Sunday, January 31, 2010
NEED FOR SPANISH SPEAKING OFFICERS IN TEXAS
Today in my Houston Chronicle big headline that more Spanish speaking police officers are needed. Almost 2 million of OUR tax dollars being spent to pay extra money to the officers speaking Spanish.I am not a racist by any means, but I am sick to death of reading stories like this I am tired of my tax dollars going toward illegally living people whether they are Mexican , Chinese whatever. The amount of money spent on printing every thing in English and Spanish alone is astounding. We are enabling these people to live in our country not hampered by being illegal because we make it easy for them. They can get free healthcare in any ER in the country and the hospital pays big bucks for Spanish speakers to be there. They can get Medicaid without a social security number that alone makes me want to pull my hair out. You call any business in the USA and it says press one for English and two for Spanish, This is the United States of America, not Mexico. I lost my job a couple of years ago and a person in their 50's non Spanish and non Spanish speaking has one heck of a time getting an interview let along a position in the Houston area. I have never been without a job for 8 months since I was 16 years old. But because I don't speak Spanish in the US I am discriminated against. When the policemen or any government agency comes upon a non English speaking person whether they are Mexican , Korean , Chinese whatever, their immigration status should be able to be proven or ICE be called in. We are allowing billions of dollars to be wasted to help comment a crime. If you hide a criminal in your house from police you are aiding and abetting a crime. I feel if you spend billions for someone to be here easier, if they are here illegally, then it should be a crime.Anyone that wants to come here through the proper channels and become a citizen and learn English I am all for it. I love being around people of other races other cultures but I do not want to be forced to live my life paying outrageous Harris county taxes so someone does not have to speak our country's language and our government is the worst offender. We make it so easy for people that can not speak English that they don't bother trying. In the mean time all American of all races and cultures foot the bill.
WHEN DID IT BECOME OK TO TEXT GRANDMA "MERRY CHRISTMAS " INSTEAD OF A PHONE CALL?
When did it become ok to "text" Merry Christmas to your Grandma instead of a phone call?I guess I should feel fortunate I do know how to text and I am computer literate or I might not have heard from anyone. In the age of Twitter, Text messaging, Facebook and the like, it is either get with it or get lost.I myself went crazy over the internet when it first came into my life. At a very low period, when loneliness over whelmed me I stayed up half the night if not all night staring at that little box in front of me. The whole world was right there, but thankfully over time I tired of it. One of the biggest problems is way too much information about your life is up for grabs. Facebook is a bit over the top as is Twitter. I do not need to know you just threw up or I have a kid with diarrhea. Everytime you have a tiff with the boyfriend husband whatever it is blow by blow and the next time you log in it is all kisses and hearts. Gag me please.I have a Facebook and MySpace account for one reason so I can see pictures of my grandkids in another state since my kids can not take time to send dear old Mom any by "snail mail" that is the US postal service.Even that is a source of fear for me, with child predators running wild online I do not want their photos downloaded by some nut case and used for gratification of a pervert.No matter what the roadblocks you put up online for privacy there is always a way around it. The best plan would be to think your minister is going to read it live in church on Sunday morning. If you can not handle that do not write it.
JOHN EDWARDS-HOW DO YOU SPELL STUPID?
What a shocker! NOT! John Edwards is another Tiger Woods story. Money, power and or influence are a big draw to slutty woman that seek the money, power and influence.
I look to see him claim a sex addiction next.
Everything is an addiction if you don’t want to take personal responsibility for the behavior.
When will men understand that when you have money, power and influence you need to take care of home and leave the outside on the outside?
Nothing makes me wonder more what people are thinking when they get involved, especially in the day and age of media, internet, digital media and scummy reporters selling a story to anyone that listens, that they think they can get away with it forever.
When you are a middle –aged man in a mid life crisis “poor me I don’t have sex everyday (couldn’t physically if you wanted to)”. But you think some sweet young firm bodied woman can not live without your middle aged gut or older, flabby butt (except your wallet). Oh, she is really looking at your wonderful heart, your glowing personality and you’re over the top manhood needs a swift kick in it. She understands me, I can trust her with this secret she is my soul mate, IDIOT, she has no morals or character or she would not be sleeping with a man she knows is married.
This is the stupidest thing in the world, you think they want you, but they want what you have. I dare say any man married long term or with self esteem issues (Viagra users) are very simple prey for lazy gold diggers looking for a sugar daddy to take care of them. I would bet the farm that 99 percent of men in a certain age group not just these young idiots are driven more by there lower brains than the one resting on their shoulders, and you get the right one whispering how great they are to them enough and shaking their tail feathers and they fall like pins at a bowling alley.
This plays out every single day in the world, wake up and smell the coffee people. They don’t want you sorry behind , you’re a liar, you can not be trusted, and your about to lose at least 50-60 percent of your income, the next time another one tells you you’re all that you lose another 50-60 percent this equal alone , broke and stupid.
John Edwards is a dog, he would never have come out with this admission if a book was not about to “out” all his secrets. It is bad enough he cheated and lied but when he denied that baby that ripped it with me.
That poor child has a mother with low morals and a father with even lower ones. I am praying someone else raises her and keeps her out of the limelight. She should not have to pay for the sins of the parents a.k.a. DNA donor in Edwards’s case. Cancer or not I would rather be alone and hire a nurse than have a man like that. I can do bad all by myself
I look to see him claim a sex addiction next.
Everything is an addiction if you don’t want to take personal responsibility for the behavior.
When will men understand that when you have money, power and influence you need to take care of home and leave the outside on the outside?
Nothing makes me wonder more what people are thinking when they get involved, especially in the day and age of media, internet, digital media and scummy reporters selling a story to anyone that listens, that they think they can get away with it forever.
When you are a middle –aged man in a mid life crisis “poor me I don’t have sex everyday (couldn’t physically if you wanted to)”. But you think some sweet young firm bodied woman can not live without your middle aged gut or older, flabby butt (except your wallet). Oh, she is really looking at your wonderful heart, your glowing personality and you’re over the top manhood needs a swift kick in it. She understands me, I can trust her with this secret she is my soul mate, IDIOT, she has no morals or character or she would not be sleeping with a man she knows is married.
