What Do You Believe In?

You are the love of my life.

You know how they say the Universe conspires to bring you the things you desire? (The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho) I believe this to be true. (My Youngling is the most precious and beloved gift I have ever wished for and received.)

I believe that family may agree to disagree, love you flaws and all, and be your biggest fans and supporters. Family believes in you even when you don’t believe in yourself, and are there to pick you up off the cobblestones when you can’t walk anymore. (Did I ever tell my sisters just how fabulous they really are? What would I ever do without you? You, dear sisters, have been my rock and know my heart best.)

I also believe that true and dear friends (who I also consider my family) come into your life to help you grow and broaden your horizons. They perform unexpected acts of service that come from the heart with no desire or expectation for recompense. They may even help you to sprout wings you didn’t know you had and fly. (Thank you friends for being the extended family I always hoped for but never dared to dream I could have.) They also share great books with you. (Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and Connected Parenting by Jennifer Kolari)

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

I also believe that there are people who touch your life only briefly but have profound meaning and messages to share. Today someone I will always remember, though I may never see them again said something to me that changed my life. (In regards to how my Youngling feels about me: “You are the love of her life.” Thank you for that, because I never thought of it that way. You are an amazing teacher.)

I believe I have been truly, truly blessed and fortunate in my life. So today I wanted to share one of my favorite quotes with you, dear reader. A quote from one of the people on the list of things I believe in. May it be as profound for you as it was for me, and make as much of a difference for you in your journey as it has made for me today.

“Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I believe that today was truly a wonderful day. What do you believe in?

Tags: Adventures in Parenting, Believe, books, Eat Pray Love, family, Favorite Things, friends, happiness, Life in Particular, love, quotes, The Alchemist, Youngling

If You Want To Know What To Expect On This Blog, Read This

Nothing happens unless first we dream ~ Carl Sandburg

I am a writer. I like to write about the things that interest me. This is one of the simple things that makes me happy. I wanted to share with you the kinds of things you will find here on this blog. It’s probably a little different than what you might be expecting; but my wish for you is that you have as much fun reading the things I write here as I have in the thinking, and the writing of these words and ideas.

You see, like myself, this blog is a myriad of facets and elements. This blog is a labyrinthine collection, and a meandering mosaic of writing. It’s filled with the things I find not just interesting, but also amazing, intriguing, entertaining, engaging, appealing, silly, and ponder-worthy. Sometimes the posts will be short. Sometimes they will be long. Sometimes they will fall somewhere in between, or have just one line. 99% of the time, you’ll see images. I like to use images a lot. I am a very visual person, and I think images spice up the posts quite nicely. And the categories, well, as you will see, my list is unusually long; and that’s OK, because I like to write about a lot of different things. That’s where the whole eclectic writer thing comes in. Besides, there’s no real hard and fast rules for blogging, is there? Aren’t personal blogs meant to be as original and unique as each individual writer is?

So on any given day, at any given time, I could be writing about what cucumber sandwiches remind me of, my much beloved Youngling and my much beloved others, my adventures in reading, or my random musings and attempts at philosophy. You may also notice the odd run on sentence, as I tend to be quite loquaciously articulate at times.

One thing you will discover without fail, is that I love movies. This blog is filled with my unique contemplations of cinema, and with the exploration of my understanding and interpretation of movies of all kinds. I have an obsessive kind of love affair with movies. More than anything else other than writing, reading, and spending time with my Youngling and beloveds, I love spending time with movies. I am not ashamed to say that I am a BIG TIME movie geek, and you will find A LOT of inner musings and odes to the movies I adore on this site.

So, if you are looking for a more tailored, streamlined or rigid read, this may not be your 4 o’clock cup of ginseng tea. But if you just want to visit a friendly place created by a dreamer, have some fun, and free your mind from the daily grind, then this is the pumpernickel for you!

So be well, and happy reading! I hope you have as much fun as I do. And that, my dear readers, is my wish for you.

