I heart home

This river valley, in the tip of the commonwealth, which has historically filled the role of stepchild to a city which is now on the brink of greatness, is where I call home. There is no need to insist to me that it is already great; I agree and it just keeps getting better. And there is no need to complain about what is wrong with Cincinnati, my cup is half full.

I mean, let’s face it; we do live in a pretty unique region of the world. I am not naive enough to think that there is no other place like the Greater Cincinnati region; I just believe there are very few. We are full of so many cultures, landscapes, makes and models that it creates something for just about anyone (if you are willing to seek it out).

It feels as if some time in the last decade, a great bolt of lightning must have hit the tallest building in downtown Cincinnati and spread out like veins filled to somehow connect us all. The veins slowly streamed to the east and to the west and then across the river, and somehow made us all part of one great something.

Yes, I may be from Northern Kentucky, but Cincinnati is my city, too. I care about the people who fill the streets, the businesses and homes that fill the buildings and all of the people living their dreams.

I have always been a strong advocate for ensuring Northern Kentucky gets a fair shake in our region. When I travel with friends who tell strangers they are from Cincinnati, I proudly boast that: “Actually, I am from Northern Kentucky, just a stone’s throw south of Cincinnati.” I am the girl who loves the expressions on people’s faces who arrived in the airport’s Terminals A, B and C only to learn they were in Northern Kentucky, not Cincinnati.

An Ohio ZIP code just simply would not feel like home to me. I am a Kentucky girl, but love my city just the same.

The city that I could virtually sketch the skyline full of rectangles, arches and squares, simply from memory. The city that as a child I remember traveling to, for what seemed like forever, for Downtown shopping at Christmastime. The city that now I travel into for amazing dinners, entertainment and memory-making with our two children. The city that I once was worried about, but now have eternal, relentless optimism for its future.

It is hard to go anywhere and not know someone. That is a wonderful thing, sometimes ironic, but wonderful. There is comfort in knowing someone everywhere I go. There is peace in a sense of small community that I am afraid we are losing, but I used to so desperately want to go away. And there is something magical about the way we fit together as tightly as a jigsaw puzzle to form the place we all call home.

I am proud of what we have become. While the river may still be an ocean to some, I see us as one great body of land, water and people who have a bright and promising future together. Maybe it was lightning, or maybe it was the natural evolution of a city that I am proud to call my home.

Are you a superhero?

Are you a superhero?  Do you possess extraordinary or superhuman powers?  Do you use your powers to counter day-to-day crime while also combating threats against humanity?  If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, there is a good chance you are a superhero. 

According to Wikipedia, some other character traits of a superhero are; A strong moral code, including a willingness to risk one's own safety in the service of good without expectation of reward, A motivation, such as a sense of responsibility, a formal calling, or a strong belief in justice and humanitarian service.

If you are starting to question if you may actually be a superhero, there is a good chance you are already or certainly could be someday!  While it is not likely you have a secret identity, wear a costume on days other than Halloween or refer to your home as “headquarters”, you may be someone’s superhero and not even realize it.  Or better yet, maybe you are supposed to be someone’s superhero if you just answered the figurative bat-phone.

Many times it is impossible to know the impact of your superhero actions.  You are most definitely someone’s hero when you volunteer your time to help others, giving charitable dollars to a local non-profit or just from being a kind, giving person.  Most of us will sleep a little better at night, feeling kind of suerhero-ish from those types of actions.  The deeds I mean are the doozies.  Something you do that can change another person’s trajectory in life for a minute, a day or maybe even forever. 

Before Christmas my husband took some toys that our boys have outgrown to a local resale store.  The line was very long and he had a limited amount of time to spend there.  While he waited in the line, a woman commented to him that her child would absolutely love one the items he was holding.  He paused for minute, approached the woman and simply said “Merry Christmas”.  He handed her the toy for her child and went to his car.  He will never know what that meant to her or to her child, maybe nothing.  But maybe it was the gift that made Christmas morning magical for her child. 

I work with a superhero.  Last year when I went on vacation, I came back to the news that she would be out for several weeks because she had given one of her kidney’s to a family member in need.   Not an immediate family member, but a more distant family member.  I remember thinking, “who would do that?” And the answer is her and hundreds of thousands of superhero’s every single day who are organ donors. 

What if you had the chance to save someone’s life?  Would you?  I am mesmerized when I hear a story of a passerby running into a burning building to save someone.  And what about the many superheroes that put themselves in harm’s way during the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary to save so many lives?  There is the teacher who believed in a child that no one else did, and because he did, the child just graduated from college.  That teacher is a superhero.  The mom that gives everything she has, every single day, so her children have a better a life than she did.  She is without doubt, a superhero.  The little girl, who fights cancer with superhero strength, and is surrounded by a superhero family, superhero doctors, nurses and friends.

I always ask myself, would I be capable of these same types of actions?  Of saving someone else’s life or having superhero strength when those around me need it?  The truth is, I really hope I have the “hero gene” if I am faced with the need for it. 

