The American Flag

I drive through some areas (going to and from work each day) which are mainly "Hispanic". That is the word I should use, to be politically correct. But no, they are Mexican. I say this because they all fly the Mexican flag. I never see flags from any other "Hispanic" countries, just Mexico. I don't know about you, but I just feel that if you want to live in this country, you should want to be an American. You shouldn't move here just to make more money and yet expect to still speak your native language and fly your flag (either above or instead of the U.S. flag!). It really upsets me to see so many businesses with either (a) only a Mexican flag, (b) the Mexican flag waving higher than the U.S. flag or (c) torn U.S. flags. There is nothing that can be done, though. The U.S. doesn't have any laws to prevent these from happening... there is just the "flag code" which is not "law".

I am happy to report that one such business which had it's Mexican flag waving on a much higher pole than the U.S. flag, and which had 3 Mexican flags and only two (torn) U.S. flags recently got all new flags. The U.S. flag is now on the highest pole and there are now 2 smaller Mexican flags, 2 smaller U.S. flags, one Texas flag, and one large U.S. flag. I was just glad to see that they finally did the right thing. I hope more of the Mexican businesses here follow suit.

I love this poem:

I Am the Flag of the
United States of America

I am the flag of the United States of America.
My name is Old Glory.
I fly atop the world's tallest buildings.
I stand watch in America's halls of justice.
I fly majestically over institutions of learning.
I stand guard with power in the world.
Look up and see me.

I stand for peace, honor, truth, and justice.
I stand for freedom.
I am confident.
I am arrogant.
I am proud.

When I am flown with my fellow banners,
My head is a little higher,
My colors a little truer.

I bow to no one!
I am recognized all over the world.
I am worshipped - I am saluted.
I am loved - I am revered.
I am respected - and I am feared.

I have fought in every battle of every war for more then 200 years.
I was flown at Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Shiloh and Appamatox.
I was there at San Juan Hill, the trenches of France, in the Argonne Forest,
Anzio, Rome and the beaches of Normandy.
Guam, Okinawa, Korea and KheSan, Saigon, Vietnam know me.
I was there.

I led my troops, I was dirty, battleworn and tired,
But my soldiers cheered me and I was proud.

I have been burned, torn and trampled on the streets of countries I have helped set free.
It does not hurt for I am invincible.
I have been soiled upon, burned, torn and
trampled in the streets of my country.
And when it's done by those
Whom I've served in battle - it hurts.
But I shall overcome - for I am strong.

I have slipped the bonds of Earth
and stood watch over the uncharted frontiers of space from my vantage point on the moon.
I have borne silent witness to all of America's finest hours.

But my finest hours are yet to come.

When I am torn into strips and used as bandages
for my wounded comrades on the battlefield,
When I am flown at half-mast to honor my soldier,
Or when I lie in the trembling arms of a grieving parent
at the grave of their fallen son or daughter,
I am proud.

Sleeping Through the Night

I almost feel like I don't even have a baby in the house sometimes. You see, when my son was a baby he NEVER went to bed awake, he hardly ever even slept in his crib (he hated sleeping in the crib), he didn't go to bed until I went to bed, and he didn't sleep through the night until he was at least a year old... maybe older. My daughter is much easier! She always liked napping in her basinnette, but recently outgrew it. We started trying to put her down in her crib about a month ago. At first we would still get up during the night to feed her (once or twice, whenever she cried). Two or three weeks ago we switched her to a faster flow nipple and she started drinking more at night. About a week after that we tried letting her just go to bed awake. It worked! I am amazed at how much sleep I'm getting and how much I'm able to do around the house while she is sleeping. She drinks a bottle around 7pm, I lay her in her bed and she just goes to sleep. She'll sleep until about 6am. I'm not getting to cuddle her as much as I did my son, but I guess that is okay. She seems happier now that she's sleeping through the night (that started happening just as soon as she started going to bed awake with a full tummy). She wakes up just talking to herself and happy. It's just so strange that two kids can have such completely different attitudes, behaviors, towards sleep. My son hated bedtime. We tried the "let him cry it out" but it didn't work. He'd cry for 2 hrs straight and just get mad. He was always a really sweet baby though (and now he is a really sweet kid!) and he just wanted to be held. That was fine with me. I am glad that she will go to her bed though... because with two kids I do need her to do that so that I'll have time to help him with his schoolwork and have some time to play with him, too. When my son was a baby I probably got about 4 hrs sleep/night... now I'm getting at least 7 hrs. I am just amazed... I never understood how those other parents got their kids to sleep like that-- I guess it just depends on the kid!

