Too Much Too Little Too Late

I went by the post office today to buy a book of stamps. The line was long and slow moving. Before I went in the door, passed two women taping up about six large boxes for mailing on the trunk of their car. I noticed a couple of them were packed with food items. I smiled, said hello and simply asked "Puerto Rico?" One of the women replied they were for family members. I simply told them "God Bless you all...and I'm so sorry this country has been so slow to react to help those American citizens. It's embarrassing, and I apologize."

I got inside and found a long and slow moving line. Every person in there besides me and one African American dude were Hispanic, shuffling forward in line, moving a pile of taped up boxes along with them...doing what they could to help out family and friends back home, living in more than catastrophic conditions.

I have been a server for almost forty years and worked with more Hispanic people than a lot of people ever will. They are quite literally the back bone of the restaurant industry. They are some of the hardest working people I've ever met, from bussers to dishwashers to utility to cooks to sous chefs. Off hand I can't think of one lazy Hispanic person I've ever worked with. I'm sure there are a few, but more often than not, they are hard working, great producers and many of them send part of their paycheck back home to help other family members.
He's from Puerto Rico and most of his family is still there. They don't have power, they don't have water, they don't have gas or diesel for generators, they don't have ice or even food. The hospitals don't even have power.

How can this government, our government, my government have waited so long to help these American Citizens?

Everyone here, in their air conditioned house with mobile devices and internet wants to go on and on and on about NFL players (peacefully) protesting police brutality while American citizens are literally dying, living with inhumane conditions while enduring tropical heat.



That's what we need to be going on and on and on about. That's what should bother people the most.


Another thing which bothered me was seeing all those people in the United States Post Office paying to mail all these heavy packages. One woman in front of me paid seventy dollars. Can't we allow these packages to be mailed for free?

I don't have a lot of money, but  have all the necesitites and even amenities of a pretty great life. I have a job where I can make more money any time I pick up an extra shift and walk out the door with it...that night.

Here's what I can do.

I can take this stash of water we have stockpiled in our garage when Tim's company delivered it before and after Irma hit and can take all the baby wipes we bought, wondering if we'd need them to bathe with if the water went out and ran out. I can take the huge bag of every size battery known to man that we have and drop it all off at the American Red Cross to be shipped to Puerto Rico. I have so many clothes I never wear, spare flip flops, even extra paper towels in the garage. I have enough spare sheets to make beds for ten people. I have enough canned goods to feed us for two weeks.

None of this will go very far in Puerto Rico, but if every stateside American did the same, it would.


My offering is a grain of sand, but if the other 323.1 million people living here did the same, it would make a huge difference to millions in Puerto Rico, with nothing gone but things you had to spare.

Katrina wasn't kind to NOLO, Texas was devastated recently as well, the Keys took an awful hit too and even people here in Orlando are still flooded...but they are here. We can reach them and help them rebuild.

The Alchemist is the first book I've ever read with a highlighter in my hand the entire time. There are enough inspirational quotes in that book to change even the sorriest person on earth.

I recently bought a copy for someone who has been struggling. I thought they needed to read it. I started to loan him my copy but I have so many things high lighted in mine that it feels like a part of my soul.

I have faith.

I have doubts, just like I had today, but also think that positvity begets positivity. I've been through a lot this past decade...but millions and millions of others have gone through so much more and actually makes me grateful for our tiny downward blip on the grand screen of life.



I gotta give credit where credit is due.

I left the computer in our bedroom while finishing this blog, went into the kitchen and asked my husband as I passed by, who was sitting three feet away in our tiny temp rental living room what song tied this blog together?

Bam!!

This guy...we met, both broke as jokes but flourished then failed but always remained steadfast.

He nailed it.

All you have to do is "give a little bit."

Till next time...COTTON

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

One of my favorite movies and the seemingly recurrent theme in my life as of late. Life was good, it turned bad and got really ugly for a while but guess who has two thumbs and survived?

"This girl!"

I can't take much credit for it...I had a force behind and above me that made it all happen and  was just a fortunate recipient. It has made me see things more clearly. It has made me appreciate waking up and has made me realize in the grand scheme of the world, I am a pretty lucky gal.

I was so burned out at my old job at The Western Sizzler. My husband had lost his job and I was working thirty days in a row just to make ends meet when they fired me. (Note to self: send them a "Thank You" letter)

I was hired by a family that I have known for almost 14 years and dug right back in, working 13 shifts a week. Somehow we made it... with help from the government and help from my family, friends and new bosses. I started to burn out about a month ago but being almost fifty two thought I hung in there pretty well. I never put in a schedule request, just let him schedule me as he needs me. He started giving me two days off a week and at first I was ticked. He still has me working eight and nine shifts a week but the days off have made me realize how very much I need them. One of them I sleep  the entire day, the next I get some things done. He's a big scary guy...but one  that loves me and knew I was burning out.