Being a hero is more than the golden rule.  It’s more than just doing what is right.  It is believing in our ability as human beings.  We all have the capacity to be extraordinary in everything we do instead of ordinary.  We can all create hope for someone who may not have any, we can all give generously without expectation of a return and we can all be someone’s hero. 

Can you feel the love tonight?

I am a planner.  I like to know what is going to happen when and who will be there when it does.  If we are going to a movie, God forbid we decide to go on a picnic instead.  I consider this a personality flaw and work very hard on being more flexible. 

I think it goes hand in hand with my impatience and terrible habit of trying to live too many hours ahead of days.

Every once in a while something slows us down.  Even though time moves slowly in the face of a tragedy, in the long run it does force us to slow down and take inventory of what is important.  And then there are those blissfully happy moments in life that almost happen in slow motion and not only slow us down, but leave us wishing time would stop all together. 

Times like when we say "I do", see the face of the baby we have carried so close to our heart for ten months or achieve a milestone.  One of those amazing moments happened this week and stopped me in my tracks.  Our six year old graduated from kindergarten.  If you have seen the Pixar movie "The Incredibles", right now you are thinking of Bob's conversation with Helen that goes like this:

Helen: I can't believe you don't want to go to your own son's graduation.

Bob: It's not a graduation. He is moving from the 4th grade to the 5th grade.
Helen: It's a ceremony!
Bob: It's psychotic! They keep creating new ways to celebrate mediocrity, but if someone is genuinely exceptional...

I had the same thought, until it was graduation time and our little boy walked toward me, wearing his little red cap and gown, with this playing to his every step:

There's a calm surrender to the rush of day

When the heat of a rolling wind can be turned away
An enchanted moment, and it sees me through
It's enough for this restless warrior just to be with you

And can you feel the love tonight
It is where we are
It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer
That we got this far

And can you feel the love tonight

How it's laid to rest
It's enough to make kings and vagabonds
Believe the very best

There's a time for everyone if they only learn

That the twisting kaleidoscope moves us all in turn
There's a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors
When the heart of this star-crossed voyager beats in time with yours

Yes, leave it to Elton John to make my little boy grow up right before my teary eyes. 

You see, my children are not good sleepers.  I, on the other hand, love to sleep.  I used to be really good at it.  I don't get enough of it and I always want more of it. 

As a result of this, I find myself wishing we could just move on to a stage with the boys where everyone would soundly sleep all night in their own room.  I tell myself this time will come when our three year old is six and our six year old is nine.  I have no real justification for this theory; it's just what I am planning on. 

I will never wish for this stage to end again.  I am certain I will long for this time in our lives someday and I refuse to wish away ever again.  All it took was a kindergarten graduation that celebrated 20 exceptional children moving on to first grade (and maybe a help from Elton).  I looked at my baby boy that, I swear, it feels like was just born yesterday and saw the next 20 years flash before my eyes.  Time moved so quickly in that instant and it made me want to make it stop.  But time stops for no one and we can’t go back, so we have to enjoy where we are when we are there.

Congratulations to all of the graduates out there, young and old!

Mystery reader ...

Tomorrow, in a classroom full of unsuspecting kindergartners, my husband will debut as a mystery reader. He has selected "Hand, Hands, Fingers, Thumb" and plans to take a drum from home as a prop.

In his efforts to be "the cool dad", he enlisted my help for additional goodies. Tonight I will be custom designing 25 darling little drums from plastic bowls to be used with colorful, sturdy colored straws for drumsticks.

These, followed by the stash of Smarties he will have to pass out at the end of the story should be a real bang! dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum

Me, I'm only seeing stars

Last night just before bed, my husband, our two little boys and Jake the cat all stepped out onto the deck to stargaze for a moment and say goodnight to the moon.  From this sentence you will learn that in my home, I am grossly outnumbered by males.  On occasion, this results in me feeling like a princess. But most of the time my life feels more like Cinderella.  Not to say that I don't frequent the ball, but on a daily basis it's the balance of out of home work, in home work and oh yes, homework.

The magic happens in tiny moments like when our two-year-old giggles, or when our six-year-old hugs his little brother and speaks from his heart.  But last night was different. After a stressful work day, baseball practice and one two-year-old tantrum after another, who would have thought there would be magic?

I spotted the most fantastic shooting star burning across our night sky.  And as fate would have it, I was the only one to see it. It was, without doubt, the most amazing shooting star I have ever seen!   A trail of glitter raced to follow it.  I could almost hear the burning, crackling sound. My husband exclaimed "make a wish"!  Our six-year-old said "I know what mommy will wish for" and I curiously asked "what?"

"You wished that me and brother would be more thankful."  My heart melted. I am constantly telling the boys they are such lucky children and need to be thankful for everyone and everything they have. In this way, I have turned into my mother. I actually catch myself telling the boys about starving children, the children without homes and the children who have no one to love them. 

Last night I learned again, as I have so many times before,  to practice what I preach. My wise little boy reminded me that Cinderella is a princess, even when she may not feel like one. 

And on that star I wished to myself, "please help me to be more thankful for everything I have."

Today, I am starting my very own blog.  After all, I am a writer.  I have always been a writer. It is a part of me.  And now it is part of the glitter, that is chasing my star, across the universe.