thanks

Milestones

by Teamhoneysuckle

We measure our lives by years and milestones; birthdays, anniversaries and even divorces and deaths, we remember those days in our lives that something major happened.  I remember January 17, 2002 very well for that was the day my daughter Alicia was diagnosed with cancer.  This week was the ten-year anniversary of our year from hell, right after the 9/11 anniversary this past September.  A lot has changed in ten years, some of it good and some of it not so good however, it is now ten years later and that day and that year has passed.   I like to think that Karma has a way of catching up to us and while it might not be on our time schedule, it does eventually happen.  This week Alicia, who is now 16 years old, got her license to drive.  Not just a permit, a full-fledged drivers license to drive a car and another step into adulthood.  As a mother I am nervous, as I was when my other daughter started driving, yet I am jubilant that another year has passed, another milestone reached and Alicia is doing just fine.  Her license is not just practical, but symbolic as well.  It means she is moving right along and on the highway of life that most of us take for granted.  I appreciate her, her health and even that teenage attitude more than anything.  Sometimes you only can appreciate  those things that to others may seem annoying when the alternative could have been not having them at all.

Congratulations Alicia!

Tim Tebow and the Broncos….

by Teamhoneysuckle

Tim Tebow and the Broncos season ended last night in Foxboro with a decisive loss.  Tom Brady and the Patriots were unstoppable and played flawlessly and with home field advantage they triumphed.  Congratulations to them and to the eventual Superbowl winners.  I am disappointed  the Broncos didn’t go all the way, but so is every other fan whose team losses.  For every winning team there is a losing one; something we have forgotten about in this country since sports our own children play nowadays is based more on showing up than skill.  When I was a child, there was no trophy for attendance.  Everyone did not get an award and therefore awards meant something.  Today in our quest to be fair to everyone we have taken the incentive away to do better and win.  Therefore, we are now dealing with a bunch of sore losers.  Losing is part of the life and part of the game.  A gracious loser is a lost art as nowadays many defeated opponents and fans get ‘mad’ rather than respecting an opponents win .  The better team won and Tim Tebow was gracious as usual. There can be only one Superbowl winner and to those teams still on that quest to get there, good luck.

The Broncos ended up having a great season and  I have said it before and I will say it again, I think Tim Tebow is great role model.  He is a 24-year-old who ‘gets it’.  He focuses his energy on not only football but his charity work and due to my own charity work I find this commendable.  He brings sick kids to games and spends time with them and their families to keep the game in perspective.  He believes in God and family.  He is respectful, well poised and well spoken.  Tim Tebow’s got class!  So for all you ‘haters’ I ask you this, what was your twenty something child doing on a Saturday night in January?  Do they have a national platform to help sick children and utilize it to make a difference for these kids?  Have they sparked a passion and dialogue within this country about respect and religion that has not been seen in recent memory?  Do they work long and hard at perfecting a skill with a team?  Are they humble, polite and appreciative for where they have gotten, or are your kids sitting at their computers on a Saturday night and just like you writing bad things about Tim Tebow?  Could it be we now have a generation of people who received one too many attendance trophies as children?   Is it so difficult to recognize or appreciate accomplishment even if we don’t agree with it?  Or could it be all of those who find fault with Tim Tebow are really are just jealous?  The answer to that question lies within each person, but us Tebow fans will respect those opinions no matter what they may be.  It is what Tim would do!

My Christmas Wish….

by Teamhoneysuckle

Merry Christmas!Things I wish for this Christmas…..

I wish for continued health and longevity for my family and friends, you do not appreciate good health until you no longer have it.

I wish for peace but understand unrest, for it is only when we are pushed to our limits do we flourish and grow.

I am blessed with a wonderful life and hope my blessings continue. No matter how difficult the journey has been , the people I have met along the way and the memories are priceless.

I wish for continuous hope for the future. A life without hope is bleak.

I wish for forgiveness and reconciliation from those who are distant as forgiveness and moving on are far better than anger. What a nicer world this could be if people could just get along.

I wish for understanding, because the challenges of comprehending many things at times is difficult.

I wish to keep my sense of humor because finding life funny is much more rewarding.

I wish to be back into my size 6 clothes because I am vain and although I am older and wiser, I am not taking middle age and middle age spread quietly or philosophically.

I wish everyone a wonderful holiday! Sending good wishes to others feels great.

Hope you get all you are wishing for…Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

by Teamhoneysuckle

Thanksgiving is the official kick-off to the holidays and a day for family and friends.  Every year as we sit at the Thanksgiving table, we go around to ask everyone sitting at that table what exactly they are thankful for.  Although a hungry bunch does not want to hear an excessively long list, here is my list of things I am thankful for.  I am thankful for good health for myself and for my family and friends.  Although we all suffer from the occasional aches and pains, everyone is just fine.  I am thankful for my family, my two beautiful daughters  who keep me laughing and I am very honored to say are also my friends. My parents who still at eighty something years old are up for pretty much all of our shenanigans.  I am thankful for the love of my life who makes me laugh, smile and has enriched my life in too many ways to even count.  I am thankful for  all my Honeysuckle friends who help me at the drop of a hat to assist the Honeysuckle Foundation.  I am thankful for Lauren’s boyfriend  and all my long-lost friends who I have ‘found’ on  Facebook who share their lives with me and give me something to chuckle about on a regular basis.  Life is about laughter and we sure have plenty.   I am thankful for everyone who has touched my life for the good or not so good, as only through these experiences has my life become so rich and full.  I am thankful for my life.   Although it has been tough at times, the good would not be so rewarding or sweet without any bad. 

