My weekend officially starts on Saturday night.

Usually, Sunday is a day of some sort of chores - laundry, grocery shopping, picking up dog food, getting the dog a toy he will destroy in 3.2 seconds, all the normal weekend stuff we all get so excited for. I did all that.

In addition, since it is the start of the new TV season I caught up on my favorites like Modern Family, New Girl, Glee and Castle.

My friend Elaine, Athletic Trainer extraordinaire, did Active Release Technique on my Achilles. This was our second session. I wish I had taken a before shot of my pathetic Achilles as it has been inflamed, no joke, for almost 13 years. The inflammation has gone down more than 50% already!

With new sneakers and the Achilles THAT much better, I am delighted to report I am taking this body of mine down to the river to meet my friend Jeannie to go for a walk. It is the perfect way to start a Monday on what is an allergy infused kind of day. (I do wish this weather could get it together enough for me to really feel excellent again...) 

While getting nostalgic on YouTube yesterday morning I came across this song and just knew I had to use it today.

Cheers to YOUR Monday. xo

Come Monday, it'll be all right
Come Monday, i'll be holdin' you tight

http://youtu.be/_70yDj_9qm4

I started out planning to write a post about the weekend and how I really do love a Sunday morning where I can sleep a little later. And then...

I wanted to give a shout out to my friend Ellen as she swims, rides and runs her way to finishing the triathlon she's been training for. 

She is a tireless warrior for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team in Training. She gets up at WTF-thirty to train her body with weights. She swims in frigid water because she must. And she rides a bike where the tire every so often gives her the finger just because.

To quote our friend Laura, "With you every stroke, pedal and step."

And THEN...
I got lost in YouTube and the next thing I knew it was somewhere in the 1970's and I was listening to Gordon Lightfoot and Jimmy Buffet and Bread and holy shit, I figured if I was having fun with it, so too would you.

While listening to all this nostalgic music, THIS poem popped into my head. FYI - it is on ebay or $40. I could not have paid more than $1.00 when I had it hanging in my room. It was probably more like 50¢ cents. (Where oh where did the cents sign go on keyboards and HOW can I make it?!)
FYI: alt0162 makes the cents sign!

So, I decided to end this post with the song I listened to last, otherwise, it will be NEXT Sunday before I publish this.

ENJOY your Sunday! xo

Nobody else could ever know 
the part of me that can't let go.

http://youtu.be/MBObpDDAWZc

I prowl a million different places for exactly the right images with quotes. Occasionally I even make my own. Then, I file them on my laptop and use them as I need them. That was the case with this quote. I loved it and thought, "Hmmm, I wonder if this is a song?" Thanks to the brains of google I found out that indeed it was.

I love this song. The whole thing, from beginning to end. I love the melody, I love the lyrics and of course, I had it on repeat.

Once again I am heading to the salon where we have a full autumn day of color, cuts and blow outs. I am heading there now to help out a friend having a hair emergency because I work with awesome people who will come in 45 minutes early to help ME help my friends.

Take a chance today. You'll be great!

Little change of the heart, little light in the dark, 
Little hope that you just might find your way out of here.
Cause you've been hiding for days, wasted and wasting away, 
But I got a little hope today you'll face your fears.

http://youtu.be/nwGPfBLZP2U

Is this not the BEST To-Do List ever? I plan on referring to it all the time.

I know, it's Friday. But first, let's take a moment to go over Thursday night.

I live in a house with a teen boy who has loved baseball from the nanosecond he discovered it, probably by three years old. He is a life-long Yankee fan. He is planning on playing baseball in college. So, naturally the game was on when I got home last night. I have been watching the "42" send off videos and crying through them all - if you know me, you know that going to baseball games can be painful for me, so this is comical to my darling son.

I was getting something in the kitchen when Peter yelled, "Mom! You have to see this, I know you'll cry!" And cry I did. I have heard nor read one derogatory word about Mariano. At all. To witness a man leave at the top of his game, beloved by so many, is a thing of beauty in 2013. If you didn't see this, it is worth the watch.

My friend Jimmy posted THIS on his Facebook wall after the sweet, sweet farewell. It too, is perfect. From the awesome movie, The Sandlot.

