Progression or Regression?

Gommy took my baby grandson Brandon for a walk to the beach today and while we were watching the birds and the waves coming in, Gommy started wondering what Brandon was thinking. He was raising his hand in the air and then he would clap as if he had done something grand or he had been reaching for something in the sky. Goms thinks he was thanking God for the beautiful day and the gorgeous ocean that was 'waving' at him. Gommy wants to say a great big thank you too God......

That also got Goms to thinking about how we were all so pure and innocent when we were at that young age and how we become so affected by everything that happens to us that we sometimes end up tarnished and unhappy by our circumstances. It is a shame we can't 'regress' back to that innocence. By trying to 'progress' our lives along the paths we think we want, we sometimes get mired in the 'getting' process. The truth of the matter is that it is the simpler times and simpler pleasures that make us the most happy.

Someone recently sent Goms an email that instructed you to close your eyes and remember an earlier time in our lives. The background music was a nice tune from the 50's. As Goms read all the things that my generation was fortunate enough to experience, I felt kinda sorry for all the generations that followed that will never get to live in a simpler time. When we were kids, we could play outside without worrying about someone abducting us....we played with our friends out of doors with things we made up with our imaginations. We didn't have computers, cell phones, 500 channels on TV......but we were happy. We stayed outside and played until our mothers yelled for us to come in and eat and get ready for bed.

We were respectful of our teachers and other elders too. Goms thinks you have to be taught to respect other people or you can't ever respect yourself. It is just a gentler way to act with one another...... to be polite and not so darn rude..... Happiness begets happiness and meanness begets meanness....

So, for now, all is right with the world and with God. Just taking a walk to the beach with my grandson is all the excitement Goms needs to feel fulfilled in this very complicated world we live in these days. No movie theaters, no bounce houses, no video games.....just a simple walk to the beach with a very smart, innocent, beautiful little boy was the most refreshing and exciting thing anyone could ever want to do in a day.....Thank you God.

Who Am I? Who Will I Become?....

Good Sunday boys and girls. Gommy is still basking in the glow of one of the best Christmases ever! Gommy & Grandpa Mike went to my daughter and son-in-law's home for Christmas Day and we also went to their house for dinner on Christmas Eve. Later on in the evening of Christmas Eve, we went to Grandpa's sister Cathy and her husband Rick's home to visit and wish that side of the family good tidings.

Michael (who is Grandpa's son) and Fio and their baby girl Kyra came on Christmas Day as well. It was the first time in many years that we were all able to sit down at the dinner table together and celebrate the day. It is a Blessing to be able to join together in perfect harmony.

On Christmas day, Tracey and John had a total of eight families represented at their home. Of course, there were some missing that could not make it this year and we thought of them as well. Then there were family members that we miss each year since we lost them. Those 'missing spokes' are always remembered and although it is sad that we no longer have them with us, we have wonderful memories of them and they will never be forgotten. There will be more missing spokes as the years pass, but for now we were just all happy to be together.

There were several adults and then there were the three grandchildren and later on two more children from John's side of the family came to visit and share dessert with us. Christmas is so exciting when there are little ones to share it with. The awe and wonder of them telling you how Santa came and visited them is priceless. Gommy and Grandpa loved seeing Tracey's two children and Grandpa's granddaughter playing on the floor together. It is so heartwarming when you live to see your childrens' children getting to know one another and playing together.

As Goms gets older, it is so exciting to discover new things about myself and understand more about the things of my past and how I once 'saw' or perceived things. As Goms ages, I find that I am less confounded about potential problems and find that I am more easily able to move past roadblocks that used to find their way in my path. It turns out, that the more you are open to understanding and less about wanting to be 'right', the more your perception of events and people are brought more clearly into focus.

There is information all around to be 'understood' and re-thought and uncovered. It is so much more rewarding to keep quiet and let others reveal themselves, than to insist on making my own opinion known. There is a quiet satisfaction in knowing what we have learned and realizing that others have yet to discover of the mysteries of life. It is even more rewarding when you see someone you love 'get it' and another piece of the puzzle falls into place. We have much more power in our silence than in any force we may attempt to use. And this isn't the silence of anger and withholding....it is the quiet of allowing others to find their own way, in their own time.

