Missing You!

This is my love note to you Terry and Tiffany. Today is 19 years since we were together in this life. That is 2 years longer than you were here on this earth with us Tiffany and 3 years less than how old you were Terry when you left us. It’s hard to comprehend that it has been that long….but in a way, it seems like only yesterday.

Many things have happened and changed in these many years since you were taken. But the thing that has not changed is how much we still miss you. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t have a thought about each of you. So many birthdays have gone by. Many Christmases, Easters, dinners, movies, new songs, new technologies…..so many occasions we weren’t able to share.

The thing that brings me comfort though, are the memories of the great times we did share. I am forever grateful for the grace that allowed you into my life. I see other families and think how fortunate they are with their family intact. And I hope they are making those cherished memories with their children that I now have to keep me company.

It’s bizarre to know how quickly life can change. How the people we think will be with us forever….may not even be with us tomorrow. How sad to think of people not enjoying those times when they are able. Sad that they may not be taking advantage of the time to be with the ones who really matter in life. When good-bye is forever….you realize how very long that is. One thing I have come to learn though is that love is stronger and lasts longer than death.

So, I just wanted to say that even though I think of you every day.....today is the day in time that changed everything I will ever know about feeling whole again. I love you both and will for all of my forever. Hugs & Mush, Mom

Love Is In the Air...So just Breathe In!

Love is in the Air,….Soooooo Just Breathe It In…..

Hello Peeps! Yep….another Gommy’s Goodies…and so soon after the last one. There seems to be a slowdown in my Facebook community lately…..so Goms had time to focus on a topic I was reading about in a magazine article this morning. It was on a yogic technique called Alternate-Nostril Breathing. While reading the piece, it hit me that we do many of the same things over and over again, without even realizing we may be doing them wrong. This particular article was about the ‘simple’ task of breathing. Yeah, I know, whoda thunk it! What’s the big deal about breathing right? Well, it turns out it is a VERY big deal. By doing it ‘right’ it may add to the quality of how we are living….oh, and about the actual ‘living’ part…there’s that too.

The article went on to say that we breathe over 20,000 times a day. You’d think that doing something 20,000 times a day would help you to get preeeeeety good at something wouldn’t you? But NOPE. To breathe correctly, (not just to stay alive), you must concentrate and think about how you breathe. Amazing, right?

Breathing can do many things besides the all-important one of keeping us on the right side of the sod. It can reduce stress, help us heal and even help us to lose weight. I’m not sure ‘how’ it helps us in losing weight….but that is what the article said….so there must be some science to it. And I know for a fact that the reducing stress one works. Been there….done that a bunch!

When we are all inside our heads and worried and stressed about any number of things…we tend to breathe shallowly. I guess that is because we are so busy concentrating on what is bothering us….we don’t take the time to ‘think’ about how we are breathing. I know…I know….breathing is an automatic reflex. But ‘determined/concentrative breathing’ takes some thinking. The article said if you are having a stressful day….try the breathing exercise. I did and I could see an immediate feeling of calmness. Breathing this way is how it may help to heal us, for example, by lowering our blood pressure and/or pulse rate. And it also helps tremendously in the de-stressing department.

Have you ever felt all tied up in knots and just taken in a long breath and immediately felt a little better? Bingo…. See, you have already done a deep breath cleansing and didn’t even know it. It’s probably the body ‘knowing’ how to relieve stress and jumping in to let the ‘steam’ off for us. Sort of an automatic built-in safety pressure gauge. Guess that’s where the term ‘venting’ originated.

The exercise goes like this: Close your mouth and put your thumb next to the right side of your nose and press it in, then breathe in (deeply and thoughtfully about the inhaling of your breath) through the left nostril. Then exhale through the left nostril….slowly. When you have fully exhaled, put your pinkie finger on the left nostril, while lifting your thumb off of the right nostril….. and breathe deeply in through the right nostril, then repeat. Do this for a series of five times. You will be amazed at how peaceful you feel. It also helps when we are tired…because an extra- big dose of oxygen helps revive our brain to stay awake (literally).

So, that's Gommys' tip for the day. Try it if you want an easy, free way to feel better instantly....and who amongst us in this 21st Century demand for instant gratification wouldn't? Chillax Peeps! You can do it! Goms is pulling for ya'. Hugs & Mush- Gommy

Sheep No More!

Hello Boys and Girls. It’s been quite a while since Gommy has offered any goodies to you all. But lately, there has been so much to love and enjoy in my own neck of the woods….that I have been having a high old time (emphasis on the old…lol) and I just plain forget about putting my thoughts on… I was going to say paper…but that isn’t as completely fitting in this 21^st Century.

As long as we’re (actually just me) on the subject of what ‘isn’t correct or seems to apply any longer’…..let me get out my soap box. Pssstttt….this is where I give you the chance to run. OK then…for those still with me......