This is the stupidest thing in the world, you think they want you, but they want what you have. I dare say any man married long term or with self esteem issues (Viagra users) are very simple prey for lazy gold diggers looking for a sugar daddy to take care of them. I would bet the farm that 99 percent of men in a certain age group not just these young idiots are driven more by there lower brains than the one resting on their shoulders, and you get the right one whispering how great they are to them enough and shaking their tail feathers and they fall like pins at a bowling alley.
This plays out every single day in the world, wake up and smell the coffee people. They don’t want you sorry behind , you’re a liar, you can not be trusted, and your about to lose at least 50-60 percent of your income, the next time another one tells you you’re all that you lose another 50-60 percent this equal alone , broke and stupid.
John Edwards is a dog, he would never have come out with this admission if a book was not about to “out” all his secrets. It is bad enough he cheated and lied but when he denied that baby that ripped it with me.
That poor child has a mother with low morals and a father with even lower ones. I am praying someone else raises her and keeps her out of the limelight. She should not have to pay for the sins of the parents a.k.a. DNA donor in Edwards’s case. Cancer or not I would rather be alone and hire a nurse than have a man like that. I can do bad all by myself
LETTER TO MY GRANDCHILD ON BIRTHDAY HER 13TH BIRTHDAY
Letter to my grandchild
My Darling Grandchild,
I want you to know how much you have truly blessed my life. You were my first Grandchild so that in it’s self makes you special to me. But not the only thing that makes you special. I can not tell you in words how much I love you and how proud I am of you.
My dreams for you are that you live your life in a way that will bring love, success, and happiness for the rest of your life.
You are so blessed to have so many people that love you. Your Mom and Dad love you so much, I know you have always had that so it seems second nature to have that love but let me tell you it is a wonderful priceless gift. I never felt the true love of a parent.
My mother felt that love meant putting food on the table and strong handed discipline but not showing affection and love like you have. I had no father ever and no father figure, no Grandparents ever, you have so many from both sides that loves you so very much, more blessings even though you may not truly appreciate that until you’re an adult for some time.
If you never do anything for your Nana I want you to only promise me a few things that I know will make your life better and easier and more fulfilled than you will understand until probably when I am long since dead and gone.
Keep God first in all things, steer your own path don’t let people steer it for you.
Wear the “True Love Waits” ring we sent you today and wear it proudly forever not just until you’re married. Make it a pinky ring or put it on a chain afterwards or put it in a special memory box with this letter after your married.
Keeping yourself pure in mind and spirit is the best gift you will ever give yourself.
I have done a lot of stupid things in my life but I did keep my vow not to have sex before I was married to your Grandfather. Although I was crazy enough to marry at 16 I would not have been intimate until a ring was on my finger no matter the age. Once you give that part of you away it is gone forever there is no getting it back. I believe respecting your self enough to say
“True Love Waits” is a remarkable gift you give yourself and God.
But you have to let God be the judge of your life not man. I hear over and over times have changed, times may have changed but God has not changed his love for us and we have to love ourselves enough to value ourselves. Let your mind rule your body not your body rule your mind.
Education is so important; one of the biggest mistakes I ever made was quitting school when I married. I did it not because I wasn’t smart; it was because of low self esteem from being told all my life I would never amount to anything.
You on the other hand have a wonderful Mom and Dad and Step-Father and others that are encouraging towards you and know how smart you are.
Grandchild you have only to reach for the stars, God can make dreams we never even have the nerve to ask him for a reality if you stay in school educate yourself and believe in hard work it takes to make it, and trust in God, you will never have to settle for “less” in your life.
Being educated means not being dependant on anyone else and allows you to make decisions in your future based on things that you truly want and that make you happy not settling for less than you deserve just to get by. When you are educated you can chart your course and pick an equal in your life to be a partner, not just pick someone to have security or stay with them because you fear you can’t make it without them. You need to be able to choose a mate for life out of love not necessity as I have done that in my life and it is a self made prison.
Unfortunately I did it for a long period before I went to school and realized “Hey, I am smarter than I was told, I can learn, I can be, I can achieve”. This is something I want to pass on to you without the painful way I learned it in my 40’s.
Be yourself, you are a kind, sweet-natured.
Be polite in all situations , think before you speak, later in life when it is time to seek employment and references you want people to be able to say, “Such a nice person, well spoken , confident but not pushy, smart but not smart mouthed.
I have learned one thing the hard way too, what comes out of your mouth is what people know or think they know about you:
If you talk trashy, you’re conceived as trash.
If you speak intelligently but not as a know it all, then they see you as being intelligent.
If they see you show kindness to friends and strangers because it comes from the heart such as volunteering, they see you as someone with a good heart.
Walk with your head held high but not with your nose in the air.
Know that you are as good as anyone that walks this earth but better than no one.
The C.E.O. of a major corporation is no better than a homeless man; it was one wrong turn, one lapse in judgment that could have made all the different, one act of kindness or a hand up that could have made all the difference.
One thing I wish I had done at your age was to seek out wisdom from older people. I wish I had learned from the mistakes of my mother, I wish I had been lucky enough to have had so many grandparents like you do.
Talk to them, but most importantly LISTEN to them and take it to heart. Grandparents, older Americans, have lived through everything or most things you will ever have to live through in one way or another that makes your life happy or miserable.
We are in no way perfect and no one has made any more mistakes in life than I have , but as I have always told my kids a mistake is a mistake, what did you learn from it? Move on, but remember the lessons. A mistake is a one time thing you learn from, repeatedly continuing to do it over and over is a pattern of stupidity and self destruction. You are definitely not a stupid person.
Learn from your mistakes and learn from your parents and grandparents and don’t feel that you need to fight the life lessons, most people that talk to you about such things love you and want the best for you, if they tell you they have learned from something, make your brain a hard drive and store that knowledge somewhere so you are not doomed to repeat it. Try not to be as hardheaded as your Nana. We are not always right about everything, but we always love you and want the best for you as your Grandparents.
When you are older and decide to love, like we really have that choice in who we love, partner with someone that is a true friend first. Friendship and honesty is the best foundation for any relationship be it male or female friends. Trust, is not something I had never known until I met my husband, he is my best friend; he has been there for me through the best and worst times of my life. A friend for a husband is God’s greatest gift.
