Tag Archives: family

Your Kid’s Majoring In What???

I just finished reading a great post from one of my favorite bloggers which I will reblog as soon as I’m done writing this great piece.  I can only do one great thing at a time, sheesh.  Anyway, in it, he poses an interesting question about the collective sanity of our culture in which we work decades at a job we usually just tolerate (if we’re lucky), in order to pay for all the things we consider important.  Things like, shelter, furniture for shelter,  indoor and outdoor improvements for said shelter, clothing, cars etc.  These are, admittedly, all important things.  But, at some point, we become the hamster on the wheel, frantically working to pay the mortgage, real estate taxes, cars, and credit cards, just to name a few off the top of my head, as we continue to require bigger houses leading to more stuff to put in them, cooler cars etc.  Add into the mix kids and, forget it, it’s all over.  Then it really gets crazy – more clothes, food, cars, insurance, food (those pesky creatures insist on eating every day), tuition and definitely a whole lot more alcohol (for Mom and Dad, that is).  We think of ourselves as a civilized people and, yet, our lifestyles turn us into crazed wheel-spinning rodents.  What’s that all about?

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I’m Stuck In An AOL Time Warp And I Don’t Care!

YES!  I admit it…I still have an AOL email address.  I get.  I’m a loser.  Now, leave me alone and stop snickering when I’m asked for it from various stores.  I’m usually torn about giving it.  In fact, way back when, I used to think, “No way am I giving you my personal, private email address.”  But, then I realized that, by refusing that method of communication, I was telling them I’d prefer to talk to them on the phone.  I figured out fast enough that was NOT what I preferred.  Plus, when stores ask for my email, it’s so I can get coupons and discounts.  Print them out at home.  At my leisure.  I’ve never been one to clip coupons from the newspaper.  Not because I haven’t tried.  But, it became so much work and I never had them with me when I needed them.  And, I’m pretty sure the rare times I remembered to bring them,  I could hear every person in line behind me sighing as I’d open my handy coupon holder to extract necessary clipped savings, only to be told that the item I plucked from the shelf was not the right size or brand or, showing me the small print, that I needed to buy six of them to get the seventh half-off. 

What I do like, though, is extra savings to be had from stores like Kohl’s, JC Penney, Barnes and Noble, Harry and David, Famous Footwear, etc.  So, yes, when asked, I quietly whisper my lame AOL email address.  I whisper, not because I care about the looks of disdain from the cool high school/college aged cashiers, but because my kids are horrified that I would just blurt it out without any care to their emotional well-being.   I mean, there may be people they know lurking about.  They have begged me for years to get a g-mail account.  To get with the times.  It’s not the nineties anymore, for God’s sake.  “I’ll set it up for you, Mom.  It’s easy.  It doesn’t cost anything.  Can’t you ever think of anyone besides yourself?”   But, I feel like I everyone I know has my AOL address (and as far as I know, have not “unfriended” me on Facebook or shunned me in public).  It just seems like such a hassle to change it.  And, besides, I have a feeling that AOL will make a comeback.   And THEN who will be the cool one, hmmmm??  I can see their eyes rolling.

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A Parting Glass To Mom And Dad

CELTIC TRINITY KNOT

With St. Patrick’s Day upon us, my thoughts naturally turn to my favorite South Side Irishmen. While the day, and in this case, the weekend, is filled with the usual nod to our Irish ancestry, celebrating with parades, rebel songs, beer and plenty of corned beef, a part of me always feels a bit wistful, as memories turn to my parents, no longer here to join in the festivities.  And so, to them I raise a parting glass in salute.

My dad, John Casey Toner, better known as Jack to his friends, died a couple of months shy of my twenty-fifth birthday.  Though I was married with a toddler, I was still a daddy’s girl.  It wasn’t really fair, I know.  My sister is eight years older than me and had been surrounded by boys until my arrival.  In fact, one of her favorite memories was when she and my brothers were sent off to stay with my cousins as they eagerly awaited the newest arrival in the family (me, coming in at number six).  She asked my dad to please let her be the first to know if she had a new sister (for which she had been fervently praying) or another brother (to which she’d resigned herself).  Upon my entrance into the world, my dad telephoned with the news.  When my aunt excitedly answered the phone and asked the obvious question, he told her that he needed to speak with Mary Beth first.  That was the kind of man he was.  The simple, innocent promise made to an eight year old girl took precedence over all else.  When you’re the baby girl in a family, it’s hard not to be spoiled.  So, while my sister was relegated to  the role of second mother to us all, including yet another little brother bringing up the rear, I happily assumed the role of the baby girl.

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The Value Of A Moment

With the recent announcement of Bruce Willis’s aphasia diagnosis, this previously unknown and quite invisible, disability has now come to the forefront of our collective awareness. A few years ago, I had never heard of aphasia. If I thought enough about it, I probably could have figured out what the word meant. But that all changed on Sunday, May 25, 2008.  The evening before was a festive occasion as my family gathered at my brother, Kevin’s, house to celebrate the college graduation of his daughter.  My son’s college graduation party was scheduled for the following Saturday.  But that night, it was all about Lauren…until the cake was served.  At that point, my other brother, Tom, surprised us all with another cake.  This one was for the mother of the college grad, my sister-in-law, Marita.  She had just earned her second Master’s Degree in Library Science (the first being in Special Education), but kept quiet about her achievement, so as not to steal any of the attention from Lauren.  As we were preparing to leave that night, Marita told me we could expect to see them for our party the following weekend.  We all said our goodbyes and headed home.  In a matter of hours, everything was forever changed.

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The Partial Daisy

How hard is too hard to push your kids?  Where is the line between letting them just be kids and insisting they be involved in activities?  When our oldest son, Mike, was young, we thought it was very important for him to participate in sports.  It seemed only natural to sign him up for baseball and soccer every summer, spring and fall.  As he grew older, he added basketball to his list.  At the same time, my husband and I wanted him to learn piano and drums and play in the school band, so that was just more to add to the calendar.  Of course, he also took swimming lessons every summer and attended tennis camps, as well as scouting.  He was going to be a well-rounded kid if it killed us.

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