Friendship Day vs Groundhog Day

Why is it that we have to have a special day during the year to celebrate 'Friendship' or mothers, or fathers, children, doctors, teachers, grandparents, secretaries, mailmen, bosses, etc. etc. etc.... I say leave the special day celebrations for 'Groundhogs' they deserve a special day since otherwise not many would even know they exist. Why can't we make everyone with whom we interact everyday feel special no matter which hat they happen to be wearing that day? Can you even imagine what it would be like if everyone did that?

To all of my friends "May you have a Happy Friendship Day EVERYDAY!" and to all the rest "May you be made to feel special by someone EVERYDAY!"

We're all special in our own way. Feel it!

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

Take the lead...Be a Friend!

"If you want a Friend...

Be a Friend!"

~ English Proverb ~

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

Quienes son tus verdaderos amigos?...

Cuando adquirimos amigos, lo más sencillo es buscar personas con quienes nos podámos divertir, así como gente que está por abajo de nosotros en la escala del conocimiento. Estas personas te alabarán, te llenarán de orgullo, y nunca te retarán para que crezcas. Es como ir al boliche con alguien que no sabe jugar, te puedes destacar a su lado con muy poco esfuerzo. 

          

“No hagas amigos con los que te sientas comodo. Haz amigos que te forzen a crecer.” ~Thomas J. Watson, el fundador de IBM~

          

Verse bien es agradable, pero es mucho mejor sentirse bien. Sentirse bien es el resultado de un esfuerzo honesto hacia un crecimiento personal. Debemos saber que estamos encontrando mejores caminos y siguiéndolos; no solo con palabras sino con acciónes.

          
El Talmud dice, “Unete a la compañía de leónes, en vez de asumir el papel del lider entre zorros.”

          
Una manera comprobada de mantenerse en el camino hacia el crecimiento personal es encontrando a alguien que ha escalado más arriba que tu y pedirles su ayuda. Cuando le pides a la persona correcta, las puertas de la sabiduría se abrirán. 

          
Quien podría ser esa persona correcta? alguien que ha luchado sus batallas, descartado los mitos y encontrado paz interna. Estos individuos especiales estarán llenos de cicatrices y de verdad te querrán ayudar. Los demás solo están adivinando.

          
Tus verdaderos amigos poseen la suficiente sabiduría y cariño para ayudarte a crecer. 

Abrazos xoxo,

@nit@

Welcome to the Neighborhood...

In the past month and a half I've been trying to learn ways of how to make my Blog more enjoyable and different. The following is the result of my first attempt at converting my articles into Podcasts.

I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed writing, recording, editing, blending and posting it here.

Hugs everyone xoxo

@nit@

The Mother of the Beautiful Model

I wanted to share with all of you a letter I just wrote to my daughter, because this small exchange illustrates very well the type of open, simple and fun relationship that we proudly experience with each other, sometimes we laugh so hard that our bellies hurt.

Hey dalin, you must remember about a year ago I asked you for an autographed photo of yourself dedicated to my friend Luis, a spaniard whom I met and really really liked as a human being back in Israel when he came to take the Security Course that I helped organize. Well here he wrote to me again reminding me and I wanted to see if I still have enough pull as "The Mother of the Beautiful Model" to get an autographed photo of you to send directly to him cause I know that would make him very very happy and you know your mother not only loves to make people happy!!!! but she is also the VERY PROUD MOTHER OF THE BEAUTIFUL MODEL!!!!!

He is a father of teenagers and a good husband to his wife, so no danger there for ya, just a little infatuation with a beauty like you perhaps, hey I myself would LOVE an autographed picture or George Clooney wouldn't I? not like I think he'd ever want to have one of me the fool!!!! jajajaja  His name is Luis..... and his e mail address is .............................

So anyhow my love if you have a minute help me make a good friend smile!!! Thanks much in advance xoxoxo

Luvs ya like nothin else xoxox

The Mother of the Beautiful Model ♥´´¯`•.¸¸.☆ ★´¯`☆

Breaktime...

So yesterday started a little bit different, I went off to run some errands I'd been postponing for lack of time and they needed to get done, I planned my day the night before, I'm getting a little better at that than just waving it and trusting it'll unfold well, of course a day NEVER turns out as planned, it sometimes turns out better sometimes worse, but never as planned.

My morning went great, I'd say better than planned, I was done with everything and thensome a little after 11, almost as planned, and then the day started to go wrong. After a few frustrating hours waiting for an important call that never came, I decided to go home and do something positive with my free time, but the hours before and the uncertainty left me uncomfortable all afternoon. Then came night time, now that was what turned my whole day around. I agreed to go out when I really didn't feel like it, I wasn't in the right frame of mind to be around people, I'm usually pretty talkative and didn't feel like making conversation or meeting strangers, and I still was feeling uncomfortable about the afternoon because I hadn't had a chance to talk it out in order to be able to let it go, but once I got out of the house the whole perception of the day began to change.

I have to confess that I had a sensational time, so much so that a few of these people wound up at our house where we lit a great fire, had some snacks, drank some tequila, listened to music, watched videos and shared photos, sang, danced, told stories and enjoyed getting to know each one of these lovely people who I now consider to be friends, and we stayed up till 7 am. when nobody could keep their eyes open any longer and we all decided to go get some sleep.

