Inspired by something discussed in my last post, I made a “crayon card” that resembled a piece of my childhood.
I encourage all to share this with a special Dad in their life.
You may do so by using any of the share buttons below or by using this link.
To all the special dads, grandpas, and great grandpas out there:
Have a very happy Father’s Day.
After all these years, I can’t shake this one image from my past. A group of us kindergarteners sat around a long table and the teacher handed out paper and art supplies. She asked the class to make a Father’s Day card for our dads. I immediately felt the tears well up in my eyes. Something pushed me to hold them back, though. Maybe it was my grandmother’s voice in my head telling me not to be a “crybaby”, maybe it wasn’t. I held it all in – and with this bottling of emotions, another part of me pushed to put my grief to use.
With my markers and crayons in hand, I proceeded to make the most beautiful Father’s Day card ever…for my grandfather. Some little jerk in my class saw it when I finished and made fun of me. Somehow, I wasn’t going to let him get to me. This card was for my grandfather because he meant a lot to me. Even though he wasn’t my actual father, he raised me as if I was his own.
There was a coldness left with me when my father passed on, but my grandfather always showed me warmth. He always tried to heal that sadness. Part of it was knowing how I felt, because he lost his father when he was a child as well. The other part was simply that he loved me.
Later that day, I marched that card home to my grandfather and his eyes welled up too. Only this time, it was joy. I had never seem him get misty-eyed before. He gave me a gigantic bear hug and said “Thank you.”
He still talks about that card to this day.
To all the fathers out there:
Happy Father’s Day!
You are special, you are loved, and you are appreciated.
Today, my son and I were outside before he went off to school. We found quite an interesting little creature on our exploration. I’ll let some of my Instagram posts do the talking.
(Click on each image to view larger & read captions)
Always an adventure when I’m with my little one.
Image found via CBS News archives. Original image source unknown.
Many organizations are naming today “National Hoodie Day” in honor of Trayvon Martin. The horrid shooting incident took place on February 26th, 2012 and the trial for George Zimmerman begins today.
This beautiful child was killed because of senseless violence and fear. Fear fueled by racism, or racism fueled by fear, depending on how you look at it. No matter how you see it, I think most of us can agree acts like this just shouldn’t transpire. There is a better way.
Countless groups from around the country will be holding protests today. Many schools around the country will be wearing hoodies in support and remembrance of Trayvon.
Little Blue Feather is a children’s story I wrote and illustrated a few months back with incident’s like Trayvon’s murder in mind. The story was a contribution to the Bloggers for Peace movement I am strongly passionate about. It won for that month’s Peace Challenge and many agreed it is an excellent teaching tool. If you have children, please read it to them. We can teach our children about peace and acceptance early. If it helps prevent one child from becoming a future George Zimmerman, I’ve done my job as a peace crusader.
Trayvon could be any one of our children. I take this shooting extremely personal because my son is of mixed ethnicity and wears hoodies himself all the time. He has features just like Trayvon’s. I don’t want this to be my child’s future because of ignorance and fear.
If you are interested in joining Bloggers for Peace – please visit here or click the badge at the bottom of my blog.
Other Peace Crusaders
Crawling inside
This ache, this sting
Shatter my consciousness
Trouble you bring
There’s a girl standing afar
A chill fills me near
Grip onto the nearest wall
Drown me in fear
Thoughts scream like banshees
I can’t take it anymore
Go away, leave me now!
Don’t forget to close the door!
Why is she there?
Is she around to warn me?
One can’t help wonder
Is this how it’s meant to be?
She moves closer quickly
My legs are glued to the beams
It’s safe to assume
I’m trapped in my dreams
© 2013 CardCastlesInTheSky
My son and I always enjoy watching all of the little creatures that roam about before it’s time for him to go off to school. His favorite are the male cardinals that hang around the trees in front. (Female cardinals have a darker feathers and appear to be sandy-brownish. It’s the males that don the beautiful, bright red to attract the ladies.)
When I returned from sending my little one off to school, there sat this little red guy checking me out. So, I did what I always do & snapped a photo of him.
There were some undesirable blurs in the photo that had to be cropped out because it was so sunny that day. This little bird was so adorable I just had to edit the photo and give it a painting effect.
I give you:
Little Red
Have a pleasant Sunday, everyone!
The sun caught these little lovlies so nicely I just had to share it with all of you.
I took a few of these but this one outshines the others.
Do you have a favorite spot you like to go clear your head?
