It’s not enough to say… “Thank you” – but I do.

It’s not enough to pray for you every night - but I do.

It is not enough to think about the privations you endure for us - but I do.

It is not enough to think about the freedoms you give up daily to keep us free - but I do.

It is not enough to shake your hand and thank you when I meet you in the world – but I will.

It will NEVER be enough to cry and pray for you when you are injured or make the ultimate sacrifice – but I will.

I know that you don’t ask for thanks or recognition but I give it anyway!

Maybe it comes close to say that I have stood with you and would gladly be your comrade in arms again.

And to tell you that you are welcome in my heart and home any time.

Thank you for keeping me and mine free!

God bless & Thank you.

Laine & family

Flag raising at Iwo Jima

Friends!

Friends…

They love you, but they are not your lover.

They care for you, but they are not from your family.

They are ready to share your pain, but they are not a blood relation.

They are……..FRIENDS!

A True friend…

Scolds like a DAD.

Cares like a MOM.

Teases like a SISTER.

Irritates like a BROTHER.

A good friend will support you when you get in trouble,

A great one will be sitting right next to you.

Contact an old one,  or make a new one today…..!

The other day I described myself as being ‘invisible’, only in reference to a close encounter with an electronic door which didn’t  ’see’ me (not like I’m so skinny or anything… I wish!…).

On reflection I realized that I have felt invisible at times, I think we all have.  There are days, weeks, even decades when we feel under-appreciated, unloved, unnoticed, unremarkable or all of the above.  What surprised me though, was that it was the less ebullient of my teenage daughters who leapt to my defense  saying  “We’re not invisible, we’re Ninja’s!

Invisible Woman by Marvel Comics artist Steve McNiven

Like most people, there have been  moments in business and social interaction where my presence has been ‘discounted’,  since someone ‘assumed’ that I did not have anything to add or lacked a particular skill-set.

I’d  also have to admit  I haven’t always stepped up to disabuse them, not because of any inability or lack of determination on my part but even the slightest hesitation can be enough to lose the moment ~ and once gone it isn’t easy to reclaim.

However, things are changing, as I’m going through this journey of rediscovery and reinvention it becomes hard to see any trace of reticence, hesitation or self doubt.

Whether you call it living ‘out loud’ or ‘on purpose’ or ‘with passion’  I can’t say for sure but it definitely an improvement on the alternative.

Recently while I was  ‘rescuing’  a woman thrown over the handlebars of her dirt bike 12 miles off road, the situation was jeopardized when a passerby walked up and decide to haul her to her feet while I was stabilizing her injuries (she had radius and ulna fractures and possible head/neck/back injuries from the acrobatics and losing her helmet).   A quick hand on his arm and whisper of “back injuries” stopped him dead in his tracks and turned him into a veritable pussycat, well okay grouchy old sour puss but he got the point! My daughters were awestruck at my taking charge (despite them knowing I was on a mountain rescue team, it seems they had to witness it themselves to believe) they somehow realized I didn’t have time to deal with them but remained calm and took orders like pros without hesitation  ~ not easy when you haven’t been in that situation before.  When our convoy reached the nearest ambulance station, the crew affirmed how vital it was that ‘we’  safeguarded the injured woman’s spine, and Mr Sour Puss accepted the praise, shook my hand and thanked me!  The point is that despite an almost 20 year hiatus I didn’t hesitate or doubt my abilities and because I didn’t neither did anyone else!

Attitude becomes important in other areas too, as a woman of a certain age I’ve long realized that I’m basically wallpaper (background image) to men between 25 and 45 as I’m ‘outside’ their target market.  I remember an episode of “30 Something” years ago where the protagonists bemoaned being invisible to women in their late teens and twenties and recall laughing.  Only to discover what they meant in my forties … I’m now on the high end of the age range for a MILF, yet surprising with this new mindset comes a new dynamic,  the strange phenomena of younger men seeking a cougar,  so far the opportunities have been ones  I’m happy to resist but…who knows….. and more importantly if confidence and belief in yourself has this sort of effect what else can it do?

