Lifestyle

Explaining Easter to children can be a delicate matter, especially for very young children who may not fully understand the tenets of the Christian faith. Although Easter ends with Jesus Christ emerging from his tomb, prior to this glorious miracle there are subjects of betrayal, suffering and death. These religious messages can confound when commingled with the imagery of bunnies delivering chocolates, chicks and pastel-hued eggs. How do well-meaning parents relay the message of Easter without scaring or confusing children?

For nearly 15 years, I worked for a staffing company in a variety of capacities. It was the 90s. I found myself in the age-old predicament of divorce after over a decade as a stay-at-home mom void of any desirable workplace skills other than a propensity to do very well playing The Oregon Trail. My axles never broke, my rafts rarely sank, and I was a wunderkind at trading flour for dungarees. My expertise in no-skill job searches led me in one of 3 directions: retail sales, real estate, or staffing. I chose the latter. It’s all sales, really. Show me a single mom who’s terrified of not being able to feed her kids, and I’ll show you a sales phenomenon in the making. After all, if we can convince a toddler to eat a green bean, we can sell ice to indigenous Alaskans. My staffing company wasn’t a household name in Texas like they were in California. Yet, they are still around when many Lone Star State companies fell to either the 9/11 or 2008 recession incidents. Hello, Today’s Staffing. I’m talking to you. This is in large part due to the founder’s infamous guarantee for direct hire sales. For a whopping 5 years, the Act 1 Group of Companies, operating as AppleOne, would replace your direct hire employee for half price – that old bird in the hand theory. The owner came up with the idea whilst battling insomnia. He saw an infomercial at 3 am about free weed eater string for life. It got me thinking about strange impulse purchases. Whether driven by indigestion, that one extra glass of wine, or babies that like to eat at all hours, don’t we buy some interesting things late at night?

Easter is a significant holiday for Christians across the globe. Though Easter Sunday is when faithful Christians gather to celebrate their faith, the week preceding Easter Sunday is full of significant events as well.

B Dear Aunt B, What if what I have become is something so different than what I ever thought or would have ever imagined? Is this ok or a problem?

“God does almost everything,” says Caleb, 10. “He watches us while we’re asleep, and he watches us in the day, too. He never sleeps, and he never gets hurt. But the most important thing is he never lets us down.”

Here’s the plan. This will be my last column on being sick. I am 93% certain, though I cannot be held responsible for my brain’s allocation of that final 7%. An entire month has gone by. My allergies became severe allergies became bronchitis became bacterial pneumonia. I seem to be on the mend, though recovery from pneumonia is way more difficult than I imagined. There are 2 types of days at this point. There are days where I am up and about, albeit more slowly. Then, there are days where I don’t understand why my eyes refuse to open and I find myself dozing in the oddest places, like while trying to pen this article. I read that detritus (waste produced by decomposition) takes a long time to clear from the lungs. Yep, little pieces of your lungs die and, coupled with the fluids and mucous that raced to that area to “help” things clear, leave you with lung sludge. It’s going to take you a little minute to feel better. I felt so bad this week that I went back to the doctor in my pajamas. Now, today’s kids go pretty much everywhere in pjs. But, I am Gen X. We were raised by mothers who drank TAB and smoked menthol cigarettes as they rolled our hair around orange juice cans for volume. We were forced to live outside between the hours of 9 am to 5 pm, like feral critters. At a moment’s notice, we would be voluntold to stand for hours on end, fingers pinching the foil on the end of the television antenna. We knew survival meant being prepared for anything.

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They put cold cloths on the head and covered the body in layers of blankets. Soon, there would be a series of poultices, gum camphor, turpentine, and fresh onions, for the base of the neck and even the stomach. Tamarack tea was offered in sips, as was homemade chicken soup. Sponge baths were given daily. A dark room with a cool temperature was deemed critical. No need for a doctor. No money for one, either. In fact, for a person with a severe aversion to doctors, that could make things worse. And, no, this is not a description of my life as a sick child. This is a paraphrased excerpt from my favorite book of all time, the YA classic “Where the Lilies Bloom.” This is how sisters Mary Call and Devola try to nurse their father, Roy Luther, back to health after a stroke. Their attempts do seem to work for a bit, though Roy eventually succumbs to his bad health. Seriously, if you haven’t read this book since the 3rd grade, like me, I urge you to reread. The husband- and-wife co-authors, Vera & Bill Cleaver, do a hauntingly masterful job of showcasing a poor, rural family who make their way in life based on hard work and respect for their mountain land. It holds up well. But, this is more about my mother and how she mothered me when illness struck. Momma and Mary Call were a lot alike. And, my mother’s idea of healing was a complete contradiction to my father’s love of penicillin.

“He did things like his Dad (100 percent God), and He did things like we do (since he’s 100 percent man),” says Candice, 10. I’m impressed, Candice! You have succeeded where others have failed.

Contracts provide protection for all parties signing on the dotted lines. According to LegalMatch.com, a contract is an agreement between two parties that creates a mutual legal obligation. Oral contracts are possible, but written contracts are preferred for a number of reasons.

Art Linkletter once asked the above question of a boy on his television show. He received a oneword reply: “Duck!”

Genealogy fascinates much of the general public. The number of people learning more about their families and heritage through genealogy increases year to year. According to Family-Tree.com, genealogy is the second only to gardening as the most popular hobby in the United States.

In the mid 20s and early 30s, peak baby years for my paternal grandparents, tragedy struck often. There was no miscarriage support for women who lost pregnancies. People were quick to wonder, or boldly state, whether a woman had done something wrong, medically or spiritually, to cause such a tragedy. Child loss was common. In 1927, the year my father was born, there was a typhoid epidemic, outbreaks of meningitis, and rampant measles and smallpox cases. Babies were born at home with zero imagining assistance to predict positioning or potential problems, as that would not be discovered for another 60 years. Heck, I had all three of my children without benefit of an ultrasound. But I did have prenatal care, something that the wives of farmers found nonexistent or severely lacking. 1928 changed many things for children. Penicillin was discovered and the world rejoiced. My father was obsessed with penicillin. Thinking back on his family’s incredible luck, my grandmother never had a miscarriage, nor did she lose any children, I can see how that medical discovery and good fortune became one in his mind. Conversely, my mother’s parents lost their infant daughter to pneumonia in the late 30s. There weren’t enough doctor visits or medical protocols in this world to save her. My maternal grandfather developed a distrust in medical providers. I can understand his view, too. Sometimes you can do everything right and still lose your child. I say all of this because I have been sick this week, something that does not happen often. Sure, there was that whole cancer thing. I have worked hard to shore up my immunity, eat as low on the food chain as one can, and stay active. It has helped thwart both a cancer recurrence and the common cold. But, it failed me this week. I was just sitting here and thinking how differently my parents would react to childhood illness and what advice I could now expect from them if they were available for consult.