Nov 29, 2006

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow


I must say that even though I am very congested and can't stop sneezing; even though I can't feel parts of my body due to the freezing temperature which I'm obviously unfamiliar with; even though I've slipped and fallen on my ass too many times to count; even though I am unable to drive due to the fact that my vehicle is buried under the snow so perfectly that my neighbours thought Vinnie and I built a snow-car instead of a snow-man (and high-five us) I still find the snow has added to this city in a lovely and picturesque sort of way, but now I want it gone.

I enjoyed myself while playing snow fight with my brother and my son for the whole 20 minutes we were outside, not to mention my brother "once again" hit me on the head so hard with a snow ball (though it felt more like a bocce ball) that my head almost flew off my body - another attempt on his part to have me permanently silenced, or decapitated.

But what I like most during this snowy period is the bus ride to work because God knows that driving in this weather for me would be like driving under the influence. I can't begin to tell how extremely enjoyable the bus ride was this morning, besides, what better way to get acquainted with the folks of Victoria than to be pushed tightly close like sardines on the public transit. Nothing better than to have several strangers breath, cough, sneeze on your face and stepping on your feet repeatedly.

I have to say, the highlight - and I mean what really made my day was this "lovely" young woman who was slightly ahead of me on the bus and whom was continuously chewing on something with her mouth wide open. I caught myself staring endlessly and I just couldn't look away, it's as if she had hypnotized me - put me under some sort of spell. All in all it was a fabulous experience but regrettably, all I have now are mere memories.

Ahhhh, the joy of "jam-packed" human contact.

26 days to Christmas and as far as I can tell I've obviously already fallen into the spirit of the season...

and on that note:
http://www.killsometime.com/Video/video.asp?ID=398

Nov 25, 2006

Spontaneous Combustion

I don't know why but I absolutely love this commercial - from start to finsih, I laugh every single time I watch it.

Nov 20, 2006

La Vita non e' sempre Bella ma bisogna avere Fede



Oggi sono stanca. Oggi ho voglia di tornare alle mie radici. Oggi ho voglia di mandare a fanculo tutti e tutto. Oggi ho voglia di non sentire. Oggi ho voglia di non essere.

A volte mi domando il perche' di tanti sacrifici quando poi non si e' capiti o apprezzati. Mi guardo intorno e mi accorgo che nelle nostre vite mondane, confuse e piene c'e' tanto vuoto. Le cose importanti stanno piano piano sparendo e siamo circondati da tanta falsita', ipocrisia e leggerezza e le cose materiali sono le cose d'importanza; diamo peso alla quantita' e non alla qualita'.

A volte mi sento un pesce fuor d'acqua - un pesce che ha perso il suo corso e non fa altro che nascondersi dagli squali che cercano di farsene preda. Siamo messi alla prova in continuazione, a volte siamo invincibili e a volte perdiamo ancor prima di provare. A volte abbiamo una mano vicina che ci solleva, e a volte ci dobbiamo alzare da soli. A volte vogliamo evadere e trovare solitudine perche' si ha voglia di essere con se stessi, con i propri pensieri, con le proprie lacrime.

La vita non e' sempre bella ma bisogna sopravvivere; arrendersi sarebbe facile e sono spesso tentata ma non e' questo che Dio ci insegna. Dio ci insenga ad amare, ad essere e a non abbondonarsi perche' anche nei momenti piu' scuri e difficili Lui ci e' vicini quando nessun'altro lo e'.

In questi ultimi mesi sento un bisogno tremendo di Dio, sento il bisogno di avvicinarmi, di capire e di credere piu' che mai. La verita' e' che senza di Lui nulla avrebbe senso e abbondanarsi non sarebbe una decisione cosi' difficile. Ma io ho Dio. Ce l'Ho nel mio cuore, nella mia vita e nelle mie decisioni, anche se a volte le mie decisioni non sono sempre giuste. Sono alla ricerca di qualcosa ma non so cosa. Forse vorrei trovare pace con me stessa, serenita' e fiducia nell'essere umano; la semplicita' e bonta' umana sono le cose piu' rare oggi giorno e questa cosa mi urta incredibilmente. Ho bisogno di Dio, ho bisogno che Lui mi aiuti a trovare la strada - che Lui mi sia vicino nel cammino. Ho bisogno di un sorriso, ho bisogno di un'abbraccio ed ho bisogno di sapere che non stiamo distruggendo cio' che ha importanza e che l'amore caldo umano ancora esista.

Mi rendo sempre piu' conto che i diavoli sotto forma di essere umani ci circondano, ci tentano e ridono a farci del male. Il male si sente ma non bisogna farsi sconfiggere - bisogna lottare perche' il bene previene il male anche quando non sembrerebbe. La verita' e' che se non hai Dio non hai niente.

Essere umani significa non essere perfetti, significa sbagliare, significa essere fragili - l'importante e' imparare ad accettare le cose che non hanno senso, imparare che nella nostra fragilita' possiamo trovare la forza di cento cavalli e la cosa ancora piu' importante e di non perdere speranza, MAI.

Non sono perfetta, ed oggi sono fragile, ma Qualcuno mi ha sollevata e mi ha ridato la speranza. IO CREDO.


Il Signore Non
permetterà mai che il maligno possa
vincere su di noi
Egli non ci
farà mai sprofondare nelle sabbie mobili
ma sempre
Ci passerà un ramo
e noi dobbiamo solo aggrapparci a Lui con
Fede
Perché poi al resto ci
penserà tutto Lui….
Basta che sempre
crediamo in Lui
E così poi….
lo rivediamo in tutto il Suo Splendore

Nov 3, 2006

Unconditional Love

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an Institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want To do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore For two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, It felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a Single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you Think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time.

``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' One doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''