Booster Seats

Mom, I think it's time to take me out of the booster seat...I'm 21 years old!

A little cyber fun

Sometimes we meet people on the internet that we are unlikely to ever meet in real life. People who live far away but they are met in virtual life and bring meaning and laughter to your life. You get to know them through emails and with the silliest of ways you get to laugh and they bring joy to your life on mundane days and I hope he doesn't mind me sharing it.

He is at work doing what most IT guys do..nothing and I am at home this evening doing what I do best ...nothing. We have found the nothingness of this evening and turned it into laughter through cyberspace.

It all started with an email with him asking a few question and me filling in the blanks for him and then I turned around and asked him a few questions and he filled in the blanks for me. We then took each other's blanks and created a story. Even at our age we can have sweet innocent fun! This is what ensued:

My answers to his questions:

1. Men should never wear pink tights
2. The sunshine burns my ass and I love it!
3. Yesterday I heard that soon Mike would show me his pretty pink tights.
4. My neighbors are great, but they are flaming!
5. A monkey and a child should swing from trees.
6. I once ate a can of tuna fish with 4 cats surrounding me.
7. Once i was so drunk I entered a legs contest at a local lounge...didn't win but a guy offered me a 100 dollars because he thought I should have won! Then I promptly missed all 6 steps and fell out of the bar blaming my male friend for pushing me. LOL
9. i would rather ride a camel than be a hump on one.
10. When we landed on the moon, I was 11 and had a sweatshirt that said "fly me to the moon!"

And this is the story he made up:

I once went sunbathing at a nude beach, and laid out too long, getting my ass burnt. Someone stole my trunks, and all I could find were a pair of pink tights and a t-shirt that said "fly me to the moon'. Considering I was late to take Shar to the ballet, I considered my outfit to be appropriate, as she noticed when she opened her door. Her neighbors were there and commented positively on my evening wear, suggesting I enter a 'nice legs' contest at the local bar, which I declined. We first had a lovely romantic dinner of tuna fish at Cats Eyes restaurant, smoked Camel cigarettes, and realized the tickets were in my stolen swim trunks. We had to settle for a night watching Disney's Jungle Book movie, laughing at the monkey teaching the boy how to swing from the trees.

His answers to my questions:

I once had a sandwich of polish sausage, with Russian dressing, on Italian bread
If I could be 7 again probably still have wrinkles
I wish I had a backpack jet to fly me to new orleans
China is my hell I aint got nothing here..lol
The armidillo and I went cruisin to el paso!
If every picture tells a story then I'm a still a blank canvas.
My favorite nail polish is passion pink.
I sold my used socks on ebay.
When I'm 60 lbs overweight I can kick all those bully's butts

My story to his answers:

When I was traveling through New Orleans with my back pack jet, I saw an idiot with passion pink nail polish sitting in a Bourbon Street bar eating a sandwich. He was staring at a blank canvas trying to figure out how to paint all those wrinkles in that old ladies face. She was from the Southside and had more chins than China. He sat there for what seemed like hours eating on his polish sausage and the Italian dressed waiter asked him if he wanted a White Russian. He explained to the waiter that if he nipped into any liquor that his Armadillo would refuse to take him to El Paso and he needed to get to El Paso with his excess 60 pounds to whip up on the bully that bought his socks on ebay.

Thanks Mike for the laughter! You are so appreciated!

A thankful thanksgiving!

Today instead of spending time with family, I decided to spend my day in bed with Anne Rice. As much as I love to read, I have never read her books simply because vampires and the supernatural were against everything I was taught. I knew she was from New Orleans but little else about her.

The same friend who challenged me to learn about the faith I so believed in could not believe I had never read a book by her. As I was in Barnes and Noble, looking for the Cathecism of the Catholic Church, right there was a book by Anne Rice. Intrigued and astonished that it was in the Christian section, I picked it up to read the inside cover.

Today I read this book from cover to cover. The day could not have been spent any better. No family nor friend could have taught me what this book did and so beautifully on Thanksgiving Day.

