Crazy For Loving You #motherhood

In 1961 Patsy Cline belted out the famous words of her top hit, “I’m crazy for trying and crazy for crying…and crazy for loving you.” “Crazy” has since become a timeless classic telling the story of unrequited love to ensuing generations. Each lyric bears the pain of spurned affections and reminds listeners of insecurities in their own romantic relationships. When a lover chooses to walk away, it can be devastating.

Losing the person you love to death can be even more devastating. Two decades later another entertainment giant starred in the blockbuster tearjerker of 1983. “Terms of Endearment” also dealt with being crazy for someone, but this time it wasn’t physical love. The story begins with an anxious mother hovering over her newborn’s crib and finally shaking her awake because she can’t hear her breathing. Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine) whose fear of losing her daughter Emma Horton (Debra Winger) results in a lifetime of smothering her with overprotection and unrelenting attention. Ultimately Aurora endures her worst fear…watching her grown daughter die from cancer. It is evident that her daughter’s suffering is as painful for Aurora as it is for Emma.

Loving another means living with the angst of possible loss. Ultimately each of us must deal with the unbearable pain of losing someone we love. Yet we go on to love again and again. Like moths and a flame we are drawn to something we know can, and often does, burn us. Why do we do this? Being crazy for someone means putting another’s needs first and making that person the center of our world. And…being crazy for someone means being transformed, bumping out spiritual dimensions within us, by allowing another to become the meaning of our existence.

What sparks this kind of love? It’s passion…an all-consuming emotion…that dwells in extremes…and sometimes looks irrational. Passion runs hot or cold…it has no lukewarm setting. When it comes to passion, not all lovers are created equal. Those with it have the capacity for being “crazy for loving” others.

#Documentary #SouthPacific

Filmmaker Michael Fletcher’s stunning travel documentary takes a South Pacific trip to paradise in and around the remote islands and villages of Papua New Guinea. Want to escape? Need to de-stress? Like to daydream? If so, the serenity of this eight-minute cinematic adventure is well worth the watch, as discovered in the travel section of The Guardian.

TWG #WomanoftheWeek #SophiaLoren

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” Sophia Loren.

With Mother’s Day just days away, TWG crown the voluptuous Sophia Loren the hottest Italian mama of all time; and for this post Sophia shall serve as the stand-in for our own mothers. Both TWG had the “buona fortuna” to be born to an Italian mother and feel honored to have been taught the true meaning of unconditional love. No doubt much of the “wanton wisdom” we disperse each day is deeply rooted in the teachings of our mothers. We also know how to make the sauce, a staple in own homes, and satisfy the quest of our guests; so I guess Mama Sophia said it best, “Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.”

#TweetsoftheWeek … Countdown #Twitter

10. @johncloonan “Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.” – Harry Emerson Fosdick

9. @shaunpatrick01 My wife says the cutest things. Like, who are you?, why are you wearing my shoes, and I’m calling the cops.

8. @angels510 If your emotional state is dependent on Klout scores, that’s a serious problem. There is no pill yet for that.

7. @Doc_Magi “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin

6. @honeyrun #Quote – “Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul.” – Plato

5. @jengkism RT @RTtheBEST: RT @JoyAndrews1: “Men of quality are not threatened by women of equality” ~ Unknown #quote

4. @slyoung5 If you love something set it free because kidnapping is a felony.

3. @pourmecoffee It’s Freud’s birthday. Call your mother.

2. @Fallun_Angel Heroes don’t wear capes; they wear dog tags.

1. @matterafact #occupy U call gathering in large groups blowing bubbles and giving chain backrubs a protest? That’s a pride parade…I thought ppl wer pissed.

Addicted at Birth #pregnancy #drugabuse

With Mother’s Day less than a week away, it’s both heartbreaking and maddening to know that three out of every thousand babies in the United States are born addicted to drugs. The magnitude of this problem can be simplified by this ratio: every hour approximately one infant is born an addict, and we are all paying the price for this national tragedy. The TWG became aware of this problem from Karen Kaplan’s LA Times article, “A Baby Is Born Addicted To Drugs Once An Hour.”

