It Happened Today

“Don't wish me happiness
I don't expect to be happy all the time...
It's gotten beyond that somehow.
Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor.
I will need them all.”
Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea


Wednesday, November 20, 2013

When Eyes Are Watching

This year most of my friends and I turn 50. This means we were born in 1963, the year the unimaginable happened.  We were too young to feel the impact of the assassination of John F. Kennedy but we, like so many, have a connection to the event.

The events of November 22, 1963 became part of our story.

"What year were you born?"
"1963"
"The year they killed Jack Kennedy."

We grew up learning about President Kennedy, his beautiful wife, and his children Caroline and John - This beautiful young family and the tragic events that changed their lives and the country forever. The images have been around our whole lives.

Admittedly, when I was growing up I did not realize how young Jacqueline Kennedy was when she was First Lady. I knew they were all young. He was the youngest President. She his young wife.  Their children so young.

Jackie Kennedy was 31 when she became First Lady and 34 when JFK died.  This revelation stunned me.  It wasn't until I was 31, in 1994 the year Jacqueline Kennedy died, that the full impact of what she dealt with came into clear focus. Home with a two year old baby and a government working husband I started thinking about how all those young mothers must have felt in 1963. Looking at her. Watching her. Her heart broken. How composed she was.

When all eyes were watching she was able to stand tall, stay focused, keep her composure.  How?  Who knows - but she did.  When faced with the unthinkable she was able to do the unimaginable.  This has had an incredible impact on my life.  So many years after those events I think to myself if she could get through those days with that much grace maybe I can find a way to try to handle things better.

We never know who will impact our lives or whose life we will effect. The world will never be watching me but my own three kids have and do everyday.  Every day 22 pairs of eyes watch everything I do. I try to remember the example of Jackie Kennedy.  Well, sometimes I forget but mostly I remember.

The 50th Anniversary of that Day in Dallas is a good time to stop and recommit to being mindful of our actions and reactions to events, to news, and to the daily dramas of life.  It's a good day to remember.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

May We Never Forget


Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this 
continent, a new nation, conceived in


Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.



Abraham Lincoln

November 19, 1863

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Time

Passing of time. For the first time in four months I am returning to writing.

During the period of time since I last visited this blog time has gotten away from me.  Life has been on an accelerated pace and there has not been enough time in the day to do all the things that needed to get done. My guess is everyone has felt this way at one time or another in their lives.

During the period of time since I last visited this blog I have moved, renovated a house, travelled back to Poland for a visit, started a full time job as a second grade teacher, helped (well tried to at least) my son apply to college, fed hungry swimmers, and tried to remember to feed my own family.

During the period of time since I last visited this blog I have barely had enough time to keep up with friends, remember important dates, get any exercise, watch tv, read a book, feed my family, write, you probably get the picture...

During the period of time since I last visited this blog I have read about a friend who chose to have preventative double mastectomy surgery because she was afraid she wouldn't have the gift of time. I read about how a brave mother who lost her entire family in a fire found a way to move forward, probably wishing to go back in time. I have looked at my own senior in high school son while on a college visit and wondered "Where has the time gone?"

During this time of year as people in our country prepare to give thanks and people around the world prepare to spend time with loved ones, friends, and family all hoping to have a good time I am hoping to remember to be thankful for the gift of time. I may not always use it wisely or remember to be present as it passes me by but at least for the time being I have it and am hoping to have more of it.

Time like love is a gift. Embrace it. Remember it. Be mindful of how it is used. Catch it when it gets away and enjoy it!

Thanks for taking the time to read.
Magda