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This video just tickled me - all the more reason to vote for this cuktural icon

My heart is here

Oh hi! Yeah, so that last post, you know, the one saying goodbye and all? *cough* Please disregard. You know what I discovered? Home is where your heart is and my heart was always here. I’ve came back here to my tiny blog home.

And oh boy, do I have stories to tell you! I have amazing things happen to me all the time, so let me tell you what happened just the other night. Err, maybe I will show you first what happened:

I hit a concrete barrier in a heavy construction area, somehow just caught that dern thing in my wheel well. So, I pull off to the shoulder, make some calls and think to myself, “This is really dumb! and a bummer!” I was safe but the Sheriff’s officer who came by was from the same small Southern Virginia town where I spent years working before I moved to Northern Virginia. We knew a lot of the same people and the fun tucked away little places to get great food that only locals know about (shout out to Midtown Market!). Since the officer stayed till the tow truck arrived, we had fun remembering those good things instead of focusing on the accident. The tow truck driver showed up, did his thing and we were on our way. It was during this drive that the fatigue began to sink in; it was after midnight after all. I guess I must have said aloud a couple of times how disappointed I was that I had damaged my vehicle. This driver took it upon himself to cheer me. His choice of words were of interest to me, particularly when he told me, “A positive attitude can heal you”. Little did this man know that I have been spending a lot of time focusing on this very thing! My latest read has been “You can heal your life”  by Louise Hay. This driver’s kindness really touched me.

Then the tow truck driver gave me his phone number “just in case” I was feeling bad but he totally surprised me in the morning with this text message: “Don’t be a weed. Be a flower, shine be cheerful. A flower makes more smiles than a weed".” I laughed and really, how could I not smile the rest of the day?

Where is your heart these days? Reply in the comments and let’s chat.

Served the purpose

Maintaining a personal blog has, for me, served a specific purpose: It was a place to maintain some level of communication with people I very much wanted to stay in touch with that were not available to me personally since they lived far away.

This blog has served it's purpose and will not be updated after today. I have made new friends along the way and that in and of itself was more than I could have ever asked for.

I will still be writing about the technical things that consume much of my day over here at Windows Admin Wench.

Thanks for reading.

Deanna

Why not have have sex before you get married?

In my last post, I mentioned the HPV new vaccine and it really spurred a lot of good conversation.

Paul asked a good question:

Why is having sex before you get married bad? (and my contention is: it isn't! Except maybe for the first few times, I found it to be AS enjoyable as AFTER I got married, and I can't think of ANY nasty side effects of the times BEFORE I was married. You? :-).

This truly is a question that parents should be talking over with their children. My opinion stated here in this blog would be without context and devoid of a genuine understanding of my values. However, on NPR this morning there was an awesome piece by a young reporter on how teens DO want to talk to their parents about sex. Listen to that story and talk to your kids.

Technorati tags: premarital sex, family communication

Wait till my daughter hears this!

RICHMOND, Va. - Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Thursday he would sign legislation requiring all sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer.

My daughter graduates in 2009, so she just misses this requirement. The article goes on to say that parents will be able to opt out too. This is one step beyond just handing out condoms to young people. Saddening, isn't it?

Technorati tags: HPV, vaccinations, sixth grade girls in VA

Winter blues? Take a trip

From Denise

Enlightened grieving

Have you ever lost someone you love in death? It is a unique experience for each of us, no question. My Mom died instantly in a car accident in September of 2003 1993. She was only 52. I was 27 at the time, married with a two year old. I never appreciated how hard her death would hit me since I was an adult with my own family. I was so naive.

I really was in a fog for a year. I can remember instances when I felt like I could sleep forever and Lizbet would wake me up and say in her little voice, "I am hungry momma, are you going to make food?" There were times when the sadness was so overwhelming that I would turn to Mark and say, "I feel so bad and I want to stop but I don't know how, help me please". One time he just didn't know what to do so he suggested a walk around the block. We lived in downtown Escondido, CA at the time so it was interesting but when we got back I really still felt the same. I comforted myself with the thought that he was doing all a person could do to help someone who was grieving as I was.

Today I heard a segment on NPR's Morning Edition about grieving. The discussion was about new research into what is considered the classic stages of grieving: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. What stood out to me was this singular thought:

"Grief is really about yearning and not sadness," Prigerson says. "That sense of heartache. It's been called pangs of grief."

And that is SO TRUE. Head over to the NPR site and listen to the whole story yourself. It is definitely worth your while to learn about grieving even if you are not experiencing it, you may one day want to comfort someone close to you who is in pain.

Technorati tags: grief, yearning

en-kûr' ij

Encourage (verb) - 1. To impart courage, To inspire with hope, courage, or confidence; hearten.

I have been both humbled and heartened by the outpouring of support this week towards me. Thank you for the comments, emails and personal conversation!

I wish I were stronger sometimes but I couldn't rally myself this time and I really got ill! I mean, I haven't eaten (I KNOW! I can't believe it either!), didn't visit the gym, just worked and went home to bed. Your kind words sunk in and I started to get better.

Had lunch with Lizbet's Dad yesterday where we talked things over constructively. It is interesting to observe that we can talk together now better than we did before... 

Of course, I made an effort to talk to Lizbet every day this week as well too. She understands how I feel, I understand that she didn't intentionally mean any harm and well, we are just good.

And I am good.

Technorati tags: daughter, crazy life