The best job – Dad or Grandpa?
Dad vs. Grandfather … is there any question which is better?
We conducted an exhaustive survey and the results certainly won’t surprise you.
Grandad … Granddad … Grandpa won!
Let’s think real hard about this. Why do we think this is the case?
Could it be study bias? nah?
Being a grandfather is just a better gig. Think about it.
You don’t have to worry about curfews, school meetings, PTA stuff, work stress, job stress, other sibling stress. There’s no thinking about how you are going to pay for school supplies, school clothes, or even pay for school for that matter. You can leave behind your worries about getting into drugs, the kid’s friends getting into drugs, or even doing drugs yourself. Wht about making the house childproof, about adding teenage drivers to the insurance. Who cares! No worrying about changing diapers in the middle of the night, burping kids, throwing up toddlers, child.
No siree … that is all someone else’s job.
All you have to do is go fishing and know the best place for ice cream.
And man, being a Father is one tough job. What nut would do that?
(Someone who wants to be a grandpa some day, that’s who)
And here’s a keychain to remind you of your exalted status as grandpa and the hard work you did to earn that.
Ring Around the Collar Stays?
Ring around the collar?
How about some love ’round the collar?
Whatever to get a man for Father’s Day? It’s coming up …
How about collar stays?
Huh?
well, Dad does wear shirts with collars. So, hmm, he must need collar stays.
Oh yeah, collar stays!
Wait, what is a collar stay?
It is a nifty invention that keeps the collar flat so it looks nice even if you take a nap under your desk or in your car (just kidding, of course…well, not really).
There is a small pocket on the underside of the collar that allows easy insertion of the collar stay which is usually made of metal or plastic.
Also known as a collar stiffener or collar sticks, bones or tabs. These Collar Accessories are believed to be developed in England in the 19th century. Way back then, before the invention, of plastic the collar stay was made of bone, wood, sterling, mother of pearl or even whalebone. fancy!
Back to Father’s Day and Collar Stays (kinda rhymes, kinda cute)
How ’bout getting Dad custom collar stays so that lose who love him can be with him all day long (safely tucked under his collar).
Personalize the collar stays with Dad’s favorite missive (or yours). Put your kids’ names. Or your dog’s name. Or even the cat’s.
Anyone who loves Dad. (and wants him to have neat, perfect collars).
Love Found in the Strangest of Places
We are fond of saying that the best part of love is that occurs everywhere, every day. It can be the smile of a stranger or the warm hello of a well known friend. And often those are the best loves. The ones that occur in the nooks and crannies of life!
Even more interesting than the simple places are the strange places, the icky places, the scary places. Is it possible to find love there?
Love where?
Is it possible to find love in snakes, trash, even fingers running against the blackboard. All the things that make our faces cringe, our hair curl, our eyes roll.
I’m going out on a limb and saying “yes”…
Absolutely.
Love can be found in really strange places.
Well how do we do that? I mean some things aren’t meant to be loved. While we might not like these things they can still represent love; love to someone else.
The snake we so despise has a mom. How did he (or she) snake get here. And like all moms, she loves her child snake. And the trash? At some point that was someone’s trash. Even the blackboard … those fingernails belong to someone. Someone who has the energy and health to be able to drag their fingernails across said blackboard.
You see if you can turn things upside and find love everywhere. They might not be things you like or care to have in your life. And that’s ok. The real beauty comes from recognizing that these items still have some element of love. That’s all that is important.
Try this.
Practice this exercise when you catch yourself getting upset, disgusted or frustrated. I think you will surprised at how it changes your perception and even your mood!
Close to the Heart on Your Wedding Day
Next to fathers, mothers are the most important person in a girl’s life, and on her wedding day, a girl wants her mother right by her side.
Since her mother can’t be at her wedding, Jennifer – whose mother passed away when she was 13 years old – is making sure her mom will be there by attaching a charm with a picture of the two of them to her wedding bouquet, which will also be wrapped in a piece of tulle from her mother’s wedding dress.
And so that her mother stays close to her heart, Jennifer will have a small heart of tulle from her mother’s dress sewn into her own dress over her heart along with a heart of lace from her step-mother’s wedding dress, a little blue heart button that Jennifer picked out with her mother when she was a little girl, and finally, a little pink elephant button from matching sweatshirts that her mother made for the two of them.
Jennifer says these are all “simple ways for her to be with me.”
Graduation – Keep on Learning
Graduation!
Hats in the air, diplomas in hand and cheers from the stand.
It’s graduation! An exhilarating time for students and parents alike. Time to step into your future, pursue your dreams and begin the journey of discovering who you are and accomplishing your goals.
And graduation is a time for bittersweet memories.
A time to reflect back on all the memories that you have accumulated. The good times with friends. The hard times. The difficult times. The challenges and successes.
And maybe it is time for you to move on and you can’t wait. It’s been tough and your future is a lot better.
Or maybe you’ve had the time of your life in school and what’s next is really uncertain.
Both are fine.
and both help us grow.
Some of these people will moving on with you. More often than not you are going on separate paths to pursue your dreams.
And that is ok. Because forever in your heart you will carry all the good times, the tough times, the laughter, the tears, the hopes & the dreams. Those never go away no matter how far you away you go or how far graduation recedes in time.
For now enjoy the revelry, the freshness of the new experiences and know that forever in your heart you will have the goodness of your experiences.
And even for those of us who are not graduating we can still learn lessons of embracing the future even if it is scary or exciting and cherishing the past no matter how grand or difficult it may be.