It is wonderful when your feeling pretty and full of life and a man is telling you your all that, but let me tell you from first hand experience, when you are so sick and weak you can not sit up by yourself and they put their hands gently behind your back gently and raise you up, that is a true friend that is love.
When you’re in school and afraid and wanting to drop out and they remind you how smart you are and how much they believe in you and never let you stop trying that is love and that is a true friend. A true friend builds you up they don’t tear you down or let you tear yourself down.
When you are so near death that turning off the lights make you have a panic attack and you feel the touch of their hand in the darkness and you feel like you can make it through one more night that is love.
When you are so sick so weak and can not clean yourself and your husband/friend cleans your body after going to the bathroom because you are too weak to raise your arms and the pain is tearing you in half, even though the man has to choke down vomit because he can not stomach the smell of your own bodily functions but goes on, he does because he loves you and steps up to the plate, that is love, that is friendship.
Love is not sex in the back of a car, or a quick sexual act. Love is someone that is there when you are absolutely at your very lowest moment in your life and like an Angel from the Lord helps to lift you up, be it in mind or in spirit or body.
Sweetheart wait for that kind of love the rest is just a rehearsal for the real thing. There are millions of thorns in the world but believe me when you are a praying person and you pray for God to choose your mate, it will be the best thing that ever happens in you life.
In your career choice, do something you truly love to do, not for the paycheck, not for what others will think of you but something you truly love, you will be doing it for a lifetime so why not enjoy it? Why not chose to do something that makes you feel good, that fulfills you? If you can make someone’s life better along the way then so much the better.
The best piece of advice I have heard in a long time I heard on television when I heard Maya Angelou the poet say, “ When someone shows you who they are, BELIEVE THEM”.
In others words if someone treats you with disrespect, they don’t respect you.
If someone hurts you and shows no remorse and continues to hurt you they don’t love you they like hurting you.
If someone lies to you, they are a liar, if they steal from you they are a theft, if they don’t keep a promise for no good reason they don’t honor their words.
Grandchild, you have absolutely no power over anyone but yourself.
If you think you can change anyone else to be a better person or to treat you better the only way that will happen is if you show them you will tolerate nothing less than you deserve. Put yourself on the pedestal God place you on and make sure your do not allow anyone to knock you off it.
If you allow yourself to be used, you will be used. If you allow yourself to be mistreated, you will be.
If you allow someone to take away your self esteem, you will have none. If you allow someone to take away God’s promises to you and turn you from him, they are of the Devil and not holy and you have to look at it and say whom should I follow? God or the Devil?
It is a one or the other thing the choice is not always an easy one when others are pulling on your ear, or when it is not always popular and it is always a work in progress. You can not serve two masters, it is God or the Devil.
But all that stuff is so unimportant at the end of life believe me when we stand before God we are only responsible for our lives no one else’s. I wish I had been a better role model for my kids and grandkids. But I feel like it is never too late to learn, never too late to try and never too late until you take your last breathe to do better, be better.
Lastly, my dear grandchild, I love you, I will always be here if nothing else but by phone.
You can trust me to be honest with you even if it stings a little.
Don’t ask me a question you don’t want me to give you an honest answer to. I will talk to you about anything you need to talk about no matter how small or large you think it is and I will never betray your trust.
What ever you need to talk about I will always listen I will not judge you.
I want to be to you what I never had, a Grandmother, not your Mother not your BFF but a Grandmother. With all my faults, imperfections, but someone that loves you beyond all your understanding.
I loved you from the first moment you took your first breathe, and I will love you past my last one. For infinity and 28 days, to the moon and back. You know this is the most anyone can be loved right?
Happy 13th Birthday my darling precious Grandchild, you are a gift from God to all of us that love you and to those that will someday meet you.
I know this looks like a book, but it was on my heart. Put it away in a safe place and read it every few years as you grow into the person I know you will be. When your feeling blue, or feel no one loves you, even though that is not true, pull this out and read it a couple of times and remind yourself how special you are all over again no matter how old you are.
On the day I leave this earth and I hope that is a long time from now, I want you to read it again at my funeral.
Know how lucky I was to have known you, to have known all my children and all my grandchildren. To have known a great love in my life, in having God in my life, to have known a man like my husband that loves me unconditionally.
Also that I was faulted deeply and had many scars you will never know about, but know this most of all, I did the best I could and I am at peace with my life.
That I never stopped learning and neither should you. I never stopped loving and neither should you. When I leave this earth don’t cry but rejoice and be glad I am with the Father and will see you again. Know that I am a part of you forever and you are a part of me forever no matter what.
My kids, my grandkids, my husband, siblings and friends have been my greatest gift to me, my greatest source of love, lessons in life and although it seems life’s hardest lessons are the most valuable ones; life itself is a lesson from beginning to end.
Live your lesson, live your potential, never settle and never stop reaching for the stars.
As I read this I have decided that I will keep a copy of this letter and send it to each of my Grandchildren on their 13th birthday a tradition of love. I hope you don’t mind sharing. I love you all the same and wish the same thing for all my Grandchildren.
I love you always and forever,
NANA
My Darling Grandchild,
I want you to know how much you have truly blessed my life. You were my first Grandchild so that in it’s self makes you special to me. But not the only thing that makes you special. I can not tell you in words how much I love you and how proud I am of you.
My dreams for you are that you live your life in a way that will bring love, success, and happiness for the rest of your life.
You are so blessed to have so many people that love you. Your Mom and Dad love you so much, I know you have always had that so it seems second nature to have that love but let me tell you it is a wonderful priceless gift. I never felt the true love of a parent.
My mother felt that love meant putting food on the table and strong handed discipline but not showing affection and love like you have. I had no father ever and no father figure, no Grandparents ever, you have so many from both sides that loves you so very much, more blessings even though you may not truly appreciate that until you’re an adult for some time.
If you never do anything for your Nana I want you to only promise me a few things that I know will make your life better and easier and more fulfilled than you will understand until probably when I am long since dead and gone.
Keep God first in all things, steer your own path don’t let people steer it for you.
Wear the “True Love Waits” ring we sent you today and wear it proudly forever not just until you’re married. Make it a pinky ring or put it on a chain afterwards or put it in a special memory box with this letter after your married.
Keeping yourself pure in mind and spirit is the best gift you will ever give yourself.
