Remembering Mom's

Well soon Mother's Day will be upon us. This is usually a difficult day for me, #1 my sons live enough of a difference they can't just drive over for the day for us to do something, #2-two special ladies.

On the first one, one son lives in Reno and the other in Santa Cruz. The one son who lives in Reno, now has a wife and daughter and the focus and meaning of Mother's Day has changed for him, as it should be. We've gotten together in the past but I do understand that he wishes to celebrate Mother's Day with his wife as she is now the Mother of their daughter. The other who lives in SC, is probably working that day. I'll get the phone call wishing me a "Happy Mother's Day" and I am thankful for that, it is just that I do miss spending the day with both of them.

On #2--two special Ladies are no longer here. One was my Mom. We always kind of had a distance type of relationship. My Mom was not the lovey-dovey type. As she got older she was but our relationship was never that close like I see of other friends of mine with their Mom's. However, my Mom did raise me to believe you could try and do anything you set your mind too and that you should never allow anyone to tell you that you couldn't do or accomplish something. She also made me realize how important it was to get an education and also not to be afraid. And she was right. I found challenging the status quo while not always the safe way to do something to my liking. In my work career there were many jobs where I was "1st or 2nd female" to be doing that job and that I could do that job as well as my male peers. And she was was also right about getting the education. As I look back now, I realize my Mom wanted me to be a strong and independent person capable of taking care of myself.

The other lady was my mother in-law (my Son's grandmother). God, how I miss her. We were extremely close and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't want to pick up the phone and call her. When I was a young wife and mother she helped me out so much, cuz I was pretty scard being a new Mom. She also helped me to sometimes not to fret the small stuff with raising kids. That kids will be kids and you sometimes need to take a step back and re-analyze how you were looking at a situation. After her son and I divorced, her and I remained close. While our interaction was a little hard at the beginning, we finally worked through those issues and remained close until she passed away.

Both of these ladies are gone now, Mom #2 actually passed away on Mother's Day and for Mom #1 we had her memorial service on Mother's Day.

I'll be in a little bit of a funk on Mother's Day morning and then I'll work myself out of it, talk with both of them and then get myself into a better mood.

So Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's in the world. It is the little things you do that those left behind will always remember, reminiscence and cherish.

Kent State 40 years Later-Has Anything Really Changed

40 years ago today, college students were gunned down by the US National Guard. Yes, I say gunned down. Who knows who gave the order but this is what happened. As I was just a 19 year old living out here in CA the news at the time was very minimal. You must remember this was before the internet and "instant news" on the TV. Many of us at that time believe the news organizations were controlled by the US Government and so we were not getting the whole story. It was a very awful thing that happend back there at Kent State. Ohio, is in the midwest and I have to believe after the "Kent State" incident many opinions about our government and their wanting to control what we saw, heard and believed were now being challenged. We had a war that was very unpopular. A lot of us were questioning why we were in a country none of us had heard about. Oh yes, the China issue and how they were going to take over the world. Did this happen?? Not really, but it was really sad to see how Saigon was taken over in a couple of days after we had spent 10 years plus there and lost about 58,000 of our young there. And we also never take into count the other countries who also sent their young over there. And to think, just last week, was the 35th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.

So, I ask myself, did anything really change? I don't think so. Often wonder how those National Guardsmen are doing today and what do they really thing about what happened. I don't trust the "news media" to really give us the true scoop. You wonder why I say this, well where were they when our previous President (Bush #2) decided to go to Iraq for those weapons of mass destruction. No one questioned this what so ever. Because they were afraid to challenge the statu quo!!!!

Now, about our generation from the 60's and 70's, did we really change anything when it comes to war? I don't think so. We got caught up in all that other shit of the 80's and 90's...... And now, oh my god, I just don't want to go there.

Young lives were taken and changed on that terrible day at Kent State 40 years ago. Now we should be asking ourselves, did we really learn anything from that and could it happen again today in 2010?