Saturday, June 27, 2009

Deep Thoughts By Annette O'Hare


Certain Hollywood movies have plot lines so confusing, judging committees give them awards just because they’re too embarrassed to admit they didn’t understand it either.

If left to his own devices, my husband would watch every sport available on television. And in the event there wasn’t even a soccer game scheduled, he would watch re-runs of classic Super Bowl games.

Catch phrases come and go. Last year it was, “paradigms are shifting.” This year it’s “not so much.”

If my children had grown up watching The Three Stooges, would they have turned out as brilliant as they are? Sure explains a lot about how I turned out.

Transformers II is one recent movie that doesn’t portray our military as a bunch of idiots. Thank you Michael Bay and Stephen Spielberg.

The church youth leader made the parents write letters every day to my kids while they’re away at camp. One day I got lazy and sent them a sheet of paper with a big “R” on it. It’s a letter right.

Most people know more about what’s going on with their Facebook friends than their own kids. (I sure hope I’m not one of them.)

People who have never tried to get a book published have absolutely no idea how hard it actually is to get a book published. If you are a person with little patience; don’t try to get a book published

All of my favorite John Wayne movies are not westerns. All of my favorite Larry McMurtry books are not westerns. I really don’t have anything against westerns, but strangely I don’t care for country and western music.

A marching band in a parade always makes me cry. A girl holding the American flag while riding a horse during the National Anthem before the rodeo makes me cry. My husband thinks I cry at very strange things.

It’s really hard for people to understand or even believe someone who says they have a disease that they can’t physically see with their own eyes. Would people try to understand diabetics better if they had big “D” shaped whelps on their bodies?

The Disney cartoon, Phineas and Ferb makes me laugh way more than most comedy shows designed for adults. And I’m not embarrassed when my kids watch it with me.

People who feel they have to write a book should put that idea aside and learn the craft of writing before writing a single word.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Ups And Downs


Graduation Day 2009. I am now the proud mother of a high school graduate. One down, ten years and two more to go. It’s funny how whatever affects my child’s life seems to affect me a thousand times more than it does them. Why is that? There have been many ups and downs leading up to this summer. Let me share.

I’ll start with my oldest, the apple of my eye, my firstborn, my magnum opus!
Up – He graduated #10 of 450 and was accepted to Texas A&M Engineering School
Down – He’ll be moving away from home in a couple months
Up – He received several thousand dollars in scholarship money
Down – The money will only pay about half his first semester
Up – One scholarship came equipped with a mentor
Down – I don’t think he actually exists

Next is my daughter, the princess of the universe, the most important woman in my life!
Up – She earned her letter jacket in band
Down – She didn’t make drum major
Up – She’s the new secretary/treasurer of the band
Down – I got rooked into the band booster treasurer position (kidding, not a downer, hee hee)

Finally, there’s my youngest, the one who makes me smile, my baby.
Up – He made all A’s and B’s this year in school
Down – He didn’t get recognized for his grades because of one poor conduct grade
Up – He graduating from second grade with flying colors
Down – He’s going into third grade and will have to take the dreaded TAKS test

I was wondering…what if King David treated his ups and downs with the same attitude as me. Up – Israel is protected by the army of God
Down – A really big giant has plans to crush anyone who challenges him
Up – I was anointed king over Judah
Down – I’ll never become king because crazy old king Saul is trying to kill me

But David handled his situation much different. The Bible says, David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands."

Wow! Thank goodness King David didn’t share my attitude or the Bible might have turned out very different. His attitude should be a lesson to everyone facing the ups and downs life has to offer. Oh, and by the way, my list is purely tongue in cheek. As you can plainly see, the Lord has blessed me beyond measure.