I love eagles. It’s Thanksgiving Day, 2009 and, though I am alone as the only family I share this day with is my Son. This day always causes me to be thankful for the very special times I have shared in love with him.  So, this Thanksgiving I remembered a very special day I had with my son on one of our camping trips and I thought I would share it with you. My son and I go camping in a remote area of Napa Valley.   Our favorite camp site is very remote having a clearing in the trees next to where we set up our tent by the river.  On our last trip I noticed that each morning two “browned – still young eagles” would circle our camp because I was cooking     breakfast in the open air.  I pointed this out to my son and came up with an idea that created a special occurrence that we both experienced the next morning.  The next morning before I had started breakfast, I opened up a can of dog food; our dog is our best friend and we always take her along.   I placed the dog food in a plate and put that plate down on the large flat stump of a felled tree in the clearing next to our camp

Sipping coffee, on my cousin’s screened deck, I reflected upon our previous day’s conversations, and today’s plans which include a funeral.  A funeral, never a happy planned event, always changes life’s plans.  How honestly we communicate allows real living.  I thought about how our family communicates.  How honestly sharing, we allow love and happiness and pleasurable, relaxing moments.  When focused on the pain of loss, we feel associated sadness and fear in a tense moment.  We each choose whether to diminish the emotional pain by immediately returning to love and happiness or whether to bury ourselves in another’s pain and hurt.  Why do some handle loss better than others?  Since life changes with the loss of someone (their control on us) let’s look at how emotions affect our lives.  What are the basics of life?  Why are we here?  What do we human beings offer to life?  What do we take from life?  In this emotional balancing act, you’re either a “What are you getting out of life” (another’s desires dictating your life) or a “Life, be in it!” person (your choices dictate only your life)?  Who would you rather follow?  Since we are capable of thinking for ourselves we must always do so.  Concentrating on how a situation affects ourselves, and not on how the situation affects another, we

I really love and appreciate our senior citizens; I especially feel very bad for the Senior Citizens in our society because they have contributed the most to our country and received the least…..Think about it, their entire lives they have worked putting money into our economy, even back when the minimum wage was $2.85 per hour; and at that low wage, they continued to pay into the Social Security Retirement System.  All of their 60+ years they have attempted to secure for themselves what my Mom calls the, “Golden Years.”   The Golden Years for those in their 80s’ means the long awaited time in life when the elderly can rest from their labors and enjoy each day living on their S.S.I. Pension Funds for which they have contributed to all of their lives.   Some of these elderly; who have managed to afford a higher education having lived through the depression; have been able to pay into additional retirement pensions through their employer’s offered retirement pension fund.   So how would you feel as a senior living in our day knowing that our government is stating the Social Security Retirement Fund is bankrupt?  Last evening I received this email from a senior friend of mine and I have to admit it made me so sad and at the same time, so disappointed

Veterans Day is recognized on November 11th throughout the United States.  Canada recognized it’s Veterans on the same calendar day, although in Canada, this commemorative holiday in honor of the veteran is named Remembrance Day. It seems to me that where ever you are in the world we all recognize that young men and women throughout history have fought for the freedoms’ and liberties we enjoy in our perspective countries throughout the world. For this reason, in the United States, we have set aside November 11th as the day we Americans remember the brave contributions that service men and women have given in service to our country…in some cases, even with the giving of their very own lives! Sometimes I wonder though when our young people are being sent to other countries to provide the service of protection to that far away land; was that the initial purpose our forefathers had in mind when they designated the branches of service to defend our borders?   I have had close friends that have really been injured both physically and emotionally when sent to other countries to defend those borders.  And upon returning home (if so lucky), were actually ridiculed as was the occurrence with many veterans of the Viet Nam War.  I believe that anyone that places their life in service to