SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN...

(syrianews)

“After three years of conflict and turmoil, Syria is now one of the most dangerous places on Earth to be a child,” concludes the report by UNICEF. (Feb. 11, 2014) "..at least 10,000 children have been killed. The real number is likely to be even higher.”

According to an article this week in Newsweek Frontiers Without Medicine, 60% of the hospitals or clinics in Syria have been damaged or destroyed, and 50% of the doctors have fled the country. Children are dying at an alarming rate due to curable diseases. No medical care, vaccines or drugs are available in so many of these war-torn areas. Newborns in incubators are dying as power is cut by bombing. Sadly, many more are dying of starvation in areas that are blocked from receiving any humanitarian aid by both the Syrian army and the rebels. It is estimated that at least one million children live in areas under siege.

Doctors Without Borders or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) "stands for an impartial humanitarian action, independent from all political, economic and religious powers." (Wikipedia) The Nobel Prize-winning nonprofit organization of volunteer doctors and medical personnel is one of the groups currently working in Northern Syria at great personal risk. Four of their personnel were kidnapped in January, and 34 members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (Red Cross) have been killed since the war started. Doctors Without Borders needs our financial support (even though the doctors are volunteers money is needed for equipment and supplies), as does Save The Children, UNICEF, and Oxfam, who are all contributing to the desperate needs of these children. I'm sure there are more humanitarian groups who would welcome our donations.

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This past weekend I had four of my grandchildren visiting. As I observed their health and well-being, I realized how blessed our family is. Not only do these children have more than enough of the basic needs like food, shelter, and medical care, but they also are fortunate to be born in the United States to families with the ability to give them many if not all of the luxuries in life. Most of them have televisions in their rooms, smart phones, electronic tablets, computers, the latest fads in clothing.. and all get their own vehicles when they come of age. Glasses, braces, musical instruments, as well as music and dance lessons, which are luxuries for many children, are available to my grandchildren.

Which reminds me. My youngest grandchild, Kelly, who is in the second grade, has shown an unusual interest in playing music. Her mother inherited a lovely piano from a grandmother. Since Kelly was a toddler, she has been fascinated with this piano, and even started playing her own little "tunes" - some of which were quite melodious. During a recent visit by her older cousin Cameron, he started to teach her music. He went so far as to put the musical notes on the piano keys for her, and she has been teaching herself to play. Mom and Dad have now lined up piano lessons for her to begin in the near future.

This grandmommy doesn't have a piano, but I have quite an assortment of rattles, a tambourine, Indian drums, an African tongue drum, and even a couple of "Indian" flutes - small wooden flutes. Kelly has always loved the sound of these flutes, and pulls them out at every opportunity to make a little music. When she found out her school teacher plays the flute, she began to pester her dad for a "real" flute. After searching the internet, Matthew finally found an affordable one for a beginner. Since that time, Kelly has been watching videos online to learn to play the flute! She has not yet mastered the lip placement to get a lovely sound, but she's close. Then she can work on her hand placements! She won't go to a school that offers music lessons until she reaches Middle School, however, as determined as this smart little miss is, I believe she

will make "real" music long before then. She will make the fifth of my seven grandchildren to play a musical instrument.

Kelly is amazing in her understanding of adult ideas, and her ability to give her opinion on subjects that many adults fail to recognize never ceases to surprise me. Recently she and brother Travis spent the night, and at dinner she was excitedly telling me about a trip to Dallas they made. They spent the night next door to a family who had chickens in their back yard. I explained to her that those were what we call "free range" chickens, and that in the past all of our eggs and chickens came from that source. I told her and her brother that now most of our eggs come from chickens who spend their entire lives in little cages. Kelly immediately jumped in and told me in no uncertain terms, "Well, they need to change that rule!" We may have a future vegetarian in our family. At the very least, another animal rights activist.

Kelly gave me a sticker made from a self-portrait she did in art recently. She told me that she got the background from the movie "Tangled". (I'm afraid I haven't heard of that one.) When I complimented her on her drawing, she unabashedly told me that she and another girl were the best artists in her class. I love the self-confidence this beloved child has gained from her loving family. 

Love all the children.. and may we help end the suffering of those who aren't so blessed.

