One Word At A Time: Down

By Ginny (MAD21)

"D-O-W-N, down!" You say that in my house and you'll hear a big round of giggles. And for those of you who understand why without me explaining... ya, I new we'd be good friends. For those of you in the dark here, these are among some of the famous words/phrases of Candace, the big sister of Phineas and Ferb in one of the best cartoon series currently on TV. Let me take a moment to enlighten you:

Candace is always on a mission to catch her brothers during their never-ending pursuit of building the coolest inventions each episode, and get her mom to see them before the invention disappears for one reason or another. One could say she is obsessed with getting her brothers in trouble, to the point that she misses out on things going on in her own life. In one episode, she has her best friend, Stacey, hypnotize her so she doesn't even think about what her brothers are doing so that she can go have a fun day with her boyfriend, Jeremy.

Focus on what you have, not on what you don't have.

While it's a lot of fun watching Candace's antics in her never-ending pursuit to "bust her brothers," I would offer this advice for those of us in real life who may tend to also lose sight of what is important. Choose to seek out the good in people and things around you instead of dwelling on everything that is wrong.

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One Word At A Time: Quilt

By Ginny (MAD21)

A long time ago while visiting a friend at her house, I saw a really interesting and pretty quilt she had hanging in her room. It wasn't just any kind of quilt where all the colors matched perfectly, although somehow everything still looked beautiful together. It was obvious someone had spent a lot of time creating it. But there was something that seemed different. I couldn't figure out what it was, so I asked my friend where it came from.

It turns out that quilt was a story, Her Story. My friend explained that it was a quilt her mother had made for her. Every single piece of fabric came from a favorite item of clothing she had worn when she was a baby and young child. Somewhere in the midst of our conversation, her mother came into the room. She grinned, and joined our conversation. She began telling me about all the different pieces of fabric... and the memories that went along with them. I remember there were pieces from the outfit my friend had worn home from the hospital when she was born, pajamas, fancy dresses, and parts of t-shirts from places they liked to visit, among others. There were a few that had stains on them, but they were part of the quilt's design, too. They were part of the memories as much as any other part of the quilt. It was so beautifully made.

Many pieces part of one whole.

It's a fairly easy analogy to compare our lives to a quilt, I believe. We have many, many individual experiences, but they are all still part of one whole. As I've gotten older, I have found myself thinking of experiences I've had in my life and feeling like I had lived it in another lifetime. Things like running into an old friend or co-worker you haven't seen in years, or visiting places from your childhood. So many things have happened, so much time has passed.

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One Word At A Time: Swings

By Ginny (MAD21)

If you were ever around me as a kid, you would know that anytime we were near a playground there was one place you could almost always find me... on the swings. Watching my own children over the last several years, I've wondered if it's genetic. They are like most kids running around going down the slides, or jumping over the bouncy bridge, etc. But almost always, both of my girls revert back to the swings.

When my oldest was a toddler and we went to the playground, we would spend almost the entire time with me pushing her on the swings. It was your purest joy (both for me and her!). She still prefers swinging over most things. Her swing of choice? The regular swing. My youngest, however, prefers the tire swing. Which should show the difference between the two. One enjoys things as they are, the other wants more excitement. This is my scary future you see before you. Haha!

One of my fondest memories as a child was going on the long five-hour drive to visit my aunt and uncle. They were so good to me. They were some of my favorite people. One of the things I loved about going to visit them at their house was the giant oak tree outside their house. It always had a tire swing on it. I loved the tree... and the swing.

I've often wondered why we love to swing. What is it about it that brings so much joy. Like rocking in a chair, sky diving, hang-gliding, repelling, or riding in a boat, I wonder if it's a small sense of freedom. The closest we'll ever feel to flying. Whatever it is, I hope I never grow up so much I forget how much joy such a simple thing can bring.

This post is a participant in a blog carnival over at Peter Pollock's place.
After you finish here, be sure to go and check out what everyone else wrote on: Swings

One Word At A Time: Porch

By Ginny (MAD21)

I love porches. I've always dreamed of having a house that had a nice front porch with comfy places to sit and enjoy God's creation, watch the world go by, or just sit with friends and family to visit. I envision a porch to be a place where a lot of memories are made, everything from finding some peace and quiet, to watching kids build things and pretend their toys are in far away places, to finding that perfect perch to nail someone in a water balloon fight.

I still haven't lived in a house that has had the porch from my dreams (though my back yard deck works as a good substitute), and while I would still like to have one some day, I heard a song a number of years ago that gave me an entirely different perspective.

The first thing I thought of when I saw our One Word this week was a song recorded by Lonestar back in 2003. It's called My Front Porch Looking In, and I LOVE it. Honestly, I don't think I could write anything for this post that would be better the words in this song and the message they convey. So please take a moment to listen. I hope it reminds you, as it did me, to remember which side of the porch is more important, and that no matter how much you enjoy "seeing the whole world," there is a reason we "can't wait to get back home." It's family, love and a sense of belonging.

 "Yeah the view I love the most
Is my front porch looking in

I see what beautiful is about
When I'm looking in
Not when I'm looking out"

My Front Porch Looking In was written by Richie McDonald, Frank J. Myers and Don Pfrimmer.

This post is a participant in a blog carnival over at Peter Pollock's place.
After you finish here, be sure to go and check out what everyone else wrote on: Porch

One Word At A Time: Pets

By Alan

"All Dogs Go to Heaven" - The popular Don Bluth movie (no, it was not Disney) continued a long line of tales, cartoons, and stories that gave animals voices, personalities, and even alluded to having eternal souls. Do dogs go to Dog Heaven? Do cats go to Cat Heaven? Do Dogs chase cats in Dog heaven? That would make Dog heaven into a Cat Perdition.

Maybe heaven would be where all the animals hang out together with perfect peace.

We humans, (Americans in particular) have a special relationship with our dogs, cats, and other domesticated animals. Sometimes we love them more than our fellow man. We weep when we see a tragedy involving a pet, yet we're supposed to giggle when we see a human do something careless (but fatal) on TV.

We love them so, we sacrifice so much for them to live and thrive, and we grieve desperately when they are injured or succumb to the end of life like all other living things. Does that give us incentive to create a heavenly story end for our pets?

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