Barrel of Water #2

Often, I find myself being a BARREL OF WATER when it comes to my daughter and the special events that take place in her life. One such event was her "Thanksgiving Feast Celebration Program", which took place at Urban Youth Impact, the afterschool center that she attends. The idea (what I took away from it) of this program was for the children to act/learn what a servant of GOD is supposed to facilitate: GIVING. The giving part was acted out by the children serving all the parents of their grade level dinner. It also was for the children to show their humble appreciation to their parents. The appreciation was shown by a series of mini speeches given by the children prompted by a question from their mentor, “Why are you thankful for your parents?”


As to be expected tears begin to form in my eyes as my daughter’s turn to speak approaches. Partly because she was being shy, because of all the extra unknown people in the audience that she did not know.

The question was asked “Why are you thankful for your parents” and my daughter placed her hands up to her eyes and made a slit in one of them so that she could eye me while speaking, and said “Because she loves me”. In that instant, the tears just flowed with ease. I was so proud of her and it touched my heart greatly that she remembered without a shadow of a doubt that MOMMY LOVES HER INFINITY! But I had to remember that we were around her friends and that she is getting older; so I quickly cleared traces of the tears from my chicks and eyes, mouthed to her that she did an excellent job and that I was so proud of her.

I could not help but yell inside a resounding: YES, SHE GETS IT! Finally, a verbal confirmation that I am raising a child who is socially and ethically aware of others. GOD is GOOD!

MOMMY loves you infinity, Makenly!  Thank you for being my cover through the storms!

A Call for HELP!

For the past two weeks I have been creating, researching and promoting my business website for my company Writers, ETC (which I started two years ago and had to take a break due to health reasons).  I created this website and then started to promote it while attending grad school at night, working during the day and spending time with my little one.  Who says there aren't SUPERMOMS?  LOL.....More like VERY TIRED MOM'S....but I feel like the end result will be greater for me and her alike.  Getting my business off the ground will allow me the flexibility and freedom to be there more with her in more ways than one.  Opening up about what I do has been very hard for me, because some people perceive it as being boastful, but it is getting easier as time goes on (I am a very humble person, so when asked is when I open up about things).  I started promoting my other company as well Shann's Boutique, which is a party favors website that I like because of the different variety of items it offers.  It gives me great ideas for planning events and writing workshops for Writer, ETC. 

With that said, I co-authored a book, which was released October 28th, titled Transformation: Reinventing the Woman Within (ask me about it, I think you will like what you hear).  Therefore, I am in need of someone good to create an authors page on blogger to aid me in promoting and selling this and other books.  Because, I recognize that I can't do everything, I am reaching out and saying HELP to anyone who knows someone who can help me with this project. 

This is my post today from a "Superwoman Syndrome" mother who is realizing that she can't possibly do everything herself and is looking for people who have the same values as she does to work with!  HELP!!!!!!

Random Thoughts of the Night!

As I stare at my little girl sleeping with such ease, my mind drift to thoughts of what's to be.  If someone would have told me 10 years ago that I would be a single mother of an intelligent little girl, an author, entrepreneur and grad student without a husband; I would have told them to keep dreaming.  Now, I can't see my life without any of it including the husband.  Tonight my thoughts are random in the selection of past, present and future ideas, however one is selective:  Am I destine to do this alone for my life?  This has to be the thought of every single parent at some point, right?  Or am I the only one who thinks this?

I can't help but look at her and feel that she is missing out on so much, by my selective behavior in the opposite sex.  But when I think of how much she means to me and how much I want her life to be as diverse and full of greatness, one thought comes to mind:  How can I not be selective in who I introduce into our lives?

As the story continues to unfold, I dream of grander times when I can share this life that I am building with a person willing to accept the gift that we have to offer!  I struggle with not revealing to much or being to personal on this blog; however these random thoughts tonight needed to be expressed! 

I hope you don't mind.  Have a great Halloween Everyone!

Kindness

Me and a friend was chatting about how suspicious we are of everyone (seems this way anyway). He had a project to do, which was to give away $50 to a person that needed it and to his dismay; he could not give it away! People flat out refused it, walked away or wanted to know what the arterial motive was for the gift. To me this was both baffling and understandable. Baffling, because in this economic battle that is upon us to stay afloat; you still can’t give money away. Understandable, because you don’t know who to trust or who will expect something in return for their kindness.

Are we under an illusion that the world still has some good in it?

Have we seen so much bad that we tend to expect the worst from everyone that we meet?

As a society, are we that disheartened that we think the worst in people without even knowing them or what they are about? It seems that way! I initiated a conversation with another friend who was in the military about this topic. He stated that since 9-11 he has become apprehensive of any and everyone that were not family members. I told him that I have become that way of everyone since I became a parent and the child abduction rates have sky rocketed. As an adult I can remember a simpler time when Halloween was a time to look forward to, not a time to analyze candy or decide to give a party instead of going door to door. A simpler time, when someone came up to you and gave you a quarter, you said “thank you” and went to the ice cream truck. Now we teach our children that you never take money or anything from strangers.

Is kindness a dying art form in our communities today or do we have to look deep for the great community that we envision? The lessons that I teach my daughter are in direct conflict with how our society is. I teach the biblical lessons of being kind to someone even though they may not be kind to you. As a seven year old this is very hard for her, because she expects everyone to be kind and if they are not she wants to treat them the same way they treat her (work in progress). I also teach her to see the good in a person even when they only show her the bad (I am working on this one as well, I tend to just shy away from dealing with that person at all, too much stress. Ironically, she does the same thing). I also tell her that you should not expect the worst (Even though most people expect the worst and is shocked by the best).

Having these conversations with these two individuals have started me to think about the foundation that I am building with my daughter and the vision that she will have toward life. Am I setting her up for a hard fall or am I giving her a positive outlook for a gloomy future filled with not so kind people?

Don’t get me wrong, I teach her to have survival instinct as well such as don’t talk to strangers, everyone is not your friend, be a leader not a follower, fight for yourself; do not let anyone bully you in to anything, be yourself ;an original, and most importantly, love yourself that way you won’t fall for anything! But I want her to also have a POSITIVE outlook on life instead of being one of those people who are always NEGATIVE about everything and everybody (we all know someone like this)!

Am I asking for too much? This is my Friday rant on KINDNESS!

Manners: Where are they?

Today, I took a figurative look through my daughter’s eyes at the people who we encounter every day. I have worked hard to instill manners, values and an unbreakable foundation in my daughter. But looking around today I see so many individuals, old and young alike, who are lacking the basic fundamentals of life. The main one that I am referring to is courtesy! As I walked down the corridors, I did what I am accustom to doing; I looked each person in the eye, and either nodding my head and gave a gracious smile (if they were talking but made eye contact with me) or I said hello. Out of the maybe 20 people (estimate) I passed only 7 bothered to give a gesture in return!

This is sad! Looking back I use to get so upset when my daughter was younger. She would speak to individuals and some would ignore her. I can remember thinking to myself "what kind of person does not speak to a child". But as time has went on my daughter continues to speak even without a response, even though I can tell that it bothers her sometimes when the greeting is not delivered in return.

Once again, my daughter has taught me to continue speaking. But how ironic I just begin to take note of how people now are so distant, even when a greeting is sent their way. It makes me wonder, am I teaching my daughter an OLD rule that needs to be modified based on today's society?