Okay, tried to post this without re-typing, but it only looks like garbage, so am re-doing it.

   This showed up in my email. It is attributed to Paul Harvey. If that’s wrong, somebody please let me know and I’ll change the credits. Either way, it pretty well sums things up.

   We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I’d like better.

   I’d really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meatloaf sandwiches…I really would.

   I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

   I hope that you learn to make your own bed, mow the lawn, and wash the car…and I really hope that nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

   It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

   I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

   I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. It’s all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he’s scared, I hope you let him.

   When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you’ll let them.

   I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

   On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don’t ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so that you won’t be seen riding with soneone as uncool as your Mom.

   If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

    I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

    When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

     I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy/girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

   May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove, and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

   I don’t care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don’t like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize that he is not your friend.

   I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma or Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

    May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

   I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through the neighbor’s window and that she hugs and kisses you when you give her a plaster mold of your hand for Hanukkah/Christmas.

   These things I wish for you–tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness.

    To me, this is the only way to appreciate life.

                                                          Paul Harvey

arkmomy

   Recently, one of my online groups made the decision to branch out into a social networking site called Facebook.

   Putting aside my reservations about joining yet another online site, I decided to give it a go out of respect for my friends and a desire to keep in touch.

   In order to open your account with Facebook, you are required to provide your date of birth and name. Given the rash of problems associated with online social networking, this is not unexpected. After all, they want to at least ATTEMPT to verify that those who apply are of legal age. Apparently, the fact that someone might lie about their age in order to meet the requirements is a foreign concept to those in charge of the site.

    Because I’ve seen the news and am aware of the implications of offering private information online, I opened an account with my real name, changed it to a nickname that my friends would recognize and hid my date of birth. Should be okay, right?

   No deal.

   Apparently, the people at Facebook missed the class about maintaining a sense of anonymity online and have decided that they MUST have personal information. They assure applicants that they can hide their date of birth from other members (and they can) but INSIST that the REAL NAME of the applicant be DISPLAYED for all to see. Should you choose, you may substitute an acceptable nickname (ie ‘Bob’ for Robert), but you must use your full last name.

    Perhaps it is just my opinion, but it seems to me that my name is mine to share or hide at MY discretion…not that of strangers. Furthermore, most of the members of my group wouldn’t recognize one another given a christian name. We are used to our nicknames. They have become as much a part of our persona as our actual names….they define us to those who know and love us.

   Going one step further with this, it would seem that anyone with a modicum of intelligence would realize that the exchange of personal information online is a very sensitive subject. Perhaps the people at Facebook don’t have time to keep up with the news and have missed the stories regarding identity theft and internet predators. Personally, I’d hate to think that somone from online could actually use my name and location to ’surprise’ me by showing up on my doorstep someday.

   At any rate, my brief liasion with Facebook has ended.

   It is their site, so they have the right to require what they will… no matter how stupid it might seem to anyone with an ounce of common sense.

   As for me, I’m exercising my right to refrain from using their service. Furthermore, I’m making sure that all of my friends and family know about this experience with Facebook so that they can pass on the information in an attempt to raise awareness about the dangers of sharing personal information online. To those intent on disrupting the lives of anyone that they might meet online, a name and location are more than adequate to help them attain that goal.

  While I sincerely doubt that my little ‘crusade’ will impact online social networking or shut down any sites, I do hope that it will encourage others to exercise a little more caution when sharing personal information online. If I’m very lucky, I will have alerted those of my friends who are parents (like me) so that they can monitor the online activities of their teens a little more closely.

arkmomy

   Time can be such a strange thing sometimes.

    We never have enough, it seems, and yet it passes so swiftly that we barely take notice. We remind ourselves to savor every moment only to sit in wonder when it dawns upon us just how quickly it seems to go by.

    I found myself in one of those moments today.

    This young man and I seem to have an arrangement. It is not as though we sat and discussed who does what around here…we just do it. I awoke this morning and set about my part of the chores before waking him to do his.

   Groom the dog, clean the house, get something out for supper, start the laundry…these are mine.

   Do the yard….this is his chore.

   Normally, he would be doing his own laundry; however, it seems a small thing for me to do since in return for what he does around here.

    I hear the screen door open and he passes through the room as I am folding clothes. I glance up and see this tall and somewhat lanky figure as it passes me. Red hair held firmly back with a ponytail holder…slight fuzz on his chin…ear buds from an Ipod fitted snugly inside both of his ears…he does not really take notice of me.

….but I notice him.

   More the the point, I find myself wondering where all the time has gone.

   This is my son. He has been in my life since the very beginning. I held him as a baby…carried him on my hip…and held his hand as he crossed streets. With little effort, I can still picture the little boy that used to cuddle up with me as I read stories to him. Where DID all that time go? Does there come a point when we are so busy living that we forget to notice how things change?

   He still needs me…and I’d have to presume that, on some levels, I need him, as well. We joke sometimes that he, as the male in the house, has only three duties….

   Lift heavy things

   Reach things in high places

   Kill bugs

   ….but he does so much more.

    My little boy has grown into a very special teenager. Okay, most moms will say that about their kids…but it is true.

   If I’m feeling somewhat overwhelmed…he’s the one that reminds me that I’ve always found a way and will do so again.

   If I’m sad…he makes me laugh.

   And when I feel lonely…he reminds me that we are in this thing together and therefore are never alone.

    I finish folding his clothes…taking time to note that his pants and shirts are so much bigger than the little ones that he used to wear. Even his socks are bigger…no more baby booties. He will put them away later….yet another thing that I used to do for him. He wants to go to the game store when he is done. I’ve no real interest in video games, but I will take him because it is something that we do and it gives us more time to enjoy together.

    Yes, I’m proud of the young man that I see growing before me as time passes.

   ….but sometimes…

   I miss the babe I used to hold.

arkmomy