graduate we are initially still very connected to them and spend a lot of time together. As the years go by however, things change and we tend to lose touch as we get busy raising our children and doing all the things that grown ups do. I recently was very blessed to reconnect with two of my best friends from high school. Two people that I spent many hours with during those years - having fun and getting each other through the typical high school problems. We all had our moments and shed our share of tears, and we were there to help one another. We met for lunch and when we saw one another all those years that had  passed just melted away. We seemed to pick up where we had left off as if it was just yesterday that we had been together.  We shared the things that have been taking pl

When listening to young mothers and fathers it is apparent that they find the day to day routine sometimes difficult and definitely mundane. I know that when I was raising my young children these same feelings were expressed at times. It can be hard to do the same thing day after day, and raising children is a joy, but one that comes with a lot of hard work and stress. Adding a busy work schedule to it all can sometimes push you over the top as they say. What I can tell you is that as you age your perspective on life changes. Your children grow up and before you know it they are in college, and then out on their own. Your time becomes "your own" and you start to fill it with all the things you never had time to do, and things you never thought you would do. There are not enough hours in the day but you embrace all of these things with joy and as a new adventure. All the time you spent in the past being "bored" with your routine or stressed seems so far away. Som

Reality TV - the Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Bachelor Pad, Big Brother, The Housewives of wherever (take your pick), Jersey Shore, 16 and Pregnant, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, and on and on. This is not reality -  it is cheap programming. The people they are following and filming are not showing their true lives, they are putting on a good show for the cameras - looking for their 15 minutes of fame and hoping to get rich quick. Seems that so many want to peer in on other people and their bizarre behavior. I can't imagine that their own lives are not more interesting than watching this. Then we have the true crime shows such as The Investigators, 48 Hours, Body of Evidence, and many more - where they show the most horrific things that humans will do to one another. Not sure if they are going for the shock of it all or if they are giving the already deranged more ideas. No matter which one you look at it all comes down to both money for the studios (programs cheap to produce), and a

Well.....another birthday and another year gone by. It does not seem possible that this is true. The birthday yes, but a year gone not so much. My mother always said that time goes by faster the older you get. I now know what she means. When my children were small it seemed like time went much slower - at least until they started school. Once this took place then the years did seem to go in a flash. One day they were entering kindergarten and the next they were graduating from high school. Leaving me to wonder where all those years had gone. As each milestone in my children's lives have passed - school, marriage, children - the years go increasingly faster. There does not seem to be enough time to spend with my children, grandchildren, family and friends. I find myself trying to squeeze more and more into each hour, day, and week. Hoping I do not miss a thing along the way. So as I start my journey through this next year of my life I will try to slow down enough so as not to