This is the time of year to start fresh and allow ourselves the opportunity to live in harmony. If only the rest of the world could see it that way. We would not have to lose the lives of so many young people in war after war.

So, Gommy is wishing everyone a very Happy New Year and one of discovering who you are and who you will become. Because you will all become someone different as time and situations develop throughout your lives if you are willing to 'see' things and not be stuck in what you 'think' or perceive is fact. It will be easier to blossom and find happiness if you ask yourself what the 'lesson' instead of the 'problem' is trying to teach you. Be still and listen for the answer....it's in there.....just waiting for you to 'get it'. Love and hugs to all.....
((*.*)) Gommy

Twas the day after Christmas...

Twas the day after Christmas and all through the land, we Florida creatures slept under our fans. All presents were opened... we've been Blessed beyond thought. We loved all the gifts that were thoughtfully bought. All the trimmings will come down, but the memories will last.....Thank you God for our family.....we had such a blast!!!!

Grandpa and I were lucky enough to share Christmas at the home of Gom's daughter and son-in-law and it was the perfect 'Hallmark' kind of day. There were eight different families there in all .....and everyone enjoyed the day and the company of each other. There were no arguments, no animosity, and no place for anything but love and the gratefulness of being together to share the 'most wonderful time of the year'.

Gommy looked around at everyone at the dinner table and thought how wonderful it would be if everyone in the world could be together and enjoy the day as we were doing. You hear of families dreading this time of the year because of family strife, you know there are wars going on in far away lands and people who can't be home with their families, and some who are not fortunate enough to even have a family to enjoy the Holiday with..... Goms is grateful that wasn't the case this Christmas for her and all the family and friends who gathered together to remember the 'Reason for the Season'. Thank you God.

So, we will bask in the glow of the memories made and enjoyed this Christmas and look forward to next year when that magical, warm and fuzzy feeling that surrounds this time of the year returns. But how about we try to keep that warm and fuzzy feeling with us in spirit all year long? Wouldn't that be wonderful? It really isn't hard. It is a choice. We can choose to harbor bad feelings, or hold grudges or be in terrible moods or we can choose to be nice and have love and concern for our fellow man and/or woman and remember how nice it is when everyone is getting along. This is the time of the year to wipe the slate clean and start fresh with only good in our hearts and well wishes for friends, family and everyone alike.

Goms' wish for each one of you this coming New Year is to find it in your hearts to be kind, be caring and most importantly, be grateful for everything we have and for the gift of our friends and families and for our good health. The easiest way to remember this is to know that "the best things in life are not things." Family and friends are so very important and if you aren't fortunate enough to have family, your friends are all the more important.... but remember that to 'have a good friend, you must be a good friend'.

May the Joy and Happiness of the Season continue all through the coming year for you and yours. Thank you to all who made this year so special for Gommy and Grandpa..........and you all know who you are ;)

Hugs & Mush, Gommy

Christmas Eve

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the land....God's creatures were stirring, not in snow but in sand.....Because we're in Florida and not the Northeast.....we are Blessed with warm breezes while enjoying fine feasts. Our snorkels were hung on the porches with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be here.

Yes, it is almost Christmas. The most wonderful time of the year. This got Gommy to thinking about how Blessed we all really are. Grandpa and Goms were lucky enough to have wonderful jobs to go to this year, a nice apartment to live in, family and friends who care about us and untold other Blessings that are too numerous to mention.

Just this week Grandpa Mike was sort of a Santa himself. Each day, as he drives to work, there is a man who sells newspapers on the highway. They have struck up conversations over time and Grandpa noticed that this man only has a shopping cart to hold all of his belongings. We are so Blessed, in that we both have more clothes than either of us can possibly need, and Grandpa thought it might be nice to see if the 'newspaper man' might be in need of some of his shirts. Grandpa asked me to buy him two large Christmas bags and bring them home. I did and Grandpa filled them full of very nice shirts. Most of them had never been worn and still had the tags on them. Grandpa told me that when he gave the man the shirts, the man actually cried right there on the spot. He told Grandpa that no one had ever given him anything. The next thing the man said really blew Grandpas' mind. He said that is friend, on the other side of the street, didn't have much either, so he was going to share his gift with him......Can you imagine? This man didn't have anything and he was going to share what he was just given!

