Parker's Pad

[ScandalAndy]

I love your writing, this thread is great, it's like a little glimpse of Parker! Thanks for writing!

[Parker]

Just a little something I thought important enough to share.

Honoring Those Who Served: 11 Ways to Celebrate Veterans Day
Posted by Elisa Essner


Veterans Day is almost upon us.

It’s the one day set aside each November to honor those who have served and continue to serve our nation. The holiday also offers a great opportunity to teach civilians about the sacrifice service members and their families make year-round. How do you plan to celebrate this year? Here are some ideas for activities to try at home, school and work.

Civilians can find multiple ways to honor veterans in their lives and communities.
Before you get started, you might want to brush up with this brief history of the holiday.

At home

• Wear a red poppy or yellow ribbon to show support for veteran and active duty service members.
• Organize a care-package packing party. Check out these tips and ideas for putting together a great care package. If you don’t know someone currently stationed overseas, contact a nearby base or an organization like Blue Star Moms to identify troops in need.
• Visit a veterans’ hospital. Chatting with elderly or injured veterans is a great way to brighten their day, plus you’re likely to hear some highly fascinating stories about their time in the service.
• Get creative. Check out this article for some patriotic craft ideas. For young children, a fun project is a great way to start teaching about the holiday and its importance.

At school

• Encourage your child’s teacher to develop a Veterans Day lesson plan. A timeline or short writing project is a great way for students to learn about the holiday’s history. This article offers a few other educational ideas.
• Invite a veteran — a parent, grandparent or faculty member, perhaps — to speak to students about what it’s like to be in the military. Don’t know any veterans to invite? Contact your local VA; their Public Affairs Officer will likely be able to identify a good guest speaker. There are many veterans who work at VA facilities and would be happy to be to speak to students.

At work

• Take time out of the day to acknowledge veterans in your workplace. Consider an office-wide coffee break featuring these remembrance poppy cookies or a yellow ribbon cake. You just need your favorite cake mix, yellow frosting and a ribbon pan. During the event, make sure to recognize each veteran employee. (Plan ahead to make sure you don’t miss anyone.)

Find an event in your community

• Want to find a local Veterans Day event? Many communities hold parades and vigils. Contact your local VA for more information.

Honor veterans year-round

• Celebrate with service. Show service members your gratitude throughout the year with a home-cooked meal, thank you note or day of volunteering. Check out this post from HandsOnBlog for more specific ideas.
• Support veteran-owned businesses. Websites like buyveteran.com can help you identify such businesses in your area.
• Express thanks. Whenever you see someone in uniform, extend a simple word of gratitude or small act of kindness to show how much their service means to you.

Posted by Elisa Essner
elisa.essner@veteransunited.com

[Parker]

So I've been eating this Yoplait yogurt light with all of these dessert flavors .... they make a nice snack but also a pretty good dessert.

Red velvet cake = awesome
Boston cream pie = awesome
Apple turnover = awesome
Key lime pie = awesome
Banana cream pie = good
Strawberry shortcake = good
Orange creme = good
Raspberry cheesecake = good
Lemon cream pie = a little too tart

[Parker]

The Marsha Norman play 'Night, Mother was on my mind tonight ...

For those who dont know, 'Night, Mother is a play set in real time with no breaks - it is about a woman, Jesse (played my Sissy Spacek in the movie) who has lived with her mama, Thelma (played by Anne Bancroft) for years. She is disabled and cant work (epilepsy if I remember correctly) and she rarely, if ever, leaves the house.

Jesse decided to kill herself because her life is nothing and going nowhere. She isnt depressed or anything, she just feels that if this is all there is then she doesnt want to stay. The play is the 2 hours before she kills herself and she is spending that time getting the house in order, making lists, and mostly just explaining to her mama why she is doing what she is doing.

It has one of my favorite monologues in it - I actually pieced 2 into 1 to help that last paragraph, which is my favorite, make sense:

Mama, I only told you I was going to kill myself so I could explain it, so you wouldn't blame yourself, so you wouldn't feel bad. There wasn't anything you could say to change my mind. I didn't want you to save me. I just wanted you to know. Don't you see, Mama, everything I do winds up like this. How could I think you would understand? How could I think you would want a manicure? That we could hold hands for an hour and then I could go shoot myself? I'm sorry about tonight, Mama, but it's exactly why I'm doing it. I'm not giving up! This is the other thing I'm trying. And I'm sure there are some other things that might work, but might work isn't good enough any more. I need something that will work. This will work. That's why I picked it.

Mama, listen. I am not your child, I am what became of your child. I found an old baby picture of me. And it was somebody else, not me. It was somebody pink and fat who never heard of sick or lonely, somebody who cried and got fed, and reached up and got held and kicked but didn't hurt anybody, and slept whenever she wanted to, just by closing her eyes. Somebody who mainly just laid there and laughed at the colors waving around over her head and chewed on a polka-dot whale and woke up knowing some new trick nearly every day and rolled over and drooled on the sheet and felt your hand pulling my quilt back up over me.

That's who I started out and this is who is left. (There is no self-pity here) That's what this is about. It's somebody I lost, all right, it's my own self. Who I never was. Or who I tried to be and never got there. Somebody I waited for who never came. And never will. So, see, it doesn't much matter what else happens in the world or in this house, even. I'm what was worth waiting for and I didn't make it. Me...who might have made a difference to me...I'm not going to show up, so there's no reason to stay, except to keep you company, and that's...not reason enough because I'm not...very good company. (A pause) Am I? Just let me go, Mama, let me go easy.

Mama, I know you used to ride the bus. Riding the bus, and it's hot and bumpy and crowded and too noisy, and more than anything else in the world, you wanna get off. And the only reason in the world you don't get off is it's still fifty blocks from where you're going. Well, I can get off right now if I want to. Because even if I ride fifty more years and get off then, it's still the same place when I step down to it. Whenever I feel like it, I can get off. Whenever I've had enough, it's my stop. I've had enough.