More Than We Need

Today I had an "aha" moment.  I needed a dime.  That's all, just a a dime.  But I had a ten dollar bill.  What I had was so much more than I needed.  But that didn't help me.  It hit me that we all face this every day.  We have so much more than we need.  But is what we have actually what we need?  Most of us could be happy with so much less, if we just took the time to look at what we actually need.

Civil Rights Commentary

Not wanting to post my own commentary today.  Just wanted to point you to another blogger with a very "to the point" post today.

It Doesn't Make Sense

And even though it is from a different perspective, another blogger I follow also addressed teaching her children about civil rights today.

How Do We Explain To Our Children?

Quiet after the Chaos

For more than a week our home echoed with the sounds of children.  The television tuned to Nickelodeon or the Cartoon Network.  Brothers helping each other build a Lego project.  The strum of guitar strings singing their newest melody.  Hugs given without apology.  Ben (the four legged son) finally having a playmate who wouldn't stop playing to soon.  The wonder of Christmas morning.  A quiet request for a pop-tart, toasted please, or for an egg with a bubble (sunny side up).  All of us playing the Friends trivia video game.  And then it was over.  They had to go home, return to school and their friends.  And the echo became the sound of silence.  The silence was overwhelmingly loud.  I miss them.

Unrealized Touch

It happens with the ones your closest to.  They may never even realize it.  The brush of fingers on your back as they walk by.  A glance that catches your eye.  The touch of hands that reach for the popcorn at the same time.  Shifted body weight that makes a foot touch yours while watching a movie.  All movements that bring us closer together.  That say you are mine.  That begin in the subconscious and make it out to be realized, without even realizing it.

Surreal Tide of Change

Well, this week it has begun.  Layoffs announced on Monday.  Rumors beginning to fly on Tuesday.  Today, on Wednesday, the people begin to leave.  One by one.  You don't want it to be anyone you know.  Especially since they've already told you you're safe.  Then it happens.  You turn the corner and someone is in tears.  Then a closed office door opens and someone walks out with a box full of his lifetime with the company.  This is our family.  Many of us have spent ten to twenty years together.  We know each others families.  We play softball together. We've been through marriages and divorces, illnesses, and even death.  But still this family, this one stable rock, has stood and been there for us to come to day after day.  Somehow we knew that it would all be ok because on Monday, we would be able to laugh with the people we worked with, the people who seemed to understand us. And now, with the wave of an arbitrary wand, a new company owner has decided the fates of each of us.  Some stay. Some go.  No rhyme or reason.  Just a surreal tide of change.