Archive through February 20, 2001

The ClubHouse: General Discussions - Jan -Apr. 2001: April: The Chapel: Archive through February 20, 2001

Elitist

Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 01:48 pm Click here to edit this post

I liked Church in Game I and The Chapel in Game II so much I thought maybe we needed a place here to post inspirational thoughts, prayers, songs, and support requests. Maybe even a few grumpy thoughts too.

Nancy091158

Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 04:04 pm Click here to edit this post

good idea elite--i think somewhere on that loosing a pet thread they're was a few good saying that i have to re-read know that i DID loose one... ;)

Moondance

Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 04:08 pm Click here to edit this post

I posted this in the Loss thread but I felt it was worth repeating... dedicated to Midnight

Rites of Passage

Some of the most poignant moments I spend as a veterinarian are those spent with my clients assisting the transition of my animal patients from this world to the next. When living becomes a burden, whether from pain or loss of normal functions, I can help a family by ensuring that their beloved pet has an easy passing. Making this final decision is painful, & I have often felt powerless to comfort the grieving owners.

That was before I met Shane.

I had been called to examine a ten year old dog named Belker who had developed a serious health problem. The dog's owners; Ron, his wife, Lisa, & their little boy, Shane were all very attached to Belker & they were hoping for a miracle. I examined Belker & found he was dying of cancer.

I told the family there were no miracles left for Belker, & offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home. As we made arrangements, Ron & Lisa told me they thought it would be good for Shane to observe the procedure. They felt he could learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on.

Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away. The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.

Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, "I know why."
Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation.

He said, "Everybody is born so that they can learn how to live a good life; like loving everybody and being nice, right?"

"Well, animals already know how to do that,
so they don't have to stay as long."

By Robin Downing, D.V.M.
from Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul

Nancy091158

Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 04:10 pm Click here to edit this post

Thank you Moon--Midnight and I both appreciate it...Somewhere up there she is watching Mommy cry and say its OK..i'm in no more pain...

Moondance

Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 04:22 pm Click here to edit this post

{{{Kisses, Purrs and Hugs}}}

Nancy091158

Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 04:31 pm Click here to edit this post

This is a long one but makes you realize how things are seldom what they appear to be...


Consider This


After Fred Astaire’s first screen test, the memo from the testing director of MGM, dated 1933, said, “can’t act! Slightly Bald! Can dance a little!” Astaire kept that memo over the fireplace in his Beverly Hills home.

An expert said of Vince Lombardi: “He possesses minimal football knowledge. Lacks Motivation.”

Socrates was called, “An immoral corrupter of youth.”

When Peter J. Daniel was in the fourth grade, his teacher, Mrs. Phillips, constantly said, “Peter J. Daniel, you’re no good, you’re a bad apple and you’re never going to amount to anything.” Peter was totally illiterate until he was 26. A friend stayed up with him all night and read him a copy of Think and Grow Rich. Now he owns the street corners he used to fight on and just published his latest book: Mrs. Phillips, You Were Wrong.

Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, was encouraged to find work as a servant or seamstress by her family.

Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him hopeless as a composer.

The parents of the famous opera singer Enrico Caruso wanted him to be an engineer. His teachers said he had no voice at all and could not sing.

Charles Darwin, father of the Theory of Evolution, gave up a medical career and was told by his father, “You care for nothing but shooting, dogs, and rat catching.” In his autobiography, Darwin wrote, “I was considered by my father, a very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard in intellect.

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas. Walt Disney also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland.

Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was too stupid to learn anything.

Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four years old and didn’t read until he was seven. His teacher described him as “mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in his foolish dreams.” He was expelled and refused admittance to Zurich Polytechnic School.

Louis Pasteur was only a mediocre pupil in undergraduate studies and ranked 15 out of 22 in chemistry.

Isaac Newton did very poorly in grade school.

The sculptor Rodin’s father said, “I have an idiot for a son.” Described as the worst pupil in the school, Rodin failed three times to secure admittance to the school of art. His uncle called him uneducable.

Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace, flunked out of college. He was described as “both unable and unwilling to learn.”

Playwright Tennessee Williams was enraged when his play, Me, Vasha was not chosen in a class competition at Washington University where he was enrolled in English XVI. The teacher recalled that Williams denounced the judges’ choices and their intelligence.

F. W. Woolworth’s employers at the dry goods store said he had not enough sense to wait upon customers.

Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he finally succeeded.

Babe Ruth, considered by sports historians to be the greatest athlete of all time and famous for setting the home run record, also holds the record for strikeouts.

Winston Churchill failed sixth grade. He did not become Prime Minister of England until he was 62, and then only after a lifetime of defeats and setbacks. His greatest contributions came when he was a “senior citizen.”

Eighteen publishers turned down Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull, before Macmillan finally published it in 1970. By 1975 it had sold more than seven million copies in the U.S. alone.

Richard Hooker worked for seven years on his humorous war novel, M*A*S*H, only to have it rejected by 21 publishers before Morrow decided to publish it. It became a runaway bestseller, spawning a blockbusting movie and highly successful television series.

