My PEDFRON report card

This is a report card I'd hide from Mom

The post-every-day-for-the-rest-of-November (I've decided to call it PEDFRON) project wasn't a complete failure, but it also wasn't a rousing success. I'm able to see the glass as half full...and half empty. It's a blessing...and a curse.

Setting the goal did have the desired effect of making me post more often for awhile. There's the half full.

Us against Them

You are part of an us. In fact, everyone is part of some us. Even if you consider yourself a solitary being in the world, you are part of an us. In that case, you're your own us - a small us, but an us nonetheless.

Every us has an associated them. By definition, them is not us. There is no better descriptor for them than not us. It says all we need it to say.

We live our lives in the tension between us and them.

At some point in your life you will draw the distinction between us and them. It may be a conscious decision or it may be surprisingly subconscious.

Home again

It's always interesting to sit outside the circle and watch a different family dynamic. It makes you ponder your own.

Some things hold true regardless of the group situation. For example, the most difficult part of genuine communication is being genuine.

Tired, happy to be home, counting this as a post, and considering the post-a-day initiative a success so far ...

Black Friday?

No! It's the season of light.





Christmas lights in Granbury

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, more than any I can remember, the Christmas decorations hit stores early. At one of the 271 neighborhood Walgreen's, I watched sales clerks unloading battery-operated Santas and artificial trees while Halloween pumpkins and faux-wicked witches were still on the shelves. I saw my first unnaturally jolly Christmas sale commercial on TV in October.

I became strangely committed to establishing a "fall tableau" on my front step - a decorative display of miniature straw bale, pumpkins, and ornamental gourds - to set a fall harvest atmosphere. I even picked up a half-priced scarecrow in an after-Halloween sale to keep watch over the tableau and draw a seasonal line in the sand between summer heat and winter cold.  It seemed important.

The scarecrow has been named Wendy. Wendy has a perpetually sunny smile on her face and keeps toppling over. I found her face down (but still smiling) in a pile of autumn leaves the other day. I have a sneaking suspicion Wendy drinks. She's probably exhausted. Watching over the harvest must be hard work.

Why has the cultural leap from Halloween straight into Christmas vexed me so? How has my sweet little drunken scarecrow fall tableau come to occupy such an emotionally important place in my mind?

I think it's because that leap from Halloween directly into Christmas is a leap from asking for candy to getting and giving more "stuff." It's a straight line of acquisition without any pause to be thankful for what we already have. Thanksgiving is a pause that whispers "enough" between blustery shouts of "MORE."

I'm thankful today for all the many blessings in my life. I'm thankful for people who want to spend the day with me. I'm thankful for the stamina and the resources to travel. I'm thankful for safe travels, even if I miss my family. I'm  thankful for the rich character of my family. They're people who can turn even the ordinary and routine into a memory.

I'm thankful for Wendy, the sweetly smiling drunken discount scarecrow, who reminds me that I have enough.

Wendy in a sober and upright moment

Health on the road?

On the road for the Thanksgiving holiday and giving travel health the old college try - As I sit waiting for my flight to Dallas to board, I feel a little guilty about the barbecue sandwich and mac and cheese I ate for lunch. But I have to say that it was pretty darn tasty, especially for airport food.

I've had a glass of iced tea, but don't want to drink water on top of the tea because I hate the tiny bathrooms on airplanes. Water would surely push me over the urinary cliff. My last act before boarding is usually hitting the restroom one last time.

What's the difference between fantasy and dream?

Reminds me of an old joke...

Question: What's the difference between sexy and kinky?
Answer: Sexy is tickling your lover with a feather. Kinky is using the whole chicken.

A feather? Or the whole chicken?

A fantasy is the imagining of something impossible or improbable, while a dream is something strongly desired. Psychologists say that the difference between the two is that we're consciously aware of our imagination when we fantasize but not so when we dream.

They're both important for a healthy psyche, but be careful. Don't let hyperactive fantasies squeeze out malnourished dreams.