Monday, March 11, 2013

I'm Glad You Came

My grandson Roc sang this son all the time. I thought it was a day care song because I'd never heard it anywhere else. Even after he passed away, we called this song Roc's song. The words of the first and last stanza fit him so well.

The sun goes down
The stars come out
And all that counts
Is here and now
My universe will never be the same
I'm glad you came

You cast a spell on me,
spell on me
You hit me like the sky fell on me,
fell on me
And I decided you look well on me,
well on me

So let's go somewhere no one else can see, you and me
Turn the lights out now
Now I'll take you by the hand
Hand you another drink
Drink it if you can
Can you spend a little time,
Time is slipping away,
Away from us so stay,
Stay with me I can make,
Make you glad you came

The sun goes down
The stars come out
And all that counts
Is here and now
My universe will never be the same
I'm glad you came
I'm glad you came

You cast a spell on me, spell on me
You hit me like the sky fell on me, fell on me
And I decided you look well on me, well on me
So let's go somewhere no one else can see, you and me

Turn the lights out now
Now I'll take you by the hand
Hand you another drink
Drink it if you can
Can you spend a little time,
Time is slipping away,
Away from us so stay,
Stay with me I can make,
Make you glad you came

The sun goes down
The stars come out
And all that counts
Is here and now
My universe will never be the same
I'm glad you came
I'm glad you came
I'm glad you came
So glad you came
I'm glad you came
I'm glad you came

The sun goes down
The stars come out
And all that counts
Is here and now
My universe will never be the same
I'm glad you came
I'm glad you came

Read more: THE WANTED - GLAD YOU CAME LYRICS

The Ship of Life

The ship of life - by John T Baker

Along the shore I spy a ship
As she sets out to sea;
She spreads her sails and sniffs the breeze
And slips away from me.

I watch her fading image shrink,
As she moves on and on,
Until at last she's but a speck,
Then someone says, She's gone.

Gone where? Gone only from our sight
And from our farewell cries;
That ship will somewhere reappear
To other eager eyes.

Beyond the dim horizon's rim
Resound the welcome drums,
And while we're crying, There she goes!
They're shouting, Here she comes!

We're built to cruise for but a while
Upon this trackless sea
Until one day we sail away
Into infinity.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Moving on with life - Toastmasters and other things.

I wrote this the end of February. It's about Toastmasters and I thought it fit in this blog better than my weight loss blog.

I have so much energy. I went from room to room putting things that had gathered around the house in their proper places (or at least in the proper room). I organized my Toastmaster stuff, filing away the manuals I completed for Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM), and organizing the manuals I'll use to work on for my next DTM. DTM isn't the end. I know several people who have 5! I'll cross the stage May 4, and I'm hoping to have several family members and friends there. I don't think it costs anything to be there for that part of the conference. It'll be at the Airport Hilton, and I can't wait! I've already paid for my conference ticket. I hope I can find the receipt! (?)

I found some paperwork in my Advanced Communicator Gold packet that got me really excited. They are training materials for 3 leadership modules. They are 90 minutes long. I'm going to see if I can incorporate them in 3 Toastmaster meetings, doing 30 minutes in each meeting. First I have to get the packets. I've been planning to teach leadership, and this is exactly what I was looking for. It's been there all along, but I never noticed them. When the student is ready, the teacher will come. How many times have I heard that, and how many times has that happened to me? As a matter of fact, when I started getting serious about earning DTM, I met someone who said just the right things to get me going. Together, we did several out of Toastmasters projects where I could practice speaking to totally unfamiliar audiences where I could complete the professional speaker speeches. I may ask him to cross the stage with me. I also want to ask the person who suggested I join Toastmasters for extra credit in 1991. I think I'll wear the dress I wore to my daughter's wedding - IF it still fits in May. It may be too big.

I've reached a couple of major goals, and I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm being pretty ruthless about taking large clothes out of my closet and getting them ready to give away. I'm keeping a top and slacks that I wore before I lost weight. As a matter of fact, they were my weigh-in clothes the first couple of months. I washed clothes earlier this evening, and I put several items in the dryer hoping they'd shrink because they are getting too big. My pants are becoming too long, so I bought some thread to hem them so I can continue to wear them a while longer.

One of my goals was to lose enough weight so my grandson could sit on my lap in the race car at Chuck E Cheese. He and I would race together with him struggling to sit on my lap and turn the steering wheel while I took care of the pedal. And I struggled to feed the baby. Now that I have a lap again, feeding him isn't as difficult.

I definitely look and feel better - even if I do say so myself. I never had this much motivation after this amount of time with any other weight loss program. I'm surprised and pleased. I've been doing this since September 7 - 6 months! Yea me!

Friday, March 1, 2013

Letter

As I was going through the house moving things around, I found several sets of motivational CDs and a CD wallet. I filled the wallet with Anthony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, Jack Canfield, and Jim Rohn. I started with the first CD in the wallet and now I'm listening to Excuses Begone by Wayne Dyer. I've listened to this many times, but this time it spoke to my heart. There's a letter from Ram Dass to the parents of a girl who was murdered. The words were exactly what I needed to hear. The message is what my friends have been trying to tell me all this time, but now I get it. This is the letter with names changed:


Dear Parents,


Roc finished his work on earth, and left the stage in a manner that leaves those of us left behind with a cry of agony in our hearts, as the fragile thread of our faith is dealt with so violently. Is anyone strong enough to stay conscious through such teaching as you are receiving? Probably very few. And even they would only have a whisper of equanimity and peace amidst the screaming trumpets of their rage, grief, horror and desolation.

I can't assuage your pain with any words, nor should I. For your pain is Roc's legacy to you. Not that he or I would inflict such pain by choice, but there it is. And it must burn its purifying way to completion. For something in you dies when you bear the unbearable, and it is only in that dark night of the soul that you are prepared to see as God sees, and to love as God loves.

Now is the time to let your grief find expression. No false strength. Now is the time to sit quietly and speak to Roc, and thank him for being with you these few years, and encourage him to go on with whatever his work is, knowing that you will grow in compassion and wisdom from this experience.

In my heart, I know that you and he will meet again and again, and recognize the many ways in which you have known each other. And when you meet you will know, in a flash, what now it is not given to you to know: Why this had to be the way it was.

Our rational minds can never understand what has happened, but our hearts – if we can keep them open to God – will find their own intuitive way. Roc came through you to do his work on earth, which includes his manner of death. Now his soul is free, and the love that you can share with him is invulnerable to the winds of changing time and space. In that deep love, include me.

In love,
Ram Dass

This letter seems sooooo appropriate. It makes me feel so much better. Roc had a purpose-filled life. It was short, but he really lived in those short years. He had the best parents. They let him experience life in so many ways.