Coming to All Our Senses

If I haven't said it before - and I think I have - I am truly blessed to have two brilliant children.

My oldest, Jeffrey, is an intellectual genius that has an incredibly high IQ and learns things at a very fast pace. Usually the first time he's exposed to them. He reads a book on a topic and then recants it back in more detail than I usually prefer but I find it fascinating the detail to which his memory goes.

My youngest, Sam, is as creatively genius and gifted at composing music as my oldest is intellectually smart. He "wrote" his first song before he turned seven. He doesn't actually "write" them as much as they just sort of flow out of him. We're fortunate we live in the technology age as we've connected his electronic piano to the PC and then have a program that records all his key strokes as he plays them. He cranks out beautiful three-part masterpieces in about a half an hour. I've watched him do it and it is awesome.

Why am I bragging about how brilliant my kids are????

I guess it's because it really doesn't matter how smart or talented we are if we don't have common sense AND choose to use it. I try to impress this on my kids every day.

For most of us this 6th sense isn't so common at all and if fail to apply it what will happen to us? To our families and to our world? Unfortunately, I think we're starting to see the answer.

So... I encourage everyone to keep their eyes open, listen to what's going on around them, stop and smell the roses sometimes, stay in touch and do things in good taste. BUT... if we don't exercise our common sense the rest of what we have won't matter.

Common is the 6th Sense... are you going to use it or lose it?

Keeping the Faith

Right now life is feeling "prickly". There are many things that seem to be poking at me trying to drag me down. I've had a rough couple of days at work; I hurt my back badly over the weekend and am in almost constant pain; my husband has been struggling with his health since last fall; my son is dealing with food allergies that make it difficult to feed our family; I drive by a house twice a day that is a constant reminder of hurt feelings which dredges up old hurt feelings from many past relationships; I've had to work overtime to get things done at work which is keeping me away from my family at home, and when I get home I'm too tired to do much of anything...

It just feels like things are piling up and trying to drag my mental attitude into negativity. So I'm working harder and harder to pick out things to keep my thoughts positive. I know that these rough days at work are temporary - this task is almost complete and I'll be able to move on to new things; I know that my back is improving and I'm seeking treatment for that to help (my sons assisted with massages last night!); my husband's health is trending towards improvement; we're exploring acupuncture as a treatment for our son's food allergies; and I'm trying to focus on the many wonderful relationships that I have now.

I drive 45 minutes to and from work. I don't like the fact that it adds to the length of my work day, but there are so many things that I enjoy about my drive. I watch the flowers change in one spectacular garden on my route; I watch for the many beautiful horses, big and small; I check the pond to see if my heron is there (one day had to slow way down to miss hitting a huge snapping turtle crossing the road); I observe the structure and details of the barns as the sun hits them; I wave at the crossing guard by the school I pass; I look for deer in two spots; and I enjoy my music!

I figure the harder things stack up against me and try to pull my attitude down, the harder I'd better work to keep it positive. I'm tired. I'm hopeful that things will turn around again by the end of this week! But if it doesn't, I will keep working hard to stay positive.