Giving Thanks this Thanksgiving Holiday

Today is Thanksgiving one of my favorite holidays. The holiday ushers in the holiday season (Christmas, New Years) and is full of celebrating with family, friends, and food! It is a time to give thanks for all that we have, including, but not limited to, our family, friends, health, living in the United States, etc..

One of the challenges i am experiencing this year is how to explain the meaning of Thanksgiving and the concept of being thankful to my 4yr old son. While he is thankful for the material things he has (blinking spiderman shoes, batman shirt, cars, etc...) and for other things like chocolate chip pie and riding Sparky the horse, his understanding and appreciation for the "greater-than- thou" things in life is lacking. I know he is only 4yrs old, but i think his capacity for understanding is greater than we think and so i feel like i need to do more to help him understand.

Unfortunately, Thanksgiving this year is marked by the bombings in Mumbai. The horrific event is an unfortunate poignant reminder of how precious life is and how easily it can be taken away as we are busy going about the daily routine of our lives. So in addition to giving thanks for everything that we have this year, we must also remember to step back and give thanks for having the ability to do so, that is to simply be alive and well and to be able to give thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mia's First Trip to the Lincoln Memorial

Today was a very sunny, windy, cold, Fall day in D.C. One of those days you need to wear a coat and a hat to stay warm outside. One of those days that you sort of prefer to stay inside! One of those days when your 15mos old toddler will inevitably walk up to you -- as mine did in her new pink coat with faux fur trim the color of her blond hair -- and ask you to go outside.

When she walked up to me i was hoping she just wanted to wear her new coat while pushing her baby doll in her stroller around the house. Instead, she grabbed my hand and pulled me in the direction of the front door which she subsequently tried to open. I asked her where she throught she was going and she said "ouch" in her best toddler babble which i translated to "out" or "outside" in English.

I couldn't blame her for wanting to go outside. We had been up since 7:00am and it was going on 11:00am...Five hours of indoor fun has its' limits! I knew we could no longer avoid "it". "It" was time to take the kids outside for an adventure! So without much forethought, i looked at my husband and 4 year old son and said let's go to the Lincoln Memorial! Five minutes later, we were off and within ten minutes we were there -- parked outside my office building on Constitution Avenue near the Vietnam Memorial and the foot of the Lincoln Memorial.

My family is fortunate enough to live within a five minute drive of some of the greatest monuments in this country, if not the world. And the trip was a wonderful reminder of the things we take for granted here. The red, yellow, and orange leaves were still on most of the trees on the Mall. A magnificent tribute to Fall. There were a lot of tourists and locals out. As we passed the Vietnam War Memorial we observed several people scratching pencil on paper over names of the fallen soldiers on the Memorial, while others laid roses and wreaths. Most people were simply standing in silence.

My husband was pushing Mia in the stroller while i walked with my son by her side. I wondered what she was thinking. My son has been to these monuments many times before and each time he comes he is a little older (and wiser) and asks different questions. As we passed the Vietnam War Memorial he asked my husband why all the names were etched on the massive black granite wall.

As my husband explained the answer to his question, we continued walking along the sidewalk on our way to the Lincoln Memorial. The trees lined the sidewalk on one side, obscuring the view of the Memorial until it opens up at the reflecting pool. I took Mia out of her stroller and began to walk up the steps of the Monument with my son. My husband stayed behind and took a video of our trip to the top. Once there, we turned around and waved to my husband who was now the size of my pinkie...standing at the bottom of the monument near the reflecting pool.

Past him, we could see the down the expanse of the Mall...past the reflecting pool to the Washington Monument. An awesome sight. I looked at Mia and she seemed to take it all in stride. I put her down and she and Tres chased one another to the foot of Lincoln sitting in his chair. My husband followed with our video camera. Before we began the descent, i asked him to video tape me and the chitlins with the Lincoln and Washington Monuments in the background. I couldn't help but think that one day they might view this tape with their children and that we would watch it many times before then!

On our way down the steps of the monument my son asked me how Mr. Lincoln was killed. I said that a troubled man took the President's life because he was mad at the President. My son asked why? I said for various related reasons, including the President's support of the Union and efforts to emancipate back people from slavery during the Civil War. Then i got goosebumps and my nose started to tingle. I thought about Barak Obama's election just one week ago. I thought about Lincoln's upcoming 200th birthday this year (February 2009). I thought about the hundreds of thousands of people that were going to line the Mall in front of us as far as the eye could see in a couple of months to see Barak Obama's inauguration. I thought about these past and future events and then the present, today, my daughter's first trip to the Lincoln Memorial. More goosebumps...

