Support each other

I'm pondering why it is that whenever girls or women gather in groups of 3 or more, there sometimes is a strange thing that happens, where meanness or unkind gossip happens. With pre-teens, I've seen the three way call happen where they don't let the third girl know someone is secretly listening in and prompt the other girl to say disparaging comments about the other girl. I just don't get this. I've heard grown women tell another woman unkind things that were said about her when she wasn't present. Would someone say something unkind if they knew it was going to be repeated? I think not but it happens all the time. Men don't seem to do this - they aren't that analytical I guess. Women, we've got to let the unkind gossip stop. We need to support each other even when we are different from each other. We all have our differences, our strengths and our weaknesses. Can we just celebrate these?

Eye of the Tiger - Obama

Wow, history was made tonight. Absolutely amazing. Diane wanted me to blog about "Eye of the Tiger" and keeping your eye on the goal as it pertains to our working out. I guess we can apply it to the Presidency as well as our commitment to working out regularly, can't we? Obama had his eye on the goal of Presidency and succeeded, never getting bogged down by the threat or fear of racism but rather the goal of uniting this country.

I am so grateful that Julia participated in "Sojourn to the Past" last spring, retracing the Civil Rights movement in the South. We all cried when she related stories about the heroes of the movement - John Lewis, Medgar Evers, Fred Shuttlesworth and of course Martin Luther King and many others. We cried when the kids came off the plane, singing "We shall overcome" and it has happened tonight. All men are created equal and it is evidenced tonight. Let Freedom Ring!!!!

Jumbled thoughts while driving

Strange feeling these days. Listened to the song "Landslide" by Stevie Nicks on the way home and feel that the lyrics are so true "children get older and I'm getting older too". Up through my 40s I felt alive, attractive and vital. In my 50s, when I walk in a room with either one or both of my daughters, I blend into the background wallpaper, like I don't exist. I'm happy that they are so beautiful but at the same time, sad for the loss of my youth and all that it means, both joyful and sorrowful. I don't wish for the angst they feel at times with their relationships but do miss the excitement. I reflected that through my 40s I always wore a signature scent and these days, my signature scent is Vaseline intensive care. I am a crone, an elder, a wise woman. How can I be a crone and recapture the joy it is to live, I wonder? Do crones just sit back and give advice or do they live as well?

After the song "Landslide" finished, "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield came on - the lyrics "Live your life with arms wide open, today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten" and I reflected that while we are alive, we need to live, no matter how old we are - the rest is still unwritten. We can affect all the people in our lives still. Think of those wonderful grandparents that give great love to their grandchildren. Oh lord, am I a grandparent? Not yet, but I am a grand aunt and at that age. I sometimes wonder if I didn't have children if I'd be so aware of time passing? Interesting that this song followed Landslide. Feel the rain on your skin, no one else can feel it for you, ......