Now, back to Friday!

Bella knows I am always looking for Friday dance songs. She had me listen to this a few times and then specifically had me watch the video. THIS song made it to Ellen this week and her take on it is priceless.

And so, without further ado, I bring you, "What Does the Fox Say?" One of the silliest videos, EVER. If you have never heard it, I apologize for it's catchy tune. It is almost like "It's a Small World." You might be singing it all day. Happy Friday...let's dance!

What the fox say?

http://youtu.be/jofNR_WkoCE

I am one of the annoying people who tends to always look at the bright side. It drives the pessimists in my life batshit crazy. I have found it makes it easier to skip through the day if I have a decent attitude.

With that said, if you've been reading a while, you know it ain't always pretty here in Maggie's World. Still, I do what I can to feel fabulous most of the time.

Right now, I have so many friends, in so many different areas of my life, dealing with an awful lot of "stuff." I can't do a lot about most of it except keep them in my thoughts, give them a hug if they're local or send them cyber healing.

I don't know if "the best if yet to come." Does that then mean that right now isn't the best? Herein lies the great confusion. What do *you* think?

I've got plans for you baby
And baby you're gonna fly

http://youtu.be/jKvTQrIFbcc

In continuing yesterday's post about everything happening for a reason, I think it's important to remember that in the end, everything usually does turn out OK.

I am talking about life in general stuff. Not the big, huge, super-sized stuff of which I literally have no control of.

I can't control someone else. I can't control the weather. I can't control my health to a large degree, although, I can control what I eat, how much of it, and if and when I exercise. But when my time is up, it's up. 

Let's face it, how many of us have heard of people having a heart attack WHILE exercising. SEE...it can kill you.

That doesn't mean I will stop all together. Even though I did. Per doctors orders.

My Achilles issue means that I can't wear certain shoes; as of yesterday I have new sneakers. I had a massage from the amazing Jen Pellingra, one of the recipients from Coffee For A Cause. I had a frank discussion with the equally amazing JC about getting back into exercise, slowly, yet again. (You calm down there Janet...) I have Cara for the yoga love. I have Cathy for the therapy. I have Mital for acupuncture and Manisha for chiropractic care. My yearly mammogram and ultrasound were taken care of last week. I am one well taken care of woman.

Even with all this support, with a rocking family, with some of the most amazing friends and acquaintances on the planet, I still need the reassurance that everything will be OK. That's the human in me, the part of me that wonders how much of this thing called life I am actually able to control. I suspect is it not all that much. ::: sigh :::

I just keep reminding myself that everything will be OK. Of course it will.

Music today - when my kids were little I always sang this (not the whole song, I didn't remember the whole song!) when they were losing their minds. I doubt they appreciated it. This is a marvelous, short version - anything with Tim Minchin always catches my attention.

Try not to get worried
Try not to turn on to
Problems that upset you,
Oh don't you know
Everything's All Right Now,
Everything's fine

http://youtu.be/nGDiD4ZHteg

• There are no mistakes.
  
• There are no coincidences.
  
• There are no accidents.
  
• Everything happens for a reason.
  
• Everything happens in it's own time; not your time. (That may be THE single most frustrating part of the whole "thing")
  

You either subscribe to this belief or you don't. I don't think you can straddle the fence on this.

As I said yesterday, the circumstances of your life make you who you are. And trust me when I tell you, things happen out of the blue and you think to yourself, "W-H-A-T the hell..." And no matter how little sense it makes, in the end, according to universal laws of the universe (I think I just made that up...) everything is unfolding EXACTLY the way it is supposed to at exactly the right time.

It may turn you inside out and upside down, but, it is what it is.

It is having the faith - however you describe YOUR faith - that no matter how tumultuous or peaceful or amazing or awful a particular time in your life is, it is happening for a reason that will some day, maybe, perhaps, hopefully make sense. Or not.

Can you tell I've had these types of things happen to me?

What about you? Do share. xo

Never believed that things happen for a reason
But how this turned out removed all my doubts

http://youtu.be/HdK2ErWoAdE

Late Day Blog Post: I can recall, with great clarity, a teacher (who I can't recall) writing the following sentence on the blackboard on the first day of school.

