If you by chance you do not know who Kim Davis is, you are either lucky or pay no attention to current events.  Kim Davis,  Kentucky’s Rowan County Clerk believed that her religious beliefs should outweigh the Federal Law allowing Same-sex Marriage.  After multiple warnings and and chastisement Mrs. Davis was arrested.  She was arrested for 1 reason and 1 reason only.  She refused to issue marriage licenses,  which is part of her job.  She didn’t step aside and have one of her deputies do it.  She flat out refused to allow her office to issue licenses to same sex couples. 
     Mrs.  Davis has been married 4 times. Twice to the same man, technically has children out of wedlock, but professes to be a “good God-fearing  Christian”.  Mostly because it fits her agenda and plan at the moment.
     Mrs.  Davis was released from jail today,  but if she returns to work she will have to issue same sex marriage licenses.  Something she has steadfastly refused to do. Her deputies will continue to issue licenses, even if they are told to stop by her.  This is what they stated today.
     This is very simple.  The US Supreme Court upheld the law making it legal for same sex marriages to occur in every 50 states in this nation.  The US Supreme Court is the highest court in the land.  The final stopping place on the legal trail of appeals.
      Those that say that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction over this seem to forget Brown vs.  Board of Education and Roe vs Wade.  These are all landmark cases taken all the way to the Supreme Court. 
     I am not disputing that Mrs. Davis has the right to her religious beliefs.  She just can not cram them down everyone else’s throat and refuse to do her job while standing on her religious soapbox.  If she doesn’t want or can’t perform her job with all of its assigned duties because she is morally or religiously opposed.  Then she is free to resign or go back to jail, those are her choices.
    

    

   There seems to be an awful lot of shaming going around lately.  Parents shaming their children on-line for behavior that they find inappropriate.  With shaming behavior that I find equally as repulsive.  I saw a post today on fb of a father holding up a sign in front of his son, detailing all his sons bullying behavior.  I abhor bullying,  it is an act committed by cowards.  That doesn’t mean that I agree with the behavior from the father.  He is just as much a bully as his son is,  he bullied his son.  Shaming him on the same social media that the son used for his bullying.  What comes to mind is the old but wise saying “two wrongs don’t make a right”.
     I am sure in the fathers eyes he is calling his son out and showing the world what a good parent he is.  In my eyes he is showing us all he can embarrass his son on a world wide level.  Way to go dad,  not!!
     This has occurred in other instances, that don’t include social media posting.  Cases of parents making their children hold posters on busy streets saying they skipped school, or are flanking classes or stole something.  These are all instances to make the teenagers feel tiny and ashamed and the parents feel empowered and in charge.  Hello these teens live in your house,  you are in charge,  you don’t need shaming signs to accomplish that.                                              Last year there was a Barber that was giving young African American children old man haircuts for free, on their parents request if they were not doing well in school.  Another kind of shaming, and what does it accomplish? Nothing but making the kids stand out and feel self conscious. 
     I know it takes a village to raise children, but this village needs to be better behaved, informed and less retaliatory.

   

     We finally did it,  after 2 years of test driving and researching and procrastination we bought a new car.  My 2005 Honda Pilot with over 217K miles on it was traded in and will go off to a wholesaler.  There is no escaping that we put a lot of miles on a car,  so leasing is out of the question.  When you live in a rural area leasing a vehicle makes little sense.  Having to travel 40 miles to work each day eats up the 12k allowable lease mileage really fast.
        I honestly feel like I have test driven every mid size SUV in my price class in the past 2 years.  (That is excluding BMW,  Audi, Porche, or Lexus.) I can give you their MPG,  their sizes,  and their standard features.
     I am proud to say decision made,  car bought,  I didn’t feel like a needed a shower after the process. 