I have done a lot of stupid things in my life but I did keep my vow not to have sex before I was married to your Grandfather. Although I was crazy enough to marry at 16 I would not have been intimate until a ring was on my finger no matter the age. Once you give that part of you away it is gone forever there is no getting it back. I believe respecting your self enough to say
“True Love Waits” is a remarkable gift you give yourself and God.
But you have to let God be the judge of your life not man. I hear over and over times have changed, times may have changed but God has not changed his love for us and we have to love ourselves enough to value ourselves. Let your mind rule your body not your body rule your mind.
Education is so important; one of the biggest mistakes I ever made was quitting school when I married. I did it not because I wasn’t smart; it was because of low self esteem from being told all my life I would never amount to anything.
You on the other hand have a wonderful Mom and Dad and Step-Father and others that are encouraging towards you and know how smart you are.
Grandchild you have only to reach for the stars, God can make dreams we never even have the nerve to ask him for a reality if you stay in school educate yourself and believe in hard work it takes to make it, and trust in God, you will never have to settle for “less” in your life.
Being educated means not being dependant on anyone else and allows you to make decisions in your future based on things that you truly want and that make you happy not settling for less than you deserve just to get by. When you are educated you can chart your course and pick an equal in your life to be a partner, not just pick someone to have security or stay with them because you fear you can’t make it without them. You need to be able to choose a mate for life out of love not necessity as I have done that in my life and it is a self made prison.
Unfortunately I did it for a long period before I went to school and realized “Hey, I am smarter than I was told, I can learn, I can be, I can achieve”. This is something I want to pass on to you without the painful way I learned it in my 40’s.
Be yourself, you are a kind, sweet-natured.
Be polite in all situations , think before you speak, later in life when it is time to seek employment and references you want people to be able to say, “Such a nice person, well spoken , confident but not pushy, smart but not smart mouthed.
I have learned one thing the hard way too, what comes out of your mouth is what people know or think they know about you:
If you talk trashy, you’re conceived as trash.
If you speak intelligently but not as a know it all, then they see you as being intelligent.
If they see you show kindness to friends and strangers because it comes from the heart such as volunteering, they see you as someone with a good heart.
Walk with your head held high but not with your nose in the air.
Know that you are as good as anyone that walks this earth but better than no one.
The C.E.O. of a major corporation is no better than a homeless man; it was one wrong turn, one lapse in judgment that could have made all the different, one act of kindness or a hand up that could have made all the difference.
One thing I wish I had done at your age was to seek out wisdom from older people. I wish I had learned from the mistakes of my mother, I wish I had been lucky enough to have had so many grandparents like you do.
Talk to them, but most importantly LISTEN to them and take it to heart. Grandparents, older Americans, have lived through everything or most things you will ever have to live through in one way or another that makes your life happy or miserable.
We are in no way perfect and no one has made any more mistakes in life than I have , but as I have always told my kids a mistake is a mistake, what did you learn from it? Move on, but remember the lessons. A mistake is a one time thing you learn from, repeatedly continuing to do it over and over is a pattern of stupidity and self destruction. You are definitely not a stupid person.
Learn from your mistakes and learn from your parents and grandparents and don’t feel that you need to fight the life lessons, most people that talk to you about such things love you and want the best for you, if they tell you they have learned from something, make your brain a hard drive and store that knowledge somewhere so you are not doomed to repeat it. Try not to be as hardheaded as your Nana. We are not always right about everything, but we always love you and want the best for you as your Grandparents.
When you are older and decide to love, like we really have that choice in who we love, partner with someone that is a true friend first. Friendship and honesty is the best foundation for any relationship be it male or female friends. Trust, is not something I had never known until I met my husband, he is my best friend; he has been there for me through the best and worst times of my life. A friend for a husband is God’s greatest gift.
It is wonderful when your feeling pretty and full of life and a man is telling you your all that, but let me tell you from first hand experience, when you are so sick and weak you can not sit up by yourself and they put their hands gently behind your back gently and raise you up, that is a true friend that is love.
When you’re in school and afraid and wanting to drop out and they remind you how smart you are and how much they believe in you and never let you stop trying that is love and that is a true friend. A true friend builds you up they don’t tear you down or let you tear yourself down.
When you are so near death that turning off the lights make you have a panic attack and you feel the touch of their hand in the darkness and you feel like you can make it through one more night that is love.
When you are so sick so weak and can not clean yourself and your husband/friend cleans your body after going to the bathroom because you are too weak to raise your arms and the pain is tearing you in half, even though the man has to choke down vomit because he can not stomach the smell of your own bodily functions but goes on, he does because he loves you and steps up to the plate, that is love, that is friendship.
Love is not sex in the back of a car, or a quick sexual act. Love is someone that is there when you are absolutely at your very lowest moment in your life and like an Angel from the Lord helps to lift you up, be it in mind or in spirit or body.
Sweetheart wait for that kind of love the rest is just a rehearsal for the real thing. There are millions of thorns in the world but believe me when you are a praying person and you pray for God to choose your mate, it will be the best thing that ever happens in you life.
In your career choice, do something you truly love to do, not for the paycheck, not for what others will think of you but something you truly love, you will be doing it for a lifetime so why not enjoy it? Why not chose to do something that makes you feel good, that fulfills you? If you can make someone’s life better along the way then so much the better.
The best piece of advice I have heard in a long time I heard on television when I heard Maya Angelou the poet say, “ When someone shows you who they are, BELIEVE THEM”.
In others words if someone treats you with disrespect, they don’t respect you.
If someone hurts you and shows no remorse and continues to hurt you they don’t love you they like hurting you.
If someone lies to you, they are a liar, if they steal from you they are a theft, if they don’t keep a promise for no good reason they don’t honor their words.
Grandchild, you have absolutely no power over anyone but yourself.
If you think you can change anyone else to be a better person or to treat you better the only way that will happen is if you show them you will tolerate nothing less than you deserve. Put yourself on the pedestal God place you on and make sure your do not allow anyone to knock you off it.
If you allow yourself to be used, you will be used. If you allow yourself to be mistreated, you will be.
If you allow someone to take away your self esteem, you will have none. If you allow someone to take away God’s promises to you and turn you from him, they are of the Devil and not holy and you have to look at it and say whom should I follow? God or the Devil?
