Newtown On Labor Day

Today is Labor Day and I have the day off from work.  YEAH!!! I hope you do too!

Maybe you are planning to go to a friend's house for a special holiday meal or you are going to cook for your family.  Or maybe you're just hangin' at your own house catching up on personal projects.  Or maybe you're going to go to an afternoon picnic or watch a community parade.

 

In Newtown, Connecticut today, there will be a parade.  A parade of love and community and healing.

 

 

It will be same parade that thousands of residents have watched and marched in since the town first held it's Labor Day parade in 1962.  But this year's parade is different.  There were doubts about going ahead with the parade given the deep tragedy that residents experienced on December 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary when 20 first graders and six adults were massacred by a lone gunman. (http://crylaughheal.blogspot.com/2012/12/newtown-connecticut.html)

 

Many in Newtown didn't think it was appropriate to hold a Labor Day parade this year when so many in their community are still trying to process their loss and rebuild their lives.

 

It is difficult to know what to do next when a life is lost; especially in Newtown where their losses happened in such brutal and cold-hearted manner.  I have found that in the midst of mourning there comes a point when you experience what I call the push-pull of  the healing process.  You know life is different; that life will never be the same without your loved one, but you also begin to search for a way to move forward with your life.  

 

I think Beth Caldwell, head of the Newtown Parade Committee, explained it best when she told the Associated Press (in the story below) that Newtown, in planning this year's Labor Day parade, wanted to be "respectful of what happened and still offer an avenue of celebration" for the residents. 

Labor Day is traditionally the last weekend of summer, a last hurrah of sorts.  Labor Day is also seen as a time of transition from summer to fall, from vacation to school.

Please read below in the link to an Associated Press story in The Boston Globe about Newtown's touching transition on this Labor Day, as it slowly moves from a terrible tragedy to a new kind of healing that I hope will get stronger with the passage of time.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/2013/08/31/with-parade-newtown-reflects-how-healing/x1O6IICVDovinXuc86W6qO/story.html

Happy Birthday America!

Parades, picnics, cookouts, and the day off from work.  These are just some of the ways we as Americans celebrate the Fourth of July, a day set aside to mark and remember when the United States first declared its independence from Great Britian in 1776!

 

Tonight, in the nation's capital, there will be a spectacular display of fireworks, and I'm sure it will be just as dazzling as it was last year.  It truly is a special event!

Photo Courtesy of Associated Press

Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope you have a great day today.  I will be with friends hanging out by their pool and enjoying the time with special people.

Be safe, stress free and sing your heart out when you hear "The Star Spangled Banner." 



The Star Spangled Banner
By Francis Scott Key 1814

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Freedom & Bravery on Memorial Day

The smell of charcoal lighter fluid has been in the air in my neighborhood this weekend which means that grilling is not far behind.

 

Cookouts and parades are just two of the many ways we Americans mark the holiday of Memorial Day, a day when we pause and remember the bravery of the Americans soldiers who are thankfully still with us and those who are sadly deceased because without them we would not have the freedom to enjoy such leisure and peace.

 

American flag displayed at
Vietnam Veterans Memorial

I recall as a teenager when the draft was still on and the family of one of my best friends posted the military draft number of her brother on one of their kitchen walls.  We saw that number and we were scared.  We were scared for him and the possibility that his number would come up in the draft and he would be called to serve in the Vietnam War.

 

Seeing that number brought the Vietnam War home for all of us every day and even as young as we were, we knew the seriousness of the situation and that other families across the nation were being called upon to make the same sacrifice.

 

My friend's brother was lucky and his number was not called but others were not so lucky.

 

Memorial Day is a day to remember, pray and salute the endless sacrifices made by so many so that we could live in a country where freedom and democracy are preserved.

 

If you have an American flag, put it out today and proudly display it.

 

If you have a hero in your family, tell and share the story of what he or she did to bravely serve and defend the United States.

 

Take a moment to remember and be thankful for our strong and resilient veterans and their families.

I know I will!

 

Photo by AFP Getty

 

 

Fat Tuesday

Today is Fat Tuesday.

 

For Catholics, today is the last hurrah before lent begins tomorrow.  That is how Mardi Gras come to be.  Essentially, Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday and with Mardi Gras comes some hard partying and parades and good times before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. 