How a slight change in perspective can make a huge difference.

Back to the lesson,  I’ve been trying to instill confidence in my daughters for years, never sure IF they got it.  It would seem that the pupil has surpassed the master ~ wise grasshopper!

While it’s okay to hide your light when you are in stealth mode

~don’t forget to let it shine the rest of the time!

&

~Never let anyone steal your thunder!

Female Ninja by Saga 16_pawnzor

Try it and see how it works for you! All thanks to my quieter daughter, I’ll have to keep my eye on that one!

Change vb  1. (We have to change the arrangements for this meeting) alter, modify, vary, reorganize, transform.  2. (She had changed completely since I last saw her) alter, be transformed, metamorphose.  3. (She has changed jobs) switch.

According to the dictionary 'change' isn't a scary word

So why exactly are we afraid of change?   What fills us with dread?  or fear, or butterflies, or leaves us with inability to catch our breath?   Shouldn’t we be more concerned by a lack of change?  The never ending sea of sameness.   It would seem that we are not really afraid of change but rather failing at it!

My Latin is rusty but instead of Carpe Diem (seize the day) can’t we Carpe Vita (seize life) ?  Grab life by the scruff of (its) neck and shake it!

Just a thought… but Laine

Transformation and Metamorphosis can be good at least for a Butterfly

How incredible, a virtual guard dog for my Dell (also red and not yet named!) – I have visions of a spandex clad superhero standing with legs spread standing on the array of an satellite in geosynchronous orbit watching with hawk-like intensity (ok, …so I don’t get out much).

However, when you consider the priorities in our lives rather a disproportionate response (not the superhero – the Lo-Jack), don’t you think? In my defense, I did not choose to buy the service, rather it was provided as standard with purchase and yet you have to pay extra for a business version of Office...hmmmm %).

After personalizing my car (Ruby, a red Honda CR-V) or rather my GPS (Bitchin’ Betty) in my last post, it must be said that my car does not have Lo-Jack – unless the aforementioned Betty kicks into overdrive and nags any potential thief to death.

Neither do my children or my pistol or the other pieces of easily portable and expensive ‘kit’ in my life (in the case of the kids, portable and EXTREMELY expensive). All of which, could probably greatly benefit from this type of tracking.

Which only leaves me to concluded, that as long as my laptop is hidden in my car, or my children are with (read: superglued to) my laptop – then everything else is copasetic.

I wonder can I get a Lo-Jack for my keys, my cell phone and the remote? Maybe a GPS would do –nah! Then Betty would nag me to death for not remembering where I left them.

Postscript:
Oh the absurdity of modern life! we seem to value (track) our equipment more than we do our children … humanizing our property (my kids named them! honest) while our kids are bent on mechanizing or should that be cyberizing (?) themselves. I actually sat between two teens recently, both were texting only to find they were ‘talking’ to each other!

If you could buy a new laptop for $100 or a $3,000 car for $1,000… legally, would you be bothered that it was confiscated by Law Enforcement?  Cars to CD players, jewelry to jet-skis are all listed, you can even buy homes.

Police, Federal Authority and Tax sales are a great way to snag a bargain.  Check out:  http://www. Propertyroom.com, http://www.policeauctions.com – registration is free or search in the classifieds in your local newspaper.

A little bit of research is all you need to snag a bargain!

However or wherever it happened – we all know of someone it happened to.  It is definitely an expensive event but can also cost you more in terms of  loss of data and photos!  (not everyone carries a camera but most of us carry a phone with built in image capture plus who can afford to lose their contact list).

So before declaring all to be lost try this:

* Remove the back from the phone

* place in a small box or bowl

* cover in uncooked rice (real rice not minute rice)

* leave for 24-36 hours.

The rice will act as a desiccant and wick away the moisture.  As an alternative you can use those little packs of silica gel ~ if you can find enough around your home.

