Happy Fathers Day!

Fathers Day....just another day on the calendar, but a day to remember fathers. I am horrible and never remember these little "holidays."

My father wasn't someone who would want a big show of a day just for him. He wasn't flashy or self-centered. He was a man that was proud, honest, and very family- and faith-oriented. I have learned many things from my father over the years. A lot of what I have learned has been what not to do in life or how not to treat people, but I also learned quite a few lessons. One of the most important and relavent lessons my dad taught me was to work hard. No matter how good or bad of a job you had, you should always do your very best. If your job was to clean up cow poop, be the best poop cleaner ever. I have taken this lesson with me in life. As all my fans know by now, I am just returning to college so that I can find a career that I will be good at and enjoy. Over the last ten years, I have had a lot of not so nice jobs. Even though they aren't glamorous, I always try to do my best and try to make changes to my job to improve what I am doing. I hope it has paid off in the long run.

Another lesson my dad taught me was the importance of family. No matter where life takes you, however bad it gets, you always have family. Many times I have not gone to parties, to bars, or whatever else other people are doing-if it involves a conflict with something going on in my family. Sure, I've skipped out on reunions or little parties here and there-but I always try to put my family first. This also includes my extended family. In the recent years, I have learned how important it is to have my extended family and I have developed a deep respect for them. I got an email from my aunt today. She recently had knee surgery and had some problems with it. While she was dealing with that, her daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer. She helped her daughter through the chemo. She wrote to me that she wanted to be the one going through it and not watch her daughter-even though she is well over 40-go through all that pain and suffering. My aunt's husband died from cancer about two years ago. She has been through a lot. I can only keep her and her family in my prayers because I don't know what else to do for them other than to be there and be supportive.

I Believe

I'm currently listening to "I Believe" by Yolanda Adams. I love this song because it gives hope and encouragement and makes you want to follow your dreams, hopes, and aspirations. It seems as if nothing is out of reach as long as you believe you can reach it.

Every morning when I wake up, it is one day closer to what I will be, where I will be, and what my future holds for me. It's exciting thinking about the boundless possibilities life will bring me. I have so much in my mind that I want to do and accomplish. Sometimes I wonder if I will have enough time in life.

As I grow older, age doesn't bother me. I used to think 30 was old, then 40 was old, now I'm not sure what old really is. I think "being old" is only how you feel, not an actual age. I no longer set goals of this is what I want to do before 30, 40, etc. Life is short, but yet is long enough to accomplish dreams and goals. I no longer need to be a certain person by the time I'm 30. 30 is just a number. It's easy for me to say now, but when I'm actually 30, that may be a different view.

Tables

Today, I went to a "workshop" for work. It really wasn't a "workshop" but more of a way to get to know my coworkers better.

At the end of the day, the person conducting the workshop, talked about growing up at the kitchen table. This, too, made me think of my upbringing and our dining room table(our kitchen was too small).

No matter what was going on, our family always had dinner together. In the summertime when they were out in the hay field, we had dinner late, but very rarely did we dine separately for dinner. Being the youngest of 5 children, we had a larger table. Of course, I always had to sit at the end between my parents. As our family changed and siblings got married, I had to go back to the kids table!

The dining room table was host for a lot of hot topics in our family. That's where we caught up on each others lives, got in trouble, learned about our ancestors, did our homework, set up the sewing machine and various other activities. Not only was our table a place for hot topics, it was the hot place to be in our house. Some people's families may have spent a lot of time in the family or living room, but our living room was just a place to watch the news or occassional TV show or movie. Everyone always met back at the table.

The dining room table is where I became the person I am today. I learned about family, history, working together, accepting others unconditionally, and how to share. I learned what made my family tick. This is where we celebrated our holidays and special occassions. This is where we learned to be unique and have a sense of humor in life. But most important, this is where we learned respect.

There is another table that comes to mind when I talk about the tables I grew up with. That is an old picnic table that we butchered chickens on. You may me thinking "gross" or "what lessons in life did you learn there?" When I was a child, we always raised chickens. Every so often, my parents would butcher them. When it was time to butcher, they invited several other families to help out. In turn, these families got to take home some chickens. I didn't really help butcher much, but I loved playing with the other kids who came out. This table taught me the value of friendship and being neighborly.

You may be thinking, how can a table teach these things? They can't. But when you are sitting around a table with friends, family, and those you care about, you learn a lot about them and yourself.

Aliens!!!!

I was just reading an article about people who believe in aliens. To me, that's a very far fetched idea, but I guess we never really know.

Supposing aliens really do exist, at Halloween, do they dress up like us as humans like how kids dress up as aliens? Do they find it funny that people pretend to be aliens when they dress up like them?

Immigrants are often called aliens. Do the aliens from another universe get upset because they "stole" their names? Furthermore, do aliens from other countries get upset because they are being grouped with other worldly creatures?

If aliens can travel here supposedly, why can't we find them in other universes? How did they find us? Our universe is very large, but they keep stalking Earth? And only in the United States or Canada or our navy ships? Do they stalk any other continents or other countries armed forces? What is the aliens fixation with America?