Pawprints From Space

It's been a year of change and upheaval since my last post. A year of uncertainty. A year of pain. With the decline and passing of my mother the world flipped inside out. The job I took in order to be able to care for her was not a good fit to begin with - it was a return to a place I had left over a decade before and it hadn't changed in that time. But it was a godsend and necessary at the time. It is no longer necessary. And so I will be returning to retail. To a Fortune 500 company that treated me well and appreciated my work ethic and skills. There is a stigma with working retail though. The assumption that people who work in retail are somehow unskilled, or even stupid. Considering the financial possibilities, the opportunities for advancement, and that assumption is ridiculous. I have two masters degrees. I have over 10 years experience in human resources and even more in communications. This company appreciates those credentials. When I was there (under unfortuna...

In the wake of another shooting at yet another school, I can't help but wonder when will this nation wake the hell up and get real? When will our national conversation on such events stop being about whether we are conservative or liberal, gun-owners or non-gun-owners, Republicans or Democrats and start being about how to stop this insanity? Now I don't use the word "insanity" to disrespect anyone with mental illness. As I was reading today in an article, of course we assume that anyone who would shoot up a school and kill children MUST be nuts. It's the only way we can console ourselves that these things are not who we are as a nation. Wake up people, it has become who we are. Plenty of theories abound but one seems to ring true for me. Maybe it isn't the sole reason, or even the primary one but let's think about it for a moment... Desensitization. If you were at all paying attention to the news WAY back in the 1980s groups of parents were all co...

Why is it always about money? Why can't it be about caring, compassion, and/or need? Why does our society look at the ill and the elderly and say: you're on your own, deal with it? Why are caregivers looked down on and/or avoid as if we had the plague? As if our compassion were somehow contagious and that it would be a bad thing if someone were to catch it? Care facilities charge upwards of $5000 a year (plus add-ons) to care for our loved ones. Loved ones who had been paying maybe a grand total of $500 a month living on their own. When I worked in HR consulting there were care facilities I assisted. I know what they pay their people - let's not kid ourselves many of these places are out to make a profit. Sometimes I think they charge this much so that they can then turn around and bill Medicaid that much in a screw the government kind of way.And the sad thing is the administrators may not even be aware of it having convinced themselves that they are helping people. So ...

It's been over a year since I last posted on this blog. So it is probably safe to assume that the three or four of you who had been following this are gone and I am writing to myself. But hey, that's what writers do ... at least for the first draft, or six. In any case - short version - my mother's dementia has gotten worse and she has moved in with me. So I have been blogging on a caregiver's website instead of here, since most of what I have had to say has been about her and her illness and the struggle to manage that and a full-time job. That's not what I want to talk to you about today however (aren't you relieved? C'mon be honest). What I want to talk about tonight is a simple, old phrase worn out by time and for many no longer containing any meaning: why can't we all just get along? I have started reading an interesting couple of books. Bigger Table: Building a Messy, Authentic and Hopeful Spiritual Community  and Building a Bridge: How t...

The little guy showed up one day in late May/early June. About six months old give or take according to his size and overall kitten demeanor. Cute little face that looked so much like Bonsai's had at that age and him gone only six months. It seemed this little guy had been sent to me by Bon. Sadly, I couldn't save him as I had Bon's pregnant mama (Baby) and therefore Bon and his siblings.  No. Buddy - so named because of the way he followed me all around the yard, my little buddy - used all of his nine lives at once.  Who knows where he really came from? Probably dumped (or his mama was) in the park a few blocks away. He didn't know how to play, how to interact with humans really only that I seemed nice and fed him. Wasn't too keen on being picked up unless it was to show him something interesting (such as the bird feeder). But he was learning. Every morning he had breakfast on my deck and then we'd play chase the stick with a willow branch. I c...

So what do YOU want to be when you grow up?  I have no idea either.  I should since technically I am in the midst of that dreaded condition known as "middle age". But nope, I haven't a clue. I've had a variety of jobs since turning 15 - delivered newspapers, worked retail, clerical work in a legal office, broadcasting.... yadda, yadda, yadda. Through it all I still haven't found my "calling". Which begs the question.... is the concept of a "calling" a myth? A lie we tell ourselves? Do we strive to reinvent ourselves because we can't find our "calling" or because we are just plain bored? I'm not bored. That much I do know for certain. I'm too busy to be bored. Burned out maybe. I am not happy with my life whatever the reason. Work isn't as satisfying as it should/could be. Eight years ago (nearly nine) I embarked on a new path - set out to find a new career. And I found one. I was excited. I was...