*I know several people who had this happen to them.  One friend had just returned from being backstage at the Rolling Stones concert with bunches of pics.  Unfortunately on reaching home he leaned over his pool to retrieve something forgetting his phone was in his shirt pocket – Splosh! Luckily with this tip he was able to retrieve some of the content.

Hope it works for you. If you have any tips you would like to share contact us.

How do we do it, wade through all of the negativity keeping our heads up high and walking with pride?  Well yesterday I got an email (a chain letter but I read these sometimes because they do cover  important issues), this one dealt with negativity. Here is the email.

“A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each  morning by eight o’clock, with his hair fashionably combed and shaved  perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.
His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After  many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled  sweetly when told his room was ready.
As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description  of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.  I love it,’ he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just  been presented with a new puppy.

Mr. Jones, you haven’t seen the room; just wait.’

‘That doesn’t have anything to do with it,’ he replied.  “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time.  Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is  arranged … it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. ‘It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice;  I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the  parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful  for the ones that do”.

“Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I’ll focus on the new day  and all the happy memories I’ve stored away.. Just for this time in my life.
Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you’ve put in.
So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank  account of memories”!

Wow – what do you say when someone shares that type of information, even if it comes in a chain email.

Thank you for your part in filling my Memory Bank.  I am still depositing.

Remember the 5 simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

That’s it,  you don’t need the ‘forward to 20 people or be crushed by a falling building’! Just 5 simple rules to live by, worth a try hmm?

And who am I to share this advice?

When I graduated from High School I was awarded the Joe Francomano Junior Achievement Entrepreneurial Scholarship and was bound for better things.  But after 2 years trying to track down my parent to get financial information for FAFSA I admitted defeat and like Bill Gates I quit college.

I tried my hand at HARD SALES for 10 months, representing companies like Staples, Quill, and AT&T but was forced to QUIT on ethical grounds and I realized that Sales wasn’t my thing.    I started work for a company which provides affordable funerals, and loved it but it was barely at a living wage.  It did however help me regain my confidence and develop my skills.  After another false start working for a Title company, my boyfriend encouraged me to reassess my goals , I realized I was WAY OFF my original plan to get a degree in business and take an admin position at a not for profit.  Four months later I secured a position at a College of Fine Arts and went back to school part time.

In fall 2008 I received my Associates Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting and began to think hard about what I should do with my degree.  With my full time position to sustain me, I knew I needed something to sustain my entrepreneurial soul, after reviewing many businesses I decided AVON gave me the best chance of survival and growth.

It has been a bumpy ride and I learned a lot from the adventure, its definitely NOT EASY getting customers on a shoe string budget but I’m making progress.  I am now working on returning the investment from the Joe Francomano scholarship.  No more PLAYING around. It is time to focus on becoming independent.

The BIGGEST LESSON I ‘ve learned is to keep plugging away; sometimes the growth is so gradual that you do not even realize you are growing.  Another lesson was that I need to be more friendly (I have never been the most popular and probably never will be since I march to my own drum);  to really make it in a home business you have to stop focusing on yourself and learn to make friends along the way, those friends will help you succeed.

I made Unit Leader this year, which means I have recruited 5 people and my team is selling $1200 in product total every two weeks. This gives me residual income from the hard work and training I have provided for my team, so it’s all worth it!

In order to keep on track I write a blog called: Adventures of a Juggling Artist,  I post positive pep talks, funny stories, heart warming moments, and updates on my AVON business.  I’m in the middle of living, learning, laughing and invite you to share my experiences and hoping you will share yours!

Heidi Walker is a Unit Leader for Avon Cosmetics, a Finance Assistant  at Kansas City Art Institution and a Co-owner at Integral Real Estate Investments.  Heidi  says “my blog is to help me and others to keep a positive outlook on their goals and to get a few laughs out of it too ~ Life is not worth living without laughter”.  Her blog is Adventures of a Juggling Artist” http://ow.ly/1Ws8W.   If you would like to order Avon products or learn more about Avon’s compensation plan http://hwalker.avonrepresentative.com and her Twitter id is http://www.twitter.com/KCAVONLADY

My friend Susan Finch wrote this………

In celebration of Mother’s Day I would like to highlight a few important women from my past and present:My mother who helped me make a friend of myself when I was around 10 and quite lonely. I’d chased away a lot of people and she helped me discover that it’s OK to be alone and enjoy it. I also learned that by being my own friend, I was a better friend. This was huge and had helped me ever since. She died in 2003. I miss her terribly. She was fun and supported me in EVERYTHING I dove into, including inspiring me to start Binky Patrol.

