Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

I'm getting too many emails about political issues.  They are all important and need addressing, but I'm on overload.  The more you sign a petition the more they email you.  Most beg for money.  Keeping informed is taking a toll on me.  I've begun to just trash them without reading.  One or two or four I could absorb, but not twenty a day.  Does this work?  Not for me.  I'm going to unsubscribe and clean up my mail, because right now people are pushing me to buy, buy, buy and call, call, call and stress, stress, stress.  I've cut out the home page news, TV and am very selective about the newspaper, but nothing gives me an oasis of peace.  I feel we are all abused with information overload and the result is turning a deaf ear to valid news when it comes our way.  We shut down and don't listen to others and that is what media has done for us.  Nobody can feel informed now.  We're all ignorant armies marching at night.

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

I received an email today from my older two kids' stepmom.  We are really close friends, though she lives in Europe.  She expressed her sadness at the death of our dog, and generally touched base with me.  I love hearing from her because she is supportive, but funny and honest.  We have outlived our mutual husband by over thirty years.  He didn't see his kids grown, graduated, married or with kids.  But she stands in for him, and her son, their half brother, is like a son to us.  You know the cliche, "feel the love"?  Well, with them, I do.  She has been to all the kids' weddings, and will be out again for the last one, in the fall.  She's literally "there for us".  We could have been enemies, or resented each other, or competed with each other, or caused trouble for our kids, but we chose to take the high road, and wound up being like sisters.  Life is amazing!

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

My grandson and I had a good day.  For the first time, he fell asleep while I was giving him the bottle, and I let him sleep in my arms.  He held my finger with his hand the whole time.  When we were strolling, he pulled forward to sit up more, and was looking at everything around him.  He usually falls asleep in the stroller, but he was curious and taking it all in.  I hadn't seen him in only four days, but he's changed, and relating to the world in different ways and absorbing all he can.  He had a couple of bouts of talking to me, and though I have no idea what he's telling me, I appreciate the fact that he wants to tell me.  He knows that is what it is to be human.  What a blessing I'm having this experience with my grandchildren:  seeing again what life is about and how amazing and precious it is!

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

I've just returned from a visit to my daughter and granddaughter.  Carefulness in right speech was foremost in my mind, and I feel all of us exerted right effort to make the visit loving and supportive.  Thus, during the long trip driving home, I had no regrets, and was not mulling over statements others said.  We're all square, as people used to say.  I'm happy with how the two of them are doing, and appreciate how rich their lives are and how blessed by friends and meaningful work and school.  They are thriving.  What more can any parent or grandparent ask?

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

We had a great time with our grandson on the weekend.  He is bubbling with enthusiasm about language and proud of his "words".  He has an amazing vocabulary for an eighteen month old, and when I brought him a barn he got that word instantly.  He called the cow a giraffe, and the dog a chicken.  I could see the cow's spots looked giraffey, and the dog had a ruff that was yellow.  I explained to him that chickens only had two legs, but he was undeterred.  Though this chicken had four legs and a long tail and a long snout, the coloring trumped the anotomical details.  He struggles pronouncing "grandma" and it comes out "grandem" or something similar.  He got the egg hunt, even though it was just him.  In fact, he found four eggs before we began the hunt.  He bit right into the shell of each.  With encouragement and a bit of guidance he found all eighteen and there they were, tucked in his basket, which he carried mightily despite the heaviness.  He was so exhausted, that after brunch he fell asleep in the carseat and didn't wake up for hours.  It was hard work, but he managed to entertain and delight us alal.

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

I'm talking a lot to my baby grandson and he is verbalizing right back.  I may not know what he's saying, but I'm certain he's communicating.  I repeat the sounds he makes, and he sometimes repeats my sounds.  Today I was showing him an owl finger puppet and saying "hoo" and he said it back.  What is going on in that little mind is pretty amazing.  I get to be a witness to the birth of language in a human, and how extraordinary it is.  He will recognize words soon, if not already, words like "mommy" and "daddy" and "kitty".  He knows already that his job is to master language and therefore make his needs known.  You can see him go on overwhelm when he's processing so much he can't take another thing in.  But there is joy.  He feels a part of it all:  his family and world.  The baby bird is chirping, and it is a song of humanity.

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

I just called to wish a friend happy birthday.  I always sing the song, silly as it is.  I figure as time goes on we don't necessarily get a cake, or have balloons, or have family around that day to sing to us, so I want to be sure that on the actual day, the person knows I'm celebrating their birth.  A lot of us are immersed in grandchildren's parties and piano recitals and baby showers and weddings, but our day gets lost in the shuffle.  I try to make up a bit for that.  The day a person is born is special, and one of the best reasons to celebrate that I can think of.  This person is in the world, and my world is the better for it.  Friends are important, or in my case, essential.  I don't take their presence for granted.  So if singing over the phone is ridiculous, I'm willing to be ridiculous.  My joy is in my family and friends.  They make my life richer and supported by love.