Category: Manu

The rings and bracelets I make for you mean “I LOVE YOU!”

My mom always appreciated the home made cards we made for her.  And the homemade Christmas ornaments we made in grade school art class.  She loved the flowers we picked for her.  She didn’t want us to buy anything for her birthday, or Valentine’s day, or Christmas, or Mother’s Day.  She wanted something we made for her.  A dinner, a card, a present, just anything we made.  That definitely showed more LOVE!

I loved the toys my dad made for me and my brothers, much more than any toy bought at a store.  The wooden guns with a clothes pin that shot rubberbands, the wooden paddle boats powered by rubberbands.

I love making rings, bracelets, necklaces, etc. for my girls.  And seeing the excitement in their eyes when I give them a gift I made.  Of course if I had 3 boys, I would probably be making guns, swords, and cars.  Making a gift for someone (regardless of the occasion) is a great way to show them how much you care, and how much you love them.  A great lesson I learned from my parents.

{What did you make for your mom or dad?}

If You Are Unhappy

Just before my 19th birthday, I packed up my ’84 Honda Accord full with everything I needed to live for 3 months and drove to Connecticut to start a co-op job working on submarines at General Dynamics. My mom handed me this story and to this day, I still have hanging next to my desk. How thoughtful she was to give me some important life lessons as I embarked to live on my own for the first time. The lesson goes a little something like this…

IF YOU ARE UNHAPPY

Once upon a time, there was a nonconforming sparrow who decided not to fly south for the winter. However, soon the weather turned so cold that he reluctantly started to fly south. In a short time ice began to form on his wings and he fell to earth in a barnyard, almost frozen. A cow pass by and crapped on the little sparrow. The sparrow thought it was the end. But, the manure warmed him and defrosted his wings. Warm and happy, able to breathe, he started to sing. Just than a large cat came by and hearing the chirping investigated the sounds. The cat cleared away the manure on the chirping bird and promptly ate him.

The moral of the story:
1. Everyone who shits on you is not necessarily your enemy.
2. Everyone who gets you out of shit is not necessarily your friend.
3. And if you’re warm and happy in a pile of shit, keep your mouth shut.

Teach a child how to fish, and he could feed the world!

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.  Teach a child how to fish, and he could feed the world.” I like this version of the famous Chinese Proverb.  I remember seeing it in a Jim Borgman cartoon.

Growing up I thought people only had one set of grandparents because that is all I ever knew.  Unfortunately my dad’s mom died when he was very young, maybe 3 and his 4 olders sisters had to take care of him.  I think he called one of his sisters “mom”.  He even spent some time with one or two sisters in an orphanage for about a year.  His dad died in 1970? before I was born.  I often heard stories about him from my dad, stories I wish I had written down, like my stories to my girls.

I’ll never forget the times we went fishing at my grandpa’s.  My parents took us boys to “the country” in Fayetteville, Ohio to go fishing.  (Some people call it God’s Country, probably because you are that much closer to heaven out there.) For my mom, it was going home to where she grew up.   My dad taught us how to handle worms and bait a hook without pricking your finger on the hook.  He showed us how to pull a fish off a hook without getting poked by one of the spines.  We would also catch frog for frog legs.

I love to take you girls fishing at “Uncle Jim’s”.  Catching minnows, salamanders, crawfish, snails in his creek with your butterfly nets.   Finding worms and letting them crawl on your hands and arms and tickle you.  I love making you girls laugh, especially the laugh you have when tickled… <sniff>