It is a one or the other thing the choice is not always an easy one when others are pulling on your ear, or when it is not always popular and it is always a work in progress. You can not serve two masters, it is God or the Devil.
But all that stuff is so unimportant at the end of life believe me when we stand before God we are only responsible for our lives no one else’s. I wish I had been a better role model for my kids and grandkids. But I feel like it is never too late to learn, never too late to try and never too late until you take your last breathe to do better, be better.
Lastly, my dear grandchild, I love you, I will always be here if nothing else but by phone.
You can trust me to be honest with you even if it stings a little.
Don’t ask me a question you don’t want me to give you an honest answer to. I will talk to you about anything you need to talk about no matter how small or large you think it is and I will never betray your trust.
What ever you need to talk about I will always listen I will not judge you.
I want to be to you what I never had, a Grandmother, not your Mother not your BFF but a Grandmother. With all my faults, imperfections, but someone that loves you beyond all your understanding.
I loved you from the first moment you took your first breathe, and I will love you past my last one. For infinity and 28 days, to the moon and back. You know this is the most anyone can be loved right?
Happy 13th Birthday my darling precious Grandchild, you are a gift from God to all of us that love you and to those that will someday meet you.
I know this looks like a book, but it was on my heart. Put it away in a safe place and read it every few years as you grow into the person I know you will be. When your feeling blue, or feel no one loves you, even though that is not true, pull this out and read it a couple of times and remind yourself how special you are all over again no matter how old you are.
On the day I leave this earth and I hope that is a long time from now, I want you to read it again at my funeral.
Know how lucky I was to have known you, to have known all my children and all my grandchildren. To have known a great love in my life, in having God in my life, to have known a man like my husband that loves me unconditionally.
Also that I was faulted deeply and had many scars you will never know about, but know this most of all, I did the best I could and I am at peace with my life.
That I never stopped learning and neither should you. I never stopped loving and neither should you. When I leave this earth don’t cry but rejoice and be glad I am with the Father and will see you again. Know that I am a part of you forever and you are a part of me forever no matter what.
My kids, my grandkids, my husband, siblings and friends have been my greatest gift to me, my greatest source of love, lessons in life and although it seems life’s hardest lessons are the most valuable ones; life itself is a lesson from beginning to end.
Live your lesson, live your potential, never settle and never stop reaching for the stars.
As I read this I have decided that I will keep a copy of this letter and send it to each of my Grandchildren on their 13th birthday a tradition of love. I hope you don’t mind sharing. I love you all the same and wish the same thing for all my Grandchildren.
I love you always and forever,
NANA
DISTRACTED DRIVING
Driving under the influence of Cell Phone!
I watched a program about calling and testing while driving on Oprah the other day and it was an eye opener. Fortunately I had already come to the conclusion that I didn’t want or need to do it any longer. I used my cell as a time killer when I used to work downtown in Houston. The long traffic delays I would catch up with friends during my sometimes 45- an hour drive or, worse if I came upon a wreck, drive to and from work.
This is the link to the Oprah show watch it with your kids especially those that are driving age or about to be and take the pledge not to do it. If you have to put your phone in the truck so you don’t hear it ring.
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Watch-the-Full-Hour-Americas-New-Deadly-Obsession-Video
What brought me to my senses about cell phone use in cars was when I started working closer to home I still have a 20 minute drive over a big bridge but I started noticing other drivers. Seems practically everyone I go past or that passes me is on the phone. The chances of having an accident while under the influence of alcohol are 4 times as high as when you’re sober. When talking on a cell phone, headset or not, it makes you 4 times more likely to have an accident. Say you had a beer or two and get in your car and call call someone on the way home? You are at least 8 times more likely to be in an accident. I can tell when someone is texting or emailing. They drive below the speed limit and go in an out of their lanes of traffic just like a drunken person does.
I was walking into my work twice in the last month and people leaving the parking lot backing out of slots have almost hit me on foot because they were on cell phones while backing out and not looking. I had to slap the truck of one person it was that close. I have had people walk in from of vehicle from within the building exits with a cell phone to their ear and never look in my direction while I am slamming on my brakes to keep from killing them. This is what started me leaving my cell phone in my bag while driving. I thought Lord if they are on the phone and I am too in at least one of this incident someone including myself could have been killed or seriously injured.
Now texting I am going to say I was guilty of it not in a big way but I would look and try to read a text I received. I was also bad about texting my husband while he was in route somewhere to pick up this or that. It hit me one day in a restaurant when he was pulling out his “cheaters” the over the counter eye glasses you buy at a drug store to read, how much danger I was putting him in by texting him while he was driving. If he has to have glasses to read a menu them fumbling for glasses and trying to read and drive what was I thinking? The answer is I wasn’t.
How many times have I spoken to my daughter with the grandkids in the background and her driving them to ballgames extra, running in a hundred directions at once? When the gentleman on Oprah talked about he called his son while he was driving and the phone when dead, his son was killed fumbling for the phone, my heart hurt and I felt physically sick. Can you imagine living with that forever? I believe I would have to be committed to an institution.
Texting while driving in the mix, a person under the influence of alcohol has a 4 times greater chance of an accident, while texting you are 8 times more likely. Throw in two or three kids pulling at you a list a mile long of things to do, the fact that so many people are addicted to update every single factor of their lives on Facebook, Twitter etc. and you have a recipe for disaster. But for the grace of God I could have killed someone or caused someone to. I do not answer my phone in the car anymore; I do not text anymore in the car. If accept or make a call from or to someone my first question to them will be where are you? If they are in a car I am hanging up and they can call me when they arrive SAFELY at their destination I don’t care who it is.
I am taking the pledge to not drive under the influence of cell phones and I also would like to see a complete ban of the practice. Folks we lived millions of years without them, since cars came into being we did with out them for a couple of hundred years we can now. NOTHING is more important than human life. Not a stupid email, joke and especially an update from Facebook or other site telling you want someone just had for dinner.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, turn off the phone this week, and watch carefully around you, notice how many are driving with phones to their ears. If you are at a red light just look at the drivers coming at you. Count them
28 percent of accidents on the highway are now being cause by cell phones that is the ones they are sure of, I think it is higher. The first thing in a accident that should happen is the officer ask to see your cell phone for last call or see if you were texting and charge you for reckless driving! No way that would be a violation of rights to privacy, but what about the right not to get killed by someone passing a stupid joke on a cell phone?