Peace,
Marilyn

TELL YOUR STORIES

Nearly all of my life I have been called an optimist, with the exception of a few short years when I suffered from clinical depression. With treatment, understanding, and the grace of God I pulled through those years – mostly by removing myself from an unhealthy relationship. Some years it has been a struggle to maintain an optimistic attitude. I was often called Pollyanna for doing so when others did not feel my situation or the conditions of the world warranted it.

In recent years, as I no longer struggle to “make a living” (thank God for Medicare and generous children) I have had more time to witness in greater detail the events going on in the world. If one is not careful, this can lead to a depression in the most optimistic of persons. For some time I devoured my newspapers with broadcast news for backup. With the acquisition of my first computer – thanks again to my generous children – I discovered the “miracle” of the Internet and more news than I could ever read. My Favorites and Documents files have to be reviewed often to delete items I thought were absolutely important for me to re-read. For a few years I had cable TV - which was almost my downfall. One can listen to just so many pundits and their mostly negative rhetoric without absorbing that negativity. I no longer have cable (I'm thankful), and have discovered the absolute pleasure of watching PBS and what I consider their balanced view (makes me sound like FOX News, doesn't it?) on current events. Although I notice a few corporate sponsors creeping in, for the most part the lack of big spenders that they must appease with their news broadcasts leads me to believe they are more accurate than other news outlets. I still surf the web, reading different online newspapers - that's an oxymoron today, isn't it? I guess the proper term is news sites. And I still watch broadcast news, alternating different networks to see if they are reporting the same things.

I have to take a break now and then, and do a lot of soul-searching and I must admit, a lot of praying. An article I read online listed "10 Habits of Optimists". As this was more interesting than the article "6 Things You Don't Know About Ear Wax", I looked at it and I discovered one of the habits is to "Tell Your Stories". This is something I feel I've done a lot of through the years, however, there may be a few of my stories you haven't heard yet. Two of these were brought to mind recently because of the Russian military takeover of the Crimea region of the Ukraine. 

Many of you reading this were not even born when the old Soviet Union invaded Hungary in 1956. I was in high school, and I have to admit that I don't remember much about it. If anything, I might have felt the anxiety my father was having at the possibility of another war - this time an even more dreadful war as the Soviets also had atomic bombs. After all, Dad had already served three tours of duty in the Army - in both WWII and the Korean Conflict. Thank goodness, President Eisenhower was a prudent Republican politician, even though he was a former 5-Star General in the U.S. Army. ("I Like Ike" was a motto in our house.) Knowing military intervention might trigger another war with a catastrophic release of atomic weapons upon the world, the U.S., under his leadership, did nothing. The far-distant location of Hungary may have influenced the decision not to intervene, as closer to home, Ike was dealing with the Suez Canal crisis. Economic sanctions would be pointless, as the Russians took what they wanted from the countries they occupied after WWII. No one called Eisenhower "weak" for not wanting to involve the United States in another war, this time in Hungary. And we still remained one of the world Superpowers. Therein lies the memories of the following stories I wish to share.

(AP)

In 1968, living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, my then-husband and I made a trip to the area of Taos to look at property that was to be developed on the outskirts of this resort area. The man who was developing it, and trying to raise money (he wasn't going to get any from us, as we didn't have any) to put in roads, utilities, etc. was a grey-haired, Hungarian immigrant, perhaps in his late 60s or early 70s. He was delightful, and charmed us with not only his accent and upbeat personality, but also the food he brought along for our visit to the site.. warm ale, green chilis (my first taste of them), cheese, sausage, and a delicious round loaf of home-baked bread. When we stopped for our lunch, we were ravenous from the high altitude. As we ate, we listened to our host tell his horrific story of when the Soviet Union took over his home country of Hungary. 30,000 lives were lost in that invasion.

Soviet Union Invades Budapest, Hungary

Along with many intellectuals and professional people of Hungary, he was taken to the Soviet Union as a "political prisoner". He spent nine years as a prisoner who was forced to work at his profession as an architect, for the benefit of the Russians, under armed guard during the day. At night he was returned to a prison cell. I have forgotten most of what he told us about his escape from Russia, although once, he hid in a farmer's barnyard. The farmer dug a hole for him to climb into, then he covered him with cow manure from the yard. He made the hair on my neck stand up as he told of Russian soldiers searching for him, and even walking over the site where he was buried. 