When a pregnant woman is using drugs, especially opiates or prescription painkillers, her infant has nearly an eighty percent chance to become addicted to drugs while in utero. When a baby is born addicted, he or she is diagnosed as having NAS, (Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome) and must face weeks of life-threatening withdrawal symptoms such as seizures, tremors, and/or respiratory distress. To make this bad situation even worse, some babies have to be given morphine or methadone to help them completely kick their drug habits. It’s one thing to threaten your own life, but it’s an entirely different matter to harm your child.

The research for these depressing statistics was conducted at the University of Michigan and the University of Pittsburgh and the results have been recently published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/early/2012/04/25/jama.2012.3951.full

For the Love of #Elephants … David Sheldrick Nairobi Elephant Orphanage

A young Vancouver couple visited this amazing elephant orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. They felt so privileged to get close to these amazing animals and to learn about how they were rescued. A lot of them lost their parents to poachers or other hunters, or they were injured in an accident and left by their herd. While in the the Sheldrick Orphanage they are raised by caretakers, trained to return to wild life, and released into a herd.

#Caturday – Featuring Henri, The Existential Cat Who Is “Filled With Ennui” and Then Some…

The Other War Against Terrorism #womensrights

Terrorism occupies the United States…it took up residence on September 11, 2001, when Al-Qaeda hijacked our planes and aimed its hatred at our cities, killing thousands of innocents. Images of its devastation are indelibly etched in our collective psyche. The realization that an extremist group lives for our demise is unnerving; but we find comfort in knowing, for the most part, it lives on foreign soil. We look within our country and feel safety in family, friends, and fellow Americans who share a belief in freedom and a respect for life.

What if the enemy were within? What if it were a father or brother who had the power to kill a daughter or sister for “shaming” her family? So is the frightening reality of many Middle Eastern women who are restricted to submissive and sequestered existences, barely leaving their houses, and forbidden from interacting with men, a crime punishable by death.

Such was the crime that brought Afghan teenager “Lina,” a pseudonym, to the gates of a nearby U. S. military base, begging for her life. Her crime was possession of a cellphone; her punishment was to be an honor killing, executed by her brothers. Lina escaped to a nearby U.S. military base that provided her with protection at a woman’s shelter in a large Afghan city. Since then, she has happily married and is expecting her first baby.

A decade ago America was introduced to foreign terrorism that dragged us into two Middle Eastern wars. Today we remain resolute in our determination to protect the freedom and safety of our homeland. A year ago The The Daily Beast reported, “In a rousing keynote speech at Newsweek and The Daily Beast’s Women In the World Summit, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton doubled down on her commitment to women’s rights in the Middle East.” As we pull our troops from Afghanistan, hopefully we will remain equally resolute to protect the rights and lives of women living in fear of terrorism within their own families.

You Make Me Smile by #AloeBlacc

Have a listen to Aloe Blacc’s You Make Me Smile, a song that serves as a gentle reminder of how a smile can make a bleak day brighter. Although a smile is free, it can prove priceless. So why not give away a smile or two today? Trust you’ll look more attractive; and when you smile, not only will you make yourself feel better, but your smile just might be the only bright spot in someone’s day.

TWG #WomanoftheWeek #MadeleineAlbright

“People say there are not enough qualified women; that’s one of the biggest bullshit things I’ve ever heard.”

Madeleine Albright, the first female US Secretary of State, has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor that can be bestowed upon civilians. Dr. Albright served as secretary of state under under President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001. This year, Dr. Albright is one of thirteen recipients to be honored along with author Toni Morrison and singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. According to a White House press release, Madeleine is being recognized for fighting terror and ethnic cleansing, reducing the spread of nuclear weapons, contributing to the expansion of NATO, and unrelenting efforts to bring peace, democracy, and human rights around the world.

“There’s plenty of room for mediocre men, but no room for mediocre women,” she said. “Women can’t do everything at the same time; we need to understand milestones in our lives come in segments.” Keeping that in mind, it’s no wonder she’s been known to say, “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.”