Grandkids Say The Darnedest Things

A friend shared these with me and I thought you might enjoy them too:

1. She was in the bathroom, putting on her makeup, under the watchful eyes of her young granddaughter, as she’d done many times before. After she applied her lipstick and started to leave, the little one said, “But Grandma, you forgot to kiss the toilet paper good-bye!” I will probably never put lipstick on again without thinking about kissing the toilet paper good-bye….

2. My young grandson called the other day to wish me Happy Birthday. He asked me how old I was, and I told him, 62. My grandson was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, “Did you start at 1?”

3. After putting her grandchildren to bed, a grandmother changed into old slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded to wash her hair. As she heard the children getting more and more rambunctious, her patience grew thin. Finally, she threw a towel around her head and stormed into their room, putting them back to bed with stern warnings. As she left the room, she heard the three-year-old say with a trembling voice,
“Who was THAT?”

4. A grandmother was telling her little granddaughter what her own childhood was like. “We used to skate outside on a pond. I had a swing made from a tire; it hung from a tree in our front yard. We rode our pony. We picked wild raspberries in the woods.”
The little girl was wide-eyed, taking this all in. At last she said, “I sure wish I’d gotten to know you sooner!”

5. My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, “Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?” I mentally polished my halo and I said, “No, how are we alike?” “You’re both old,” he replied.

6. A little girl was diligently pounding away on her grandfather’s word processor.. She told him she was writing a story.
“What’s it about?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “I can’t read.”

7. I didn’t know if my granddaughter had learned her colors yet, so I decided to test her. I would point out something and ask what color it was.. She would tell me and was always correct. It was fun for me, so I continued. At last, she headed for the door, saying, “Grandma, I think you should try to figure out some of these colors yourself!”

8. When my grandson Billy and I entered our vacation cabin, we kept the lights off until we were inside to keep from attracting pesky insects. Still, a few fireflies followed us in. Noticing them before I did, Billy whispered, “It’s no use Grandpa. Now the mosquitoes are coming after us with flashlights.”

9. When my grandson asked me how old I was, I teasingly replied, “I’m not sure.” “Look in your underwear, Grandpa,” he advised “Mine says I’m 4 to 6.”

10. A second grader came home from school and said to her grandmother, “Grandma, guess what? We learned how to make babies today.” The grandmother, more than a little surprised, tried to keep her cool. “That’s interesting.” she said. “How do you make babies?”
“It’s simple,” replied the girl. “You just change ‘y’ to ‘I and add ‘es’.”

11. Children’s Logic: “Give me a sentence about a public servant,” said a teacher. The small boy wrote: “The fireman came down the ladder pregnant..” The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. “Don’t you know what pregnant means?” she asked.
“Sure,” said the young boy confidently. ‘It means carrying a child.”

12. A grandfather was delivering his grandchildren to their home one day when a fire truck zoomed past. Sitting in the front seat of the fire truck was a Dalmatian dog. The children started discussing the dog’s duties.
“They use him to keep crowds back,” said one child.
“No,” said another. “He’s just for good luck.”
A third child brought the argument to a close.”They use the dogs,” she said firmly, “to find the fire hydrants.”

13. A 6-year-old was asked where his grandma lived. “Oh,” he said, “she lives at the airport, and when we want her, we just go get her. Then, when we’re done having her visit, we take her back to the airport.”

14.. Grandpa is the smartest man on earth! He teaches me good things, but I don’t get to see him enough to get as smart as him!

15. My Grandparents are funny, when they bend over, you hear gas leaks and they blame their dog.

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Life and Death, Duty and Loss

My wife and I started our day by meeting with several family members and friends at a charity breakfast to raise funds for the Gold Star Moms organization. Gold Star Moms have all lost a child who died in service to their country, in this case in Iraq or Afghanistan. I was glad to be at the breakfast to honor and support them. And it saddened me as to the terribly high price paid by their children and the torment, sacrifice, and anguish the parents had had to deal with and were still dealing with every day.

When we returned home, one of the first emails I saw was from our son who is serving in the military. It read:

“Just saw Act of Valor, pretty good action flick and a decent story. There’s “poem” given at the end that I thought was very good, so I found it. The * part was left out of the movie. But I think it’s good advice for life, though its subject is death.”

Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place. Show respect to all people, but grovel to none. When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself. *Touch not the poisonous firewater that makes wise ones turn to fools and robs the spirit of its vision*. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over againin a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home. The Teaching of Tecumseh.

I don’t think it was a coincidence that right after an event honoring people who have given more than any parent should ever have to give, I come home to a message about how to live a noble life and die a noble death.

“Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.” Sounds like excellent advice to me. Words to live, and die, by.

May your life be long and filled with much happiness, gratitude, love, good health, and kindness.

And may we never forget the great sacrifices made by relatively few for so many.

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Add Extra To Ordinary

I was headed out the door to meet with a new investment Client when the headline for an ad in an open magazine caught my eye:

“Add Extra To Ordinary”

What an extraordinary tag line! (It was for Bertoli Olive Oil by the way.)

“Add Extra To Ordinary” Those four words stayed with me, and as I drove to my appointment I realized how powerful and universal that message is. Every aspect of life can be made better if we take the time to “Add extra to ordinary”.

