Facie’s Ramblings

At this very moment in my life, I feel okay. Overall, I am a pretty positive, optimistic person. When I get down, it rarely last more than a couple of hours. Even when someone does me wrong, depending on the person, I am usually over it within an hour (my kid) or a few hours or a half a day (the hubby) or a day or so (coworker or friend). I used to hold grudges much longer. But life is short, and I have learned to let things go. But lately, I have these days, sometimes fortunately only half days, where I feel overcome. This usually happens to me as I am lying awake at night, fretting about something. Mostly it is my kid and various things around that, not the least of which is her going to high school in the fall a bit of a distance from our house. I fret about my job, which is not stable. I fret about the husband's unemployment. After more than a half year without work, he finally starts a job in two weeks, but that brings with it some different anxieties. I fret about my variou...

My friend Mel wrote a post that resonated with me. I must take a trip back over there and comment on it. Because I so get it. I am a fretter (and, spell-check, I don't care if you don't think that is a word). I worry. I ponder. I worry some more. I often wait for the other shoe to drop, as she said. But even though sometimes anxiety gets the best of me, I still continue to be a fairly optimistic person. I try to see the bright side. I count my blessings often. I take pleasure in little things, and I take pleasure in meaningless things. But whatever puts a smile on your face, so long as it is not a detriment to yourself and others, well, it can't be all that bad. As I have posted about a handful of times, Phipps is my happy place. As I have also said a number of times, it was the best $75 I spent almost two years ago, and was again one of the best uses of $75 this past January (or maybe December) when I renewed. I purchased a dual membership, which has allowed me to ta...

This post is going to be about George Zimmerman being found not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin. But not completely. Let me start off by saying I did not follow the trial closely. I did, however, read a few AP articles over the past week or so. About the only thing I can say with certainty is that I was neither in the courtroom nor on the jury. So I do not have the benefit of all that testimony and evidence. And neither did you (unless you were there). But the comments I have read on Facebook? They are all over the place. Based on various comments, George Zimmerman could have been a racist (a Hispanic man can be racist against a black man), a vigilante, someone trying to protect his neighborhood, or someone trying to defend his life. He could have started the fight, or he could have been the one fighting back. He may have been following neighborhood watch guidelines, or he could have been overstepping. I think he had some sort of a record, but not sure. Trayvon Martin could have...

I have been thinking about forgiveness lately. I know some other bloggers have blogged about it (I forget which ones; I read too many), and I have commented on various posts. I also have discussed the topic with friends and family as of late. So it was fitting that forgiveness and reconciliation were the topics in yesterday's church reflections group I often attend. For years I used to think you could not forgive someone unless that person said he was sorry and truly meant it. Many people can do the former but not really mean it. And then one can be sincere in his apology, but continue to do the same things over and over. As a result, I had trouble forgiving some people for their wrongdoings. Over the years, and particularly in the past year, I have come to realize that sometimes we must forgive others for our well-being; it may not have anything to do with what they have said or (failed to say), but rather how we feel. According to Psych Central, forgiveness is letting go o...

While on Facebook this morning, I noticed that WTAE-TV Pittsburgh posted a video reporting about a massive brawl that occurred among local high school students and some parents/adults near a school bus stop after school yesterday. At one point there were as many as five different fights going on. Naturally, someone took the video and posted it to You Tube, because that seems to be a requirement anymore anytime something violent happens. Apparently, there were two different videos posted; a brawl actually happened two days in a row. WTAE posted a few snippets of the fights, blurring out the people since some are minors. If you want to view the video, you can find it on the station's website or Facebook page. I am guessing the complete videos, with full-on fighting are still on You Tube. I, however, have little interest in watching the savagery of people anymore than what I already witnessed. And, quite frankly, it is stretch for me to call these fighters "people." As I...

