Musing

Surrender! That sounds like a most delicious plan. The scenario will keep mymind from growing bored with all that I have to do in the office I know as'hell with fluorescent lighting'., PEG, Calgary

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Mark - Thanks to all the Musers for their kind thoughts to me, my sister,SdV and our families. AW

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Talking to my daughter (via Skype) who a few months ago moved to Germany, she expressed her annoyance of having to return bottles, crates etc to redeem the deposits people have to make when buying beverages. This conversation triggered my memories and gratitude how this system provided me with the foundation of my succesfull career half a century ago.Growing up in the Netherlands after WWII , with a father who was a conductor/composer, life was filled with love and music but short on money.I was taking ballet classes which was considered an elite thing......... at times my mom didn't have the monthly tuition and suggested I returned the empty bottles to the stores to gather the tuition money needed. I would arrive at my ballet school with the coins in my sweaty hand and felt pretty embarrassed... At the time I had no idea that by going through this embarrassment, I was designing my future and built twice a school with 2000 students (once in Holland, the other one in California )that more than filled my personal and professional life into a most rewarding experience. Compare this with so many youngsters today who have signed on to the entitlement program and will never experience the great satisfaction and self-esteem that is created by trying, failing but triumphing in the end. Huge THANKS to my mother who taught me to persevere., EvD, Pasadena

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Hi Mark, I just want to send an thank you to all the "other" recipents of your musings for their caring. I sat back in amazement how people that I have never seen, never met care enough to send their thoughts and caring for two sisters AW & SdV. The memories of our Mom, her baking, her worrying about her family (something we both inheirted), but highly above everything else, her love for not just her children, but for her grandchildren. Words cannot express how fortunate I feel. I hear about other people's upbringing and it wasn't until I was around 30 that I realized that our Mom and Dad were different from alot of other parents. The most important thing in their lives was to ease the lives of their kids. Through my life it wasn't just Dad, it wasn't just Mom, it was always Mom and Dad. They were "in love", not just loved each other but "in love", and now still in love, are together in the home that Dad has built, getting things ready for the rest of us, to sit on the HUGE deck and sip tea together. Mom is now safe in the arms of the man that she loved beyond his death. As the pain of losing Mom begins to ease, the beautiful memories of 2 beautiful people begin to replace the pain. Thank you again to all of you that care enough to send a note on your losses. May the pains be replaced by beautiful memories. SdV

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Thanks again Mark...your musings touched me today... KC, Calgary

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Hi Mark, Well, the newest addition to our family made her debut two weeks early, on February 21, 2006 at a very respectable 8:30am, after only two hours of labor...bless her little heart. Delaney Quinn weighed in at 5lbs 11ozs, 17 inches long. All of us are doing fine, even getting some sleep. The men in my life are completely captivated by her...and totally useless! Brady and Mark sit and watch her for hours on end then Mark comes to me and asks questions like, "Have you seen Delaney's fingernails? They're paperthin." Yes, dear, I've seen her fingernails...and first time big-brother Brady constantly checks to make sure she's still breathing. I've seen more of Kyle and Bryan in the last two days than in the past two months and every time they stop by they bring a new book or toy...even Riley the Wonder Dog never leaves the side of her cradle; I think she likes the scent of Johnson's Baby Lotion. All in all, we are settling in quite well and adjusting to the absolute wonder and delight of a having a newborn in the house! The attached pictures were taken at five minutes after her birth, and two hours later. Seems her lungs work just fine..will send more later, but not for muser distribution, please. Mark has this thing about pictures of his daughter not being spread around on the internet. Hope all is well with you and your family. Cheers, Lauren and Co. , LR, Irvine