Friends...
This was shared with me by a friend who thought I was making my days "full".  It is
good for all of us to follow this concept.  Enjoy :

The Mayonnaise Jar and Two Cups of Coffee

When things in your lives seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things--your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions--and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else--the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first--the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

Hello there,  it has been 4 years to the month since my last post.  I enjoyed
posting,  but allowed myself to get distracted and well - time flies.

My current motivation is my 5 year old grandson, Ethan.  My new posts deal
with his current challenges as he tries to beat the odds.  He was recently
diagnosed with DIPG, a very aggressive and to this date terminal type of a
brain tumor.  His posts can be viewed at :

ermc01.blogspot.com      or here as Ethan's updates

thank you ...

Tampons - A True Story

This story was told me by a Marine's grandmother - don't worry it is a clean story.
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My son told me how wonderful the care packages we sent them from the ladies auxiliary were and wanted me to tell everyone thank you.

He said that one guy we'll call Marine X, got a female care package and everyone was giving him a hard time. My son said, "Marine X got some really nice smelling lotion and everyone really likes it, so every time he goes to sleep they steal it from him." I told my son I was really sorry about the mistake, and if he wanted I would send Marine X another package. He told me not to worry about Marine X because every time I send something to him, he shares it with Marine X. He said when my husband and I sent the last care package, Marine X came over to his cot, picked up the box, started fishing through it, and said, "what'd we get this time?"

But my son said they had the most fun with Marine X's package. He said he wasn't sure who it was suppose to go to, but the panties were size 20, and he said one of the guys got on top of the Humvee and jumped off with the panties over his head and yelled, "Look at me, I'm Airborne Recon."

One of the guys attached the panties to an antenna and it blew in the wind like a wind sock. He said it entertained them for quite a while. Then of course...they had those tampons. When he brought this up, my imagination just went running, but he continued.

My son said they had to go on a mission and Marine X wanted the Chap-Stick and lotion for the trip. He grabbed a bunch of the items from his care package and got in the Humvee. As luck would have it he grabbed the tampons too, and my son said everyone was teasing him about "not forgetting his feminine hygiene products."

He said things went well for a while, then the convoy was ambushed and a Marine was shot. He said the wound was pretty clean, but it was deep. He said they were administering first-aid but couldn't get the bleeding to slow down, and someone said, "Hey! use Marine X's tampons!" My son said they put the tampon in the wound, at this point my son profoundly told me "Mom, did you know that tampons really expand?" (Well...Yeah!)

They successfully slowed the bleeding until the guy got better medical attention. When they went to check on him later, the surgeon told them, "You guys saved his life. If you hadn't stopped that bleeding he would of bleed to death." My son said, "Mom, the tampons send to Marine X by mistake saved a Marines life!"

At this point I asked him, "Well, what did you do with the rest of the tampons?" He said, "Oh, we divided them up and we all carry two in our flax jackets."

I am absolutely amazed by the ingenuity of our Marines. I can't believe that something that started out as a mistake then turned into a joke, ended up saving someone's life. My sister said she doesn't believe in mistakes. She believes God had a plan all along. She believes "that female care package" was sent to Marine X to save a life !
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Think what you will, stranger things have happened in this world !

Roads

Read an interesting article in the Sunday March 8, 2009 Parade magazine. The article was titled How We Can Save Our Roads by Earl Swift. The article ended with the results of an oral survey. They spoke with some of the 7500 truckers of US Xpress, based out of Chattanooga,Tenn. Their opinions of the toughest sections of U.S. highway.

1. I-10 in Louisiana
2. I-40 in Oklahoma
3. I-55, I-57, I-80, and I-90 in Illinois
4. I-65 in Kentucky
5. I-280 in New Jersey
6. I-95 from Wilmington, Del. to Boston
7. All roads in Michigan, especially I-75 into Detroit

They request your input at Parade.com

They received my two cents, how about you ?

It's Morning !

It was 7:30 am and I was all cuddled up and warm. Was in
that sleep period where you are all good to go yet almost awake.
I became aware of something very close - opened my eyes to
find my dogs nose inches from mine. Now if she lifts her chin and
walks forward, she is just at the level of my sleeping face. Being
polite, she was not making any noise, but she was for sure letting
me know she was there.
Not sure what got in her bowl of Cheerios, but as I swung out
of bed, she went bezzer (bizarre to the extreme). If you have a dog,
you know the routine.Chin on the floor and bottom in the air, and
racing around like her hair is on fire.
Let her outside, she sniffed the air and did her perimeter thing, then back
in the house. Now she goes to her spot to sleep, but what about me?
All I now have is the look that clearly says "Please - go sit down, I'm resting!
Who has who trained here ?

Getting Excited

Have just this morning redone all my travel plans fot MATS.

Got a phone call from an old USMC friend that I have not had
contact with since Viet Nam 1969. He lives in S. Carolina now
and we are going to hook up after my time at MATS .

He was a great person to keep close to then - no one I
trusted more. Through events and time, we lost contact.
While doing some research, he was able to locate me and
the phone call was ... shall we say great.

I was totally overcome with emotion during and after the call.
All that was between us - this will be a good yet tough meeting.
Will for sure write more about this afterwards!

What goes around...

The wife and I were driving home yesterday from getting our taxes done, when it happened.
I looked in the rear view mirror and saw red and blue lights. After a quick review of my recent actions, I mumbled some "other words" and pulled over, upset for having done "nothing" wrong!

License and registration please. He walks back to his motorcycle, talks on the radio, and then returns. Can you exit the car please ? What is the problem ? Just please exit the car. I exit and move to the rear of the car. Okay, I'm getting a bit mad/anxious now - what's up ?

As we stand there, he quietly looks at my license, as a second officer in a car arrives. Now I am really getting nervous. As the second officer walks up, the first one says " he always seemed bigger in 6th grade huh?" To which the second officer (a female) says "yes and a bit less grey too!" Then they both laugh and shake my hand.

After letting my wife in on what is happening, we all exchanged hellos and they followed us the last couple of blocks home. Both were former students from *@&% years ago. When the motor officer saw me, he just had to "get me", and her arrival was icing on his cake.

Both were good students and have remained friends and now co-workers. Lucky for me, both have good memories of our class and me. They left with smiles over "got him", now I must remember to drive EXTRA careful.