Eventually making his way to the United States, the gentleman told us that he was working to make money so he could continue to travel the United States telling his story about the Communist Russians to schools and any other venue who would have him. He could not stress strongly enough the brutality he and others suffered at the hands of the Russians as they pushed their way across eastern Europe, hungry for power and domination. It was during this time (1968) that the Soviet Union was invading Czechoslovakia, and the United States, again, was not intervening. After all, we were heavily involved in Vietnam. I don't recall anyone calling President Lyndon Johnson "weak" for not helping the Czech people at the time. Nor was the U.S. no longer considered a Superpower.

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Let's go back in time to the year 1962. I was living with my husband and children in Roswell, NM, surrounded by 12 Atlas lift-silo missile sites. These were underground missiles. Walker AFB was located there as well. We had two neighbors during the year we lived there who were engineers at the sites. At the time of the Cuban missile crisis, our next-door neighbors were a young couple with two children, both in diapers. Barb and Luis were their names. They were fun to be with, and we became close friends. I will never forget that October day when Barb came over, babe in arms, her face flushed as she rushed to tell me Luis had just called her... something he had been warned not to do! He told her to load the car with clothing, diapers, baby formula, water, and food, and to be ready to leave at a moment's notice. He didn't have time to - or couldn't - tell her more. She was frightened and therefore, it scared me as well. We did not have 24-hour news coverage in those days, but I turned on the television in case we got some kind of emergency signal. I called my husband at work, and he told me not to worry, I didn't need to get the kids ready for evacuation. The evening news told a different story. The missile sites around Roswell guaranteed that we would be a target if Khrushchev decided to ignore President Kennedy's warning and the U.S. blockade he had set up. The United States came the closest it has ever come to being in a nuclear war. The rest is history.

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Two stories, two different presidents, two political parties and different outcomes. We intervened by blockading any more arms or missiles reaching Cuba from Russia, but would we have actually fired nuclear weapons if Khrushchev had not backed down and removed their missiles? Cuba is only 90 miles from the United States. Obviously, we could not allow the Soviet Union to aim their nuclear missiles at us from that near country. They could have destroyed a large portion of the U.S. before we could respond and return fire on Russia. We later learned that despite all of the overt threats, Kennedy and Khrushchev were spending lots of time on the telephone behind the scenes, hashing over details of the crisis and what the options were for a solution.

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President Obama faces some of the same decisions in regards to Crimea. The distance of the Ukraine from the United States, and the fact that the taking back of Crimea (which had originally been a part of the old Soviet Union) by Russia will not immediately affect us is similar to the situation in Eastern Europe those many years ago. So far, Putin's military has not brought any violence upon the region. So far, he hasn't pushed further into the Ukraine. This time, economic sanctions may prove to be the best solution to the attempted takeover. Diplomatic isolation, asset freezes and travel bans against oligarchs have been suggested. Europe's diversifying its energy supply and developing pipelines that do not run through Russia, along with assistance from North America's oil and gas, will put added pressure on Russia, as its economy cannot tolerate lower oil prices.

Politicians who are pushing for military intervention in order to enhance their own political stance in an election year, should be working together with Obama's administration and our European allies to stop this bully Putin in his tracks. Publicly accusing Obama as being "weak", and suggesting his policies have reduced the United States' standing as a world Superpower only do more to encourage Putin, who is seen as a power-hungry narcissist, anxious to regain the status of the old Soviet Union. 

As President Obama and Putin are also talking by telephone behind the scenes, let us all send prayers for a peaceful resolution that will benefit not only the citizens of Crimea and the Ukraine, but the rest of Europe as well. My optimistic nature believes this is possible. Our Congress should come together and stop undermining the current administration. "United" is what makes our nation strong - not the ability to go to war. 

Tell me your stories that impacted your life.

and love,
Marilyn

MORE FAMILY NEWS

Number One Son Craig's children have been very busy. Here is an update on what's going on in their lives.

This summer Cameron will be head youth counselor at the Bar Lazy J Guest Ranch in Colorado, where he will provide music and entertainment as well. Needing a change of pace from the 9-5 job he's been working at in Dallas, and having a chance to travel both before and after the position in Colorado, Cameron is excited about the change. He will be able to save money (free lodging and food), and to eat what the guests eat - "prime rib on a weekly basis"! Gotta love young men's appetites! The photos of the ranch are beautiful - cabins that all face the Colorado River and views of the mountains.