 

 

 

 

Lent is a time of fasting and serious reflection, a time of giving something up or doing something that's personally hard in order to prepare yourself for the celebration of Easter.

 

This year, once again, my demon is sugar.

 

I know all the bad stuff about sugar and how it is bad for your immune system and how it is highly addictive. Yet, try as I might, during the holidays, I cannot resist the cookies and chocolates that seem to surround me. I tell myself that when the new year arrives I will put the brakes on the sweets but then my birthday arrives in early January and I'm back on the sugar train.

 

The problem is that sugar makes you feel better.  At least it makes me feel better for the moment of that I eat it.  I read somewhere that when you eat sugar, it tells the brain to release dopamine, a chemical that the brain also releases when certain drugs are ingested or when you exercise a lot.  I'm always trying to remind myself about this sugar-brain connection but then I start to think about freshly baked cookies.

 

 

 

 

 

My friend Eileen makes the most outrageously delicious cookies in the whole world and when I see a plate of them offered at get-togethers, there is no way I can resist them.  Her cookies are like potato chips: you can never eat just one.

 

Whenever I think I'm the only one who is out of control about sugar, I pick up Kris Carr's book, Crazy, Sexy Diet, and I go directly to her chapter on sugar.  Here is an except from Carr's chapter entitled, Cupcakes, Coffee & Cocktails:

 

"Look I know firsthand how hard it is to heal addictions.  I come from a scarf-and-barf, drink-too-much history.  Date night with myself was a debaucherous romp into coma-ville.  I'd buy a bunch of cookies and wine, pop the top button of my jeans, and chow down.  Occasionally my higher self would guide me to the trash can before I finished every last crumb.  An hour later my lower self would bark orders to pick through the trash and retrieve the delicious drugs like a back-alley junkie.

 

Elegant people don't dig through the trash.  The chic and stylish don't attack their doughnuts with Windex.  Yes, I admit it.  The only way to keep my paws off the contraband was to blast it with Windex.  Clearly I was out of control."

 

Lent is arriving at the perfect time for me.  I need to be motivated to give up the sugar for an extended period of time and this way I'll be doing it for a higher purpose and a heavenly being.

 

And maybe, just in case, I'll keep the Windex nearby.

 

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Birthday America!

Today we celebrate Freedom, Democracy and Liberty all wrapped up and delivered in the most patriotic manner possible: parades, dressing up in red, white and blue, cookouts and fireworks!  Isn't that what makes America great?

Hopefully, you don't have to work today and you can relax and enjoy the company of family and friends on this holiday marking the signing of the Declaration of Independence that formally announced the colonies' break from British rule.

Today we also give our heartfelt thanks to our U.S. armed forces and their families who protect and die for our freedoms.  Thank you for your many sacrifices.

Have a festive and safe 4th of July!!

Memorial Day & Rolling Thunder

Soldiers place American flags in front of the headstones
 at Arlington National Cemetary

Today on Memorial Day, I want to pause and say "Thank you" to all the men and women and their families who make immense sacrifices every day so that we may live free and practice democracy in the United States of America.

Putting your life on the line is the ultimate way of giving back and today's volunteer Army does more than its share because men and women usually do more than one tour of duty.  The physical and mental toll of combat continues after they return home and we as a country don't do a very good job of supporting these brave people and their families.

In the nation's capital, the roar of a half-million motocycles in the city and the surrounding metropolitan area signals the annual Memorial Day weekend arrival of  a veterans group called Rolling Thunder.  Beginning in the 80's, Rolling Thunder travels to Washington, DC on Memorial Day weekend to call attention to America's veterans and prisoners of war (POW).  On the Mall, around the monuments, on the Beltway and in the city's parks, Rolling Thunder is a friendly presence.  Motorcycles, leather and demim are everywhere and people honk their car horns and wave to show support.

I love it when Rolling Thunder is here.  They remind us what Memorial Day is all about.

Today, Rolling Thunder will mark the holiday by holding its' annual motorcycle rally and parade which begins at the Pentagon and end nears the Vietnam Veteran Memorial commonly known as "The Wall" for its simple black granite walls listing the names of those who died fighting for us in Vietnam.

Thank you for your service!  May God continue to bless America!