Why do we behave the way we do?

Our goal that year was to make sense of human behavior. That's a tall task for a group of teenagers. I doubt we ever came to a conclusion. 

As I have aged, I realize human behavior is OH so tricky and there are a myriad of reasons WHY we all do what we do.

As I was trying to figure out which teacher it was who wrote this, I took out my yearbook. I haven't looked at it since I started on Facebook in an effort to put names to faces. (Admit it, you did the same thing.)

It was interesting to read some of the signings in my book. Apparently the words, "unique," "one of a kind," "crazy," (presumably in a good way) and "free spirited" were just some of the words teachers used when writing about me. (I didn't read my friends notes - I am sure that is good for a whole 'nother post...) And THIS is the thought I had as I read the notes:

Where the hell did that girl go?

Was it my own behaviors that changed? Did I make the conscious decision to become different from whom I apparently was as a teen? Did the behaviors of others shape me? Did I roll with the punches of society and become more like everyone else? Did work, school, relationships - starting, ending, starting again - marriage (not once, but twice and quite nearly three times), having children, make the more authentic "me" disappear? Is who I am now the "real" me? Am I mish-mosh of every experience I have ever had? Of course I am.

WHY do I behave the way I do? 

If I can't figure out ME, it is ridiculous for me to even consider trying to figure out anyone else, which amuses me to no end, because of course, I do. We all do.

This past year I have been working on the girl of my youth. I have been trying to bring her back with open arms. I have been trying to uncover the young girl who I buried in the need to be loved and accepted. I bury her with food ALL the time. THAT GIRL needs to break free and return to the behaviors that made her unique, one of a kind, free spirited and yes, crazy.

It is so much harder than anyone will ever admit to you. I am here, doing just that. It reminds me to make sure MY kids don't lose their innate selves. Because, trying to find it again is a bitch.

We change and evolve and make decisions that are well thought out or rash, some we are grateful for and some we are haunted by. It's what makes us human and makes us, "us." 

I don't want to head into my mid 50's (good lord, I can't even stand that I just wrote that...) being someone I don't feel comfortable being. I want to be the person of my youth with the wisdom of my age. I don't want to sit in the status quo of my life - I want to experience life with zeal and wonder. I don't think it's too late. 

THE only behavior I can do something about is my own. I'm on it.

xo

PS - Candace, I love this song...

Find some inspiration 
It's down deep inside of you 
Amend your situation 
Your whole life is ahead of you 

http://youtu.be/mBk0XFNNb0c

The men are at SUNY Stony Brook for baseball.

The dog is thus far behaving.

The women went to the diner for breakfast, CVS for sudafed, and then, thrill of thrills, perhaps we will do a little grocery shopping.

But the real delight of the day is to witness the Magic Basement being transformed into a laundromat. 

I can only imagine how jealous you must be. 

Flo Rida - 2009 - http://youtu.be/CcCw1ggftuQ

Dead or Alive - 1985 - http://youtu.be/PGNiXGX2nLU

It's Saturday morning.

I am heading off to work in an hour. It looks like it will be another glorious day.

The men have headed to Baseball Heaven to play and watch - wait for it - baseball.

Bella has plans.

We are all hoping Tucker, the amazing Houdiniesque dog, decides not to execute another escape plan like he did yesterday; he disappeared for an hour and was finally located on the front lawn. ::: sigh :::

Enjoy! xo

Right here, right now
There is no other place I want to be

http://youtu.be/p9yVZSjzAtc

I seem to have a need to recognize a full moon. I especially love the Harvest Moon.

Folklore tells us it is a supremely powerful moon; a time of cleaning out physical and emotional clutter in order to survive ourselves during the long winter months. It is a time of prosperity and abundance. It is a time of feeling better if you have been ill. It is the perfect time for change. It is a time of protection.

Or, it's just a gorgeous orb in the sky. 

I have been waiting months to share this song. This Friday, make it a slow dance. xo

But there's a full moon risin'
Let's go dancin' in the light

http://youtu.be/n2MtEsrcTTs

I showed this photo to Bella about a week ago and she informed me I wouldn't be able to deal with high school if I went now and I must confess, I believe she is right.

