What’s A Hero

In my mind heroes are: the firemen that ran into the Twin Towers on 9/11, the policeman who saved a battered woman or child, a soldier, an astronaut,  a teacher who provides a snack for a needy student, etc.  Now there is another set, these engineers who the Fukushima nuclear plant.  There are 50 of them, working while being exposed to unbelievable levels of radiation, just like a doctor or nurse who works on a heart attack patient for over an hour, never giving up hope.  Are these fathers and mothers, grandparents, newly graduated engineers?  Do they even know the fate of their families and homes after the Tsunami?  They must know they’re giving their lives to stop the meltdown.  This whole experience is just drawn from a disaster movie.  Those things just weren’t ever supposed to happen.  Now, they happen every year it seems.  These people remind me of the characters from “Armageddon,”  just your average Joe, who is now charged with saving many.  What can you say about people who do that?  Hero is not a big enough word. 
Here is an NPR article regarding these heroes.  God speed to them.

Snow Day

last Friday the sixth snow day of the school year hit us in Northeast Ohio.  Wendy finally decided it was time to build her Lego Pirate ship, that had been sitting in the closet.  She spent the day working on this project, without letting her brother (who was circling) divert her attention. 
It always amazes me that this:


Can turn into this:


Scenes from the plunder:

Moose

Did You See That One?

I HATE commercials, rarely in my life do I like to sit down and watch a commercial.  Then these commercials came around and I love them so much that I’m writing a blog about them.  There is something amiss in this world.

My family has really enjoyed the Olympics, and what can be funnier than grown-ups having a snowball fight.

Then there are the P & G Mom commercials.  Lately, as a Mom I think, I’m really gaining a deeper understanding what a marathon this is and how encompassing it is.  Don’t get me wrong, I got it when my little girl was born, but now that we are running to practices, dance lessons, piano lessons, working on homework, dealing with bullies, changing diapers, trying hard to fit in playtime, and make a nutritious meal every once in a while, I’m getting it on a much deeper level.  A commercial is successful when it connects to you and boy does this one get to me:

Then they had to go and make this one:

Where did I put that tissue?

Things That I Love!

Every once in a while you just come across things that you love and you want to share them, what better place than a blog.  This weekend, I came across an idea I just love opposed to an item, it’s going to sound corny, but it’s Title IX.

Let me explain, I have a daughter who loves soccer.  She is good at it and doesn’t think twice that she isn’t as good as anyone else, no matter what their gender is.  Pumpkin knows that she has a shot to play soccer for a long time if she wants to, there is no doubt in her mind.  In contrast, when I grew up, if there was a boys high school team, there probably wasn’t an equivalent girls soccer team, because my generation was just receiving the benefits of Title IX.  Now, I didn’t mind, while I grew up, I really just didn’t notice it.  I occurred to me recently while watching my daughter play.  I realized one of the reasons I didn’t continue playing after 7th grade was because there just weren’t any teams to play on.  All the Rec boys went on to high school sports, and there wasn’t a pitch for the girls to join.  Never mind enough girls to make a team, since we all played co-ed at the time.  I’ll say it’s still not perfect, but the girls have access to the locker rooms, the coaches, the weight rooms, the fields, and a number of other things that weren’t guaranteed before and they all do so well.

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Which leads me to this weekend.  Pumpkin and I drove to Columbus, to watch our local High School Varsity Girls Soccer Team win the State Championships.  It was an inspiration, these girls owned the field, they played tough and there was no question that they belonged there.  I just want to thank everyone who paved the way and fought for Title IX, otherwise these girls wouldn’t be on the field paving the way for my daughter wherever the road takes her.  Go Bees!