It just goes to show you that no matter how much or how little you have, you can always share your Blessings. Even if you don't have money to share, you can share a smile or a kind word or share a meal with someone in need. This time of the year makes most folks want to give of their time or possessions. It is too bad that we can't get in touch with that emotion the rest of the year. It really is the 'most wonderful time of the year'.

Gommy and Grandpa's wish for everyone is to find that special place in your heart to be kind and generous in thought and deed to your fellow man and/or woman. It really does make you feel good about yourself when you are the best you can be. It doesn't take a whole lot of effort either to be nice. Just try it. Merry Christmas and the bestest New Year ever to everyone out there in blogland. Hugs & Mush, Gommy

Cruisin' for Christmas

Good morning and good Sunday to all. Grandpa and Gommy just got back from a day-cruise to Freeport Grand Bahama Isle and did we have fun or what? You betcha' we did. The weather was cool and the day was delightful. We got up at 3:30 AM to make sure we made it to the dock by 5 AM for boarding. It was still dark when we arrived at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale but Grandpa, who is notorious for finding the perfect parking place, came through with a spot right by the elevator to the gate we were to board the cruise ship from. The trip was a gift from my daughter Tracey to Grandpa for Father's Day and it has taken us 6 months to find the time to get away. But we did and we had a blast!!!!

Cruising is always an eye-opening and thought provoking event because it forces you to observe other people and other cultures. We all come from different walks of life and ethnicity's and countries, but the main goal of exploring other places and having a grand time while doing it, is Universal. What Grandpa and Gommy saw yesterday was hundreds if not thousands of people enjoying time together and everyone getting along while in the process of enjoying themselves. There was no color-line, no culture-line and no animosity toward anyone. It was apparent that even though we were all going and doing things as our own little groups, everyone seemed to be enjoying their own 'private' party among strangers.

Another thing that we realized on this trip is that we, in the United States, are so fortunate to be able to just 'run to the store' anytime we need to pick up a gallon of milk, some diapers, paper towels, or just about anything you can think of. We talked to some of the fellow cruisers and discovered that they were not especially on a 'pleasure cruise' as much as they were cruising out of necessity. You may ask... WHAT????? Well, it turns out that items are so expensive or not even available in Freeport (and maybe other Island spots as well), that the people have to get together in a co-op situation and come to the U.S. to purchase every day essentials.

It is actually less expensive for the families to get together and send a delegate over to our country to purchase their items at a warehouse-type store, i.e. Sams, Costco, etc. They cruise over to the U.S., buy the merchandise, ship it back on the ship and cruise back to the island, where they are met by the families in each co-op to help load a pick-up truck with their purchases! Can you imagine????

Here, we Americans are cruising to the Islands to enjoy ourselves and in the process we are purchasing items, 'duty-free', while THEY are cruising to the U.S. to buy items to survive in their everyday world. While we were waiting to leave to come back to the USA, Grandpa and Goms watched as these people loaded their trucks from the dock, with the purchases...... and the items were 4 or 5 feet above the bed of the truck. Grandpa said that there was NO WAY they could drive with all that stuff in the back and not have it fall out. Then we saw a man take a huge roll of shrink wrap and shrink wrap the entire bed of the truck. Voile', problem solved. But it did make us realize how grateful we are that we can just jump in the car any time we please to pick up a loaf of bread or anything else we want at our leisure.

The other thing we realized is that you can get along with everyone if you are patient and kind and treat people with respect in the process of any situation you are sharing. Yes, there were times that we felt like cattle, being corralled into different areas, but if you are polite and realize that everyone is going through the process the same way, it shows that it can be done with respect and decorum.

All in all.....it was a delicious and wonderful experience and Grandpa and Gommy had a memorable time together and enjoyed the day immensely. Thank you Trace.....it was a great gift that we shared together.....Hugs, Gommy

"Whatchoo talkin' about Willis?"

"Whatchoo talkin' about Willis?" was a quote by a sitcom actor, in a comedy series from the 80's. The show was 'Diff'rent Strokes' and the actor was Gary Coleman. The saying became a catchphrase and was said each time something happened in the show that 'Arnold' couldn't believe or he was trying to divert any wrong doing on his part. Now, we probably all know someone who tries to blame other people for their wrong-doing or someone who will never admit they are wrong. That catchphrase always comes to mind for Gommy when those occasions occur.