I asked Cameron (who sings opera) if he knows any country/western songs. He replied, "I will be bringing my guitar, and I know a few country/western tunes. I need to brush up on Willie, Waylon, and Johnny, and get good on the classics. Opera doesn't fit into this at all..." I told him to shop Goodwill and buy western shirts for the summer.

As I looked at the Guest Ranch's website, it dawned on me that Cameron may not have been on a horse. This will be interesting, as some of the photos show the kids riding horses. As Youth Counselor, he might be expected to ride with them. Well, he told me he's determined to become a full-time adventurer. This will be a good start. Cameron, the kids staying at the ranch will be very lucky to have you as their counselor - even if you don't know how to ride a horse.

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Cameron's younger sister Hannah told me that February and March are the busiest, most stressful times for her. For an eighth grader, that is most unusual (I think). When she sent me her schedule, I had to agree with her. Recently she participated in the Irma P. Hall Theatre Arts Festival in Dallas. Their website describes this event as follows:

"Talented Dallas ISD students from 9 high schools, 10 middle schools, and 23 theatre programs ..compete for awards in playwriting, directing, and acting.. 

..The festival is believed to be the only theatre festival in the state that addresses crucial skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, creativity, and innovation. The goal is for students to learn 21st century skills, while also celebrating student creativity."

Hannah competed in improvisation, interpretive mask, costume design, and performed an original monologue. She got blue ribbons in each, except for costume design, so she earned a gold medal. She wrote me the following:

"This Saturday I am participating in Academic UIL, which is a competition where you enter events to show your intelligence. (I haven't yet heard how she did in this. As she's a straight A student, I'm sure she excelled.) 

A week from tomorrow I am getting my braces off, so I'm really very excited about that, and that afternoon I have auditions for the big spring play. Two days after that, I go to a major choir competition, and two weeks after that, I have an even bigger choir competition."

Whew! To top all of that off, Hannah was accepted into Booker T. Washington Performing Arts High School, after auditioning with a monologue from "Oz" . Way to go, Hannah. You make us all proud.

               

Looking at the above photo, wouldn't you think the boy in the black pants kicking up his heels is having a good time? That's Matthew's son Travis at one of his Cotillion rehearsals. When I asked him if he liked dancing, he made a face and said, "No! I hate it!" Could'a fooled me.. By the way, notice how the girls look so much more mature than the boys. Here's how he looked the night of the Cotillion Ball. He doesn't look like someone dreading the evening, does he? Maybe he's just looking forward to the good meal. The boy's got a big appetite!

His mom just sent me a photo from the local paper about the 6th graders at his school making up their own line dance and performing for their parents. Travis is in shorts, looking cool with his sunglasses on. He neglected to tell this Grandmommy about doing this - perhaps because I might not believe him when he tells me he doesn't like to dance?

Travis much prefers sports to dancing. Good exercise either way. He just finished basketball season, and his team lost only one game. Unfortunately, that was a tournament game. Next year, Travis. Before he was finished with basketball, baseball season started. And little sister Kelly was playing soccer. It kept Dad and Mom, Amy, jumping for about a week.

Travis and Kelly spent the night with me this past weekend, giving Amy and Matt a chance to go out and sleep in the next morning. When they woke up, Amy called the kids on a video chat. Here they are watching her and telling her about their time here. Isn't technology wonderful?

Miss Kelly is fast becoming one of our stars in the family as well. I will tell you about her accomplishments - and personality - in a future blog.

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Being around family helps keep one's mind off the terrible events happening in the world. Sadly, the news of those events is waiting for me. I try hard not to let them anger me, or focus too much attention on any particular event. "What you focus on, increases." Better to focus on the love of family. And send prayers for peace, comfort, and resolution to the world.

Peace and love to you and yours,

Marilyn

NUMBER ONE SON, PART I

I was a very young mother, having my first child at the tender age of 18. Being so young and inexperienced, I made many mistakes in raising my children. However, they all waited until they were much older and wiser to marry and have children of their own. My oldest, son Craig, has brought me much joy through the years. Among his many talents is his ability to express his emotions in writing. He is a wonderful parent to his two children, Cameron and Hannah, raising Cameron alone for most of his years. Below is a moving piece Craig wrote and posted on his MySpace page when Cameron left home for college.