I wish all of you a happy, healthy, safe, relatively stress-free, and peaceful Christmas as well as all of those adjectives for 2013, plus some prosperity for good measure. I am getting ready to watch some Christmas specials with the kid. Once she is asleep, I will be wrapping her presents (nothing like waiting until the last minute). Then I will be heading to midnight mass, which actually starts at midnight at our church, where my voice (and the weather, for that matter) will hopefully hold out after last night's Christmas concert. I will leave you with something I thought I would never get: a picture of my kid and Santa. It took 10 Christmases, and it will probably be her last one believing in the red-clothed guy. Just in the nick of time. Get it?! :-) Merry Christmas!

Last evening, the mother of one of J's classmates passed away. This woman had been sick for quite some time (really her daughter's entire life), and her health had recently taken a turn for the worse. However, when I had spoken to her last week and the week before, she sounded pretty good, even optimistic. To help makes things easier for the family, I was planning to take her daughter and J swimming today, and we were going to finalize the plans yesterday. Unfortunately, because this woman had gotten so sick over the past few days, my conversation with her on my birthday was the last we will ever have. Sigh. In my opinion (and the opinion of many others) the worst thing that can happen to someone is to lose her child/ren. But a young kid should not have to lose one of her parents either. To a kid, that is the worst thing that can happen. I remember one time as a child my brothers and I were supposed to spend the weekend at my grandmother's, about an hour away, and I refus...

That may have been the longest blog title I ever wrote. But it sums up my feelings pretty well. You could read just that and skip the post, and you probably would not miss too much, other than a bunch of disjointed thoughts. But I have a few things I want to say, so here goes. I love Joe Paterno. Well, loved . I realize many, many people don't understand this and never will, and that is okay. I won't bother to try to explain it, because, as I said in a Facebook post this morning, I can't. But there are people out there who do get it. All of whom know what the expected response is to, "We are." And I guess those of us can take comfort in this shared experience. As someone else said on Facebook this morning, “I would hope that my life would be judged as a whole and not just by some bad choices.” That is the thing that too many people have overlooked. Joe Paterno did not molest any boys. Joe Paterno did not shower with any boys. He is not a monster. Yes, he sho...

I wish all of you a very, merry Christmas. May your days be merry and bright. And most of all peaceful. Peace on the earth. Goodwill to all.

I cannot believe the last time I did a "random ramblings" post was way back in May of 2010. Since I have a handful of things (and by handful, I mean at least 10) on my mind and not any one thing heavily weighing me down, I figured I might as well ramble. So here goes. Earlier today, the weather people were calling for 3 to 6 inches of snow, with the snow to start in the mid afternoon and one of those inches coming before midnight. I cannot speak for the rest of the Pittsburgh area, but we have gotten at least three inches so far, at around 10 p.m. Brian has twice shoveled our driveway and sidewalks as well as our neighbor's, and each time everything was covered by the time he finished. Speaking of snow, I am scheduled to substitute tomorrow, which also happens to be "Steelers Dress-Down Day." I will be so bummed if I don't get to wear my Hines Ward jersey while teaching, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will have only a two-hour delay (already c...

The above post title is the sentiment/closing on our 2010 Christmas card (below, not that you can really read it). Nevertheless, with those things in life, life is good. Happy Birthday, Jesus. Emmanuel. Wonderful. Counselor. Mighty God. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace. Merry Christmas!

On Monday, Jordan and I had the pleasure of attending a program about the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at our local library. Greg Kenney, from Educate Us Productions, acted as both narrator and Dr. King during the presentation. Prior to that evening, I knew very little about Dr. King, other than he fought for racial injustice and was tragically killed when he was very young. When I was in school, we did not talk about MLK, probably because we never made it to the '60s in our U.S. history class. And Martin Luther King Jr. Day was not made a national holiday until the mid '80s, and even then, not all states celebrated it. But now that I am an adult, I am very interested in social studies and history. I first heard MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech when I played it for my speech communications class in the mid '90s. I was so moved by it and still am. To this day, my eyes well with tears whenever I hear certain lines from it. Mr. Kenney's program at th...

No long winded post from me tonight. I just want to wish you all a merry, happy, healthy, peaceful Christmas. I hope you get just what you want. And even better, what you need. God bless, Faith