Mother's Day 2012 and the Stupid Black Cat

I never verbally expressed what I wanted for Mother's Day after I mentioned that the iPad was the number one gift this season, hint, hint. My husband and adult children are great at giving me things that I want and sometimes things that I didn't even know I wanted. This year I was shocked when opened my gifts, God delivered big time.

I work part-time at a scrapbook store and like most crafters I am behind in preserving my family memories. I am always green with envy when I wait on customers stocking up for scrapbook weekend. I could only imagine what it would be like to have 48 hours to scrap as much as I wanted.

I am also training for my second Chicago Marathon which means I am always suffering from minor aches and pains. Years ago I went in the Coldwater Creek Spa to buy a gift card, you can smell the aroma therapy as soon as the elevators open. I have dreamed of getting a pedicure or a massage there.

I was surprised when my son Julian and his wife gave me a scrapbook weekend, wow. I had just taped a B & B brochure for scrapbookers inside the cabinet in my craftroom with the thought of one day in the distant future. Then my daughter presented me with a gift certificate from Coldwater Creek Spa for a deep tissue 50 minute massage. I hit the jackpot, I had never told anyone.

My mom was visiting and needed a ride home with her gift. I have avoided driving her since she stopped riding on the expressway but I was felt so good about my haul that I eagerly took on the journey. It is normally a 35 minute trip on a Sunday night but on the side streets the travel time is doubled. She did the usual passenger seat driving despite the fact that I have a clean driving record, I didn't care. When we got there I carried her TV up 3 flights of stairs and plugged it into the cable box; I wanted her to be as happy as I was so I did my best to set her up until the cable guy could hook up the HD cables. I even tried to program the Comcast remote for the TV but that was beyond my pay grade. I was floating, this was one of the best Mother's Day ever.

I left her apartment and eagerly headed to the expressway. Just as I made it to the entrance ramp a black cat crossed in front of my van. I am not superstitious, all I could think about was how that stupid cat was going to get hurt or killed on the Dan Ryan. It was about 5 minutes later that a light on my dashboard lit up. I called my husband and described the symbol as a sailboat. Simultaneously we figured out my engine was over heating, yikes. I kept telling myself to stay calm. When I finally decided to get off the Stevenson I was at Pulaski Road. I was home, the first 15 years of my life were spent riding the Pulaski bus and the south end was the neighborhood I traveled through for 4 years to high school.

Well, high school was 29 years ago and everything was different. My husband stayed on the line as I drove forever (5 minutes) looking for a gas station. He told me to buy coolant, when I saw the price I knew it was cheaper at Walmart but I had no choice. The station was attended by a lone woman behind bullet proof glass, she couldn't open my hood. Bill tried to talk me through it but I could not get it, I felt like such a girl, I had never opened my hood. I approached a young man for assistance, he kindly and easily opened my hood. I was not sure where the radiator was, he showed me and pointed out the warning to use special coolant, my van is 12 years old, the manufacturers warranty expired before this kid could drive. I poured the entire bottle in and filled the empty container with water as a backup in the event it over heated before I got home.

I was back on the Stevenson within 20 minutes or so, still flying high but wondering out what the lesson was. I did learn how to pop open the hood and pour a little crushed red pepper in the radiator to impede the small leak which has since been repaired. I wonder what happened to that stupid black cat, hope he made it home safely.

President Barack Obama Could Have Been Great

Barack Hussein Obama II was the 44th man to take the oath as president but he is different from all the rest. For the first time the President of the United States could have truly inspired those who grew up believing the American dream was just out of reach due to their race or circumstances. It is time to call him out for failing to do the one thing that only a president that looks like him can do. If others before had even attempted the same they would have been called racist and out of touch. Obama could have been a great president. Imagine him standing at a microphone and delivering a speech to a group of Americans that have survived for many generations by depending on government programs. I am not referring to the permanently disabled, I am focusing on those that have been programmed to believe the government owes them food, housing, clothing and a cell phone.

Recently he came to his hometown Chicago to raise campaign funds, it was during one of our violent weekends. Obama could have done something that no other president has ever done, skip the V.I.P. events and golf to hold town hall meetings in the neighborhoods most effected by the weekly senseless killings. If I were on his staff as an advisor one of the first speeches would have spoken directly to those who feel like it really doesn’t matter who is the White House because their situation will never change. He could have said the following on January 21, 2009 or when he came to Chicago last spring:

 “Good morning my fellow Americans, I am eager to put this country back track but I need everyone to get on board. As a community organizer I worked in the neighborhoods effected by blight, lack of jobs and violence. I know what you are battling and together we can make it better. Get some skin in the game, take personal responsibility for your well being.

I am calling for everyone to finish high school. If college is a goal, great, start with a junior college. The truth is college is not for everyone, the world needs ditch diggers too. There’s no shame in an honest day of hard work. Economics professor Walter E. Williams has a 3 part plan to defeat poverty:

1. Graduate high school, find a job, keep a job (work to excel)!
2. Don’t have children until you are married!
3. When you get married, stay married!

If you have the desire to change your situation that's the first step. There are government, private and faith based programs available right now for temporary assistance, use them but don’t make them a permanent fixture for your family. The government can never give you the self-respect gained by being in control of your own destiny. Our framers said, “…life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, you must do the pursuing.

Take responsibility for your neighborhoods, home is where you raise your families and lay your head. Most Americans are not living in fear of their neighbors. In the days of the civil rights movement black families feared the KKK and other hate groups dedicated to violence against non-whites. The enemy had white skin making them easier to identify but in 2012 the victims and perpetrators are identical. Martin Luther King Jr. died fighting for the right for equal rights, school aged kids getting shot while sitting on their porches is not his dream, it the nightmare many of us are living in everyday.

Stop playing the blame game, evil slave owners are dead. The sins of slavery left a dark mark on the America’s timeline but you get to thrive in the same land your ancestors were forced to build; you can honor them by not wasting the blessing of being born in the Land of the Free. Some of you are thinking there are still racist people how can I succeed, of course there are still folks that hate anyone that doesn’t look like them, they must be really mad about November 4, 2008. Don’t you believe the lie that if you are not white and or rich you can’t make it in this county. Think about our brown brothers and sisters living south of us, they risk everything just for a chance to live where we were born. They pack a bag and leave everything behind. They were born in a country where everyone looks like them and speaks their language but yet they are eager to walk, run and hide for a chance to live in the United States of America, land of endless possibilities.

Make a change, be the change, you are a role model to your family and neighbors. If you have children that you cannot live with please stay involved in their lives. Children need rules, boundaries and corrections but more importantly a feeling that someone really cares. God’s plan is a man and a woman are needed to create a human being, sadly too many families are being lead by only one parent. Single parents have a tough job but it is not impossible. Ask yourself what do my children think of me, is my behavior worthy of praise? Children did not ask to be here, you brought him here so take care of them, all of them. Finally, America was built with the blood sweat and tears of people from all over the planet, the great melting pot, you can be whatever you want to be if you are willing to work hard, look at me.”

The last three years Our Fearless Leader has blamed Bush and the Republicans. He has appeared numerous times waving his finger at the rich for not paying their fair share. Instead of uniting the country he divided America into the “haves” and the “have-nots”. If you are uninformed you might be led to believe the rich are responsible for the ills plaguing our economic recovery. I know there are those who falsely believe that if greedy rich people were simply willing to pay taxes Our President could create more jobs. Has he ever given a speech about cutting the spending. Confiscate every penny made by the 1% for the next ten years and the greedy fat cats in D.C. will spend that and more. He could have been a great president because he can say things that no other President could.