By Jack Canfield and Mark V. Hansen
from A Cup of Chicken Soup for the Soul

Moondance

Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 04:40 pm Click here to edit this post

Once upon a time there was a wise man
who used to go to the ocean to do his writing.
He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work


One day he was walking along the shore.
As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer


He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day.
So he began to walk faster to catch up


As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man
and the young man wasn't dancing,
but instead he was reaching down to the shore,
picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean


As he got closer he called out,
"Good morning! What are you doing?"


The young man paused, looked up and replied,
"Throwing starfish in the ocean"


"I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"


"The sun is up and the tide is going out.
And if I don't throw them in they'll die"


"But, young man, don't you realize
that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it.
You can't possibly make a difference!"


The young man listened politely.
Then bent down, picked up another starfish
and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said
"It made a difference for that one"

Nancy091158

Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 04:48 pm Click here to edit this post

From Brian Tracey....



You are a living magnet; you invariably attract into your life the people, situations and circumstances that are in harmony with your dominant thoughts.
This is one of the great laws that explain much of success and failure in business and personal life. It has been written about as far back as the ancient Egyptian mystery schools, 3000 years before Christ. It is so powerful, pervasive and all encompassing that it affects everything you do or say, or even think or feel.

Everything you have in your life, you have attracted to yourself because of the way you think, because of the person you are. You can change your life because you can change the way you think. You can change the person you are.

You have heard it said, "Birds of a feather flock together." "Like attracts like." "Whatever you want, wants you." These are ways of expressing the Law of Attraction.

Your thoughts are extremely powerful. They are a form of mental energy that travels at the speed of light. They are so fine that they can go through any barrier. This is why, for example, you can think about a person, sometimes at a great distance, and in the next moment, the phone will ring and that person will be on the line. Your thoughts have connected with that person the moment you thought them.

Nancy091158

Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 04:55 pm Click here to edit this post

One last one for the night LOL...


The goal in life is to die young - as late as possible.

Ashley Montagu (1905 - 1999)
Anthropologist

Norwican

Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 07:27 am Click here to edit this post

Hey Big Guy... you know why I'm here.
If you want him he is prepared... and we will give him our blessing to leave us.

Digilady

Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 08:35 am Click here to edit this post

{{{ NORWICAN }}}

Love to you.

Willi

Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 08:43 am Click here to edit this post

(((Norwican)))

Elitist

Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 09:05 am Click here to edit this post

Norwican - sorry but I had a chuckle at your message. You see, a lot of people call me "Big Guy" in RL as a nickname, and when I saw your post I was trying to figure out how I would know why you were here.

I hope everything is Ok, as it usually is when you leave it in His hands. {{{Norwican}}}

Norwican

Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 09:54 am Click here to edit this post

LOL Elit

{{{Digi, Willi, Elit}}}

Lucky for you I can't give you guys real hugs... you'd probably have to pry me off ya

Noslonna

Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 10:12 am Click here to edit this post

Remember Papa

When I was a kid, a father was like the light in a refrigerator. Every house had one, but nobody knew what either of them did once the door was shut.

My dad left the house every morning and always seemed glad to see everyone at night.

He opened the jar of pickles when nobody else could.

He was the only one in the house who wasn't afraid to go to the basement by himself.

He cut himself shaving, but no one kissed it or got excited about it.

It was understood whenever it rained, he got the car and brought it around to the door.

When anyone was sick, he got the prescription filled.

He set mousetraps, cut back the roses to the thorns, wouldn't clip you when you came to the front door.

When I got a bike, he ran alongside me for at least a thousand miles until I got the hang of it.

I was afraid of everyone else's father, but not my own.

Once I made him tea. It was only sugar water, but he sat on a small chair and said it was delicious.

Whenever I played house, the mother doll had a lot to do. I never knew what to do with the daddy doll, so I had him say, "I'm going off to work now," and threw him under the bed.

When I was nine years old, my father didn't get up one morning and go to work.

He went to the hospital and died the next day.

I went to my room and felt under my bed for the daddy doll. When I found him, I dusted him off and put him on my bed.

He never did anything - I didn't know his leaving would hurt so much. I still don't know why.

~Erma Bombeck

Norwican

Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 10:50 am Click here to edit this post

{{{Nos}}}

Willi

Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 12:30 pm Click here to edit this post

I love Erma Bombeck. Her writings "speak to me."

Thanks for sharing that Nos.

Elitist

Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 01:03 pm Click here to edit this post

To James

We never knew
Your touch,
Your laugh,
Your smile.

But one who did
Brought you to us
Through her words,
Through her love.

From her we know
Your touch,
Your laugh,
Your smile.

And you live on
In our hearts,
In our minds,
In our souls.

Digilady

Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 03:07 pm Click here to edit this post

{{{ Elit }}}

You're one of kind. I can't thank you enough, and I'll send this to Vivian so she can enjoy it too.

Love ya, pal.

Noslonna

Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 05:47 pm Click here to edit this post

Willi, I love Erma's writing too. I also lost my father when I was 9 and that spoke to me. Most of all though, I thought of Norwican and Digi.. hug your dads while you have them.