We've made enough strides now that I can take a day(or two) off and it won't mean our electricity or water will be cut off. It's a good feeling. It's a guilty feeling, but it's like I have finally been given a reprieve.

Thrown into the mix my younger son got in a butt load of trouble and  took a year for it to all be said and done...but it is. He learned his lesson and paid for it. The lesson I learned is that you love your kids and will do anything for them. He has grown into a man this past year and I have grown into a woman with a head full of gray hair.) Tim went totally gray two years ago but at least he is handsome.

At least we are all still here, with electricity, water and even internet connectivity. (Thanks to my excellent PHD in BS, borrowing from Peter to pay Paul and sneaky banking skills)

I went up to the front of the subdivision today to cut so I could get my sixty bucks from the HOA (Home owners Asses.) They all detest us after Zach's arrest...except for my next door husband on one side and "Slow" Lee on the other. I'm surrounded by REAL friends. Even  the  neighbor across the street  who obviously saw it all go down has been a buddy.

You learn who your friends are and learn to know what kind of people other's can be. Obviously only some of them know about KARMA and have a great deal to learn.

We are still sitting in our little house...utilities paid both cars have gas and we have less  than four years before our mortgage is paid off. 

I've lived through the Good...took it for granted. The bad was an awakening but one I needed.

 The ugly is lfe is an instant. You suck in a breath but may not be around to exhale and if you are...consider yourself extremely lucky.

Looking back I feel like I have climbed the alps Maria did in The Sound of Music.


The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung for a thousand years
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears
My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds
that rise from the lake to the trees
My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies
from a church on a breeze
To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls over
stones on its way
To sing through the night like a lark who is learning to pray
I go to the hills when my heart is lonely
I know I will hear what I've heard before
My heart will be blessed with the sound of music
And I'll sing once more


May sound lame..but when I am on my Johnny Dear making my own yard look great and the hills at  the front look good for everyone that not only turns in but drives by...I'll sing it once more!

The way I feel now is tired but satisfied. What a wonderful way to feel! Appreciate your own life but once you do...help another. Said it before and will say it every day of my life...I am a lucky woman.

Til next  time...COTTON

My Big Left Wing Mouth

As I have said in many posts... I AM A DEMOCRAT !!! I stand by my politics like I stand by my faith.

We have a family website that includes cousins, aunts, uncles...no grandparents left on this earth. Just us "UPSTARTS" with a distant cousin thrown into the mix (she is currently our Matriarch).

I came home from work last night ...checked my email...checked my blog... and began to type. I shot off my big mouth..and was sorry that I inflicted my political views on the website.

I guess that I should monitor myself when not typing on my blog. I am a person that will tell every part of her being , thought and soul to anyone that will listen.

Many (most of) my friends at work are Republicans.

They will be disappointed in this post. Or maybe if they can be open minded they will listen to my rant.

The United States is in the toilet. Every One hates us. Our dollar couldn't buy you half of a "happy meal" in another country...except maybe Mexico, where almost half of their country is already here sending their pittance back home to relatives hoping to join us with a fake social security number and a job washing dishes.

In my opinion....(I get to have this on my blog)... Dick Cheney is a crook and a cheat...and has been running the country.

We need to have a "Change"...not to steal Obama's thunder..but to enhance and stand behind it.

Our men and women are dying overseas...we are increasingly "Pissing" off not only the Muslim community, but the entire world with our "WE'LL TAKE OVER" attitude.

We need DESPERATELY to make a "CHANGE" and make it pretty quick.

We need to have someone that realizes the needs of this country, the needs for change, and the need for action.

Thank the Lord, my husband does not read my blog. He is a staunch Republican. In other words...he is in denial.

This country needs a swift kick in the ass...a realization that we have invaded a country, torn them apart, albeit...they are screwed up anyway.

We need to focus on US...GET IT? "U" "S" . UNITED STATES.

We need to get our own economy, gas prices, grocery prices and insurance premiums under control...before we set out to change the world.

Let's start with our own back yard.

You know what? They may try to bomb us again, but if money was kept here in the states, focused on homeland security...maybe we could do more good at protecting ourselves than at protecting people that are half way around the world, and are already ticked off at us being in their country anyway.

In my opinion (which is small and probably disregarded)

Let's TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN...Let's bring our men and women home...let's focus on "US" for a while. Let's let someone new, fresh and excited try to give it a shot at making us a country that I can feel comfortable about and a country that I will not only feel more secure in...but a country that I will have FAITH in and one that I can be proud of. Till next time...COTTON (sorry Lisa)