Silly Goose

Each year, in the early spring, a goose couple generally spends their days hanging out in and around my pond. I don’t know if it’s the same couple each year, but none the less, it’s a couple.

 They fly in some time in the morning, and fly back out in the evening, to where I assume is the spot that the entire flock gathers for the night.

They have a distinct call out to each other signaling when it’s time to leave, and then in perfect harmony, they take flight side by side, heading for their nighttime destination.

You can usually expect that same thing to occur each evening, except tonight, when it didn’t.

The couple headed away from the pond as usual, although the female, moving slowly, lagged behind to graze for a bit longer. The male honked and flapped his wings as if to signal to her that it was time to leave. She just kept grazing, walking behind him. He honked once more, and then took off!!... She stopped grazing, and looked up to see him flying away.

He kept flying. She kept watching him. He was gone. She stood in the same spot looking toward the sky, as if she was trying to command him to return and get her.

I sat and watched her for over 20 minutes, not sure what to think or expect.

She continued staring up at the sky from the exact spot where he left her.

Of course I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t do some narration in my head as to what she must be thinking, and what he was going to think when he turned around and she wasn’t there. I giggled... Aahh couples.

Anyway, after I found some humor in the situation, I started to get concerned for her. What if she has eggs in her and now she lost her mate?

She still stood there.

My internal dialog went something like this:

"What should I do?"

"Nothing, Meg, you have to let nature take its course."

 "I know...The poor thing!"

Just then, after 20 minutes, I heard a honk, and she looked up towards that honk.

Oh, please let it be her mate!

He flew in and landed right by her side, and without missing a beat, she resumed grazing, barely acknowledging him. He lowered his head in a sign of aggression and I wondered if maybe that wasn’t her mate, but then he calmed down as she kept grazing.

 I thought to myself, she really looked worried while he was gone, but as soon as he showed up, she acted like she didn’t even know he was gone. Silly Goose!

They waddled toward the pond for a quick dip, and then, together this time, they flew off in perfect harmony.

Next Steps

 


Included in my severance package, was a subscription for a career placement company, and to kick that service off, I had to sit in on a webinar to hear what they had to offer.

I had been so busy with the holidays, and a relentless cold, that I didn’t have much time to think about my redirection from my Corporate America role to my unemployed role, so, when the call came in to set this webinar up, my gut immediately reminded me of which role I was now playing.

Oh, yeah, that…

So, finally, after a less than professional start to their webinar, I listened to the company talk about what steps needed to occur to get ready for my next job search. Truthfully, I didn’t want to be on this call; I didn’t want to be in this position, but I knew the value of their service, so I sucked it up and tried to make the best of it.

They talked about the importance of networking, LinkedIn and all of  the Social Media channels, the elevator speech, resume writing, interviewing and on and on; all topics that I was aware of already, all topics that I didn’t want to hear about right now.

What was wrong with me?!

Now, only half listening to the webinar, I stared out the window and watched a Red Tail Hawk floating on the wind, searching the ground below for his next meal. I thought to myself, he is sending me a message; “Fly and follow your passion, Meg!” and I thought to myself “Yes, that’s what I want to hear about right now!”

My prior career had never been about my passion, just a means to an end. And with that fleeting thought, the Hawk then flapped his wings furiously, which I interpreted to mean “You will have to work hard to get to your passion, it’s not as easy as my soaring in the sky appears”

That’s okay, I am okay with hard work if it means finally getting to my passion.

To those who think I am crazy, I stand behind my belief that we are always receiving signs and messages from the universe, but so many times, we choose to ignore them. I choose to watch very closely for signs, probably too much, but I don’t want to miss anything important, and I would like to point out that as soon as that webinar was done, I didn’t see the Hawk anymore.

Coincidence? I think not!