I am going to jump on the bandwagon and start a campaign in my state and others to ban them all together in vehicles. You can pull into a parking lot and stop to make a call, we used to have to go to a pay phone to do it for Pete’s sake at least you don’t have to get out of your car now!
Say no to cells in cars!! The life you save may be mine, my daughters, my son, my mom my siblings, my grandkids, my husband and friends or yours.
If the chance of killing someone does not move you then think of this. How much more
I watched a program about calling and testing while driving on Oprah the other day and it was an eye opener. Fortunately I had already come to the conclusion that I didn’t want or need to do it any longer. I used my cell as a time killer when I used to work downtown in Houston. The long traffic delays I would catch up with friends during my sometimes 45- an hour drive or, worse if I came upon a wreck, drive to and from work.
This is the link to the Oprah show watch it with your kids especially those that are driving age or about to be and take the pledge not to do it. If you have to put your phone in the truck so you don’t hear it ring.
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Watch-the-Full-Hour-Americas-New-Deadly-Obsession-Video
What brought me to my senses about cell phone use in cars was when I started working closer to home I still have a 20 minute drive over a big bridge but I started noticing other drivers. Seems practically everyone I go past or that passes me is on the phone. The chances of having an accident while under the influence of alcohol are 4 times as high as when you’re sober. When talking on a cell phone, headset or not, it makes you 4 times more likely to have an accident. Say you had a beer or two and get in your car and call call someone on the way home? You are at least 8 times more likely to be in an accident. I can tell when someone is texting or emailing. They drive below the speed limit and go in an out of their lanes of traffic just like a drunken person does.
I was walking into my work twice in the last month and people leaving the parking lot backing out of slots have almost hit me on foot because they were on cell phones while backing out and not looking. I had to slap the truck of one person it was that close. I have had people walk in from of vehicle from within the building exits with a cell phone to their ear and never look in my direction while I am slamming on my brakes to keep from killing them. This is what started me leaving my cell phone in my bag while driving. I thought Lord if they are on the phone and I am too in at least one of this incident someone including myself could have been killed or seriously injured.
Now texting I am going to say I was guilty of it not in a big way but I would look and try to read a text I received. I was also bad about texting my husband while he was in route somewhere to pick up this or that. It hit me one day in a restaurant when he was pulling out his “cheaters” the over the counter eye glasses you buy at a drug store to read, how much danger I was putting him in by texting him while he was driving. If he has to have glasses to read a menu them fumbling for glasses and trying to read and drive what was I thinking? The answer is I wasn’t.
How many times have I spoken to my daughter with the grandkids in the background and her driving them to ballgames extra, running in a hundred directions at once? When the gentleman on Oprah talked about he called his son while he was driving and the phone when dead, his son was killed fumbling for the phone, my heart hurt and I felt physically sick. Can you imagine living with that forever? I believe I would have to be committed to an institution.
Texting while driving in the mix, a person under the influence of alcohol has a 4 times greater chance of an accident, while texting you are 8 times more likely. Throw in two or three kids pulling at you a list a mile long of things to do, the fact that so many people are addicted to update every single factor of their lives on Facebook, Twitter etc. and you have a recipe for disaster. But for the grace of God I could have killed someone or caused someone to. I do not answer my phone in the car anymore; I do not text anymore in the car. If accept or make a call from or to someone my first question to them will be where are you? If they are in a car I am hanging up and they can call me when they arrive SAFELY at their destination I don’t care who it is.
I am taking the pledge to not drive under the influence of cell phones and I also would like to see a complete ban of the practice. Folks we lived millions of years without them, since cars came into being we did with out them for a couple of hundred years we can now. NOTHING is more important than human life. Not a stupid email, joke and especially an update from Facebook or other site telling you want someone just had for dinner.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, turn off the phone this week, and watch carefully around you, notice how many are driving with phones to their ears. If you are at a red light just look at the drivers coming at you. Count them
28 percent of accidents on the highway are now being cause by cell phones that is the ones they are sure of, I think it is higher. The first thing in a accident that should happen is the officer ask to see your cell phone for last call or see if you were texting and charge you for reckless driving! No way that would be a violation of rights to privacy, but what about the right not to get killed by someone passing a stupid joke on a cell phone?
I am going to jump on the bandwagon and start a campaign in my state and others to ban them all together in vehicles. You can pull into a parking lot and stop to make a call, we used to have to go to a pay phone to do it for Pete’s sake at least you don’t have to get out of your car now!
Say no to cells in cars!! The life you save may be mine, my daughters, my son, my mom my siblings, my grandkids, my husband and friends or yours.
If the chance of killing someone does not move you then think of this. How much more
11 YEAR OLD CHILD GIVE BIRTH TO HER RAPIST CHILD.
This is a story as gut twisting as any I have read. The fact that he touched her is bad enough, add insult to injury she had to carry a child to term by her rapist and go through a delivery at 11 years old. I was not having periods at 11 years old. Where was this child's Mother? Where was this child’s Father? Grandparents? Aunts, Uncles? I am overcome with rage and pity and stunned by the blind eye turned to this diseased animal's torture of this baby. If the mother of this child knew she was being victimized and did not take her out of this situation them she is worse than the rapist. He is a pig born and will die one; she is the child's mother. She has the God given duty to protect that child at all costs. I can only pray he gets a life sentence like the other rapist from Houston got this week. I don't want a child predator to EVER be on the street again once they have been found out. I don't care if they raped, fondled whatever. Any inappropriate contact with a child and you are locked away for life solitary confinement or death.As a jury member especially in this case where there is DNA to prove he fathered a child with a then 10 year old baby the death penalty would easily come from me. He does not deserve to take another breath on this earth and his departing this earth quickly to hell is justified in my eyes.People will argue this is not a capital case no one was killed. WRONG, a child was killed she is still breathing but she is none the less dead. She is no longer a child, a baby that can never fully trust anyone and she will never fully trust anyone again.She has a lifetime reminder that walks and talks that she was raped and tortured and no one gave a crap. She has a 7 year old sister and I can all but guarantee this baby was molested and raped as well.Seeing a story like this brings up pain to people like me that were victims of pigs like this. As a child about her age I was a victim of sexual assault not by the “boogy man” but a family friend. A "Dutch uncle" as they used to call them. I had no father so when an older "gentleman" took an interest in me wanting to "help" Mom buying me gifts taking me places acting like a segregate father I am sure my Mom was pleased that a man a male "role model" had taken an interest in me. She had a house full of kids no man and struggled financing and could give us little and not much one on one attention. So when "uncle so and so" who was married 30 years had grown kids came around she thought he was a kind man wanting to help.He helped himself to my innocence, to any chance of a normal life with a partner, to any chance I could trust completely another human being even my own mother. Even if a parent does not see the abuse and is not aware the child still feels that the parent did not protect them there by goes the feelings" I can not trust anyone not even my Mom".I am late 50's now and only since getting into the Bible and trusting God alone have I started finding some peace within. It has taken over 40 years and I am still not there. I have come to realized I will never completely be there. As much as I love my spouse and I do I will always be waiting for the other shoe to drop. For the bottom to fall out of my life and as hard as I fight against it I can never 100 percent trust anyone.
