paradise ali

George Carlin died yesterday.  He was such a brilliant comedian.  I got this in an email a while back.  It was written by George Carlin after his wife passed away and shows a different side of him.  It is poignant and eloquent and brought me to tears when I first read it. 

A Message by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete…

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.

Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

I was so sure that my oldest would be having a girl this time.  I almost got some pink yarn to crochet something.  (I didn’t know what I was going to make.  Just something pink, I guess!) 

It’s a good thing I didn’t.  You guessed it!  The ultrasound shows that baby has a "package"!  He’s a boy!  I could tell that my daughter was a little bit disappointed.  She had on the same look I did  when the doctor told us my last one was yet another girl.  I just hugged her.  She knows that the main thing is that baby is healthy.  They certainly won’t love a little boy any less than a little girl.  It’s just a shock since everyone, except my grandson and my youngest, thought baby was a girl. 

The first harvest of bush beans!  Sweet enough to eat raw but I’m planning to cook them up with SPAM!  I also want to save some for beef stew.  Eventually, I’d like to plant the whole bed in bush beans.

Things I learned from the experiment in no particular order:

• I need more patience
• MyFolia.com is an excellent free gardening resource to journal , make friends all over the world and keep track of seeds, transplants, gardens supplies and wishlists
• it’s not as cheap or easy as I originally thought but it is still very worthwhile to garden
• the cage needs to stay because, even after there’s enough growth to save it from being used as a lovely bathroom for cats, the Cardinals will try to steal the young beans and take the tops off the other plants
• the rapid growth of the beans is infinitely more exciting to me than the kids
• next time, I want to grow the lettuce hydroponically cause they take up too much space
• despite the square foot gardening promise of "no fertilizer necessary," chicken manure made a huge difference when the leaves started to look pale
• it is fulfilling to grow my own food and bake my own bread
• I’d like to get some bantam hens for eggs and manure (plus they’re really cute)
• the carrot seedlings taste like carrots and (insert drumroll here)
• I want to slowly turn my whole yard into food production space!

That’s not a surprise, is it?