Enjoy Your Kids Now, As Someday They Won't Be Around To...

Sometimes it is so easy to forget what's important. Sometimes it just takes a small reminder that we should stop, take a break, and enjoy life; even if it is just for a minute or two, or ten. Tonight, for example, I was sitting at my computer doing whatever it was I needed to do on my computer that seemed to be ever so important, when my seven and nine year kids turned up the stereo and started running around the living room laughing like crazy. They asked me if I wanted to come play with them and I said I was too busy...Oh, sooooo wrong, I thought, as I closed my eyes while slapping my hand to my forehead. My computer work will still be here in ten minutes, I thought, and my kids will be ten minutes older--ten minutes I will never get back with them.

I sat here for another minute and realized that what I was missing was important, not the computer work, but playing with my kids. I know, some day, sooner than I will be ready for, they will be gone and on their own and I will be sitting here wishing they could be here asking me to dance around the living room.

We ended up getting out our disco ball, cranking up the music, and dancing around like a bunch of crazy old fools, all the while laughing our heads off! I know that my computer isn't going anywhere, but someday my kids will, so I had better enjoy the heck out of them now, while they still want me to!
(c)2007 Cindy Breninger. All Rights Reserved.

Generosity Doesn't Come Easy for Some. My 100 word essay

Generosity Doesn't Come Easy for Some.
Yesterday, I watched as a homeless man asked a lady for her doggie bag as she exited a restaurant. She seemed angry and walked away.
How desperate he must have been to ask for a doggie bag-someone's half-eaten lunch. I gave him my lunch and he thanked me.
He looked so hungry, and that lady's refusal to help made my heart sink. He wasn't asking for money, just something to eat.
Sometimes it takes so little to make things easier for others.

I wrote the above story and it appeared in the Sacramento Bee Newspaper as an "I'm Just Saying" 100-word essay.

I have an extremely large soft spot for the homeless; I always have. How can it be ok for people, human beings, to sleep in a doorway on a cold, wintry night? I am really bothered by this and I wish I could help them. I get irritated if my blankets are crooked; they would be happy to have a blanket, crooked or not. I hate to see others suffer and it makes me sad. I wish I could fix the homeless problem, but I don't know how and I don't think I can. I can only wish that they are all ok and survive another night on the streets. Maybe someday, good things will happen and they will have a nice house with lots of extra blankets that they can share with others.
(c)2007 Cindy Breninger. All Rights Reserved.