So, what are my passions, and next steps? Well, I am passionate about many things, but I am also very practical, so I am taking a two pronged approach to this. I am going to fully utilize the services offered to me and continue to look for a career in Corporate America, hopefully the creative side of it this time, and for the first time in my life, I feel that I am finally brave enough to pursue my other passion in writing.

Writing about what? Well, that’s still to be determined, but who am I to argue with universe.

Re-directed

This quote has been so true for me, and I need to keep it at the front of my brain and continue to have faith in it for the next journey in my life.

This journey, as most of my journeys, is still unknown, a little scary, and filled with more questions than answers, but I am keeping an open mind.

I have been in corporate America for many years. I know how things go down when you have a regime change, so while I anticipated some shake up to occur due to a recent change, I hadn’t really expected to be hearing these words that were said to me last week. “Due to the company reorganization, your current position is being relocated to the corporate office. We value you and would like you to stay with us in your position, however, you must relocate in order to keep it”

BAM! I felt like I had just been kicked in the gut…really... hard...

My stomach churned, my pulse raced, and my face felt like it was on fire. I worked hard to maintain my composure, stay professional, and keep a poker face while I listened to their offer. Sadly, an offer I could not accept. I couldn’t just move away from my family, my home and my life, but what would happen if I didn’t accept it?

They went on to explain that if I didn’t accept the offer to relocate, I would be offered a severance package.

Wait… what??!!

A severance package? Me?

Yep, me.

So I sat and listened as much as I could under the circumstances, to the details of my severance package. My stomach churned even harder and threatened to retaliate against me. Oh, how I cursed my nervous gut!

I would get a package sent to my home the next day with all of the details and documents that were discussed in the meeting. 

I took notes as fast and as legible as I could, while trying to comprehend all that they were saying. When they were done talking, they asked me if I had any questions, to which I quietly replied “No, not at this time”

I thought to myself, you just gave me life changing news, and you seriously think that I can come up with a clear thought?

I then gathered my composure and my things and quietly slipped out of a company that I had worked at for over 23 years. I wasn’t allowed to say goodbye to anyone as there were others that they were going to talk to, and they didn’t want me to tip anyone off. I wanted to be sad for whoever else that this was going to happen to, but could only focus on my own news.

The drive home was agonizing and a little surreal. What was I going to say to my family? Had I made a rash decision not to accept the company paid relocation offer without consulting them first? Surely they wouldn’t want me to move, but still, this was a big decision to make without hearing them out.

Ugh, what did I just do?

Finally home, I was numb, except for my gut which was still feeling the nerves.

Okay, what’s next? I finally got the courage to tell my husband, who at first was in disbelief, and then, encouraging to me. We would talk about it more when he got home from work, so I sat alone in a quiet house wondering again; what’s next, why me, what if, and all of the other what’s and whys that could possibly enter a mind when you get that kind of news.

With the never-ending thoughts consuming me, I decided to run my weekly errands. After all, I wasn’t working, so I might as well get that done, plus, I was hoping that the distraction would give my overloaded mind a break. Getting out did help with that, but it didn’t keep the tears from stinging my eyes every time I relived that meeting.

I tried to see the positive in it, and told myself that everything happens for a reason. I truly believe that, and wanted to be optimistic about what might be next for me. I reminded myself that this was better than being told that someone I loved was no longer around. That actually helped me to put it into perspective in my strong moments, but I still struggled in my weak ones.

Corporate America was good to me, and this was going to be a change. Not that I ever made my job my identity, but it helped me to make a nice living and this was a good company to work for.

The package was delivered as promised the next day. I read and reread it trying to comprehend it all. It was hard, to say the least, and it took a couple of days to really understand that their offer was very generous. It would give me the financial security needed while I figured out next steps, so I felt blessed for that.

Next couple of days brought a lot of soul searching and discussions with my family and closest friends. “It will be okay”, I reassured them, as I was secretly reassuring myself, not really sure if I was believing it. Luckily, no one thought that I had made the wrong decision in turning down the relocation offer and agreed with my reasons for doing so.

