A Grumpy Heart

The post about Jon Stewart excluded, it has all in all been a great weekend so far. I hope you all are enjoying the more positive things in life (sushi! massages! Band of Horses! Children! Big Blue Sky!), and are not stuck in the funk. I did not by the way, have any Chard last night, so that is not to blame for any writing. Tonight, the air was clear, cold, full of stars and a growing moon and my son just needed me to sit with him for a while to get to sleep. He goes to bed at 7, but we give some extra time for reading him some books, talking, cuddling and saying a prayer...all in his own room. It never began, so we never had our kids hang with us much in our bed when it's their bedtime. It doesn't work, because then they think we are all going to sleep, and they don't get that in fact, after they go to sleep, we have our own time together. Very Necessary. They get snuggled, attention, etc all in their rooms, sometimes we all get in our bed for an afternoon jumping session and I love the spontaneious fun we have doing that, but at night...it's bedtime. I am here full time, so they get tons of attention, reading, play-dough, drawing, writing, singing, tickling, etc.
I hope you had a very happy week. The news is always full of bad news, and it affects our country's general mood. However, it's best to go beyond that, and focus on your own life, your friends and family who need you, and anything else you can do to affect our world positively.
I have found, the past decade or so, that the happiness I get personally, is from the things I do personally for either charities, volunteer work and direct influence type work that I know is helpng someone help themselves become more successful in life, even if it's in a small way. Usually, this type of work ends up making you realize that you also needed "help" in a soulful way, and that giving is a two way street.
Despite what the pundits say, or the crap you see on FB, life is still going on, just like before. Bad and good people. Most of of us finding peace when we can, some of us trying to share it, some of us finding ways to give back and showing our children or friends how to change lives.

Despite my grumpy occasional posts, I am always secure in knowing I have such good people in my life who are doing very very good things. From the west coast (Portland!) to Europe and Africa, it's the people who are trying to fit in that extra time with strangers or some known person in need who deserve a moment of respect. We don't give that enough in our country. Respect.