Big Fan

I'm a big fan of...

• People who make me laugh
• Krispie Creme chocolate iced donuts
• Imagination
• Toni Morrison
• U2: any & all, from the old days to the new
• Tampa Bay Rays baseball
• Baskin Robbins chocolate chip ice cream (and milkshakes)
• Saturday afternoons
• The World According to Garp
• Peppermint Mocha
• Honest politicians
• When I can crack myself up with fantasies (see above)
• Good conversation
• People-watching
• Rain
• Making a stand

Way too many other things to list. What are you a fan of these days?

Big Naming Opportunities

Why yes, I do call my dog Flanders several different names, including Jerusha. I still discuss the yellow lab from my youth frequently in conversation--he was a legend, and he had at least 39 names.  Plus I made certain that all of the names were a little odd for a dog: Jerome, Demetrius, Nutricia, etc. Don't tell me I'm strange. I know it. And I did use a different name depending on what mood I was in at the time.

You see, there are several big naming opportunities in life:  a new baby, a new business, a new pet, a building if you're very rich and charitable, and last but not least, a new blog. If you don't choose carefully, you're either stuck with the name...or you get into multi-name territory. Life just seems too short for one name.

I always thought it was interesting to hear what some of my friends called their grandparents. And then there was me. I called one grandmother "mum" and one grandfather by his first name, Wally. Again, a little strange, but perfectly normal to me.

Over the last few days I've really been thinking about the big naming opportunity for my parents as they enter the grandparent role for my brother's little girl. D-Man just calls them by their first names, which I am forbidden to list in this blog.  I was fooling around making up bizarre grandparent synonyms during last week's visit.

"There's your hoho,'" as my father is holding her. "Is that your memoo smiling at you?" when my mom is cooing. We're finding it really funny and aren't sure if the young lass will refer to them as grandma/grandpa or any other number of combinations. But they better be careful and assertive about the name of choice. Once it's been selected, it's there for good. (Unless I have anything to do with it.)

When D-Man came around before I was in the picture as stepmom, one of his grandmothers wasn't ready to be called "grandma," and insisted on being called "Mema."  At age 10, D-Man was greeted with a surprise from her: "I want to be called grandma now." And she was really, really serious.

What the hell? How can you recondition a kid who has fondly known you as Mema his whole life? Bizarre. Pure bizarre. We've rebelled against these wishes and have encouraged him to continue calling her what he feels comfortable calling her. Good grief.

Care to share any of your interesting selections as far as the big naming opportunities go? Do you love the name of your blog? Ever thought about changing it? What did you/do you call your grandparents?

Big Trouble

When I was almost 16, my parents went out of town for a couple of days and left me at home with 13 year old brother. To cut to the chase, the two of us ended up in a bit of a disagreement, I locked him out of the house, and he punched through the glass panels on either side of the front door.

Neighbor called the parents, and I ended up...er um...being told I must remain inside until they returned the next day. Justifiably, they were pissed that they could not leave town for a rare excusion without having this sort of drama from two supposedly responsible offspring.

Of couse in my mind, I had great reason to lock younger brother out of the house. Further, I already bought tickets to the Eric Clapton concert that night. So HELLO, I wasn't going to remain inside.  Please.

I went to the show and made no secret about it. And that, my friends, resulted in the ultimate pronouncement: "Thou shalt be grounded, including on your 16th birthday."


What sort of big trouble did you get into as a teenager? And now? Are you a trouble maker, or a peace maker...or perhaps a bit of both?

The Big Questions of Perspective

It's true that the ultimate goal on my life list is to deliver any kindness and assistance to the people and creatures that come across my path. I really want to make a difference. I don't always succeed in that, but that's the idea.

I get tired. I think too often of myself when I don't mean to. And I don't always keep what counts in perspective.

At the end of every day, these are the Big Questions that float through my mind obsessively as I try to coast into sleep...

• Did I do the most I could do today?
• Did I hurt anyone unintentionally or out of frustration?
• What do I wish I could do more of?
• What scared me or bothered me and why did it?  What part of ego was this associated with?  How can I kill it?

We see ourselves differently than others see us.  I delight in what I can discern of myself and hate it that there are answers difficult to find when I'm not looking at myself from the outside.

I'm lucky to have some good friends in my life who help me out with the Big Questions and pave the road to seeing myself as I really am. I'll take the good news and the bad, all in hopes of becoming something greater.

Happy Easter!

The Big Flight

Call me a nerd, but the miracles of migration astound me anew everytime I think about them. Can you believe that delicate Monarch butterflies flutter 2,500 miles? And that birds of all kinds fly from Canada to South America every year for the winter and then back to their summer nesting grounds?  I find it incredible.

This time of year in Florida, we love our migrating birds. They stop here to refuel before continuing on journeys to their northern homes. Last weekend at Hillsborough River State Park (left) near Tampa, I saw three such species I had never seen before: a Prothonatary warbler, a Blue-headed vireo, and a Hermit thrush. 

This week I'm in east-central Florida visiting my mother and father. Here's a Gray Catbird I photographed at Smyrna Dunes Park on a walk with my mother Thursday morning.  He was stocking up--unfortunately with exotic Brazilian Pepper berries--before headed on his big flight. Like the Blue-headed vireo and Hermit thrush, some of them hang out in Florida all winter.

They make a cat-like noise. Check out her dark gray cap and rufous-colored behind. So cute.

Just when I'm considering how daunting a task can be or how I might lose my way, I find inspiration in the Big Flight made twice per year by these amazing birds. Somehow they're guided by a force and a knowledge that seems so much bigger than what is contained in a bird brain.

Big Possibilities

Observing others embarking on life at its beginning, we see a clean slate full of new possibilities and exciting unknowns. As we move through our own lives, each choice can be empowering, it can be daring, it can be well-reasoned or silly, but in one way or another, it directs us on a certain path. And though that path can be altered in seemingly infinite ways, as we get older, our possibilities get more limited.

Perhaps one reason we're attracted to the freshly emerged youth of all species is the inherent symbolism they carry of newness--so many potential choices and directions will shape their now infant lives. They stand for big possibilities.

Here's my brother's first little girl, with whom I've been visiting this week. She flew out with her mother all the way from Texas, and we're enjoying getting to know her at this very tender time of life.

My hope for her, for myself, all those I love (and even those I don't like so much) is for us to stay open to big possibilities, to feel the current of things that could be, and to have the courage to make the right ones happen.

This weekend raise your glass to Big Possibilities and vow to make a great one come to fruition in your life!

Big Glutton for Punishment

I seem to gravitate toward self-induced over-crowding when it comes to tasks and activities. I enjoy so many things and have a damn hard time prioritizing what should go.  In the mix of "too much," what was once enjoyment turns to a collection of penalty points on my peace of mind. In essence, I'm a Big Glutton for Punishment.

So on top of some insanity in schedules for work, volunteer and family things, I'm doing it again--participating NaBloPoMo. It's actually a pretty cool idea. If you're not familiar with it, every month of the year except November, there's a different theme, and bloggers who participate agree to post every day of the month on that topic. In November, there is no theme; you just have to post every day. April's theme is "big."

On the way to work on Tuesday, I jotted down different "big" possibilities--trying to make it up to thirty--instead of making my "must accomplish before vacation" list for work.

I'm hanging out at my family's house in New Smyrna Beach for the rest of the week and will be kicking off a full month of "big" with photos.

What sorts of things do you get yourself into and then regret later, maybe knowing they took a little more time than expected? Are you a Big Glutton for Punishment?