“There are two ways to live:
you can live as if nothing is a miracle;
you can live as if everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein
My sons best “Home Alone” impression.
Twenty-nine years ago today a miracle took place. I was one of those woman that never wanted to have children. That all changed when I found out I was pregnant.
Having and raising my son has changed my life. He is my inspiration and my strength. He makes me laugh, makes me cry and most of all makes me proud. The biggest compliment I can receive is when someone expresses love and admiration for my son.
Happy Birthday my son. I have watched you grow from a baby boy to a man. I love you and thank my lucky stars for the miracle you are.
“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned,
worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual
experience of living every minute
with love, grace, and gratitude.” Denis Waitley
“All our dreams can come true,
if we have the courage to pursue them.”
Walt Disney
One of my favorite television shows growing up was Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. Every Sunday night at seven I watched in awe episodes about the animators at Disney Studios, trailers of upcoming Disney movies, adventure and nature shows and segments showing Disneyland.
In December 1966 my family was preparing for our relocation to California. I remember thinking how I would finally get to see and experience Disneyland. Somehow in my mind I believed that I would get to meet Walt Disney in person. But those dreams were shattered on December 15th when I heard about the death of Walt Disney.
As a kid, television and movies have an everlasting impact on us. The people we see on the big and little screen can inspire and motivate us in many positive ways. I guess Walt Disney had a huge impact on how I viewed the world. His weekly show fueled my imagination and taught me about life and places I’d never seen or heard of before.
I think back on those years growing up in those wonderful worlds of color and how Walt Disney was able to transport us so effortlessly. He could take us to places we never dreamed possible. Walt Disney could actually make all our dreams come true, by giving us the courage to pursue our dreams.
“For small creatures such as we
the vastness is bearable only through love.” Carl Sagan
A few years back I heard this Christmas instrumental, Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 from the album,Christmas Eve and Other Stories. Itwas on their debut album by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The song kept playing over and over in my head until I put together this music video.
Don’t really know why all these animal images came to my mind, but these animals in the video are all creatures of beauty.
“It’s kinda nice to be remembered by your peers and your fans,
because you can achieve a lot of success and be a creep too.
But we try to be nice, just normal people.” Karen Carpenter
The Christmas holiday brings up lots of fond memories for me. Music plays a big part of those memories. Christmas wouldn’t be complete without listening to Christmas songs sung by Karen Carpenter.
Richard Carpenter composed the music for “Merry Christmas Darling” in 1966 when he was just 19 years old. Frank Pooler wrote the lyrics twenty years earlier, in 1946, when he also was only 19 years old. The song Pooler had written was to be a Christmas gift for his girlriend, whom he was missing while being away from her during a visit with his parents at Christmas time. However, their relationship ended before he could present it to her.
Twenty years later, Pooler was the choir director at California State University in Long Beach, when both Karen and Richard Carpenter were members of the choir. Richard and Karen were performing locally and had tired of playing the usual Christmas fare. Richard asked Pooler, their favorite professor, if he had any ideas for different Christmas songs.
Pooler remembered the Christmas song he had written many years before and mentioned it to Richard, adding that he didn’t think much of the melody anymore. Richard said he would try his hand at writing new music for the lyrics. Within about 15 minutes he was finished creating a song, written by two teenagers who were a generation apart, that was destined to become a Christmas classic.
The song was first released as a single on November 20, 1970, and earned gold record status. This song sparked the idea of a Christmas album by The Carpenters, and on October 13, 1978, “Christmas Portrait” was released with this newly recorded version of the song. Karen re-recorded her vocals for the album version as she felt that she could give the vocals a more mature treatment. This newly recorded version was presented on their TV Christmas special in 1978, as seen here, and became a hit all over again.
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