Travel Tips

Adrian - the artist
Alexis - the princess, the musician
Kekoa - the warrior

Antonio - The Jock
This picture was taken after Anthony's game. He plays Football; position tight end and line backer. He also plays baseball; position third base and pitcher. Basketball - forward.

Adrian, Koa, and Antonio - My boys

1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

2. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

3. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

4. When you say, "I love you," mean it.

5. When you say, "I'm sorry," look the person in the eye.

6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

7. Believe in love at first sight.

8. Never laugh at anyone's dream. People who don't have dreams don't have much.

9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.

10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

11. Don't judge people by their relatives.

12. Talk slowly but think quickly.

13. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, "Why do you want to know?"

14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

15. Say "bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.

16. When you lose, don't lose the lesson

17. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and responsibility for all your actions.

18. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

19. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

20. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.

21. Spend some time alone.

Ruby, Alexis, Isabella, Antonio, Maria, Michelle, Kekoa, Papi, Sofia and Adrian.

Mean Moms

Someday when my children are old enough to
understand the logic that motivates a parent,
I will tell them, as my Mean Mom told me: I loved you
enough . . . to ask where you were going, with
whom, and what time you would be home.

I loved you enough to be silent and let you
discover that your new best friend was a creep.

I loved you enough to make you go pay for the
bubble gum you had taken and tell the clerk,
"I stole this yesterday and want to pay for it."

I loved you enough to stand over you for two
hours while you cleaned your room, a job that
should have taken 15 minutes.

I loved you enough to let you see anger,
disappointment, and tears in my eyes. Children
must learn that their parents aren't perfect.

I loved you enough to let you assume the
responsibility for your actions even when the
penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.

But most of all, I loved you enough . . to
say NO when I knew you would hate me for it.

Those were the most difficult battles of all.
I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won,
too. And someday when your children are old enough
to understand the logic that motivates parents,
you will tell them.

Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the
meanest mom in the whole world! While other
kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have
cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a
Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches.
And you can guess our mom fixed us a dinner that
was different from what other kids had, too.

Mom insisted on knowing where we were at all
times. You'd think we were convicts in a
prison. She had to know who our friends were, and what we
were doing with them. She insisted that if we said
we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone
for an hour or less.

We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the
nerve to break the Child Labor Laws by making us
work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn
to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the
trash and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would
lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.

She always insisted on us telling the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the
time we were teenagers, she could read our minds
and had eyes in the back of her head.
Then, life was really tough!

Mom wouldn't let our friends just honk the
horn when they drove up. They had to come up to the
door so she could meet them. While everyone else
could date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait
until we were 16.

Because of our mother we missed out on lots of
things other kids experienced. None of us have
ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's
property or ever arrested for any crime.
It was all her fault.

Now that we have left home, we are all
educated, honest adults. We are doing our best
to be mean parents just like Mom was.

I think that is what's wrong with the world
today. It just doesn't have enough mean moms!

Before I was a Mom I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom - I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom - I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.
Before I was a Mom - I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, The joy, The love, The heartache, The wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.
And remember that behind every successful mother... Is a basket of dirty laundry.