Last night was the Open House at the high school AKA "Meet the Teacher Night." It is a chance to get a brief glimpse of what my kids are getting into for the year. 

I listened to their teachers in AP classes (I would never have signed up for them), in honors physics (I never got past biology and I did poorly in it; although I recall having a marvelous time with my classmates), in economics (blank stare), in Italian (Ciao! that's what I know), and in Transitioning to College (I remain SO happy someone qualified is working on the college essay with Peter and not me).

My friend Carol Ann summed it up best when she said at the end of period 9 (honors physics), "And to think I wanted the kid to get a job...there is no way she can work outside of the house AND get all this work done."

For the record, Carol Ann teachers AP English, honors English and some other English classes in another high school. When I looked at her syllabus last summer, I knew there would be no way I could ever pass HER class.

My kids are CHALLENGED. They have schoolwork and homework burdens that go far beyond what I EVER chose to do in high school. They are focused. I wasn't terribly. They KNOW they HAVE to go to college. It wasn't something I was particularly paying attention to and frankly, as I mentioned in the past, it is my one regret. They know the career path they want to take. I am 52-1/2 and still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

It is exhausting imagining how they play sports, dance, get school work done, work outside the house (they do, admittedly, not a lot of hours), hang out with friends and figure out when to sleep. I am taking this moment right now to say CHEERS to them. I am very proud of them and what they have accomplished for themselves in a really short period of time. So, if Bella wants to watch 200 episodes of Say Yes to the Dress, or another NCIS marathon, and if Peter wants to watch ESPN or play on on PS3, I now understand they NEED to. It is some of the only down time they have.

Here's to another year in school. We got this...

Music today, a story.

When I was in high school, I loved Jethro Tull. Between "Aqualung" and "War Child", I listened over and over and over. I think my friend Patti was responsible for this.

In any event, one day while listening to Pandora, THIS SONG came on and I was astounded it was Ian Anderson. 

It goes to show everyone has multiple sides.

As my kids navigate this year, I need to keep reminding myself THEY TOO have many, many facets to themselves. And they will do beautifully.

xo

http://youtu.be/HyaeOmYix7g

As you know, yesterday I participated in a Love Flash Mob over at the blog Momastery. In twelve hours, over $100,000 was raised for four young children to get service dogs. It was an amazing "event" to witness - Facebook updates, lots of messages on the page, and I doubt anyone who was staying in touch throughout the day had a dry eye at the end of it all.

THAT. That is what makes my heart happy and fills my soul with joy. Doing beautiful, kind, selfless acts out of love. It is glorious. It doesn't have to cost a lot. Glennon stated most of the donations were in the $5 - $10 amount. It was a whole lot of people giving what they can with a whole lot of love.

I am proud of the Love Flash Mob we have here. I am SO, so humbled by what we have accomplished with the HEARTfelt help for the Anders Family and Coffee For a Cause. It takes my breath away when I can send a check out to Indiana. We all have causes and people we are passionate about; I am grateful you chose to support mine. YOU inspire ME.


xo

A truly inspiring piano piece. Perfect for a Wednesday.

http://youtu.be/jr6SH4wRwHo

Love is the answer. To everything. No matter how bleak something seems. No matter how brilliant something seems. When you act with love and you live with love and you behave with love, the rest of life's "stuff" isn't as awful.

There will always be challenges in life. Always. There will be good time and bad times. There will be sickness and health. There will be money and there will be none. There will be sleepless nights and restful nights. There is, as we all know, two sides to everything.

TODAY, Glennon Doyle Melton is hosting a Love Flash Mob on her website. It is everything I would someday hope to do here. Since I am not set up to do such a thing, yet, I urge you to check out her page and do what you can. If you are so inclined to make a donation there and you have thought about donating to the Ander's Family, but haven't quite yet, please consider that too.

Love Flash Mob - it WILL make your heart happy.
HEARTfelt help for The Anders Family - this will too.