So, here it is a week later. I sit at my computer writing this with many feelings and thoughts going on in my body and mind. I still don’t know where I am going, or where I will end up, but I do know that if the future is anything like the past, then I must believe and reiterate this:

“As I look back on my life, I realize that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being redirected to something better.”

I am hopeful.

Goodness

I haven’t written much in a while, quite a while actually. Not that I haven’t felt the need nor desire to, or have had a lack of things to write about. Truthfully, I could have written my thoughts in a thousand different blogs on what’s going on in the world, and more near and dear to my heart, the issues with our beautiful, but oh so suffering, USA.

My mother always said that you shouldn’t talk about religion and politics to anyone, as everyone has their own opinion and you aren’t going to change that. So, I have lived by that advice, and I am not going to start now, but I will say that I am sickened by what is going on in what seems like everywhere, with everything, and everyone. So much that it’s hard not to think that there is more evil than good in this world.

 I have lived through threats of wars, real wars, bad politicians, and just plain bad people, but I cannot ever remember so much going on all the same time! Maybe it’s always been this bad, and I didn’t realize it, but do now in our age of instant information. Or, maybe there really is this much evil, selfishness, and hatred out there, but I hope not.

 I know some really beautiful, loving and giving people, and those are the ones that I surround myself with. The kind of people that really just want to have love, peace and happiness in their lives. Simple really, but lately, if you watch the news, it feels like that is hard to have. Luckily for me, I know many good people, and two people in particular that I am blessed to have in my life are my mother and father in law.

They are the epitome of hard working, giving, beautiful, and loving people. They restore my faith in human kind in so many ways, including a couple of weeks ago. While my 89 year old mom in law was in the hospital for a fairly serious infection, her family gathered in her room waiting for the doctor to advise the options for her recovery. Some of the siblings stepped out of the room for a moment, but I stayed behind and witnessed a beautiful moment between them that I have to share.

 Mom in law looked over at her husband of 67 years with fear and sadness in her eyes. Dad in law (a gentle giant mountain of a man) came over to her and reached down to kiss her. They kissed, hugged, and both had tears in their eyes as she softly assured him that she was not going to leave him, to which he replied that when she did take that journey, he would be going with her. True love, and one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen! I thought to myself, if we could all experience that kind of love and devotion, wouldn’t this world be a better place with less hate, evil and anger?

Yes, there is a lot going on out in this world, and a lot of it is scary, and very sad, but I also know that there is still goodness and good people out there too. Maybe we have to look a little harder to find it, or open our eyes a little wider to see it, but if we all live by example with the goal of love, peace and happiness, maybe we too can experience that same kind of pure love and devotion that took place between two scared, beautiful people in that hospital room a couple of weeks ago.

Farmers

This time of the year, in the early fall, I love the sound of the combines taking off the soy bean fields.  Its not that the actual sound of the machines sound like song birds or an angels harp, but still, there is something so soothing and comforting to me in hearing those machines purr, while they carefully go through each row of beans, early in the morning, throughout the day, and  sometimes, even pretty late into the night. I even like seeing their trucks sitting on the sides of the roads, waiting for the farmers to finish up and put more beans in them to be taken on to the grain mills. The now stubbly brown field, freshly cut, left with maybe a few fallen beans, waiting for a hungry deer to come by and gobble them up, look bare, but also like an accomplishment.

I wonder if they ever think about how many products their beans are going to be made into, and where all of these beans will end up. I know I would be thinking about all that, but maybe that’s just me.

And the farmers, oh, how I admire the farmers for doing what they do. Truly unsung heroes in my book!

All farmers are hardworking people, keeping long hours in all weather, at Mother Nature’s mercy, yet, they keep on doing what they do. Some of them make farming their full time job, but many cannot afford to do that, so they keep a regular job, and then farm on the weekends or whenever they can, hoping and praying that the weather, and their equipment will cooperate with them to get the very important job at hand done, in the sometimes very small windows that they have to work with.