As much as love my husband he is my best friend and he is second only to God in my life, I made him take a lie detector test before I will agree to marry him to prove that he had no inclination towards children because of my grandchildren I already had when we met. . I know in my soul if a man touches one of my grandchildren and I have the opportunity to get to him I will put a gun to his forehead and blow his brains out and not blink an eye. I will show no more compassion than that for shooting a rabid dog. I would feel worse for the dog at least they could not help it.
I have heard the agreement that because this garbage is molested as kids that is what caused them to molest kids. Not in this particular case but in a lot of them in their legal wrangling. That is total bull. As a person that has been abused and raped at an early age I would give my life in a moment for a total stranger’s child if it means that baby would not be touched.
If an option were presented to me, your life or a baby having to endure what this child did I would give my life freely.
We as a nation, as families, as strangers have to pay closer attention to children and their surroundings. We are all so caught up in cell phones, texting, and computers and crap like that we don’t even look each other in the face anymore in public we have our faces glued to a cell phone or Blackberry.
We are giving away our children to be raised by teachers, judges and pedophiles. Some are one and the same.
It is so disheartening to read about a teacher male or female having sex with a child and you can call it whatever you want it is RAPE. If that child is under the age of content and ESPECIALLY if you are in a position of power or influence over their lives such as a pastor, teacher or police officer the punishment should triple automatically.
It is interesting and confusing to me the double standards of the press and law enforcement when a man had contact with the students it raped assault whatever, a woman and it is “inappropriate relationship”. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is still rape of a child, you are a pedophile no if ands or buts. You should be on trial for rape male or female.
Until we stop looking at sexual exploitation of a child as a victimless crime it will continue to brutalize generation after generation of our children. The government has allowed the internet to take over and it is full of these pedophiles and those that want to profit financially from the exploitation of children and young girls, boys and women.
Men seem to think looking at porn is harmless but it is not just an affront to the spouse you have but to any female or child in your life and in the lives of others. To use someone to take those types of photos and or video the damage never goes away. Their self respect is gone, their childhood is gone and ruined, and their lives are forever altered. Even when a woman does this willingly she victimizes herself. No woman wakes up one day and says, “I want to be a porn star when I grow up” or “I want to be on the cover of Playboy or Hustler “when I grow up. Something or someone has injured them mentally and or physically to the point of numbness and the self esteem has been stripped from them.
Looking at porn and or pictures of people adults or children is the same thing as looking at a picture malnourished baby from Ethiopia or from Haiti in the earthquake zone and taking a picture of their swollen belly, pencil thin arms and legs and flies buzzing around their mouth and putting it is a ornate frame and putting it on your dinner table while you eat Thanksgiving dinner and thinking how lovely, how beautiful she is how erotic really turns me on.
Can you see how sick that is? Can you see where you would think you need therapy? If you don’t then you are sicker than you could possibly imagine.
As I person that has lived and survived, for the most part, this kind of hell on earth I am very aware of children and their surroundings. I felt something was wrong with two close families’ member’s children and their step parent /figure. I questioned and took action and I was right. He got two 20 year terms in the state pen. But in 4 months he came up for patrol if I had not gone to every single parole hearing he would have been released back into the world in 6 months! I went every year for 10 years, every year for ten years I recounted what happened and what the impact was on those two babies and in doing so relived my own pain year after year and almost had a mental break down the same time every year because of the waves of emotion that would overwhelm me.
About the time I would start to recover it would be time to do it again. But I would do it gladly again and again because I know standing up and doing this saved other children from being raped and abused by him.
A member of the parole board once told me “he is in an offender program and should he not have the chance to prove he is rehabilitated? “ I asked her if she had young daughters. She said, “Yes I do, what difference does that makes?” I told her I would be willing to take a chance on his “rehabilitation” on one condition and that is if she would be willing to move him into her home and allow him to babysit her kids while she was at work. You would have thought I asked for the keys to her car!!! Suddenly a light bulb came on like someone throwing a switch.
When you put a pedophile back on the street the way you find out he is indeed an incurable animal that I know he or she is you find out it did not work when they are once again caught hurting a child. I am not apologizing then or now for not being willing to take that chance. Once a person has been found out believe that they are the sick animals they are and put them down like a dog or lock them away where they will never see the light of day again. “If you hand offends you cut it off and cast it out”.
Better words were never spoken. Do not come to me with forgiveness talk towards these people. You can only forgive a behavior someone is sorry for and has the ability to not do again. This behavior is in their DNA they were born damaged and will die that way.
They only thing that made it possible for me to live and partly recover was the fact we moved two states away from my offender so I did not have to be around him again and he died shortly afterwards. The man that raped my family members served 10 years and I kept an eye on him every place he went afterwards warning neighbors etc. He died a few years after prison to and I hope he is sitting with my rapist on the highest and hottest coals of hells fire.
