MOSAIC MOMENTS

Whoever made up the old nursery rhyme, “Sticks and Stones can Break my Bones, but Names will Never Hurt Me.”  must have never been bullied. He must have never had a hurtful word thrown at him. He must have lived in a box all by himself!

Years ago when Tim was about five-years-old, his older brother, Arron (nine years old at the time) was playing outside in the front yard with his friend Justin. Tim thought his brother hung the moon (still thinks that now ) and so, he wanted to go outside in the front yard to play ball with his brother. Just like any other little boy, Tim wanted to do the things that his older brother got to do. He, of course, couldn’t do the things his older brother did. Not because he had mosaic Down syndrome, but because he was five-years-old and his brother was nine!

So, I followed Tim outside to keep an eye on him while he played and as we walked outside another boy, about Arron’s age, walked up to ask if he could play ball with them. Happy to have another boy to play with, Arron and Justin smiled and were about to agree that he could play. However, at this same time, Tim and I walked into the yard. The boy looked at Tim and immediately said, “What’s wrong with your brother? He looks Retarded.”

Now, in some circumstances, this could have been chalked up to child curiosity. And, I think that if that had been the case, Arron and Justin would not have reacted in the way that they did. However, this boy’s tone was not in a curious tone. He was saying it with disgust and hatred. At nine-years-old, somehow, this boy had already lost his compassion for others. In his short time on this earth, he had learned that those who are different from him should not be accepted. They should be avoided and hated. Although, I am sure at his young age he didn’t know why this was so. But, perhaps his parents had used this word in front of him or they spoke of  hateful things around him. 

Whatever the reason, this boy learned a valuable lesson that day. I would never condone violence of any kind what-so-ever and have always taught my children to use their words instead of their fists. So, when Arron and Justin both took off chasing this boy down the road screaming at him for his hateful words, I did sincerely hope that they did not catch him! Finally, when Arron and Justin returned from their marathon run, I hugged them both and told them how very proud I was of them. Both of them, at the young age of nine, totally “got” it! They knew that the “R” word was wrong. They knew it was hurtful. They knew it was an insult. They knew that in a few years, Tim would be hurt if he heard it said to him. So, in their young years, they reacted in a way to tell this boy that using this word was unacceptable.

They didn’t catch him. They let him go. I often wonder about that boy who is now a young man. I wonder how his life is and if he still uses this hateful word? I would like to think that on that sunny afternoon, after catching his breath from such a fast run, he reconsidered his words and how much words can hurt.

But then I wonder, is he just another Ben Stiller? Never thinking about others and who he hurts with his words? Or maybe he is one of the people on the board at Dreamworks?

I would like to share this video with you. Many may have seen it before, many may have just read it in email. However, even if you have, it is always worth watching again! It is long, so get a drink and sit down and listen. THIS is the message we are all trying to send!

Last week, I had a Wild and Wacky Wednesday and during that, I explained that I had written this GREAT blog about my day and how it went to the land of socks because after clicking ‘publish’ it disappeared.

Well…. I was right! It did go to the land of socks! Apparently, “the land of socks” is in the past, because all socks, when they disappear, want to go back, instead of forward, to remember the ‘good ole days’ when they stomped in mud puddles and wore holes that would embarrass mothers!

So… I was making some updates on my blog and I found that article that I had wanted to share with you before! It apparently went into the past back to April 29,2008. Considering that I didn’t have this blog then, I find that quite interesting, however if I ponder too long I am sure to get a headache!

So, I will again, tell you of my Wednesday, August 6, 2008 and hopefully you can get a chuckle from my crazy life!

There is a book called “Men are like Waffles-Women are like Spaghetti” The premise of this book is that the way a man thinks is one compartment at a time. They think of one thing….. no more than one thing….. at a time. And, when your husband is staring off into space and you ask him “What are you thinking?” and he responds “Nothing” This is actually true! (I know ladies… this is hard to imagine!) Men think in small compartments (like waffles) they think of one-thing-at-a-time.

“I need the restroom.”