   

    Do we ever really grow up and stop needing our parents?  My answer to that would be a resounding NO!!  Just because I am an adult does not mean I don’t need my Mom and Dad.  They raised me with great values, morals and standards.  Taught me how to be an adult,  how to be a good parent,  how to succeed and most of all how to accept my failures. With failures come the ability to learn,  grow and move forward. 
     Sometimes  admitting you don’t have all the answers or that your answers are wrong can be hard.  It is one of the parts of adulting that really sucks.  Admitting that you don’t know everything is both humbling and embarrassing at the same time.  Humbling I can do,  embarrassing not so much.
     Looking to your parents for the answers is both easy and hard all at the same time.  Easy because I know that they have them,  and hard because I don’t want to disappoint them.  In my eyes I am an adult with children of my own,  who look to me for answers.  Why should I have to look to someone else,  why should I not have all of them?  Realistically I know that is just pride and Irish Stubbornness getting in my way,  but I want to prove that I can do it on my own.
     The reality is no one can do this all alone,  I am truly fortunate to have amazing and fantastic parents.  They have taught me how to be independent and strong and tough.  But have also showed me that there is nothing wrong with asking for a little help.

  

   Our lives are a big circle,  one enters this world and another leaves it, completing the circle. Those entrances and exits don’t necessarily happen in the same day,  but they are usually pretty close in calendar proximity.  The same day that my oldest was born,  an elderly aunt exited the world.  When I was waiting for my youngest to be born,  as much as I wanted him to get here soon.  I knew that once he came,  my mother’s  dear friend battling colon cancer would exit this world. She was my angel, a peds nurse who constantly checked on me during my terrible pregnancy.  No matter how bad,  or sick she was feeling.  I knew once Connor entered this world that Susie would exit it,  the circle would be complete,  but there would be heartbreak as well as joy.

     These circles are never easy,  it doesn’t matter how long you have been on this earth. You or your family are never ready to let go. To let you slip from your earthly bounds and walk with angels.
     That is the internal struggle that is waging within me right now.  No matter how many years,  months, days or minutes you have with a loved one.  It never is enough.  So it begs the question “how much time is enough?”  In my opinion I don’t think we ever think we have enough time.  We always want more,  time,  moments,  precious memories made. 

     At the risk of sounding like a bad Hallmark Card,  take it from someone whose heart is hurting right now.  Love everyone around you,  forgive easily,  remember the good times and put the bad ones to rest.  We all have this ride to enjoy and make the best of the ups and downs, give yourself a break and let yourself cry. 

   

    It should come as no surprise that women are catty to each other. We are back biting,  underhanded mean and downright nasty. When in all reality we should be holding each up but what what we are really doing is putting each other down every chance we get. We are the first to find fault in each other and ourselves we point out flaws  mercilessly. Whether it be weight, clothing styles, choice in partner,  the way others raise their children or educate them. It is all up for grabs.
     The movie “Mean Girls” personifies how we treat each other and it only gets worse with age. The popularity race intensifies and threatens to overtake our lives.  None of this behavior serves a purpose other than to make one lady feel better than someone else. It is adult bullying, plain and simple. We try to teach our children to be nice to everyone, but at the same time we are snickering about their friends mom’s behind their backs.
     How can we expect our daughters to behave any better, change their ways of we still act like spoiled children ourselves?

    
    

Back in June I wrote a blog post about a Detox/Rehab center coming to a nearby town. How many area residents are unhappy about it, and debunked their reasoning.

Yesterday the City of Greenfield signed an agreement with the Rehab/Detox center to use the abandoned Lunt facility as a new site. The townspeople are apoplectic about it. They see their property values declining and crime soaring. No amount of convincing will make these townspeople see that this rehab center fills a need. Kicking addiction takes a village, but addicts need a ticket into that village, and they are few and far between – and very very costly. We in Franklin County are at the center of the problem, therefore we need to be at the center of the solution.

A need so insidious that there is a reason this section of New England is called The Heroin Highway. A need that runs so deep,  it is killing our young children at an alarming rate.  These are not throw away people, they are human beings. People who made mistakes,  daughter’s and sons, grandchildren, best friends, even moms and dads. This has to stop, and although this center can’t fix all of the mess. It can make a dent in the problem.