People we have to lay down the cell phone, the IPODs the work from the office. We have to turn off the TV’s and talk to our kids, watch them notice them and look for anything out of the ordinary. Work less hours buy less stuff, kids need us not 300 tennis shoes and thousands of dollars in video games. We have become a nation of hoarders or stuff, look at the garages we can not park or cars in, the full clothes, full rooms, and it does not fill the need for connection. We have become so connected technologically that we have totally disconnected emotionally and physically. I was visiting my grandkids and one of them texted me from across the living room. I thought I would fall off the chair. Is this what we are killing ourselves working for? Is this what we are leaving our children alone or with people we barley know every day for? To afford to give them cell phones to talk to us with? So that pedophiles can woo them with attention and groom them so they fall easily to their victims?
America we all need to wake up and smell the coffee. Go back to the basics of what life should be.
God first, family second, and money third. There is no other way.
As much as love my husband he is my best friend and he is second only to God in my life, I made him take a lie detector test before I will agree to marry him to prove that he had no inclination towards children because of my grandchildren I already had when we met. . I know in my soul if a man touches one of my grandchildren and I have the opportunity to get to him I will put a gun to his forehead and blow his brains out and not blink an eye. I will show no more compassion than that for shooting a rabid dog. I would feel worse for the dog at least they could not help it.
I have heard the agreement that because this garbage is molested as kids that is what caused them to molest kids. Not in this particular case but in a lot of them in their legal wrangling. That is total bull. As a person that has been abused and raped at an early age I would give my life in a moment for a total stranger’s child if it means that baby would not be touched.
If an option were presented to me, your life or a baby having to endure what this child did I would give my life freely.
We as a nation, as families, as strangers have to pay closer attention to children and their surroundings. We are all so caught up in cell phones, texting, and computers and crap like that we don’t even look each other in the face anymore in public we have our faces glued to a cell phone or Blackberry.
We are giving away our children to be raised by teachers, judges and pedophiles. Some are one and the same.
It is so disheartening to read about a teacher male or female having sex with a child and you can call it whatever you want it is RAPE. If that child is under the age of content and ESPECIALLY if you are in a position of power or influence over their lives such as a pastor, teacher or police officer the punishment should triple automatically.
It is interesting and confusing to me the double standards of the press and law enforcement when a man had contact with the students it raped assault whatever, a woman and it is “inappropriate relationship”. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is still rape of a child, you are a pedophile no if ands or buts. You should be on trial for rape male or female.
Until we stop looking at sexual exploitation of a child as a victimless crime it will continue to brutalize generation after generation of our children. The government has allowed the internet to take over and it is full of these pedophiles and those that want to profit financially from the exploitation of children and young girls, boys and women.
Men seem to think looking at porn is harmless but it is not just an affront to the spouse you have but to any female or child in your life and in the lives of others. To use someone to take those types of photos and or video the damage never goes away. Their self respect is gone, their childhood is gone and ruined, and their lives are forever altered. Even when a woman does this willingly she victimizes herself. No woman wakes up one day and says, “I want to be a porn star when I grow up” or “I want to be on the cover of Playboy or Hustler “when I grow up. Something or someone has injured them mentally and or physically to the point of numbness and the self esteem has been stripped from them.
Looking at porn and or pictures of people adults or children is the same thing as looking at a picture malnourished baby from Ethiopia or from Haiti in the earthquake zone and taking a picture of their swollen belly, pencil thin arms and legs and flies buzzing around their mouth and putting it is a ornate frame and putting it on your dinner table while you eat Thanksgiving dinner and thinking how lovely, how beautiful she is how erotic really turns me on.
Can you see how sick that is? Can you see where you would think you need therapy? If you don’t then you are sicker than you could possibly imagine.
As I person that has lived and survived, for the most part, this kind of hell on earth I am very aware of children and their surroundings. I felt something was wrong with two close families’ member’s children and their step parent /figure. I questioned and took action and I was right. He got two 20 year terms in the state pen. But in 4 months he came up for patrol if I had not gone to every single parole hearing he would have been released back into the world in 6 months! I went every year for 10 years, every year for ten years I recounted what happened and what the impact was on those two babies and in doing so relived my own pain year after year and almost had a mental break down the same time every year because of the waves of emotion that would overwhelm me.
About the time I would start to recover it would be time to do it again. But I would do it gladly again and again because I know standing up and doing this saved other children from being raped and abused by him.
A member of the parole board once told me “he is in an offender program and should he not have the chance to prove he is rehabilitated? “ I asked her if she had young daughters. She said, “Yes I do, what difference does that makes?” I told her I would be willing to take a chance on his “rehabilitation” on one condition and that is if she would be willing to move him into her home and allow him to babysit her kids while she was at work. You would have thought I asked for the keys to her car!!! Suddenly a light bulb came on like someone throwing a switch.
When you put a pedophile back on the street the way you find out he is indeed an incurable animal that I know he or she is you find out it did not work when they are once again caught hurting a child. I am not apologizing then or now for not being willing to take that chance. Once a person has been found out believe that they are the sick animals they are and put them down like a dog or lock them away where they will never see the light of day again. “If you hand offends you cut it off and cast it out”.
Better words were never spoken. Do not come to me with forgiveness talk towards these people. You can only forgive a behavior someone is sorry for and has the ability to not do again. This behavior is in their DNA they were born damaged and will die that way.
They only thing that made it possible for me to live and partly recover was the fact we moved two states away from my offender so I did not have to be around him again and he died shortly afterwards. The man that raped my family members served 10 years and I kept an eye on him every place he went afterwards warning neighbors etc. He died a few years after prison to and I hope he is sitting with my rapist on the highest and hottest coals of hells fire.
People we have to lay down the cell phone, the IPODs the work from the office. We have to turn off the TV’s and talk to our kids, watch them notice them and look for anything out of the ordinary. Work less hours buy less stuff, kids need us not 300 tennis shoes and thousands of dollars in video games. We have become a nation of hoarders or stuff, look at the garages we can not park or cars in, the full clothes, full rooms, and it does not fill the need for connection. We have become so connected technologically that we have totally disconnected emotionally and physically. I was visiting my grandkids and one of them texted me from across the living room. I thought I would fall off the chair. Is this what we are killing ourselves working for? Is this what we are leaving our children alone or with people we barley know every day for? To afford to give them cell phones to talk to us with? So that pedophiles can woo them with attention and groom them so they fall easily to their victims?
America we all need to wake up and smell the coffee. Go back to the basics of what life should be.
God first, family second, and money third. There is no other way.
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