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"A Big Day"

"I'm writing this three hours after saying goodbye to Cameron, who is just now almost halfway between Dallas and Baton Rouge -- where he's about to begin his freshman year at LSU. I am now officially an 'empty-nester'.

Craig and Cameron 2008

While I knew this day was coming, nothing prepared me for the flood of emotions that I've been experiencing this afternoon. The only comparable day I suppose was the day he came into this world.  While that day was filled primarily with pride, love, awe and joy, this day has also brought about its share of sadness and, I suppose, self-pity.  For not only has my son moved away, so has my best friend.

Don't get me wrong; I'm so proud of the young man my baby boy has grown to become that I could burst. He is truly one of the finest human beings I've ever known. Still, there's a hole in my heart right now; and an empty feeling in the home he and I have shared these last few years. 

Indeed, a bittersweet day.

The memories have surfaced in a flood, as well:

That day in the delivery room when I first spoke his name and his eyes opened wide in recognition as he was being swaddled. You see, I had been talking (and singing) to him in the womb from the beginning. As soon as we knew his gender, we had his name. I spoke it over and over to him as we waited those months for him to arrive. When I held him for the first time and he looked up at me with those big blue eyes, there was no doubt. This was Daddy's boy. Not even his mother would ever disagree.

A coupla days later, they LET US TAKE HIM HOME! Holy s***! We didn't even hafta take a test or anything! I thought that terribly irresponsible of the hospital. They just let us take him. I remember jacking with the baby seat for over an hour. The instructions sucked as bad as those for his crib (some assembly required). When we finally had him strapped in, I drove us home; never going more than 20 mph. Seriously.

Fast forward a few years. He's perhaps 3-or 4-years old. His daycare is putting on a Thanksgiving pageant. He and the other 3-year-olds were very cute singing a song about Christopher Columbus or something. I dutifully videotaped it all. Next, the older kids came out on a stage to do their bit. Well, Cameron and his group had done their performance down on the floor. Next thing you know, Cameron makes a dash for the stage and is trying to climb up there to sing with the bigger kids. He kicked and screamed all the way back to our seats after I fetched him up. I guess that was the beginning. The stage has been his second home ever since.

Then the time he came home from another daycare, at the age of 5, to ask me 'Daddy, why did they nail the baby Jesus to the cross?' Come to find out, they've got these kids rehearsing to put on a pre-school version of 'The Passion Play.' This was a secular daycare so far as I knew.

Yanked him outta there so fast it'd make your head swim.

The next few years flew by. So many memories of me and my sidekick. Daytona, Disney World, Talladega, camping together all over the Rockies. Road trips. Hours and hours of talking and doing my best to answer the most inquisitive mind I've ever been around. Soccer games. Basketball games. Just chillin'.

Choir. Realizing in about 5th grade that his voice was a little better than the other kids' during those goofy Christmas shows. Realizing it even more so when his middle-school choir director kept emphasizing to me that Cameron's voice was something special. 

After his 8th grade year, Cameron auditioned for and was accepted into Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts. This is a school that is world-renowned for its art, music, dance and theater programs. Its alumni include Norah Jones, Edie Brickell, Erykah Badu, Roy Parker and many, many others working in TV, film, recording, on Broadway, etc.

Cameron flourished at BTW. Besides his major in voice, he also was a three year performer in an ensemble group called 'The Entertainers', a group made up of kids from the music, dance and theater departments that would put on Broadway-style productions twice a year. Sometimes these kids would rehearse until 10 at night, especially the closer they came to performance dates. In fact, late rehearsals were a way of life at Booker T.  There was always a performance coming up; a play, a musical, a competition. But still, the kids were expected to keep up academically. 

My son, even taking AP classes, finished 43 one hundredths of a point from an A average. I probably should have leaned on him a little harder!

One of the true joys for me of his high school years was having other parents come up to me and tell me what a great kid I had raised. They were so happy to have their own kids hanging out with him and congratulated me on my parenting. Funny thing is, if you ask me for my secrets of parenting, I haven't got a clue. I've never had to ground him. I've never really had to punish him in any way for anything. I just genuinely managed to get lucky; he's a great human being.

The only two things I'll take credit for are his love of music and his political bent. The apple don't fall far.

Of course, his senior year he kicked it into high-gear. He made all-state as a vocalist. He was an outstanding soloist in his opera workshop. And, LSU offered him a full ride scholarship to study vocal performance. 

And today, he left for Baton Rouge. 