May God bless everyone this Thanksgiving and holiday season!

Birthdays!

by Teamhoneysuckle

Birthdays are those special days of the year when young people like to celebrate and older folks care to forget.  The passing of another year, more experience and hopefully a fresh start for the future.  Birthdays are special and the tradition of birthday cards, presents and cake are meant to make this day stand out from all of the rest.  Today is my youngest daughter Alicia’s 16th birthday.  A milestone for so many reasons, it is her day to feel extra special.  As her mother, I remember the moment she was born.  I also remember most of the sixteen years that seemed to have flown by and there is much I choose to forget.  But like most parents, I feel very blessed Alicia is mine.  So today as we celebrate with family and friends, I thank God for my precious gift and I thank Alicia for bringing much joy and happiness into my world.

Happy Birthday Alicia!!!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

by Teamhoneysuckle

Today is September 7, my dad’s 84th birthday.  I am so lucky that he is still with us to celebrate this day.  My dad is a really special man.  A WWII veteran, he grew up in an era when men had dignity and class.  They took care of their families no matter what and were protective of anyone who would mess with them.  My dad still loves to garden, fish and play his trumpet.  He spends hours arranging music on his computer and is pretty darn good with technology for someone his age.  My dad is my hero and a breed of gentleman that is very rare to find nowadays.  I wish my dad a spectacular birthday and even better year as he embarks upon another year of living life to the fullest and being an anchor and role model for a family that loves him deeply!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Yin and yang

by Teamhoneysuckle

Life is like a roller coaster.  The unpredictability of it is what makes it so interesting and just like when the roller coaster goes into the tunnel and makes a quick, sharp turn so it is in life.  We like to imagine what our future will be like.  We plan and try to control our destiny, only to have our plans change.   It is our ability to adjust to these changes that give us our perspective.  There are people who embrace change rather than fight it.  Their philosophy is why waste energy on something we cannot control.  These people are the optimists of the world.  They roll with the punches and adapt.  The pessimists of the world actually believe they can control their fate.  When things don’t go their way they complain about it.  No matter how good their lives are, the pessimist focuses on what they don’t have rather than be thankful for what they do.  The  yin and yang of the world the way you handle life helps dictate what your experience will be.  Finding the blessings in what comes our way is a gift that can make the roller coaster a little easier to handle.  Planning can be fine, remember however that we plan and God laughs and that is the story of my life and pretty much everyone elses as well.

Happy Father’s Day!

by Teamhoneysuckle

Happy Father’s Day!  A day set aside to celebrate the men in our lives who care about their families and live their lives protecting them.  Anyone can have a child, it takes someone special to love that child.  I have been blessed with an amazing father who has taught me that his love for me and my daughters is immense.  Non-judgemental, even when I have made some big mistakes and choices in my life, my dad did not care.  He supported me, encouraged me and let me know I was never alone.   I am lucky to still have my dad around as many others my age do not.  My dad is my hero and I love him with all my heart.   There are also those men in our lives who treat others as if they were their own.  The Michael’s, Tom’s, Bruce’s and Ron’s of the world who make the world a better place.   They live their lives with the same love and concern for others as they have for their own families.  They are the proverbial ‘dad’s’ who live their lives accordingly.  Young or old, new or experienced, father’s are special people.  So if you have a man in your life who has helped you, supported you and loved you, let them know how much you appreciate them!  You will probably make their day even better.  Happy Father’s Day!

Take nothing for granted

by Teamhoneysuckle

There are so many things in life we take for granted.   Our family, our friends and our health are just some of them.  No one gets up in the morning believing you may lose them that day.  We get up and do what we do everyday, survive.  I find myself doing the exact same thing, what are the plans for the weekend, when will my next party be and what is the next project around the house I will undertake.  Life has a funny way however, of occasionally slapping us upside the head to say ‘wait a minute nothing should be taken for granted because every aspect of your life if a gift’; something that should be appreciated and learned from, the good and the bad.  It doesn’t take me long to refocus myself on the important things and deal with whatever the task at hand is.  I am grateful for my gifts, my life, my family, my friends.  I realize there are so many people less fortunate than myself, who face obstacles that I could not even comprehend.  I also realize that there are no guarantees and while today is a good day, tomorrow is not that certain.

I will live my life one day at a time and hopefully do so gratefully and thoughtfully.

Making A Memory this Christmas…

by Teamhoneysuckle

My daughter graduated from the University of Florida this past weekend and is now home.  Although she did not want to walk for graduation, she is not into all the pomp and circumstance, I asked her to do it for my benefit.  Like a rite of passage, I wanted her to complete the journey of college with the ceremony.   The graduation weekend was spectacular from beginning to end, and I think even she is happy she decided to do it.  Quick and to the point, the list of names must have topped a couple of thousand, yet within an hour and a half they all processed, heard a few speakers and were bestowed the honors of graduate.  I savored every minute of it snapping pictures the entire time, making a memory.  Just three and half short years ago I dropped a then 17-year-old Lauren off in Gainesville reluctantly returning to New York and leaving my little girl 1000 miles behind.  She flourished in that college town.  She worked hard, finishing up her degree a half a year early, being part of the ‘Tebow Era’ at UF and doing what college students do; making the most of those times, making a memory.  Although she is presently finished, I am sure advanced degrees are in her future, but right now there is no hurry.  She did it!   She set a goal and made her dream a reality, a mighty feat for such a young woman facing some tough obstacles.  Her future is bright and her resolve is strong, and for now I just got one of the best gifts a mother could get this Christmas and for that I say thank you Lauren and thank you God!

Merry Christmas!!!!