It seems as if it is no longer correct to have a differing opinion about much of anything anymore. With all this political correctness, putting your foot in your mouth can lead to disaster. Or if the opinion doesn’t fit in with what the other person is thinking or believing….you are just supposed to keep your big, fat mouth shut. Disagreeing can even lead to being shunned. Hey! I thought shunning was something that was done back in the old Bible days. Oh well, I digress. Sadly, it no longer applies that you should automatically do the right thing when it comes to being charitable, or caring what happens to those less fortunate, or expect our political representation to look out for their constituents instead of themselves. So many seem to be a bunch of greedy-guts and Scrooge-like in their wanting it allllll! And I thought this country was founded on the principle that we were supposed to separate church and state. The Founding Fathers made sure to put it in the Bill of Rights that we would have religious freedom. AND, they made it the number one Right:

I. Freedom of Speech, Press, Religion and Petition

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

It appears that people will talk about standing up for the rights of others…..but that is only if it doesn’t go against what THEY believe in. Sorry, peeps, that is NOT what freedom means. Look it up. Take as long as you need.

Why is it that when someone has a different way of looking at something, that other people find it hard to even associate with them any longer? Is it the old saying about ‘birds of a feather…flock together?’ Or maybe it is that they feel threatened. But that doesn’t make any sense….it is just a difference of opinion, right? Can’t we agree to disagree? On occasion, I have found myself in a group of people… and if I offer a differing opinion….it seems as if I am experiencing the feeling that I am in that old commercial for E.F. Hutton, where the whole room becomes hushed. Wuz up wit dat?

And what about all this hate that is everywhere? This country could turn into another Civil War if this partisanship continues and the haves and the have nots keep at it. As I see it, we are all in this together. It’s no longer about Republicans or Democrats…it’s about survival for all of us....for crying out loud. If our wonderful country goes down the tubes….it will be all of us going down. Not just the have nots. That is what I can’t wrap my brain around. When everyone is finally in the crapper….and out of money, lose their homes, their savings, their investments….. who do the ‘haves’ think will be able to buy their crap any more? Seems like a no brainer to this old Gommy. And the last time I looked….we were circling the drain!

The old phrase, “it’s the economy stupid.’ makes me think that we need to add another phrase. The economy phrase has been repeated often in American political culture to wake people up. Even though it IS about the economy in these troubled times, I think a new phrase should be brought to the fore. How about, ‘it’s about principles stupid.’? Principles that don’t allow the country to be bought off by huge corporations who keep all the money and don’t like to play nice with others. Principles that say it smells fishy that lobbyists make kabillions of dollars to sway the votes of the politicians who are supposed to be watching out for us…NOT the companies and corporations they are buying votes for. Principles that don't allow the fat cats to get away with lying about what they said they would do if we bailed them out. They said they would reinvest in our country if we got THEM out of trouble, and now they say….whoa….this isn’t a very good financial climate to hop back in to. No joke Sherlock! You are the ones that got us here...we bailed you out…and now you are just resting on your big fat rolls of cash. DUH...you got us!!!! P.T. Barnum said...'there's a sucker born every minute', and he sure was right. And not one of those financial ‘wizards’ that broke our economy, served even one day in jail for their crimes. WTF????

But Hooey…who is Gommy trying to kid? Everyone ‘says’ they want to get along and they are sick and tired of all the junk on TV that gets everyone all riled up and at odds with each other. But are they REALLY? You see, the powers that be would not keep the junk on TV if there were not an audience for it. So, it does go back to being all about the economy (the economy of each persons’ purse). And until ‘they’ (the negative-ers) see that we are actually through with buying into all the negativity crap….they will continue to bring it to us. They are good that way. Get in THEIR pockets….and they perk right up! When the news goes back to being unbiased (on either side), and the TV shows don’t insult every ounce of every part of our senses any longer, and we stop buying the products the corporations are paying for their advertisements to keep this junk on TV….THAT is when you will notice that it is really stopping.

So, if you want to stop spinning in the negative hamster wheel...here's what you can do; you must stop watching the hate mongers on TV that just want to get everyone mad at each other (so their ratings go up), you can stop watching, listening, or reading any News that is only trying to get us to be so divisive, you can realize that we are just pawns in their money game and refuse to play with them any longer. Oh, and you might also want to insist that teachers make a decent income instead of the Charlie Sheen types who make 8-9- or 10 millions dollars a year from acting on their shows or the athletes who make so much that the regular folk can't afford a ticket anymore. Doesn't anyone else think there is something wrong with that? You can change it....just stop buying all their stuff. The prices will come down real fast. I promise. Come on peeps. You can do it. Gommy is pulling for ya' . Hugs & Mush, Gommy