Treasure Every Single Moment

How did this happen so fast?  Our youngest grandson is turning 9 this weekend. That's 9!!  Last single digit birthday for this good man.  Our next oldest grandson will be 11 in December.  Unbelievable!  And, in March our oldest grandson will turn... What?!?! 13!  A teenager!  Six years away from college!

Like I said at the beginning, how did this happen so fast?

Of course, the three little girls will always be little girls.  Right?  Princesses and Tinker Bell.  Winnie the Pooh.  Dancing. Twirling. Giggling at silly things.  Right? 

 
No.  It will also happen fast.  Before we know it they will be counting off the double digit birthdays, becoming teenagers, and heading off to college, too.

Like I said at the beginning, how did this happen so fast?

Treasure Every Single Moment!

THE TOY ROOM, mystery, romance, and unforgettable characters

  Just as she became engrossed in the display, someone grabbed her from behind and she let out a yelp. She turned right into Mark’s arms and fell against his body. 

“I love to find you when no one is around. There’s something so risqué and naughty about hugging and kissing in the halls of a toy museum, don’t you think?” Mark’s laugh rang out and echoed against the glass cases. “And to hear ‘ready when you are’ on my voice mail. Well, beautiful lady, just what was I to think?”

Caroline laughed at his mischievous behavior and hugged him enthusiastically. It was at times like this that she wished them back in her apartment unlocking their emergency brakes and flying to the moon on the energy and passion of their newly-discovered love for each other. But duty called today and she needed to give the much needed coffee cup to Mark and let him get on with his work.

THE TOY ROOM, a romantic mystery, is waiting for you as an ebook or paperback at amazon.com and as an ebook at The Kindle Store.   Do you live in the Austin, TX area? THE TOY ROOM is now available at Hastings Books in San Marcos. 

CORPORATE PRINCE has adventure and romance

“Well, you’re not paying your debts with the mission’s money,” Phillip said as the door to the hallway flew open behind him.  A husky figure dressed in black ran past him toward Mobin, who turned and ran onto the balcony.  The mysterious intruder followed, and when Phillip heard them wrestling and fighting he ran to the nightstand and grabbed the gun. 

Phillip had never held a gun, and his hands were sweaty from tension.   He grasped the gun firmly with both hands like the amateur marksman he was.  Was the gun loaded?  Was the safety catch on or off?  Did the dark stranger also have a gun?  One thing he knew for sure.  He could shoot if he had to.

Phillip stepped closer to the balcony door to investigate.  He heard a blood curdling scream and the burly stranger bolted back into the room from the balcony.  He was short, but stocky and muscular with skin as black as the night sky.  His short, kinky hair looked like a skull cap on his over-sized head.   

“Not another step,” Phillip commanded like a television hero.  “I will shoot you.  Trust me on that.”  He barely recognized his own voice, but he planted his feet firmly, stretched to his full height, and felt in total control.

He wondered where Mobin was but resisted the temptation to look toward the balcony and stared straight into the bloodshot eyes of the threatening man before him.  He wondered how long he could keep this man at gun point.  Surely, Detective Boro and the police officers would come looking for him before long. 

Neither of them moved for what seemed like a long time.  Then, suddenly, the man lunged at Phillip and Phillip did just what he had warned him he would do.  He lowered the gun slightly and shot him, once in each thigh.  The man screamed and fell to the floor, shouting obscenities and holding his legs up next to his body.  Blood oozed quickly onto the carpet. 

For a few brief seconds, Phillip stared at what he had done.  He felt satisfied he had stopped the man enough to check on Mobin.  He held on to the gun and backed deliberately toward the balcony as Detective Boro burst into the room, followed by a support team of uniformed officers.  

What happens to Phillip?  Who is Mobin?  Why is the poor mission so important?  CORPORATE PRINCE waits for you as an ebook on amazon.com or The Kindle Store.  Don’t miss the rest of Phillip’s story. 

Happy Birthday To Me! Wrinkles? White Hair? Old Parts? Whatever!

I haven’t blogged for two months.  Our summer was a busy one and often there was simply no time to share thoughts with all of my blog followers.  Or, perhaps, it was the heat that softened the mind and the creative juices evaporated during our 85 days of 100+ degree weather. 

But today I have to share thoughts about my birthday, which is tomorrow.  It all started with the water softener.  What did I ever think my birthday had in common with our water softener?  Until it malfunctioned I would have said there was no connection.  But this morning the service man arrived to check why we no longer had sudsy showers and laundry.  He came into the kitchen when he was done and as I wrote a check I started questioning why it has stopped working.  He’s a man of few words, so “old parts,” was his candid response, to which I asked, “What do you mean old parts?  What old parts?”  He smiled and got on a very elementary level with me.  “Your water softener is old and it has old parts that had to be replaced.”  I truly expected him to add, “like people.”  Broken parts would have been a gentler diagnosis, but he had treaded into dangerous waters of “old parts” on the day before my birthday.  He reached for the check I was holding out for him and was out the door before I could even joke with him that my old parts, so far all original, were celebrating a birthday tomorrow.   His comment stayed behind him in the house, however, and I started to create thoughts about birthdays.

I love birthdays – everyone’s birthdays -- and all the celebration and hoopla that go along with birthdays.  With  our children and their spouses I’ve watched with delight as they’ve grown into interesting and amazing adults.  Our six awesome grandchildren are all doing the “growing like weeds” routine on Fred and me, and we love keeping up-to-date with all that goes on in their lives and measuring them against the door jamb when they come to visit.  And, that includes spending birthdays with them whenever possible.