Letters from Mommy Abroad

The other day something strange arrived in the mail. It was a letter addressed to Tres and Mia from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!?!? When i first looked at the letter it took me a second to realize that it was a letter addressed to my children. (Of course i am familiar with the names of my children, but i rarely see correspondence addressed/sent to them via snail mail.) A second later, i recognized my own handwriting and the return address --Barra de Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Then it finally clicked: it was a letter i wrote and sent to Tres and Mia when i was at a conference there last month!   

Since i have had my chitlins and whenever i have to travel abroad on business, i write them a letter and send it to them. In the letters i tell them how much i miss them and their father, how i wish they were with me, how i can't wait to travel with them to the place one day, what i am doing there, what it is like, what major events are going on, etc... Then i mail the letter.  Usually several weeks or one month later the letter arrives. (It is called snail mail for a reason!) 

By the time the letter finally arrives, i have forgotten about the trip and writing the letter so when it comes, i am pleasantly surprised and so are the kids (Tres in particular, Mia not so much...yet).  The first thing the kids and i do with the letter is look at the stamps. Then we talk about how far the letter has traveled, and then open it up and read it together.  Afterwards, we put the letter in "the box" with the other letters from mommy abroad. 

Tres tells me that he loves to get the letters. I hope Mia will one day say the same thing and that when they both get older, they will still treasure them.  I have a similar box of special letters/cards that i keep. It contains letters from Gage, my family, and friends.  Every once in a great while, i pull out the box and go through it.  Rereading the old correspondence reminds me of all the wonderful things people have shared with me over the years and once again, how blessed we are. 

Truism of the week...

A friend of mine and i had a glorious breakfast the other day at this great little diner up the street -- sans chitlins and husbands.  What made it so glorious wasn't the fact that we were there "sans chitlins and husbands" but that we were able to carve out some time in our schedules to sit together and talk uninterrupted over food for well over an hour! And so we did: We talked and talked about all kinds of things including - but not necessarily in this order -- the recent election, personal aspirations, our wonderful husbands, our adorable children, life's challenges, schools, food, etc... It was one of those very easy flowing, engaging, and energetic conversations that made time fly by muy rapido! 

Anyway, on several occasions during our non-stop conversation across a multitude of topics, i was reminded of one of my favorite quotes or "Truisms":  

"Great minds discuss ideas; average people discuss events, small minds discuss people."

I love this quote.  It is short and succinct but speaks volumes about what should appeal to our better halves.

During our conversation about the recent election, this quote made me think of how "small minded" some of the campaign ads were...in particular, the ads that focused on so-called "friends/mentors/associations" of the candidates instead of their "ideas" or the issues.  The fact that these negatives ads have been influential and effective in swaying voters historically may also indicate the "small-mindedness" of the electorate.  It has been suggested by some folks on both sides of the isle that since the winner of the election made an issue out of not resorting to this type of negative campaigning (although no doubt there were exceptions to this rule) this may suggest that the electorate may have "evolved".

Anyway, as much as i would like to think of myself as a "great mind" that discusses ideas 24/7, i think reality is that i strive to be a great mind most of the time and hope that i am at least half the time! The other half of the time i am an average person (discussing events) and on occasion a small minded person that discusses people.  However, i have generally never been very comfortable or at ease discussing other people that i know when they are not around.  When i do it, i feel like i am doing something i know i should not be doing.  Most of the time these types of conversations are negative and can be unproductive.  Sometimes it may be positive and productive (e.g. office cooler kind of thing), but most of the time i think it is the former (negative, unproductive gossip).  

I think everyone knows at least one person (e.g. someone you work with, an acquaintance in the neighborhood, a client) that primarily talks about other people and in a negative/unproductive way.  I know several acquaintances that fall into this category and one thing i think these people have in common is that they are not very happy people...   

So anyway, I have penchant for quotes and write them down all the time in a notebook i have. Every once in awhile I pull out my notebook and read them.  It's an easy way for me to get instantly inspired.  So i am going to post one each week in hopes of inspiring you.  Do you have a quote or truism that you think of often or live by? If so, do tell! 

Working Mothers: Part I

Last Tuesday i went to our neighborhood community center to vote and ran into a neighbor who is a "stay-at-home" mom. She quit her job about one year ago ostensibly to spend more time at home with her children. (I've never asked her about why she quit her job, but i assume this to be the case.) We exchanged hellos and then she said something like this "Wow! Look at you! You look so put together! Look at me. I'm a wreck. I'm all thrown together. You can tell who has a job."  