Here's to love. Long may it reign. xo

I've looked at love from both sides now 
From win and lose and still somehow 
It's love's illusions I recall 
I really don't know love at all

There are at least 7 different versions of this song on YouTube.
I must say, I liked Susan Boyle's a lot as well as Carly Rae Jepsen's.

http://youtu.be/z8jGFu7ys64

If you read this blog with any regularity, you KNOW Amy and Jake Anders. The mom and son dynamic duo: Amy is dealing with a heart that is quite literally broken while Jake is battling brain cancer. The icing on the cake is that Jeff, husband and dad, lost his job on June 21. Good times. (If you know me in real life, you are reading this as if I am speaking and as such, you are dripping in sarcasm...if you don't know me in real life, you now know how to read this.)

A few updates:

• Amy has been medically cleared to head to the top of the list for a heart transplant.
  
• Jake is doing OK with the chemo. There have been some awful days. Cancer sucks, that's all there is to it.
  
• The other three kids are handling all of this with their usual faith, zaniness and pulling practical jokes on each other. (Nice move in the garage, Evan...) It helps that they are teenagers and as such, since the world is revolving around them, life is going on despite these larger than normal speed bumps.

Friends and family are keeping Jake amused via T-Shirts. I believe they are also keeping his mother amused. Click on the picture below to read Amy's comments about the Day 12 T-Shirt - it is quite special.

On a recent day off from chemo, Jake was captured sitting on his monkey throne wearing his monkey robe. Jake is now the proud owner of a kajillion monkeys. (His favorite animal.)

It's good thing they are all stuffed as I believe otherwise Avon, Indiana would be the place where The Planet of the Apes could come to life.

Despite it all, each day we get to see Jake with a smile on his face. It is a true testament to this family that he remains happy go lucky and I would suspect, still a pain in the behind twelve year old. Rock on, Jake!

I mean seriously, how often can you actually use this song?
Hey, hey we're the Monkees,
You never know where we'll be found.
So you'd better get ready,
We may be comin' to your town.

http://youtu.be/hUzexePjWlI

This morning, once again, a small group of us gathered together for coffee, conversation and for the good will of humans. 

I am inordinately grateful I am able to provide this spot for people to gather. It is my form of worship.

I know of quite a few people who cannot attend due to religious obligations and soccer and football and life. They want to be here.

NOT TO FEAR! Another friend suggested something else last night that I am going to implement. Stay tuned!

I wish you all a fabulous Sunday. Thanks for letting me be a part of yours.
xo

PS - five people, $250! YOU all rock! THANK YOU!

THE perfect Sunday instrumental.
Seriously.
One of my all time favorites.

http://youtu.be/p-Rjz-l8lpM

Yesterday at the salon one of the stylists was running late. It happens from time to time, especially when the person at the desk (that would be me) books people back to back without fully knowing the kind of hair someone has. So, if I book three people with long hair, thick hair, thin hair, curly hair or straight hair in a row, and those three people are getting their hair colored and/or highlighted, and having a complicated cut AND blow out, well then, I have set up a recipe for tardiness. It happens. Not often, but it happens.

One of our regular clients was getting antsy because she was waiting. I apologized. I offered the standard coffee, tea, hot cocoa, or water all of which was declined. I asked one of the assistants to take her time washing her hair and to give her a toe curling head massage. (Side note - seriously, is that not the best?!)

The client ended up being out of the salon seven minutes later than her allotted appointment time. 

What does this have to do with kindness? Well, while the stylists was blowing out the woman's hair they were chit-chatting. (Stylist = Therapist) Over time, the stylist has been generous with her time and talents and has given this particular client certain services as gifts. The client naturally loves this, who wouldn't? Yesterday, however, the client was impatient, peeved about waiting, and she decided to say something mean-spirited to the stylist. Something that actually hurt her feelings. Something totally and completely unnecessary. 

The stylist waited until the client was gone to tell me. 

Probably a good thing.

Be nice. Be kind. Keep your cruel remarks to yourself or at the very least, wait until you get into the car and vent. Don't be mean. As the bumper sticker says, "Mean People Suck."

If you come to the salon, and I really would love it if you did, and we are running late, please realize it is more than likely MY scheduling fault. We will always bend over backwards to make you happy, comfortable and eager to return to the salon. And really, why do you want to upset the person with the scissors in their hand?

Have a day choosing happy!

xo

Put a little love in your heart
And the world will be a better place

http://youtu.be/S3J_3mcOwdQ

I am high-jacking my own post so that I can wish my mama, Peg Buckley, a VERY Happy Birthday!