So often even a little extra effort, a little extra thoughtfulness, a little extra kindness, a little extra enthusiasm, a little exrtra caring, etc, can make a huge difference in our own lives and the lives of others.

I’ve even experienced first-hand how a little extra effort has saved lives. There are few better feelings in the world than to hear someone say:

“You may not know it, but what you did that night saved my life!”

All I’d done was be there for a friend. A simple act that didn’t even take much time and very little extra effort. But that extra effort not only changed a life, it saved one.

And I hadn’t even been aware at the time that a life hung in the balance and would have been lost if I hadn’t chosen to “Add extra to ordinary” that evening.

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A Real-Life Quiet Hero: Dr. Tim

I just finished reading about a real-life quiet hero named Dr. Tim from one of my favorite sites, http://www.HeroicStories.org

I recommend that you check out both that story and that site. Better yet, introduce yourself to Joyce Schowalter who keeps it up and running, and perhaps consider sharing some thoughts about heroes that have shown up in your life. http://us.mg5.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=0c5ugbie3ampo

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Quiet Heroes

A friend from my childhood recently mentioned the movie “To Kill A Mockingbird”. It is one of my all-time favorite stories. That got me to thinking again about my favorite type of people: Quiet Heroes.

They are the ones who are always there when needed most. The ones with a smile or a hug at just the right moment. They do the kind thing and the right thing even when the crowd is rushing the opposite way. They even put themselves In Harm’s Way when that is what is needed.

So this post is in honor of all the quiet heroes in my life and in the world. Thank you for making my life and my world a better place. I know that there are times that it would be far more convenenient and sometimes even much safer to ignore the needs of the world and I honor you for doing the kind and right thing anyway, sometimes at great risk to yourself.

I know that like everyone else you experience fear, exhaustion, frustration, distractions, and obstacles. And that you aren’t necessarily braver than others despite acomplishing things that require extraordinary bravery and determination.

I appreciate that, like the character Atticus in the movie and book “To Kill a Mockingbird”, you do what needs doing when it needs doing and you do it in your quiet and humble way because the cost to your soul and self-respect of not doing it would be far greater than whatever the potential cost in doing it is.

I’m grateful for that wonderful and extraordinary difference in you.

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Another Reason to Dream Big

Here’s yet another reason to DREAM BIG:

“You aren’t old until your regrets are larger than your dreams.”

This quote was sent to me by a buddy. I don’t know who originally said it, but I like it a lot.

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What I’m Most Proud Of and Grateful For

I’m proud of my friends, investing ability and results, my redwood grove and fern garden, some of my songs and stories, and my dog Duke whom I mentioned in a recent post, but by far I’m most proud of my family.

My wife is a model of loyalty, forgiveness, understanding, patience, and dedication. She is not only a very good wife, she is a special education teacher who gives it her all every day. She wins over her students with love and respect along with her firmness and fairness.

I’m proud of each of our grown children, for they bring much to my life and to the world.

Our eldest son is about to be a father for the first time (YAY! I’m soon going to be a GRANDPA!). I know he’ll make a terrific father and his wife (who we admire and enjoy a lot) will be a wonderful mother. Our oldest son very bright, graduated first in his class in the Accounting Department in college, and has become a respected CPA and valuations manager. He is honest, dedicated, hard-working, loving, is a leader in his profession, and gives back to the community.

Our middle child and younger son is a research scientist and Captain in the Air Force. Even as a five-year-old he was never afraid to say what was on his mind. He’s always been very inquisitive and an independent thinker. He works harder on himself than almost anyone I know. He recently married a wonderful woman who we all love dearly and who appreciates his uniue sense of humor.

Our youngest is our only daughter. She is nearly done with college (majoring in Park Management) and hopes to soon be a ranger for the county park service. She has excelllent social skills and loves to be outdoors, especially bicycling on rugged mountian trails.

All three of our kids are loving and helpful adults and we’re mighty proud of them.

We’re also blessed that all of them have someone special in their lives who we like and admire.

I’m grateful for our great and growing family.

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Duke

Duke, my Chocolate Labrador, turned 6 a couple of days ago. I thought of him when typing about kindness. When I’m sick in bed he quietly lays next to me, keeping me warm and watching over me, never leaving my side–a quiet watchful sentinental.

I work alone and he loves to stay under my desk, his muzzle resting on my feet. It is nice to have his company. With him I’m never alone.

I’m blessed with good friends, and Duke is one of the best.

He’s not perfect. He has flaws like me. But he forgives me mine, and I try to return the favor every chance I get.

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Kindness

I came across a website called WisdomQuotes.com that I like. One can type in various aspects of wisdom and up pops a bunch of quotes on the subject. For example, I just looked up “Kindness” and 3 long pages of many related quotes came up. Here are some of my my favorites:

“Be kind for everyone you know is fighting a hard battle.” -Philo

“When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people.” –Abraham Herschel

“We are made kind by being kind.” –Eric Hoffer

“You cannot do a kindness too soon for you never know when it will be too late.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Wherever there is a human being their is a chance for kindness.” –Seneca

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Porcelin Unicorn

If you haven’t seen the short video winner called Porcelin Unicorn, I highly recommend it. The video is short, and with almost no dialog tells a powerful and moving story. The URL is below.

http://www.porcelainunicorn.com/

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