I had this great speech prepared where I would tell him that, although I may not have been the best father he could have had, he was certainly the best son I could have ever hoped for. But, there was no way I could have said so much without crying like a baby. Instead, I just said, 'Make me proud.'

Like he could make me any more so." 

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Craig, one of my true joys when you were growing up was having parents tell me what a great kid you were. What a fine man you have grown up to be; and what a good son you have always been to me. You make me very proud.

Love and peace,

Mom (Marilyn)

"They're gonna put me in the movies...

They're gonna make a big star out of me"..

Age 4

Remember that old Beatles' song? Well, ever since my younger son Matthew was just a tiny tot, I've been thinking that about him! He has always been something of a ham, and loved to pose for photos and home movies. Once, when he was about four years old, he and I were watching an old clip on TV of Sammy Davis, Jr. dancing when he was a kid. Matthew ran to the noncarpeted part of the living room, saying "I can do that, I can do that! Watch, Mommy!" Those little feet stomped around like a real hoofer! Through the years, he developed a knack for getting attention without anyone realizing what he was doing. He could tell a tall tale that would have you hanging on every word, he was so believable (acting skill?). His fascination with guitars led me to believe he might become a musician someday, like his big brother Craig, who had his own "rock band" when he was in his teens.

Age 3

Matthew is many years younger than his brother and sister, and he was so adorable that he was truly spoiled by the family. 

As he got older, he still loved being the center of attention and would entertain you at the drop of a hat. Although music did not turn out to be his biggest talent, he loved to sing when riding in the car with me when he was four and five years old. I remember how he stood behind my shoulder as I drove (horrors - no seat belts or car seats in the rear in those days), belting out, "Delta Dawn". Not necessarily on key. Later, I encouraged him to try a musical instrument. I couldn't believe this is what he wanted to play (at the time).

Alas, music in any form other than the radio or stereo (or later, Wii) was not to be his path in life.

Matthew developed his love of adventure at an early age. His tricycle morphed into a bicycle, and then into his first dirt bike when he was about twelve years old. He began dirt bike racing when he was thirteen. He worked on all the neighbors' small engine vehicles as well as keeping his own family's equipment running well. Around this same time Matthew played Little League Baseball, even pitching a no-hitter game. However, he preferred motorcycles to sports.

I have to admit that, although I was never fond of his riding motorcycles, his fascination with scuba diving scared me more than anything!  I have some wonderful underwater photos he took in Grand Cayman one year. Someone took this of him and a giant Southern Stingray.*

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Matthew loved costumes of one kind or another when he was growing up, as you can tell by all of his photos. He has now graduated from this (at right) taken at Halloween during his teens:

 To his latest costume on the set of the NBC TV series "Revolution":

"And all I gotta do is act naturally"... Yep. Matthew finally found time to show up for one of their casting calls for extras. He is supposed to be a Marine Commander at Gitmo in Episode 16 (no spoken lines, but a costume!). They tried to do a second day of outdoor shooting for this episode during one of our really cold, wintry days, but had to call it off after several hours of waiting around. Matt said he enjoyed hanging out with some of the stars of the series as well as other extras that day. I don't know when or if they will re-schedule it.

Now lest you think Matthew is all about fun and adventure, those of you who know our family know that he has been a hard worker since he was a kid. Besides working on motorcycles, he worked on automobiles at garages and then dealerships after high school, soon winning accolades nationwide in contests they held for auto "technicians". One out-of-town dealership would even call him for advice when they worked on his sister's Lexus! He started the trend of having all of the technicians wearing surgical gloves while working on cars at BMW in Dallas, after sister Carajean told him that women would not want to go out with someone with dirty fingernails!

A few courses early on at Stephen F. Austin University in East Texas honed Matthew's spelling and writing skills. He has created his own website and blog for his business, and beats the heck out of me (and his big sister) in Scrabble or Word! If anyone is thinking of taking him on in those games, let me remind you that he was a Spelling Bee champion in elementary school. He's always been a big talker, even if you are often unsure if what he's relating is for real. A course of Dale Carnegie's on public speaking has paid off big in his career as well.