 I don’t think that they do it for the money, as many that I know sometimes just break even when all is said and done. No, I think that they do this for the same reasons that I raise a garden each summer, regardless of how exhausting it can be. They do it as a labor of love, a comfort knowing that someone will eat because of what they did.  Strangers from near and far benefit from these hard working, good people that we call farmers.

Mountains of Holiday Catalogs

“Oh the noise, noise, noise, noise, NOISE!!”

Does the above quote from one of my favorite books “How the Grinch stole Christmas” sound familiar to you? You know, when the Grinch was fed up with all the noise down in who Ville!

Well, that pretty much sums up how I feel about all of the catalogs, catalogs, catalogs, catalogs, CATALOGS that I get this time of the year!

If you are like me and have bought anything on line through a catalog, you know and expect that you are going to get catalogs throughout the year from that company, and many times, from affiliated companies, reminding you of what other wonderful things that they have to offer for you to purchase.

Not only do they send me about a gazillion emails for the same catalogs, but many companies also hit me up with their latest paper catalog about 1 to 4 times a month throughout the year! And now ‘tis the season that I seem to get (and I am not exaggerating here) about 10 paper catalogs in my mail box….Every… Single…Day!

I feel terrible for the poor mail carriers who have to deliver these, not to mention the countless trees who have fallen for this cause!

And while some of these catalogs are from companies that I have ordered from, there are many others that I have never even heard of, can’t correlate how they might even be remotely associated with the other companies, and so, I have no idea how I get on their lists at all!

But, out of curiosity I briefly glance through some of these “new to me” catalogs and find some crazy items for sale. Items I didn’t know existed, and wondered who would ever even purchase some of these things. I mean, who in their right mind would need a $345,000.00 personal robot butler?! I am not kidding, there is actually one of these for sale out there! It seems to me that if you can afford a $345,000.00 robot butler, you can probably afford a living, breathing butler, so I come to the conclusion that someone has a lot of money and not nearly enough to do .

So what to do with the mountains of catalogs that I have accumulated in the last month? Well, I didn’t want to just throw them out, so I tried burning them in the burn barrel, but quickly found out that glossy paper does not burn well, so, until I find a recycling facility to drop them off at, I came up with some creative uses for a few of them. For instance, I found out that if you stack enough of them up, they serve as the perfect height for my nutcracker to sit on high atop my entertainment center, and since no one is as tall as that monster, you would never know that they are stacked up there.

But beyond the annoyance of receiving way too many paper catalogs this time of year, I see a bigger issue with this. With so many electronic means of communicating their products, why are so many companies still killing trees to print these? If I can get creative with how to use some of these paper catalogs, surely, they can come up with some creative solutions to not print so many in the first place! True, I may have to find another item to use for my nutcracker to sit on next year, but I think I could live with that!

The Flu Bug

I wrote this poem on December 21, 1991, when both of my kids were sick with the flu and thought that now would be a good time to post it to my blog since in the last week, all 3 of my grandchildren have had the flu... That dirty little louse!!

 

 

 

'Twas 4 days before Christmas, and all through my house,

the Flu Bug was present, that dirty little louse!

He jumped on my kids and said

"I'll let them go....NOT!"

"I'll make them cough, sleepy, miserable and so hot!"

"You won’t get any peace on earth THIS season!" he said

"Just when you think they're getting better, I'll stick them right back in bed!"

"This is war!" I exclaimed, "Both my barrels are loaded!"

And armed with Lysol, Tylenol, and Vicks, I then gloated

"You're days are numbered here bug so go on now, get out!"

"Christmas will come here and be HAPPY, with you or without!"

 

Then I heard him exclaim, as Lysol sprayed him out of sight

"You'll see me again, I've only begun the flu fight!"