Now i know how to take a compliment and so i said, "thank you!" but i remember thinking little did she know that it was actually the first day i had taken a shower and put on something other than blue jeans in about four days (well, maybe i didn't wait four days to take a shower!). You see, I stay home most Mondays and telecommute on Fridays. I go into the "office" three days a week.  Furthermore, that Tuesday, my husband and I took the day off to go vote and then to go to my son's parent/teacher conference at his Montessori pre-school (and afterwards, we had planned a "date" lunch!)!  

Anyway, the whole mini-conversation made me think about the stereotypical assumptions about "working mothers" and "stay-at-home moms".  But what do we mean by these terms? Aren't "stay at home" moms, working moms as well? Aren't "working moms" (full-time/part-time outside of the home) "stay at home" moms as well (just not as much?)?

The distinctions certainly are not so black and white as you might think. For instance, what do you call a mom that works professionally full/part-time from home and takes care of her children? What do you call the mother that work professionally full/part-time outside the home and takes care of her children? What do you call the "stay at home mother" who does not work professionally outside the home and takes care of her children? These distinctions appear to be clear as mud to me, but the one thing that does seem clear to me though is that all of these mothers are indeed "working" and are "at home" taking care of their children, no?

Obama's in the air

Today i am in Atlanta, Georgia attending a meeting involving U.S. and foreign bank supervisors.

While we are assembled to discuss a company we all have a stake in supervising, the buzz has been about the historic election of President Obama in the United States! The foreign bank supervisors are mainly from Europe and all of them stayed up late and in some cases woke up very early to watch the results and the acceptance speech. They universally supported the election of President Obama. If they could have voted, it would have been an avalanche instead of the landslide.

Even the taxi cab driver who took me from the airport to the hotel was thrilled with Obama's election -- despite the fact that the state of Georgia stayed red. He indicated that the election of Obama has reinstated the U.S. as a country that lives up to its reputation, walks-the-walk, means what it says, and leads by example. I found this very interesting and consistent with what i had come to ascertain over the last few years while traveling abroad that the United States' standing in the world had significantly eroded and was substantially diminished.

But that all changed on Tuesday. So many things have changed since then. And many of these things we are yet to ascertain or understand. But you can feel it in the air, you can read it about everywhere, and see it on the peoples' faces!

Playing Catch-up Again...

Well, as you may have noticed, this is the second (or third) time i have played "catch-up" (i.e. posting numerous blog entries in a day so as to average one a day since the inception of my blog). Is this cheating? I sort of feel like it is a little bit, but that's crazy! I really admire my amiga who has been doing this since June everyday. You rock!

Part of the challenge for me has been to find a consistent time of the day or night when i can blog. Most of the time it has been at night, after the Chitlins go to bed. And of course at the end of a LOOOONG day, the energy gap is wide and sometimes too wide to bridge.

I guess the most important thing is to try: do your best; do what you can. On those scores i give myself at least an "A" for effort. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

BaRocked the Vote!

Is it me or has this election really energized the electorate in a unique way this time around? Perhaps it is just where i am living now --Virginia a "swing state" that has historically been a "red" state and appears to be turning blue-ish. I have never been called so many times by a candidate (Barack Obama too many to count and once by McPalin), the candidate's wife (Michelle Obama), or campaign volunteers --mainly Obama campaign volunteers -- to remind me to vote over the last three months. At least once every three days. Multiply that by the population of my neighborhood, or the county of Arlington, or the state of Virginia and that is a lot of reminders to vote! Anyway, it has worked.

I have never seen so many people standing in line to vote. I have never seen so many people waving signs to vote for a candidate. My husband woke up at 5:00am to go vote. My son went with him! I saw families waving signs together in the street! The cutest i have to say was the small family on the corner of Spout Run and Lee Highway (major, major intersection near our house)...mom, dad, and 6 year old child waving signs to the cars as they passed by. They were so cute, i honked the car several times as I passed them and they smiled and started to wave their signs faster.

Tres has voted with us in every election since he was born in 2004 (last presidential election; Virginia Gubernatorial election). Today i took Mia with me to vote for the first time in her life. To think that her first election included a woman and an African American on the ticket for the second and first time ever is incredible. She will likely have the luxury of taking it for granted that this is not big thing...but it is.