I walked and cried with her and actually felt the exact same things she felt growing up as a Catholic. She, in a more stricter sense than I, because she is older and from a time when the teachings were less forgiving. She lived and breathed Jesus growing up.

I have to admire her for consciously denouncing God and her belief in him. I understood her reasonings for becoming athiest. Unlike people who claim to be Christian and slowly losing their faith, she made a conscious decision not to believe. That was powerful but what was more powerful was her unconscious return to Christianity and her Catholic faith.

All I can say is...wow. She is one remarkable woman and one that I so admire now. I am thankful!

Called Out Of Darkness:

A Spiritual Confession

By Anne RiceKnopf; 245 pp.

The Gist:

In 2002 Rice, the queen bat of vampire fiction, shed her fangs and began writing books (two so far) about the life of Jesus. This memoir is Rice's attempt to explain her return to Christianity, moving from the idyllic New Orleans of her 1940s childhood to the renunciation of her Catholic faith — indeed, of all faiths — during her student years and after in 1960s San Francisco. Rice's reminiscences about her ensuing atheist period and the success of her decidedly irreligious vampire novels are tinged with some sorrow; she moves earnestly on to the 90s, years in which, she says, a benevolent deity "hunted" her down until she gave in and accepted His divine love.

Highlight Reel:1. An epiphany beneath the huge statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro: "Suddenly the clouds broke, revealing the giant figure of Jesus Christ above us, with His outstretched arms. The moment was beyond any rational description...I had come thousands of miles to stand here. And here was the Lord. The clouds quickly closed over the statue; then broke and revealed the statue again. How many times this happened I don't remember. I do remember a kind of delirium...I didn't acknowledge faith in these moments at the foot of the statue. But something greater than creedal formulation took hold of me, a sense that this Lord of Lords belonged to me in all his beauty and grandeur."

2. The fate of Lestat: "My hero, the Vampire Lestat, the genderless giant who lived in me, was always the voice of my soul in this novel [2002's Blackwood Farm] and it is no accident that he begins it with a cry of the heart, 'I want to be a saint, I want to save the souls of millions!' [But]by the end of the novel, confessing his failure ever to be anything but a rambunctious reprobate and Byronic sinner, he...resigned as the hero of the books which had given him life...This character who had been my dark search engine for twenty-seven years would never speak in the old framework again."

3. On her differences with contemporary Christian teaching: "Centuries ago the stars were sacred. A man could be burnt at the stake for declaring that the earth revolved around the sun...Now the Christian world holds the stars to be secular...Is it not possible for us to do with gender, sexuality and reproduction what was long ago done with the stars? To realize that...new sources of information on them may be as valid as the information given us long ago?"

4. A shocking childhood scene recounted only 13 pages before the book's end: "I was with a group of children...playing in the side yard of a house that had a basement and an open basement window. At one point we crowded to the edge...and looked down into the empty room. The room must have been over eight feet deep. Perhaps it was deeper. There was a little boy crouching next to me at the edge of the window, and I turned to him, and pushed him so that he fell all the way down to the basement floor. I did it for no other reason than to see what would happen. I did it because I felt it was an interesting thing to do. I will never forget all my life that little boy's scream as he fell...I mention it now because I think I knew evil and wrong in that moment."

The Lowdown:Called out of Darkness is catnip for devout Christians: Rice's conversion is disorganized enough to sound real, her eagerness to embrace confession and discipleship is inspiring, and her arguments in a passage on "Christmas Christianity" suggest Rice could rival C.S. Lewis as a popular apologist for the faith. For those more interested in learning about what shaped the author of the bestselling vampire sagas and volumes of sadomasochistic pornography (written under a pseudonym), the book is maddening. Rice drops dark hints of severe dyslexia, militant gender ambiguity, alcoholism and bipolarity, but retreats, giving little away. The startling childhood confession very late in the book suggests that had Rice aired her demons more fully, the tale of her defection to the angels would be that much more powerful.

