He was a genius for a reason

A true sign of genius, is being able to think outside of the box and way ahead of your time. Well, dear old Al was able to do both.  He was brilliant beyond his years, and I don’t mean his age, I mean the era in which he was discovering and producing such information and knowledge.

It is absolutely amazing to me what this man could accomplish, here is a small list of some of his major accomplishments, and this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of his accomplishments:

• Einstein showed that absolute time had to be replaced by a new absolute: the speed of light.

• He asserted the equivalence of mass and energy, which would lead to the famous formula E=mc²

• Einstein challenged the wave theory of light, suggesting that light could also be regarded as a collection of particles. This helped to open the door to a whole new world--that of quantum physics.
• In 1910, Einstein answered a basic question: 'Why is the sky blue?'
• Einstein later published a paper in 1915 called "General Relativity."
• Einstein recognized that there might be a problem with the classical notion of cause and effect.
• Between 1905 and 1925, Einstein transformed humankind's understanding of nature on every scale, from the smallest to that of the cosmos as a whole.
• Einstein and de Sitter in 1932 proposed a simple solution of the field equations of general relativity for an expanding universe. They argued that there might be large amounts of matter which does not emit light and has not been detected.

No matter how scientific he got with his studies, the one thing this man never did, was remove the human factor in it all. He never overlooked that all of his work, his studies, and his discoveries were for the benefit of mankind.

And with his afore mentioned statement, “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” – Albert Einstein

The human that can possibly regarded as the most brilliant person to exist, and who heavily relied on technology to confirm his hypotheses, made this statement in the early 1900s. If he were alive today, I feel he was die from disappointment in today’s society.

The fact that these generations being raised on phones, devices, gaming systems, anything…are total and complete idiots. And I can say this because my three boys are suffering from this. I watch these kids and they are actually sitting around a dinner table together, texting one another, instead of actually holding a conversation.

It breaks my heart to see these kids, not able to look an adult in the eye and say hello and actually carry on a conversation. It breaks my heart to see the world turn into such a machine modified place of existence. I understand there are movies like “Back to the Future” and TV shows like “The Jetsons”, that were ahead of their times. But if you watch carefully, people are still talking and interacting in those movies and shows.

I feel a lot of our societal problems…failing marriages, failing friendships, lack of work ethic is strongly based on the failing art of communication. Remind your kids that no matter what a computer or phone can do for them in the world, the touch, the hug, or the spoken word from one human being to another is irreplaceable.

We have all learned something from Albert, but I think this is the most important lesson we could ever learn from him. Don’t allow idiots to take over our children. Let’s keep them grounded and solid people. Make them do chores, make them earn that new phone they want, make them speak when spoken to, and make them touch and love you. No machine or computer will ever be able to replace a hug, a kiss, or a hand holding.

Every day is a New Day

It is an amazing to me, you wake up every single day, not knowing what it holds for you. For that matter you don’t know what the next 30 seconds holds for you. You could win the lottery, you could be hit by a car, you could have a heart attack, or you could even find out that you have a long-lost family member that is on the brink of finding a cure for cancer.

Every day, every second, every moment is amazing to me. And today, has been an amazing day for me. I woke up that same as always. Got my boys up, packed lunches, fed them breakfast, took them to school, and headed in to work; but what I didn’t know was in store for me, was some pretty amazing people in my future. Some I already knew, and some I had never met before. I thought it was just going to be another typical “Groundhog Day”, and a repeat of the same thing I do every single day.

But what I realize now is that these people, and their art of conversation, were put in my life for a reason. I may not realize what it is now, or tomorrow, but I have no doubt that these people were put in my path today for some reason.

I ran into my favorite coffee shop to grab a cup of coffee and had the most delightful conversation with the business owner; then on my way to a meeting, I was stopped by a familiar face from my past.

She stopped me in the street and asked me if I was who she thought I was, and I accordingly said yes. And that was followed by a wonderful conversation about her life, her kids, where they live, and their new lives.

Then off to my meeting, were I sat and had a wonderful conversation with this person. To whom I already knew, but I learned something new about them, their life, and their thought process. And towards the end of our meeting, the most fascinating man, a man of God, walked in and was friends with the business owner in which I had the meeting, and he began to tell us about his life, some good stories, some bad. But the information I took away from it was priceless. And the purpose of that meeting was solidified by that man’s presence and purpose in life.

