Gump

Forrest Gump has to be one of my all-time-favorite films. We just watched it once more a few days ago and I was engrossed all over again. The character of Forrest Gump reminds us all (and teaches some) about the realities of life. This character portrays (in an innocent way only the mentally challenged can) every single emotion given a label.
"My Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get." It was spoken with unparalleled innocence in a fashion only found in the character of Forrest Gump and portrayed by Tom Hanks, the two having become in my mind, synonymous; when I think of either the other comes to mind.

"Mama always said dying was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn't." This makes me want to reach out and hug him....and oh how I sure also wish dying wasn't a part of life. Even if the dying have moved on to a better place (I believe that's so) it's still so hard to say goodbye.

"Stupid is as stupid does."...........and so by their actions are they stupid who call others so.

"That's all I have to say about that."..........how to say it more simple, caring, honest and innocent I don't know.

"We was always taking long walks and we was always looking for a guy named Charlie." A young man like the character of Forrest Gump should not have been taken to war but many were and I'm sure many lost their lives.

"My mama always said you've got to put the past behind you before you can move on." He took everything his mama said literally, applied her advice to living his life and didn't grow bitter or seek revenge.

"Mama always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them." His mama was his rock. I could weep at the loss an individual such as Gump would feel to lose her from his life.

"She got the cancer and died on Tuesday. I bought her a new hat with flowers on it. And that's all I have to say about that." Explanation enough. He didn't offer needless words to evoke sympathy from anyone even though his heart was broken with the loss of his mama.

There are so many quotes from this film; it's hard to choose just a few to comment on.

Forrest Gump came into my life because he was on my television screen in my own living room. He touched me in countless ways and wiggled his way right into my heart (along with his mama).

Happy Valentines Day

Valentines Day is not just chocolates and little red candies (though they are really quite yummy). It's a day to say I love you in a unique way.........not that we ever need a certain day to say I love you.........it just reminds us of the opportunity to make it special.

Happy Valentines Day to everyone!

The Burning Question

What is your burning question today?

My burning question today is "What shall I blog about?" and so I have chosen to write about life's questions.

Some days I have important burning questions; some days I have seemingly silly and unimportant burning questions. Some questions (even though the answer comes quickly & easily) are grave and have a profound effect on my life. Other questions (even though the answer comes with much difficulty & contemplation) are simple and straighforward. Sometimes I have one question which seems to plague me the entire day, other times I have what seems like hundreds of questions that continue on and on throughout the day; as soon as I have answered one another will pop up.

My memory serves to remind me of one very important question "Shall I marry?". The answer I quickly and easily came up with was 'Yes' and as I look back on my life the answer should have been the opposite; I came up with the wrong answer for this situation. Having said that if I hadn't married I would never have had the two beautiful children I had nor the three wonderful grandchildren I was blessed with. So although I believe I came up with the wrong answer I certainly reaped some rewards from my answer to that question.

Another question that comes up almost every single day "What shall I wear?". This pretty simple question can sometimes occupy several agonizing minutes of time before I have it answered.

Some people say that if you look long enough and hard enough you will always find an answer but I think some questions have answers, some it seems I can find no answers to. I have been faced with such a question as "Why ever did she treat me like that?". I can examine, research, delve into and search for an answer for a very long time & eventually realize I will never know the answer to that particular question; I can only guess at an answer.

Burning questions..........questions............

It is said life is all about choices but, in order to make a choice we must first have asked a question, so maybe life is really all about questions. What do you think?

When I have answered my burning question of the day though (or decided there is no answer to be found) I have most often discovered that whether important or silly there was a purpose for the question to have come up; I followed a process to get to the answer and learned something along the way so don't ignore any of your questions. Search for an answer; you may gain surprising insight in your search.

I Shall Never Forget the Day.........

Back and forth, back and forth, the ball was going as we engaged in our game of 'catch', me being somewhat inexperienced, he being rather experienced. I was probably about eight or nine years old, my brother and partner in this game of catch around twenty three of twenty four. We were occupying some spare time on the farm where we lived & where we often took part in outside activities like kicking around a soccer ball or donning our gloves to play catch with the baseball. On this particular day the sun shone, the cows were out in the field, the pigs were wallowing in their muck, the horses meandered in the pasture, the chickens scurried about the yard, the dog lay on the doorstep, the ducks waddled around and life was good as we threw the ball to each other, laughing and enjoying the day. As I played catch with one brother, the other brother was inside (probably rolling some cigarettes) and my mom was also inside the house doing laundry I think. We had the playing field to ourselves.......none of the animals were in range or needed to fear our game.

I readied to return the ball to my brother, making a big production of the wind up, getting into the proper stance, then proceeded to deliver the pitch. Just as I was set to throw someone walked into the path the ball would take; I noticed too late; the ball had left my hand; it headed straight for its target (my brother's glove) but was intercepted by a body. It was my mom.......and the ball hit her right square on the side of the head......whap!

Oh good grief. I couldn't believe what I had just done! She staggered and cried "Oh catch me" as she was going down. My brother caught her and lowered her gently to the ground. I had knocked her out cold with the baseball! She came around & my two brothers took her inside the house to sit down in a chair. As all of this unfolded I began to cry. I was unconsolable. My brother tried to tell me that mom was going to be all right but I was hearing nothing & continued to wale. They all tried to talk to me but I was in no way receptive to hearing any of their words; I was just in distress over what I had done.

Eventually I calmed down (seems like it took forever to be able to stop crying) & I talked to my mom and she assured me she was ok and life went on.

There are many days, times, occasions & happenings I will remember always, this one among them; I shall never ever forget the day I hit my mom in the head with a baseball.

Groundhog Day

Wiarton Willie says it will be an early spring this year.

Wiarton Willie is from Ontario.

Shubenacadie Sam is also predicting an early spring.

Shubenacadie Sam is from Nova Scotia.

Punxsutawney Phil as well predicts an early spring for the US.......he is from Pensylvania.

So there you have it.........according to the groundhogs spring will be early in 2011. WooooooHoooooo! I'm sure some folk who have had a bad winter this year will be delighted if that should come to pass and why should it not? After all Willie and Sam and Phil all say it's so. That's good enough for me! How about you?

The origin of Groundhog Day came with German settlers in the 18th century.