My Auntie Carmen is our family matriarch, at 90. She is a living saint. She’s taught me to choose my battles with my children and enjoy my children instead of proving a point. She comes from a place of pure love with everything she says and does.

My sister is my never-ending champion and sometimes misguided voice of reason. I love her for who she is, exactly as she is. She does her best to help promote every endeavor, is willing to learn from me and open to my ideas. She tried to save me from my first marriage; I wasn’t willing to listen to her ideas. Duoh!

My godmother was my mother’s best friend. She has stories locked away about my mom, her pregnancy with me, and mom’s dreams for me which no one else in my family had knowledge of. She walks with God all the time and has helped me understand that I have a direct line.

I can’t pick one. I am a collection and continuing tapestry of these women and more.

Susan Finch is a web solutions provider, graphic design, author, girl scout troop leader, and artist. She drops most nights and passes out within minutes. Her greatest joys in her professional life come from giving her client the knowledge and confidence to take control of their online presence and only pull her in come up with marketing strategies and “client-do-lists,” support, training and design. She is a cheerleader and advocate to her clients. She boasts that she’s had some clients for over 14 years and treasures them all.
http://www.susanfinch.com

She is also the Founder/President at Binky Patrol Comforting Covers for Kids http://www.binkypatrol.org

My work too kept me in a small office,  a subsidiary of a larger office and except for the occasional meetings and the odd educational forum the large part of my daily contact with fellow staff or clients was via phone or email.  I know people,  a lot of people and can probably say that I have had a positive impact on their lives and vice versa but they aren’t exactly local.  We don’t get to hang… as it were.

In an effort to offset this isolation I took my kids to groups, but of course that was all about them – as an older Mum I didn’t have much in common with other parents who seemed to have an average age of 28 – (not that there is anything wrong with 28 but it was a long time ago for me).  As the girls have grown older I realize that I never bothered to do anything to pursue expanding my ” village”, until recently that is.

After realizing that I wanted to inspire and network women equally isolated by their circumstances, I started working on this website.  Of course  the website and the writing have become only part of it, per the “If you give a mouse a cookie” method it becomes necessary to feed,  water and nurture the monster you have created!  I began visiting forums to find out what the H E double hockey sticks I was doing.

In the process I joined several groups and have come across a multitude of amazing people (women & men) who are passionate, purposeful and driven about what they do.  Everyone seems to have multiple facets to their lives and  a determination to give back or add to their community.   Of course I am still unlikely to recognize them walking down the aisle of the local supermarche but I ‘m lucky to have an insight into the inner workings of their soul.

Marcia Bloomberg is one of those people.  As soon as I read her introduction to our group (Connect and Collaborate on LinkedIn) I knew I had to be as eloquent as possible in entreating her to write an article.   Luckily she is also extremely warm and friendly!  so it didn’t take much – but I was willing to beg.

Having spent her life working for a variety of nonprofits, a move to a new area left her in a new environment wondering “what’s next”.    She decided to use her knowledge  of a particularly specialized niche to not only continue her service to the community but better enable others to do so.   Her warmth, kindness and passion for everything she does comes through, even in print!

I hope Marcia’s story “Passion and Purpose are the Prize” inspires you to continue on your journey with an extra spring in your step.

I   look forward to sharing the stories of other inspirational women with you.   While Marcia’s passion is the world of nonprofit,  inspiration comes in all environments:  business, art, literature, science, exploration, the environment, parenting, networking, overcoming illness, education, preservation, service, friendship etc. etc.

If you would like to share your story or the story of a woman/the women who inspired you please contact me.