For E and Guru I also think of dads. One who is a great dad and one who will be...

This one from Erma is for them:


WHEN GOD CREATED FATHERS

When the good Lord was creating Fathers he started with a tall frame. And a female angel nearby said, "What kind of Father is that? If you're going to make children so close to the ground, why have you put fathers up so high? He won't be able to shoot marbles without kneeling, tuck a child in bed without bending, or even kiss a child without a lot of stooping."

And God smiled and said, "Yes, but if I make him child size, who would children have to look up to?"

And when God made a Father's hands, they were large and sinewy. And the angel shook her head sadly and said, "Do you know what you're doing? Large hands are clumsy. They can't manage diaper pins, small buttons, rubber bands on pony tails or even remove splinters caused by baseball bats."

And God smiled and said, "I know, but they're large enough to hold everything a small boy empties from his pockets at the end of a day...yet small enough to cup a child's face in his hands."

And then God moulded long, slim legs and broad shoulders. And the angel nearly had a heart attack. "Boy, this is the end of the week, all right," she clucked. "Do you realize you just made a Father without a lap? How is he going to pull a child close to him without the kid falling between his legs?"

And God smiled and said, "A mother needs a lap. A father needs strong shoulders to pull a sled, balance a boy on a bicycle, and hold a sleepy head on the way home from the circus." [ed: dads have laps to rock lil girls too E]

God was in the middle of creating two of the largest feet anyone had ever seen [ed: size 13] when the angel could contain herself no longer. "That's not fair. Do you honestly think those large boats are going to dig out of bed early in the morning when the baby cries? Or walk through a small birthday party without crushing at least three of the guests?"

And God smiled and said, "They'll work. You'll see. They'll support a small child who wants to ride a horse to Banbury Cross, or scare off mice at the summer cabin, or display shoes that will be a challenge to fill."

God worked throughout the night, giving the Father few words, but a firm authoritative voice; eyes that saw everything, but remained calm and tolerant. Finally, almost as an afterthought, he added tears. Then he turned to the angel and said, "Now, are you satisfied that he can love as much as a Mother?"

The angel shutteth up.

"Children's children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children is their father." (Proverbs 17:7).

~Erma Bombeck

Soeur

Friday, February 16, 2001 - 12:15 pm Click here to edit this post

I belong to an online study group. We are studying 'The Awakened Heart' by Gerald May. The question came up, 'Does non-human creation really desire love?'. One of the participants posted the following reflection:


We have cats at our house. My husband is loud so often and they can never tell how to react to him. It is funny to watch them when he is in a bad mood. They go out of their way to get away from him, even though it is not directed at them, they sense it. They love the children when they want to play, they will go up to them and play with them, even if they are rough, they will let them dance with them and swing them all around (the younger kittens). However there are times when they can sense that the children want to play and they do not, so they will go out of their way to hide from them. When they want love, they come to me, they seem to look for me. My Persian cat will sit there when I am reading a book or working on the computer and take his paw and tap me continually, like my children do in need of love. I sometimes wonder if he could talk what he would tell me, however they don't seem to need words to let you know that they need love or attention in some form or fashion.

Of one more note and I will stop with the cat stories for all you non-cat people. The two kittens we have were dumped off and they were very afraid when they were little. You could not come near them, no one could. But my little girl (6) refused to give up on them. She continued to offer them her love. Love prevailed and through her they were tamed. For the longest she was the only one that could get near them, I think they had been abused. Once they opened up to her love and received it, it was all over with. And needless to say the mom who did not want any more cats got 2 more.

Sometimes I watch my Persian sitting so gracefully taking everything in, without a care in the world, as the world does not seem to affect him. He does not wonder will he eat, will he sleep or will he be warm in the winter - he just accepts that he is. Sometimes I would like to be a cat with no worries, not wondering will I get this bill paid or will I have enough left over to buy groceries and clothes for the children, - but then I can have everything my cat has - if I will just accept what is mine, free, at no cost. If I will lay aside all the problems that the world offers me and demands I set my mind on, then I too can be just like my cat and sit in peace knowing that all is well - for it really is, sometimes I just don't have my focus where it needs to be thus making me live in a life full of worries - but underneath all the worries, lies love and peace and it is mine, free, if I will but reside there.

Willi

Tuesday, February 20, 2001 - 06:14 am Click here to edit this post

I would really appreciate strong positive thoughts and prayers directed towards a very important court hearing taking place in New Hampshire this Thursday morning (2/22) at 8:30am EST.

Thank You.

Lancecrossfire

Tuesday, February 20, 2001 - 07:53 am Click here to edit this post

Willi, consider them coming your way!!!! Hope all goes as you'd like. Will you let us know?

Willi

Tuesday, February 20, 2001 - 08:02 am Click here to edit this post

I surely will let you know.

Thanks Lance.

Norwican

Tuesday, February 20, 2001 - 08:05 am Click here to edit this post

Done Willi