When you think about it, the people who can't seem to admit they have done anything wrong must have a self-esteem problem, or they are in fear of losing their own job or they are uncomfortable that someone who IS doing their job has shown a light on the lack of their performance. It always boils down to fear in some capacity.

The remedy for this dilemma would be to just do your job and you won't have to be worried that someone else is showing you up. But if YOU are the one who IS doing their job.....be careful, because the slackers will try to undermine you by casting aspersions about you behind your back. It is their only defense, since they don't seem to actually want to do what they are getting paid for.

Goms suggestion would be to give an honest days work for the honest pay you recieve and everything will be okie-dokie.....Your day at work will actually go much faster if you stay busy rather than looking for ways to not do your job. Imagine that your place of work was your own business.....then you would have a different perspective. You would want your business to run correctly and you would give your customers the attention they deserve and you would expect the other workers to do their job as well.

The way you present yourself to the customer is a direct reflection on the business for which you are working. Remembering that without the customer......you don't HAVE a job and that should be a wake-up call in these harsh economic times. A customer should be made to feel they are welcomed and be greeted and given your full attention when they come into your place of business. There are many other businesses just like the one where you work, that they can frequent. If you don't take care of the customer........they can just walk down the block and find a place that does make them feel wanted and appreciated.

Think of the last place of business that you went into and they ignored you. Didn't like it, did you? All of a sudden, YOU were the one who felt like telling them that you don't have to buy anything from them and you were upset. Well, that is exactly how the customer where you are working feels if you treat them that way. Texting, talking to the other co-workers instead of giving service to the customer or just ignoring the customer who just walked in is not the way you should treat a perspective customer. They are in your business to buy something and if they feel unwelcomed, they can just turn around and walk away or worse.....never come back! With the way business owners are complaining about having less business, you would think that keeping the customers you are fortunate enough to have, would be high on anyone's priority list......Owner AND employee.

Okay, okay....Goms is officially stepping down from the soap-box now. This was just a friendly suggestion and a heads-up to remind us to take care of what we have or we just might lose it......Have a cheery day!

Hugs, Gommy

And what do you want little boy or girl????

Gommy has been hearing people asking "What do you want for Christmas?" quite often lately. That got Goms to thinking how wonderful would it be if we could get (manifest) anything we wanted...anytime we wanted? Pretty darn nice Goms thinks.

But, guess what? You can get anything you want anytime you want. It is called memories. What most people are really just 'wanting' is peace of mind, world peace and a peaceful existence when you get right down to it. And if you want to experience that 'peace' in your own existence, all you have to do is close your eyes and feel God. Remember how it felt to sit by a body of water with your dog and just enjoy your surroundings or watching the sunrise or sunset....or remember lying on the ground when you were young and gazing up at the stars in the sky? Or have you ever been in a small boat on a lake and just completely relaxed while feeling nature all around you? That was God.

If you concentrate, you can even remember smells. Like the smell of rain and wet grass.... or the laundry that was dried outside on a clothesline (that memory may just be for us of the older generation and it was great!)......or the smell of the first day of school each year with the aroma of paste, paper and chalk dust. Or watching the snow fall as it makes fluffy blankets on the ground and the smell of the crispness in the air. Or the aroma of fresh baked cookies your mother just made as you come home from school? Remember playing in the puddles after a storm and not worrying about getting wet?! For real warm and fuzzy feelings, remember the first time you held your newborn baby and the overwhelming emotion that came over you as you realized what a miracle just happened. That was God.

If you want to experience pure joy in the present, just watch your grandchildren as they are amazed by learning something new. Allow the juice of a ripe peach or tomato to run down your chin while you savor each bite. Watch the logs on a fire do a dance for you as they flicker on the hearth. Look at your spouse and be grateful they are with you each day to share your life with you. Sit on the sand and watch the ocean waves somehow stop just short of you. Be thankful for the knowledge that all you have to do to find God is to look for Him in all of these things.

So, little boy or little girl....or big boy and big girl....you CAN have what you want. Just think about it.....Treasure and remember the memories of your past and look forward to making new ones in your future but most of all......enjoy the present moment.....Goms heard someone say recently...."The present moment is the only moment that never ends." God Bless......Hugs and Mush, Gommy