The Verdict: Read

To thine own self be true

I’ve always thought the way that I feel was about religion and being a Catholic. Today I was making my bed (no I wasn’t lying in it too) when I realized it is only partially due to religion. It’s my conscious (God) that tells me when something is not right for me. My conscious is my religion and my faith.

It may feel good for a while but if something keeps nagging me then at some point I have to stop and examine that nag. If it’s a bogus nag I will send it upon its way but if it’s legit, then it’s time to find out where it’s coming from.

Today I did that. I asked myself why I won’t allow myself to do certain things that most people do so freely and without guilt. The answer was a revelation to me. The simple and pure reason is because God calls me away from anything that harms my soul. He won't allow me to stray too far from him and instead of being thankful for this gift of grace, I grind my teeth in frustration. Oh ye of little faith!

I’ve always thought something was wrong and abnormal with me but God calls me to avoid near occasion of sin and when I'm in a sinful state the old coot nags me! I find myself back in the throes of sin time and time again only to find out that he will be pulling my ass back.

I’m left standing with WTF was that? A lesson, Sharlene, to open your mouth and stand up for ME (God). Time to walk the walk!

Damn it, I failed him again but as a Christian, there’s always....

Bless me Father...

God just..

God just built me that way...those were the words that Matthew said to me this morning and they spoke volumes.

I’ve always struggled with verbalizing what I believe when it comes to the teachings of my faith especially to people who don’t believe the same. I’ve believed and have always believed the teachings of the Catholic faith. As the years have gone by, I’ve forgotten half the teachings but on faith I knew I still believed. A friend of mine, last week, challenged me on just what it is I believe and what the Catholic Church teaches. I could not, with any clarity, conviction or firm reasoning state why I believed what I did. He basically suggested that maybe I should read and perhaps see if my views were still the same.

Last week found me at Barnes and Noble looking for "The Catechism of the Catholic Church". I saw "Catholic for Dummies" but chose to forgo that option and get one that I’d truly have to concentrate on. I’ve been a Catholic Dummy long enough! I began reading and am still reading. I’m not yet at the point that I can argue anything but at least I’m a bit more informed with my faith. I still believe in my heart what I’ve always believed. That was a good feeling.

I found myself in church with a feeling that "this is where I belong". It’s a place I’ve always gone when I’m sad, hurt or feeling a little unsure of myself. To sit in the presence of the only being that truly knows me.

Now when questioned about why I believe and I don’t have all the answers, the best answer shall be:

"God just built me that way....."

Grandson's and bellybutton rings

I've had the love of my grandson and daughter this weekend. I love the conversations that pop up randomly with a six year old but some conversations I would never anticipate.

We are sitting around talking about little things that lil ole grannies and 6 year olds talk about when he informs me that he and his friend Zack "talk".

Matthew pulls up my shirt a bit and checks out the belly button ring he has always been fascinated with since he was a baby. He then informs me that his friend Zack's mom has a belly button ring too . Apparently, Zack told Matthew of this fact, Matthew, not to be outdone, says "My nammy has a belly button ring too!"

I can see it now, two first graders, expounding upon loved ones belly button rings. Who'd a thunk it?

The Election

I have often been asked my political views but being a person who prior to today, couldn't tell you the number of cabinet members, (10, thank you Dwayne for showing my ignorance!) I usually don't partake in voicing any views. However, after the election of President Elect Obama (I have to be respectful and give him his rightful title), and after hearing all the negative comments about his election, I must write this blog. I do have many opinions and usually keep them to myself because I am not one to thrust my feeble thoughts on others. I have, however, after much prayer, contemplation,and discernment in my Holy Hour, decided that what I have to say needs to be said.

As long as President Elect Obama does not interfere with my ability to tailgate this Saturday at the LSU vs Alabama game then I have no bone to pick with him! And! as long as he's the only Bama that wins this week, I will indeed be a happy American!