She was born on Friday the 13th a few years ago.

She taught me kindness, goodness, love, laughter, how to dance on a random Friday, and about a zillion other things. I spent the majority of my teen years rolling my eyes at her. Payback, is indeed, a bitch.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Love you lots and lots ~ here's to many more!

 I would LOVE it if you would send some birthday wishes her way via this post. She would adore that. xo

At the salon, we have an issue with music. For a while it was on a Pop Music station and as such, we heard "Get Lucky" at least five times a day. That was at least three times two many. One morning, I got a hold of the remote and moved it to Soft Rock. It was (is) a welcome change.

Some of the comments from the staff have been hilarious.

• What's with the elevator music? (This was from Tom, the UPS driver!)
  
• I. LOVE. This. Song.
  
• This song makes me feel like I have just put my kitten to sleep and am curled up in a ball in tears. (It was Air Supply, for the record.)
  
• WHAT'S with THIS music? You're killing me.
  
• MAKE IT STOP.
  
• I'm twirling!
  
• OK. FINE. I like THIS song.
• Colleen WILL like this song, I bet. (She did.)

In addition to the comments and notes that have been left on my desk, we also have an intercom system; some of these doozies have been dialed to me from the back room to the command center AKA the front desk. Or from the sinks to the hub AKA the front desk.

Sometimes, you just HAVE to mix it up. 
(We won't even talk about the afternoon I changed it to jazz...)

So, when THIS song came on while I was getting my hair cut yesterday, I said to Kathy and Leslie, you heard it here - THIS is the Friday dance song! 

Make your hair big, get out your shoes and dance, it's 1979!

You're welcome. 
(I know, you wish you worked somewhere half as fun!)

Dim all the lights sweet darling
Cause tonight it's all the way
Turn up the old Victrola
Gonna dance the night away

http://youtu.be/Q-Ab2xyz9tw

HOLY HANNAH - THIS IS LONG!
But, I think it's good information, so, read it, share it, like it!

It's the beginning of the school year. Ah, the bliss. Ah, the stress.

I know, many of you have already started, but this still matters to YOU.

• With that comes all the chaos of getting the school supplies. 
  
• With that comes the nonsensical bullshit of driving kids 1,000 miles a week in a circle to nowhere to get them where they need to go. 
  
• With that comes the realization that WE signed them up for all of this. 
  
• With that comes the cost of new fill in the blank.
  
• With that comes the guilt that we are working and can't be AT what we signed them up for and quite possibly, we may not even be around to drive them in the circles. 
  
• With that comes games in the rain, beating sun, snow...
  
• With that comes dance/karate/scouts/CCD/Hebrew School/whatever else is out there.
  
• With that comes car washes, a lot of them, for EACH sport.
  
• With that comes the PTA/PTSA/PTO volunteer opportunities.
  
• With that comes the thrill of class parent.
• With that comes the offer to sit on the school board.
  
• With that comes the homework hell.

I have and am doing all of the above. I am also here to remind you (and me) that "NO" is a complete sentence.

A friend asked me on Sunday HOW it is that I am so involved in my community. So, here's my story. Get comfortable.

• My kids were in a not-for-profit daycare and we needed money. So, I suggested a fundraiser - a silent auction. Our little day care, with 53 families and maybe 25 teachers managed to raise $5,000 in one evening. THAT was heady stuff and I was hooked.
  
• My neighbor asked me to join the Education Foundation - Bella was 2, Peter was 3. It was once a month. She was the retired superintendent. I couldn't say no.
  
• Peter went to kindergarten, I went to my first ever PTA meeting. My hand shot up on it's own to be the hospitality chair.
  
• OF COURSE I will be the class mom.
  
• OH...you need a PTA Co-President? "SURE, I will do that." Find unsuspecting person in the crowd to bring into the fracas with you. (Apologies to Helen & Janis...)  NOTE: If you need people on the executive board, ALWAYS ask them at the PTA Holiday Dinner AFTER they have had several glasses of wine. It is AMAZING how people will say, "Sure!" 
  
• In order to continue having people involved, go to the local bar AFTER the PTA meetings and gently coerce others to the dark side.
  