Which brings us to “Women are like Spaghetti”

Woman are multi-taskers. We constantly are thinking of several things all at once. For most women, when we wake up in the morning, before we even open our eyes, this is what goes through our minds….

I have to get breakfast for the kids then call the doctor to make that appointment, clean the kitchen, bathroom, and make the beds, oh yeah! I forgot about that load of laundry in the dryer last night that finished when I finally got to bed after midnight, so I need to fluff that (I love fluff) and be sure to pull it out and put it away I wonder what I am going to make for dinner….oh no…. the baby is awake…. I layed here too long… oh well after I change the baby and make the bottle I can hold the baby and the bottle and then maybe I can make it to the restroom…

(notice that was one long sentence!)

Women think of one thing then immediately that leads into something else and something else and so on….. (like spaghetti)

This isn’t to downgrade men or say that woman are better in any way (or men or better than women either) It is just how we think!

Last week, I gave my husband Glenn a quiz. This was supposed to evaluate memory skills and see at what level you were at and what you needed help with.

One of the questions was:

“You have a load of laundry in the dryer and you are baking a cake in the oven. All the sudden your best friend calls you on the phone. Can you successfully talk on the phone without burning the cake?”

Ladies…. I know you will LOVE this response!!!

Glenn said, “That’s stupid! If I am baking a cake AND doing laundry at the SAME TIME! I will tell the friend there is NO WAY I can talk on the phone!”

So… with all that said, I go back to the story of how we “re-established” Garrett’s room and then you will understand why “Women are like Spaghetti”

Garrett got an Entertainment center from my mom because she changed tvs and her new one wouldn’t fit in this one. So, they brought it over and we cleaned it up. However, in order to get it into Garrett’s room we had to move some things and I decided that it would be much better on the wall opposite of his bed instead of where his tv was before (next to the bed and in front of the window) So, we set up the tv and all his game systems which took away 2 shelving units from the room.

I was on a roll!

So, I decided that we should go through the toys on the other shelves and decide what we really needed. He is 12 now and really doesn’t play with toys. So… we went through each basket and did the…. “do you want this?…this is broken…..Hey! I didn’t know I had that!” In the midst of this, the power went out, and we tried to continue by flashlight. Tim loves flashlights more than anyone I know! So, he held the flashlight and helped us go through everything. Garrett kept praying for the power to come back on. (he would never make it in Amish country!) Finally, hours later, the power came back on. We cleaned and moved and rearranged until finally we called it a night around 1am.

The next night, I decided that we definitely needed to finish this project. (can’t stand things to be half-done!) So we cleaned out the closet, under the bed and continued to move things into the hallway and out of the room!

Garrett’s room is now the ONLY clean room in the house! All of the contents of his room have spilled out into my hallway, living room, kitchen, and back porch. (there are things in the car that still need to be taken to storage too!)

Being that my mind is “like spaghetti” I am thinking…… Tim’s room is Next!!!

So… yes, I am definitely busy with all our conference planning in the day and my manic cleaning in the night! So, just bare with me while I find my house and all my sanity in our organization’s planning and daily work!

If you want to help me out with a little bit of my sanity you could go here and complete our conference survey! This will help us know how many to expect at our conference. If you are not sure about the conference, I explained the conference in my previous blog “It is and It isn’t” and in Research and Awareness Conference.

However, if you more questions you can always ask!

Just a note: This was Wednesday. THREE DAYS AGO! Since then I have written things for our website, made a deal with Precision Academics to sell their workbooks at a discount price, launched that sale so everyone could get them, had a teleconference with some exciting prospects for our Youth Conference, re-wrote about a dozen forms for our conference, went through more drawers in Garrett’s room to give my grandson Arron some new clothes, cleaned more of the house and drove across Texas to pick up my grandsons Aidan and Spot (this was a day long drive), and spent this Saturday afternoon with Arron and his family over at my mother’s house. (Arron had his second eye surgery yesterday. He is in a lot of pain, but possibly just slightly less than the last time)

I am tired just looking back at all that! I really WISH my mind was like a waffle! Things would be much quieter!