What's Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)

Your EQ is 140

50 or less: Thanks for answering honestly. Now get yourself a shrink, quick!51-70: When it comes to understanding human emotions, you'd have better luck understanding Chinese.71-90: You've got more emotional intelligence than the average frat boy. Barely.91-110: You're average. It's easy to predict how you'll react to things. But anyone could have guessed that.111-130: You usually have it going on emotionally, but roadblocks tend to land you on your butt.131-150: You are remarkable when it comes to relating with others. Only the biggest losers get under your skin.150+: Two possibilities - you've either out "Dr. Phil-ed" Dr. Phil... or you're a dirty liar.

What's" Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)?

My Life

My son got me to thinking about how when we are children, we dream about what we’ll be when we are adults. We all just know that our dreams will come true if we really want it to happen, too.

I dreamed of a loving husband, three children and a great job. I just knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I would be a pediatric neurologist. I have epilepsy and my doctor helped me so much that I, in turn, wanted to be able do the same for children when I grew up. Now, I was not naïve. I knew that it would take a lot of hard work in school, and that I’d have to study hard in college and med school. Then, of course, there is the internship and tons of debt. By the time I was in junior high school, my vision of my future had evolved a bit. We had a project to do and we had to do extensive research on what we wanted to do. My final plan was that I would go to college, then med school followed by law school. My reasoning was that if I were a doctor I’d need a good attorney in case I got sued (it was in the 80s that these frivolous lawsuits started popping up every two seconds!). I reasoned that I would save a lot of money on attorneys by representing myself, if the need ever arose.

Alas, that is not the life I lead and it is not the life I would want. I have a loving husband and have two wonderful children (which is plenty for us!), but I work in accounting. I hated accounting in college, but somehow I’ve been doing this for the past eleven years and now I actually like it. My degree is not in accounting, so I plan to go back for that in a couple of years. For now, I need to just put my time in at the office then go home and enjoy my children! No time for classes right now. I just think it is funny how things happen and you can end up with a totally “normal” life and love it. You can also end up with a very “glamorous” life and be miserable.

This is not to say that my life is perfect, by any means. My husband and I went through some stuff earlier this year, but we were able to work through it. Our marriage is rock-solid and I pray that it stays that way for the rest of our lives. Getting to that point was not easy. I guess I just expected that if I loved someone and if he loved me just as much, then there would be no marital problems. I would never hurt the ones I love, so I wouldn’t get hurt either, right? Wrong. Sometimes our loved ones do hurt us (not physically!!) unintentionally. When that happens, you just have to work through it. If you love each other, really love each other, then you just keep trying and working at your marriage until it’s right again. That’s what we had to do. Now we are happier than ever.

Our children are the greatest blessings! Our son is such a cutie and he keeps us laughing. Even my co-workers come up to me to ask me if he’s said anything funny lately. He’s always coming up with one thing or another. Then there is our baby girl. She is a cutie and loves to laugh. She adores her big brother. We don’t get enough family time together, though. My husband and I work different schedules and so it is difficult to just spend a weekend doing normal “family” stuff. We try to do that as often as possible. Even though we don’t have as much time to do things together, we probably spend as much time together as most families that do have the time. I think a lot of families that have more “normal” schedules forget how precious that time is and they don’t take advantage of it. Not us, we try to make the best of our time with our family. I would love to have more time to spend with my family (all of my family—parents, in-laws, sister, nieces, nephews, cousins, etc.) but we are only given 365 days a year. How we spend that time is up to each of us.

So, I’m happy with my life just the way it is. I have a boring job (I'd rather not work outside of the home, but I have to) that pays pretty well. I am married to the love of my life. I have two wonderful children. My life couldn’t get much better.