Using the diagnostic computers (Matthew is a self-taught computer "whiz" - my term) at the auto dealerships gave Matthew the expertise needed when he went to work for ALLDATA the year he married Amy. He was working in Austin selling Porsches at the time. They didn't want

First of Many

him to take off for his honeymoon, so he quit. After the honeymoon, he sold the ALLDATA computer software used by the diagnostic computers in auto dealerships and garages. Matthew advanced quickly, becoming regional Top Salesman of the Year more than once. He was in middle management when the economy started going downhill and the company laid off many of their employees. That is when, ever resourceful, Matthew started his own company out of his home. As luck would have it, he hadn't been in business very long when ALLDATA wanted him to promote one of their products to his customers. I'm happy to say he turned them down. Their loss. He now successfully sells more than one product to auto dealerships, among them are GPS locators for car dealers to place on their cars. You wouldn't believe how many cars are stolen when someone takes a "test drive". These locators aid the police in finding them. Also big are the re-insurance policies he sells to the same dealers. Still working out of his home, Matthew now has time for making TV movies and playing golf.  And his fingernails are always clean!

As you can tell, life has never been dull in our family since Matthew became a member. Now, as a father of two smart and talented children of his own, he is experiencing some of the exploits he put us through. Being aware of the danger in some of his early adventures, he is keeping a tighter rein on his own kids. In my defense, Matthew was never one to be stopped or even slowed down!

Before I close, one of my dearest memories of Matthew from his younger years is when he and I shared a chair while watching TV when he was about four years old. As we snuggled, he looked up at me and said, "Lovin' sure does feel good, doesn't it, Mommy?" I told him it sure does. You know what, Matthew? Loving you all these years sure has felt good - and it still does!

May each of you feel the love, and may you have peace of mind if you have a child like Matthew!

Marilyn

*I mistakenly called this a Manta Ray.

GOOD NEWS

Of course, this is my opinion, but the news items below deserve kudos. These are not in order of importance. Anything I've missed that you would like to share?

• Gov. Jay Inslee said Tuesday he was suspending the use of the death penalty in Washington state, announcing a move that he hopes will enable officials to "join a growing national conversation about capital punishment." (Feb. 11 - USA Today)

• "On Tuesday the Obama Administration announced a national strategy on wildlife trafficking, including new restrictions on the ivory trade designed to create "a near complete ban" on the commercial sale of African elephant ivory in the U.S." ( Feb. 11 - Nat'l. Geographic) 
  

(According to experts, an elephant is killed every 15 minutes for its tusks.)

•  "..no active player has ever been open about his sexual orientation when Michael Sam, a star college player at the University of Missouri and NFL draft prospect, came out publicly to the New York Times and ESPN that he is gay." (Feb. 9 -Daily Beast)

• "House Republicans will allow a vote Tuesday on a measure to increase the government’s borrowing limit with no strings attached, a clear concession to Democrats that comes after weeks of GOP wrangling." (Feb. 11 - Time)

• "Tea party loses as House approves debt ceiling increase without condition" ( Feb. 12 - Star-Telegram)

• "North and South Korea on Wednesday started their highest-level government dialogue since the North’s nuclear test last year prompted fears of armed conflict on the divided Korean Peninsula." (Feb. 11 - New York Times)

• "Canada, Netherlands, and Norway lead the medal tally at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. The three countries all sit comfortably atop the current medal standings with a total of 7 medals each. The host country, Russia, is currently at fifth place behind the U.S. (fourth place!) and Germany." (Feb. 11 - Int'l. Bus. Times)

RANK	COUNTRY	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
1	NORWAY	4	3	5	12
2	CANADA	4	3	2	9
3	NETHERLANDS	3	2	3	8
4	UNITED STATES	2	1	4	7
5	RUSSIA	1	3	3	7

(Feb. 12 - Fan Sided ) We are still ahead of the Russians. For some reason, that matters to me. Could be I was indoctrinated during the "fear of Communism" era!

And, last but not least, we all watched as the Russian skier broke his ski while racing in the free sprint yesterday. How heart-warming to see what happened next!

"Justin Wadsworth, Canadian Coach, Helps Russian Skier Anton Gafarov With Broken Ski" (Feb. 11 - Huffington Post) 

“I wanted him to have dignity as he crossed the finish line,” Wadsworth told the Toronto Star's Cathal Kelly, as he gave Gafarov a ski he had saved for a Canadian skier, who had already finished the sprint.

What a magnanimous gesture by Mr. Wadsworth. Now that's the spirit of the Olympics!

Peace,

Marilyn