So it is time for everyone to understand the problem is in Your Backyard, therefore the solution needs to be there as well.

   

  We live in a country that has a Federal Minimum Wage of $7.90 as of 2015, in the state of Massachusetts (where I reside that minimum wage is $9.00 per hour.) To be clear the Federal minimum wage takes over if you reside in a state that does not have a minimum wage. I don’t know of anyone that can survive on $9.00 per hour, never mind $7.90 per hour. That money needs to pay rent, a car payment, insurance, groceries, a cell phone. It just isn’t feasible.
     There is a current movement to raise the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour. With this comes an uproar that customers won’t be able to afford the fast food and other commodities produced by minimum wage employees. Basic economics proves that is wrong, all wages along the spectrum will increase and the curve will balance.
     The other complaint is that an Army Private does not make $15.00 an hr, why should someone flipping burgers make that. An Army Private takes their life in their hand, a McDonald’s worker does not. All those arguments are perfectly valid. But there is one that is missing, an Army Private lives in base and is fed in a Mess Hall. He or she does not need to pay for food or housing out of that wage. Therefore theirs goes much farther. I support our troops, in every way shape and form, but using them as fodder in this argument is just wrong!!
    Apples and Oranges people, if you all want to complain about a raise in Minimum Wage, at least use a valid argument. Not one that just fits your ideals and preconceived notions.

    

      On the way home on the radio I heard a story about a man who caused a ruckus outside a Starbucks Coffee Shop in the Tampa Florida area. Mr. Rowan berated each and every customer that parked in the designated handicapped spaces, without proper license plates or hang tags to do so.

Telling them that those parking spaces were designated for other people, who were indeed handicapped. (Mr. Rowan’s son-in-law suffers from muscular dystrophy and he is well aware that finding a handicapped spot when needed can be difficult)
     Starbuck’s Management told him to leave the premises, stating “he was disrupting their customers”. In the mail about a week later he received a piece of mail from Starbucks Coffee. Thinking it might be an apology he quickly opened it. Instead it was a written order barring him from entry into any Starbucks Coffee Shop within the US!!!! (After getting a public backlash Starbucks has lifted their forever/everywhere ban.)
     My mom has a Hugo Walker, the kind with the big wheels and a wheelchair as well. I am a proud defender of those handicapped parking spaces. They are meant for people who are truly handicapped. Not those who just need to get their Latte’s and cappuccinos and half cafs, and hibiscus refreshers quicker and with less fuss than the rest of the customers.
     I applaud Mr. Rowan for his public actions, I have been known to glare at people parking in the handicapped spots, when they hop out of their cars and sprint to the store. Those spots are for people who need them, and by Starbucks choosing to allow their customers to break the law and park in spots that they aren’t entitled to. It gives this New Englander more reason to be a Dunkin Devotee for life. This girl runs on Dunkin!!!
    

    

It has been at least 3 years if not more since we have taken any sort of family vacation. All parts of life have gotten in the way. Tournament baseball, work, illness, just too much going on to try and plan some time off. This year planning, time and all of Neptune’s Moons aligned and we were able to take a 4 day family vacation.
     Kyle’s amazing girlfriend Kacie, and yes she is truly amazing. Her dad Nick owns a beach house. He allowed us to use the bottom floor for 4 days, while he and his family where on the top floor. He also entertained us, and fed us the first night, all of us. Kyle and Kacie had some friends from school that came to spend the night. Nick made dinner for all of us, Pasta, Taco Salad, Burgers, Soda for the kids, Beer or Wine for us Adults.  I was blown away. At 10:15 the town set off fireworks from a barge in the ocean, right in front of the house. Like they were done for us!!🎊🎊
     The next day we all spent the day basking in the sun, and the 2 days that followed, we did more of the same. Beach, eat lunch, more beach, walk by the ocean, have dinner, walk to the center get ice cream, walk home, go to bed. It was a glorious 4 days and completely worth the wait!!!!