Your Brighter Scribe…

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.“
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Tags: blogging, books, Brighter Scribe, movies, reading, writer, writing, Youngling

Why Is There A Trojan Man Commercial During Raccoons?

Teletoon Retro

DISCLAIMER! The following material is intended for a mature audience and may be offensive to younger and/or readers sensitive to frank speaking/writing. Reading discretion is advised!

Every once and while, I like to sit with my Youngling and watch Teletoon Retro. I greatly enjoy sharing with her the animations of my youth which brought great joy to me. They still do, and to see her laughing just as hard as I did waaaay back when I was Youngling myself, just shows me that these cartoons were really funny. Anyways, I digress.

Trojan Man!

On one such recent occasion (tonight, actually), a Trojan Man commercial appeared, to my great dismay. Completely chagrined and totally terrified that my curious and bright 5 year old might ask me, “Mama, what’s a condom?”, I reached over and grabbed her. I crushed her little head to my bosom, effectively cutting sound off to one ear, while one of my hands covered her other ear, and my other hand covered her eyes.

Raccoons TV Show

Now, this frantic move on my part to shield her usually elicits more curiosity than there was in the first place. Now she knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that there was something going on that I didn’t want her to see or hear. So now it would be her mission to figure it out by ferreting the info out of me with an endless round of questions, and the declaration that I promised to always tell her the truth! To which I would theoretically answer, “I don’t want to tell you right now. I will tell you when you are 14 or so.” This kind of I don’t want to tell you right now, I’ll tell you when you’re older answer, usually satisfies her. But if I do the dive and shield from all evils move, this answer won’t suffice, and she will be ever vigilant and more determined than ever to discover the truth. Why oh why is there a Trojan Man commercial on during Raccoons? And on a Sunday, no less!

Now, I’m fairly liberal, but even I draw the line at Trojan Man advertisements on a network devoted to cartoons! My 5 year old is already impressionable enough as it is. She’s constantly trying to convince me that I need the Ab Circle Pro to get the ‘sexy hips and thighs I’ve always wanted’. I don’t need her trying to convince me that I need Trojan Man condoms because ‘it feels like there’s nothing there!’. Oh, the horror!

I mean, I do plan to be open with her about topics like sex, drugs, and rock and roll when the time is right. However, in my estimation, there is nothing right about hearing the word condom uttered by a 5 year old; I don’t care how liberal of a parent you are. That being said, I have no problem answering certain questions she has. We have a pact between us where I have promised to always tell her the truth. And if I don’t want to or simply can’t tell her the truth, I’ve promised I will tell her exactly that. For the more, shall we say, embarrassing or delicate questions she presents me with, admittedly, I do break out into uncontrollable laughter. I’m not laughing at her, I am always quick to explain so as not to discourage her from coming to me with whatever she needs. I explain that it’s simply due to my own nervousness, shock, consternation, and embarrassment as the reason for my inappropriate giggling. That is usually followed by a heartfelt apology just to put her at ease and get a hold of myself. The things 5 year olds can ask you when you least expect it, but no one ever warned you about, are endless. And trust me, that is a whole other post altogether! Giggling is how I handle the shock. It could be worse.

Oh well, I guess it was after 8 o’clock, and shouldn’t Younglings be in bed by then? Most definitely, however, this is a long weekend here in Canada, so I’m letting her stay up a little later than usual. My bad, I guess. So, I suppose I will have to exercise my right to:

a) change the channel

How Kelvyn Got His Name

b) turn off the TV and read How Kelvyn Got His Name to her, or

c) leap like a mad woman to shield my innocent child’s eyes and ears.

Oh no! Gotta run! Here’s that Trojan Man commercial again!

~P.S.~ Am I the only person on Earth not watching #Lost tonight? Thank goodness for DVD sets. No commercials!

Tags: Adventures in Parenting, books, commercials, DVD, How Kelvyn Got His Name, Life in Particular, Rosie Reay, TV, Youngling