Now today of course I paid for it cause most of the day I spent it just lying down doing nothing, but that was good too, I certainly wouldn't have given up last night for a day's rest.

My days are all like that, some more exciting or interesting or accomplished, etc. than others, but each one of them an adventure. Today I read my Horoscope and this is what it said:

Aquarius

By Rick Levine

Everything seemed so straightforward before you actually began to execute your rather simplistic plan. You realize that you have to stabilize your recent explosive growth or you could risk losing what you've already gained. Sticking to your agenda makes sense, but only up to a certain point. Following a hunch and reconsidering your direction may be the smartest thing you can do now. Just remember that taking lots of small steps is more reliable than just a few giant ones.

And when I got to the part that said 'you have to stabilize your recent explosive growth or you could risk losing what you've already gained'. it made me think that maybe I'm going too fast and should slightly put on the breaks, just so that I don't let the ride get out of control, somehow my instincts are telling me to do that.

Last night one of my new friends said to keep on doing whatever it is I've been doing if I want to get to where I see myself, and believe me nothing is going to stop me now, I just need to "Slightly put on the breaks"....

Here's to your great ride.

Hugs xoxo

@nit@

What is a Friend?

A true friend will never ask you to compromise your principles in the name of friendship and is willing to put your happiness before your friendship. 

It is said that "good advice grates on the ear," but a real friend will not hesitate to tell you something you don't want to hear, even at a risk of breaking the friendship if they think it's in your best interest. They will correct you when you are wrong, confront you with your addictions or suggest you get a check-up if they notice something you might not. 

A true friend inspires you to reach your best potential not to indulge on your bad habits.

"A friend is a second self."
 ~ Aristotle

Are you being the friend you want to have?

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

Because We're Keeping the Dream Alive...

When my kids started attending school I began to pay more attention to the way people act and interact, I guess I was reliving my childhood through my children's eyes, while using the wisdom of my years.

I used to volunteer endless hours at their school and after school activities, and noticed how other parents did it. After all children don’t come with instructions and I certainly didn’t know if I was doing it right or wrong. I wanted to be a “perfect” mom, and not do what my parents did, “the best they knew how”. I decided to set my standards high and wanted to learn as much as I could in order to make as few mistakes as possible.

Some of the mothers were right there with me, every day, as volunteers in the classroom and field trips, as well as the multitude of after school activities. There were so many to chose from that I'd go crazy trying to decide which one was best for my kids, so many classes that no matter how many hours they could add to the day there were never enough to do it all, learn it all and be it all, but there we were, trying hard and doing our best.

There were the working mothers and the playing mothers. Those that would meet for coffee at Starbucks and a game of tennis, shopping, a day at the spa, a few trips around the world, some craft making class and wine tasting on Friday night, while the kids stayed with the nannies; or those who couldn’t afford to give their time to the kids because they needed her salary to buy books and shoes. Some I interacted with for years and some I never even met.

Then all of a sudden my kids grew up, and the friendship we had developed over the years started to blossom, but I realized I had put my life on hold this whole time, and although I loved what I did, I needed to find out who I was now.

I knew then I needed to go back to my own childhood and try to remember some of the things I had experienced or maybe even those I left unfinished. I have 'some' very vivid memories of my childhood, but I could hardly remember most of my formative years, I had moved away in my early 20s, so I decided to go in search of my past and started with my long lost family and childhood friends.

I spent many hours doing this, but I had the internet, and never doubted something good would come of this new 'Science Fiction World.' I started by placing a call into my highschool and asked for the principal at the time, to see if he had any information, and found out curiously enough that he was one of my old classmates cousin, so he got me her e-mail address and she gave me someone else's, and in a fairly short period of time, 4 or 5 months, which is nothing compared to the 35 yrs. I had not been in contact with most of them; I had collected about 80+ e-mail addresses. Then I looked for a venue where we could all meet again one more time and catch up with our lives.

I did remember that we were never really a close generation, nor a large one, unlike my kids who just graduated from a generation of almost 1,000, we must have been about 90 give or take. But I did know one thing, that no matter how close we all were, we did have wonderful experiences together for many years, and at one point in our lives, in some of the most impacting formative years, we were spending a big portion of our days witnessing and being a part of each others lives.

And just like the mothers from my kids’ school, there were those who wanted to get involved in making this happen, some that had major careers and trips and busy lives, some who lived very far away, those with not much interest in delving into their past, and some who had challenges and just couldn’t participate.

5 years ago I stood in front of about 70 of my childhood friends. They could have brought Ricky Martin to that party and we would have still continued to talk to each other for hours without paying attention to our surroundings. We had history together and we all seemed anxious to share on the history of the lives we had lived for the past 35 yrs.

We are a very special generation, a lot of stories have come out of our lives, some challenging, some successful, some failures, and we’ve even experienced the loss of a few of our dear friends.

Not long ago I stood again in front of many of them, we put our arms around each other just like we did when we were kids and we will continue to do each time we see each other, with the appreciation of a friendship that lasts a lifetime. A special part of our history. Only this time I know who I am…