While in the meantime, before that “said” meeting began, another couple was in the building that I began to chat with, and he said he spent three months in a trailer in Corsicana. So, I of course, asked why, and he said he was a part of the crew that helped pick up and clean up from the shuttle disaster that took place many years ago. But he and his wife lived in North Carolina, and they wanted to swing back through Corsicana.

So, you see, you never know what the day may hold for you. I hope that each and every day brings you joy, or some form of happiness or learning; but I know that is not always the case. But appreciate the art of conversation, the gift of small-town chatter, and always be open and receptive to new people crossing your path; you never know what they will bring to your “life’s table”.

It Comes in All Forms

Love comes in all forms, sizes and shapes. Sometimes those around us don’t know that some of our reactions or actions are how we show our love or admiration for another person, but love really does come in all forms.

For our children love comes in happy, tangible, and sometimes painful forms. Those little creatures that we have created don’t know, nor will they ever know what we do for them, how much we love them, and what we sacrifice for them…until hopefully until the one day they hold a “little creature” of their very own.

To show our love for them we do things that we wouldn’t normally do, or even fathom of doing. We forgive people that may have hurt us in our past, to make our child’s life a little less complicated or stressful. We bite our tongue a lot around our children, so they don’t have to understand or endure the adult complications that we go through on a daily basis for them.

We try not to say too much about a friend choice or a girlfriend or boyfriend selection, until we see it becoming serious. Their happiness is our happiness – but also as a parent, we have the right to step in and offer personal experience or suggestions about their selection of partners, if we can see there is the possibility of their heart getting broken.

As parents, we clean up, we pick up, we wash stains out of clothes that we wouldn’t wash out of for just anyone. We lay in bed with them when they are sick, let them snuggle in our arms, cough on us, or sneeze on us; just so they know that mommy and daddy are there for them no matter what.

Just the other day, our middle one, had been running a pretty high fever for almost four days, and he asked to sleep with mommy and daddy, and of course we said yes. He and his Daddy fell asleep together while I stayed awake until about 2 A.M., finishing up some work; and as I was ready for bed, my little man had managed to spread his wings across his Daddy’s face and my entire side of the bed. Now mind you this is a King Size bed, but none the less this little dude, took up the entire thing.

I was too tired to head upstairs, so I just passed out on the couch. So, it’s those things they will never know, or understand why we do them.

Love for friends comes in all forms too. You can say it, you can show it, or love for friends also comes in your loyalty and honesty. I am an emotional person, and I love to hug and kiss everyone, really. But a lot of my friends aren’t’ that “huggy touchy” so I have learned to show them my love through dedication, loyalty, and continual support through their various ventures and experiences in life.

But a husband and wife can show love and admiration in so many ways. It’s funny, my husband and I couldn’t be more opposite when it comes to romance. I guess it’s the fact that I am a female, and a writer and my imagination is always churning. But I love Rom-Coms, and Disney movies, and overall just a happy ending. My husband always thinks that if it’s not a grand romantic gesture towards me, that I won’t be happy. But that really couldn’t be further from the truth for me. I don’t want flowers, they die; I don’t want a card, they are too expensive; I don’t need candy, my rear end is big enough already.

What I do need is an extra hour of sleep on Saturday; I need the dishwasher to miraculously be emptied; I need my car washed and vacuumed and all the Goldfish and chocolate melted into my floorboard to be cleaned up.

And you know what, he does all of that for me. So, you see what he doesn’t understand is that he already is my Disney Prince Charming, he has rescued me from a life of little sleep, a full dishwasher, and a rolling grocery store, with all the food on my floorboard.

Men aren’t as gushy as woman, and don’t typically need too many grand gestures. But I show my love to him by thanking him for being such a great dad, for working so hard for our family, and for being faithful to me. And when I have time I try to mow the yard, to help cut down on some of his chores, so he can spend more time with us when he is home, and less time working in the yard.

So, you see love comes in all forms. You just have to be open to recognizing them, and not expect them to always be in the traditional form of cards, flowers, and candy…because you know what? Anyone can buy those; but not everyone is will to bring you a cool wash cloth when you are hanging your head over the toilet from the stomach bug, or buy you ducks and geese on Valentine’s Day when they know you’ve been wanting them for a while.

Remember to read between the lines of love, it’s not always black and white, there is a whole lot of gray in there too.