Tuesday, May 26, 2009

losing innocence

Matthew almost made it through first grade without getting into any major trouble at school. Almost. His sweet first grade teacher had the unpleasant task of sending me an email today, explaining that Matthew had...how can I say this?.....dropped the F-bomb on the playground. Of course, he said that he heard it from another child on the playground. He certainly didn't hear it at home!

He said he didn't know that it was a 'guss' word and didn't even know what it meant. Of course not. His spelling and vocabulary words don't consist of guss words. They aren't part of any curriculum that I am aware of. So, how would he know? Someone would have to introduce it to him. In this case, it was a conversation under the slide that would take my son one step away from his innocence. And that is the saddest part.

Although I gave him the what-for, I couldn't be angry at him. He was so ashamed and confused and remorseful. I forgave him before I even heard his side of the story. It's easy to forgive someone when you love them so much. Isn't it?

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

keep the main thing the main thing

I know it must seem that I am obsessed with Chick-fil-a, considering the numerous times I have mentioned it on this blog. But they have the most clever marketing in the world, in my opinion. And I can't help but talk about it.

Tonight, I saw the above card on my table. Check it out: It is a memo from the boss, with a list of the company's agenda. Funny thing that the list ends at number 1...You eat chikin stripz.

What is so great about this is that the company's LEADER shares the VISION and keeps the MAIN THING the MAIN THING... to get people to eat chicken. There is no top ten list. No cheesy acronyms. Just a short, concise statement of purpose. Period.

How about your workplace? If your boss presented the company's one point agenda, what would it be?

Saturday, May 16, 2009

cancer sucks...can i say that?

My family and some friends went to the Augusta Relay for Life last night to support our friend Melanie, who is a cancer survivor. Yesterday she received results from medical testing that her cancer has returned, so we had to go hug on her. She has a positive outlook and said that with friends like us, she doesn't have to worry because we will do it for her.

Relay for Life is just an incredible event, full of community, laughter and tears, victory and remembrance. The survivor walk is very humbling as an army of people of all ages walk together to celebrate life!

When we got home, I watched Farrah's Story...a two hour documentary of Farrah Fawcett's struggle with cancer. And as I was trying to go to sleep, I had an image in my mind of Melanie's button she was wearing on her survivor t-shirt last night. Two words...CANCER SUCKS.

That pretty much sums it up.