I don’t stress out about the passage of my years.  It makes me sad when some of my friends won’t kick up their heels and celebrate their lives.  It worries me when my contemporaries spend more time looking back rather than forward.   And don’t even get me started about how annoyed I get when people “my age” say they are too old to grasp today’s technology wonders.  “Well, you’d better learn to email and text,” I tell them not-so-gently, “or your kids, grandkids and even the greatgrands will leave you in their dust.”  When I’m due for my next cell phone upgrade I plan on trading in my “dumb” phone and going the smart phone route. 

 

The AARP Magazine regularly features highly-productive people in their 70s, many of whom are pursuing second careers.  What is retirement anyway?  Social Security is no longer a well-deserved safety net for the over 65 set to sit back and contemplate the meaning of life. But it’s still a great jump start to be self-employed and produce something amazing you didn’t have the time to develop until you passed your 70^th birthday.  

And what’s all this worry about wrinkles?  Botox, shmotox!  I’ve lived a long time to look like this and I happen to want to look my age.  My sweet granddaughter in Wichita told me last year my neck wrinkles and white hair are the reasons she calls me Grammy.  Now you see?  I like being called Grammy by all our grandchildren, and if I snipped and clipped to get rid of my wrinkles or colored my hair they would have to change my name.  That is simply not an option.  

Well, I’m off and running to ice the birthday cake I just baked for myself, complete with multi-colored sprinkles!  What’s a birthday without a cake?  I'll get back on the diet tomorrow!! 

I hope I’ve changed your minds about birthdays.  Remember, todays are built by all our yesterdays – good and bad.  But today is the time to celebrate and learn exciting new things and prepare for the wonder of tomorrow.     Happy Birthday to me and to everyone who reads this blog during the year to come!  

That's Family -- F-A-M-I-L-Y

Summer is a great time for family gatherings.  I’m hearing all about it from friends through email and Face Book.  Many are on the way to parents’ or siblings’ homes to enjoy a week with family.    I’ve always loved time spent with my family.  I’ve also spent over twenty years working in a variety of roles through which I have helped families develop and maintain a high level of “wellness” and enjoyment of times together.   It’s very exciting to see our adult children and grandchildren following those same paths in a wide variety of ways. 

  

We just had a great week here with thirteen of us having fun together.  Adult work commitments and grandchildren with important team events had us moving in and out of our time together, along with a few side trips to share Texas landmarks like the Alamo and Cowboys’ Stadium with Kansas family.  But it left time for meals together and heated games of Scrabble, Scattergories, backyard “smiley ball,” and cheering for a grandson’s baseball team at a World Series.  Now everyone has returned to their homes and routines and I have been deep in thought and prayers of thanksgiving about our family and how proud I am of each one of them and how well we relate to each other.  For lack of no other good way to describe my pride, I have resorted to the alphabet to share what impresses me when we are all together or apart.

F – We’re FRIENDS.  Our children, their spouses, and our grandchildren are our friends, and they are all friends to each other.  We enjoy (and often laugh at) our similarities and rise above our differences.  We live our lives apart now, but have both respect and patience with each other, which strengthen healthy relationships in families that last forever.

A – AWARENESS through modern technology allows our family members to stay in touch with each other.  We’re in touch through emails, texts, social networks, and it has developed into an intergenerational connection involving grandchildren.  All families should make this an important part of their lives so, as they gather for special times together, there are familiarity and AWARENESS to build on and no one is “out of the loop.”  

M – MEMORIES are valued.  There’s no need for flashy activities and lavish experiences.  Our family has established simple, important traditions and grandchildren now demonstrate they value them with an expectation to include them in our activities each time we’re together.  (Hide and Go Seek or Flashlight Tag anyone?)  We build MEMORIES by including all ages in the plans and activities for our family gatherings.  

  

I – We find each other INTERESTING.  I, personally, believe this is an important ingredient of family wellness.  We have always had an interest in our children’s lives and respect our children’s interest in each other and their families and careers.  And, I am so proud of the way the grandchildren are demonstrating the same interest in each other, regardless of age.  

L – LOVING is easy to talk about in a family.  It’s a natural expectation among a group linked together as a family.  But LIKING each other is a whole different emotional level among adults and children, and I’m always proud as I watch our family respect, accept, tease, and laugh together as they LOVE and LIKE each other and enjoy being together. 

Y – YOUNG and not-so-YOUNG have fun together.  This year our family gathering included celebration of our youngest grandchild’s first birthday.  Several grandchildren will celebrate important birthdays in the coming year – one will move to his final “single digit” birthday, one will become a teenager, one will turn five and prepare for kindergarten -- and some adults will move toward milestones…well, we can skip too much detail there.  But when we’re together age is not an issue.  Oldest, youngest, and everyone in between have a great time together, whatever we do and wherever we are.  Why?  How?  We’re FAMILY! 

Terri Clamons, author
Corporate Prince, ebook at amazon.com and The Kindle Store

The Toy Room, ebook and paperback at amazon.com, ebook at The Kindle Store

WELLFAMILIES HANDBOOK, published in 1990, is available on my page at amazon.com.    

Visit my website at http://www.terriclamons.com and

My blog at http://blogbyterri.blogspot.com