• Keep your meetings under an hour and don't let anyone start a filibuster. Look at a clock, say, "GO! You have five minutes," and then stop them when time is up. LISTEN to everyone and realize, some issues are school board issues and some people just need a forum to be heard - often, the PTA meeting may be THE only place they CAN be heard. Be firm, funny and most importantly, kind.
• I was the PTA Co-Prez for three years in elementary school. 
  
• As if that wasn't enough, I did it for another two years in middle school.
  
• I was involved in anything and everything else I could get involved in. Book Fair (all joking aside, my favorite of any event), Children's Fair, Career Day, etc.
  
• I went to the other schools events and PTA meetings.
  
• I always go to the spring high school musical.
  
• I go to sporting events my kids don't play. Field Hockey - not really sure about THAT.
• I attend whatever I can to see the kids in their best light.
  
• I sat on Strategic Planning Committees.
  
• I sat on internal school committees.
  
• I sat on hiring committees.
  
  

::: whew :::

THAT is entirely too much. WAY too freaking much. Because, EVERY single time I said yes to something "for the children" I said no to MY OWN KIDS.

So, to those of you who have lived this merriment with me, I say, "Bravo! We made it. We did it." 

For the rest of you, here is my advice. If truth be told, I don't know if I would have listened to myself 13 years ago. I would like to think I would have been wise enough to.

• Find ONE thing that you are passionate about and take that on first. DO NOT say yes to everything. You will burn out faster than a tea light candle.
  
• If you think something is a good idea, implement it. 
  
• If you think you can do something better, don't whisper about it to your friends - make a suggestion for improvement or STFU.
  
  

So, now what am I involved in?

I am the Co-Chair of a MAJOR all PTA annual event. 2014 makes it my 7th year doing so. ONE MORE YEAR. We have raised over $100,000 in the past six years with all of the proceeds going to areas of the schools that needed a boost - technology, sports, the arts, the sciences, THE KIDS.

It is worth the time and effort. I know nearly all of my kids teachers through the years. I know nearly every administrator. I am able to flit in and out of the schools and say, "Hi" and "Bye" like I work there.

When I was involved at the elementary school level I had blinders on to the sheer importance of the middle school and high school years. THESE are so unbelievably important, but when your baby steps on the school bus on the first day of school, you can't fathom how quickly this will all happen. Try to remember that. We get tired, exhausted really, burnt out and done because we do SO much when they are little. They need us to be just as involved as they get older - not in their face involved, but involved. And let's face it, the middle school and high school PTAs have NO money compared to the elementary schools. JOIN the PTA even if you never go to a meeting. That $10 WILL make a difference. If the idea of another fundraiser makes you ill, write a check directly to your PTA and get the whole tax write-off. Be involved as best as YOU can be. You matter, your kids matter and frankly, your school district matters if you want your home values to remain stable and perhaps, even go up.

::: stepping off my soap box :::

A lovely guitar piece was absolutely needed after this! Enjoy it.

http://youtu.be/UCstWGjKkdE

We ALL know where we were on September 11, 2001. Those of us who live in New York, especially, can tell you. If you worked in NYC on that day, that adds another dimension to your 9-11 story. We all have the unique version of that day.

It is a morning that forever changed so many.

Remember and reflect. YOU are here and reading this. THAT is something to celebrate.

Twelve years later and still, we all need love and a hug. 

Watch this video, it is less than three minutes and yet, it shows caring, kindness, and compassion in the most beautiful way. In NYC. Twelve years later.
http://youtu.be/SELDTUaHRxQ

EDITED 9-11-13 at 8:00pm to add this intensely beautiful poem from Mike Rosen who was 12 years old when 9-11 happened and living in NYC. You will need tissues.
http://youtu.be/S2Ks06Al8c0

If you haven't listened to this version of The Star Spangled Banner, prepare to be amazed. You might just add it to your iTunes library, which they band would love if you did. They have a goal to reach 5,000,000 views on YouTube by September 14. At this writing they are at 4,291,580. Go take a listen. You'll be thrilled you did.

Take a moment.
Be grateful.
Share some love and kindness today.

http://youtu.be/c8C7i9kdEf8