Crazy Daze, Silly Knights

Take a moment and say "I love you" to someone you truly love. You never know when they will be gone. Or you never know when you will be gone, and the last words were harsh...or flippant...or rude. This moment might be the last chance you have to tell someone you love them, you cherish them, or where they fit in your life. This might be the last time you have to express the gratitude you have for that important someone. It might be a friend, a lover, a spouse, a child, a parent, a family member...or just someone who made a change in your life. It takes only seconds, but means so much more. Recently there were two people that I am friends with or familiar with who lost someone close to them. It made me think of what were my last words to the ones that I love, to the ones who have been there for me. Sadly, some of those words were not either kind, or ones of frustration and anger. In light of these issues, I want to make an effort to express myself. I can't tha

What is wrong with kids these days?? How many times have we all heard this phrase? Personally, I have heard it a lot. I'm sure I have uttered it a time or two as well. The reality is, the phrase is misguided. Kids do not raise themselves...or at least they aren't supposed to raise themselves. It is the parents that are supposed to do that job. If we aren't liking what we are seeing in the youth of today, we should not be looking at the kids, we need to look at the people who raised them. Don't get me wrong, I am not blaming parents who have children with difficult problems. There are some kids that need extra work, trust me, I know this on a very real level. Many of these parents struggle to find solutions to the problems their children are dealing with. And my hat is off to them, and my heart bleeds for their struggles. These parents are not the ones I am referring to. I'm talking about the parents who are absent in the lives of their children and then set

I was driving into Chicago last night. It was a nice clear night, no rain or snow and the skies were fairly clear. As I exited the Stevenson onto Lake Shore Drive, past McCormick Place and Soldier Field, I began to smile. Then when I turned onto Columbus, something occurred to me...I really love Chicago. I know it is cliche. Most people love say their childhood towns or cities. It is where our family and friends are, it is where many of our memories were born. Our own respective cities are near and dear to our hearts for our own individual reasons. So my warm fuzzy feelings toward a city is nothing new. Every time I drive down Columbus at night, with the parks to the right of me, and the city lay in the front and to the left of me, I actually say aloud (many times to no one), "Damn I love this place." It doesn't mean I like the politics, and I don't ignore the areas of the city that are neglected. But something about this city makes me skin hum. It wasn't al

Tomorrow night will be the biggest full moon in 20 years. I know, maybe not a big event for a lot of people, but it is an event nonetheless. 20 years ago I was 3 months pregnant with my first child, my son. I had morning sickness 24/7...for all 9 months. Not many pregnant women get to experience that much morning sickness, but lucky me, I did. 1991 was an eventful year for me, despite the constant feeling of the need to throw up. It changed me into a mom, which was one of the best experiences of my life. As I think about my son now, in college and making plans for his future, I can't help but to think how fast the last 20 years went. I don't remember the full moon of that year, but this full moon is causing a bit of nostalgia. I had to look up what was happening that year, as my memory doesn't have enough room for so many details. I found a nice site that broke down that year nicely. http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1991.html When I read that gas was only $1.12 bac

One of my favorite sayings is "Every Cloud has a Silver Lining." It's hookey, I know, but I'm okay with that. Lately, however, it seems most of the silver linings are a bit tarnished. This makes the hunt for the silver lining difficult at best, but the discovery of the tarnished lining takes away the joy of finding it. After a particularly difficult few days, I'm trying to think of a way to get my found silver linings polished. Turns out it is much easier said than done. Mostly because someone keeps pissing in my pool. (I know, another cliche, but I started this posting with a cliche, and it was lonely and invited another one along for the ride.) So what do you do when every lining you find is tarnished, not by your own doing but because someone is muddying up the waters? My only answer is keep looking forward, don't look back on it. Sure, the silver linings might be tarnished and a tad uglier than expected. However they are still silver and still wort

It seems the weather is all anyone can talk about lately. We are in the gray days before Spring hits us. The vestiges of Winter are fading, and we are left with a chilly world that is often sunless and wet. Random garbage is piled on the sides of the road because our street sweeping hasn't started yet. Basically, outside it looks the way most of us feel...waiting for the grays to go away. This time of year it is tough to keep up one's spirit. It is a little like our darkest days of winter. There is very little sun to enjoy and what little time you spend outside is spend ducking from the cold raindrops that seem to be ever present. If you can't relate, go in your bathroom with a flashlight and an umbrella and shut off the lights. Turn on the flashlight and put it on the ground under a towel. Then turn on the shower to a cold setting and get in with your umbrella and stand there for a bit under the umbrella. If you are really a go-getter, toss in some random dirt and wrap

I admit it...for the past 6 months I have had serious writer's block. If you haven't heard, or read, I'm an "aspiring" author. I have self-published one book, I have another book written and trying to sell it to an agent, and I have 2 more books that I started. One of the partial books is a sequel to the non-published completed novel. I felt bad for a while because I left my characters scattered in the wind. Some of them were left walking around in a forest for six months. That's no way to treat a character. Sure, authors write horrible things that happen to their characters, but at least they have purpose for the storyline. Mine were just there...their world ended when I got a bad case of the Blocks. Recently I went to an Irish Pub, just to get out of the house. I sat down, ordered a drink. And then something hit me. Stories in my head again started to flow. I'm not sure exactly what caused it. Maybe it was the energy of the crowd, maybe it was the mu

So...what happened to my resolution to tend to my blog? Oh so many things. First off, my book is finally published. It was a fantastic feeling...for the first day. Then the sinking feeling of "how can I market this to the masses" enveloped me. I believe I was reduced to a quivering mass of goo on several occasions. Which mentally is a funny image, but the reality of being a quivering mass of goo really ruins a day. It took me a few days to grab the bull by the horns and embrace my marketing spirit. I was reading blogs and articles and coming up with a marketing plan. I was exited. I was ready to take on the independent author world. And then... Well, I won't say much about the "then"...but suffice it to say, my marriage license clearly had an expiration date. I had no idea, but I was informed by my spouse at 15 years it was up. So here I am, ready to be an author...and now going to be an ex-wife. Now this might be the point where people say...aww...how