No matter what your party affiliation, the fact that people were out there today exercising their right to vote and at least in Virginia, more than before is exciting. And this election, historic. Again, no matter what your party affiliation. This election is what it is. Historic!

P.S. The Last Supper

I forgot to mention the night J picked me up at the Intercontinental Hotel in Miami to take me out for dinner for Brazilian sushi in South Beach. I was traveling on business to Miami and J was living in Miami at the time. I sent him an email to let him know i would be in town. He said he would pick me up at my hotel for dinner. I was traveling with my boss and my boss' boss who were also staying at the same hotel. They asked me if I would go to dinner with them and i said i would pass.

Around 7:00pm J called and said that he would be downstairs in about 5 minutes. Five minutes later i went downstairs and right then J rode up the brick driveway in a bright red convertible 911 Porche Boxster...Miami style!!! I looked around wondering if my boss and boss' boss would see me getting in this high octane convertible sports car with some "strange" man they knew was not my husband for a Miami rendezvous! Scandalous! Anyway, i got in the car and off we drove to South Beach for a fabulous dinner and night out on the town! Thanks again J!

The Last Supper

Last night my husband and I and my sister and her husband celebrated our amigo J's engagement to his fiance Leea, (a bombshell beauty from Dallas, Texas who is a lot of fun, kind, and smart to boot!). We also celebrated their upcoming wedding and their new home in Dallas.  We are so very happy for you J and Leea! 

For weeks we have been touting this evening as "The Last Supper" because the celebration also coincides with our amigo J moving back to Texas after living near us over the last three years. So while we are happy for J, we are also sad because we will be losing a great friend in the area.  Now i know we aren't really "losing" J.  Afterall, we know where he is going and will still see him periodically, but the thing is that we won't be able to get together on a regular basis for impromptu happy hours, D.C. United soccer games, etc...

The other thing is that all of our children are going to miss J mucho.  You see, they have grown up with Tio Jota. I mean they have literally grown up with him! He has been there to celebrate Tres' birthday since he was two (in fact we had a combined birthday fiesta for both of them) and he was one of the first people to go the the hospital after my sister's son was born and to meet Mia after she was born.  He has help to shape our sons' love of soccer and have made them shout for more "wee" on too many occasions to count! We have also played hundreds of hours of boggle, rock band, and video games together over the last three years.  And we have had innumerable great conversations over vino and dinner. 

I first met J almost over ten years ago (!) in Houston, Texas when i was visiting my sister there.  She had recently moved into this new apartment/house near Rice University where she was teaching at the time and began dating this new guy, Greg, who is now her husband.  So the purpose of the trip was not only to hang out with my sister Sherry, but to to meet her new boyfriend and to see if he would "pass muster".  When i arrived at the house Greg was there with several of his friends, including J.  I remember we had a great time hanging out that evening. We stayed up late talking into the wee hours of the morning. The hours flew by and I recall thinking that i liked my sister's new boyfriend, in part, because he had some cool amigos like J.

Later we would all travel together to France to celebrate Sherry and I turning 30. We would also vacation many times together on Cape Cod.  In fact, J would earn the title of "the only person" Gage would trust to take out his fishing boat.  (He doesn't even trust me!)  When J went traveling around Europe for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he stopped by Basel, Switzerland, where i was doing a very short-term secondment at the Bank of International Settlements, and hung out with me for a couple of days. I distinctly recall one afternoon when i skipped out of the office to watch the Swiss play a match at a local pub with J. We had a great time drinking beer and cheering with the locals.  

So yes, we are going to miss having you close by J, but we are not saying good-bye and last night really wasn't "The Last Supper". There will be many more suppers and hours of playing boggle and rock band, etc... in the future.  And we look forward to them and to sharing them with Leea!  We love you guys! 

My Little Pumpkin

This Halloween marked my daughter, Mia's, second Halloween. And this year i think she sort of "got it". She was a little pumpkin, complete with pumpkin hat, pumpkin dress, pumpkin shoes, black tights, long black tee-shirt, and pumpkin basket. She loved the costume and all the accessories.  She proudly walked over the house, the backyard, and up and down the driveway in full costume. Pretty cute!

Last year Mia was only three months old.  She couldn't crawl, walk, or talk and went to bed early.  This year was very different. She is walking and talking (about ten words) and actually went with Tres tick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Gage pushed her in the stroller while we watched Tres go up to the houses in the neighborhood. When we arrived back at the house she was stayed up with everyone.  What a difference a year can make!