If yesterday’s post was a person, this would be the alter ego.
As someone that’s been in both healthy and unhealthy relationships, I think I can offer some tips to strengthen and keep peace in your home.
Even though we all disagree at times, there is something to be gained from a calm discussion rather than a shouting match. If each of you are feeling like you want to rip the other’s throat out, it’s best to take a breather and return to the matter at hand when you’ve both cooled down. Don’t let too much time pass, though, this defeats the purpose and hinders good communication.
Since my stress & grief management lists were both big hits, I’ve compiled a list of tips that can help strengthen bonds in a relationship. Each tip comes together to collectively form a group of tools that focuses on the two key aspects of a healthy relationship: trust and communication.
Trusting One Another
Communicating Effectively
To build a happy home, all we need to do is trust in each other. The rest tends to fall into place. Although these tips are helpful, please to not mistake them for professional advice. I am merely someone who has been through a great deal of up and downs in life. I’m still learning, just like you.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
This article is Part 2 of 2 articles written in response to the Monthly Peace Challenge: Peace at Home. The first installment can be found here: You Forgot Something at the Strip Club
I dedicate this to the love of my life, my other half, the father of my child. You made it possible for me to love again when my heart was cold and I was broken. Although, you piss me off sometimes, you also bring me an unimaginable amount of happiness. I love you.
I’m a person that values relationships. Somehow, I always have. I’ve been in my current relationship for ten years now. We have a beautiful son together and I couldn’t be more thankful for that.
If I was naïve, like I was in the past, I’d say not much can go wrong. I’m far from the naïve girl I once was, though.
Relationships all have their extreme highs and excruciatingly painful lows. To say anything less would be a drastic understatement.
The Incident
Case and point, take one of our most recent arguments. It was the most hurt I’ve felt in a long time by him. Our son was playing with his iPhone apps as a treat. Months earlier, he downloaded a few educational apps for our little one as a reward for exceptional 
behavior.
The irony is his Daddy’s behavior, I was about to find out, was not so exceptional. Our son deleted some family photos and my other half got upset. “Aww, man…I think those were the pictures from my mom’s house!” He stated with a look on his face I know all too well means: “I need to fix this now!” Rather than see him go insane, I picked up his phone and explained a viable solution.
I went into detail about how (on an iPhone) there is a feature called Photo Stream that can act as a backup with photos that have been deleted. If you have this enabled, you may be in the clear. So, as I shuffled through his Photo Stream to search for the missing photos, I came across a screenshot[1] of a text message. The message read something like this:
“I’ll be at [insert my name here] grandfather’s house on Sunday. Then the bachelor party.”
(This is as best as I can remember it, but I know it was worded differently and contained much more slang.)
Hurt filled me almost instantly. Counterintuitively, I held it in. I didn’t mention anything until the next day. Maybe this was where I went wrong, but I felt it best to hold back until I had cooled down.
He had told me he was “going out” with friends Sunday night (the following Monday was a holiday) and I naturally assumed this meant just going out and having a few beers with his buddies. What I didn’t know, and what he neglected to tell me was they were going to be having a bachelor party for one of his friends. So, this wasn’t some creative lie, but rather a lie by omission. (A big no-no in committed relationships.)
The Aftermath
If he had told me the truth, there’s a chance I wouldn’t have been so upset. I most likely would’ve just gave him my blessing to go and have fun. I know some of you may be saying, “No, you wouldn’t have, you’re a woman and you still would’ve flipped out!” Maybe, just maybe, there’s a little truth to that. Although, I’d never know, would I? I was robbed of that chance.
We did wind up talking this out. It took a while but we’ve worked things out with no separation and without shouting. I simply stated why this hurt me and how something like that could diminish my trust in him. I mean, if he felt the need to lie…this made me think that something I shouldn’t kno
w about must be going on. Thoughts like that are toxic to a person like me because I then spin an endless web of negative thinking. Then, I say to myself “I wonder what else he hasn’t told me.”
The moral of this story is, be truthful with your partner at all times, if possible. We all make mistakes, but trust and communication are the two most important keys to a successful relationship.
After all, you just may forget something at the strip club; your partner’s trust.
[1] screenshot: noun
A photo capture of the contents on a screen. This is usually taken by the device itself.
This article is Part 1 of 2 articles I’m contributing to this month’s Monthly Peace Challenge: Peace at Home . Part 2 will be somewhat of a counterexample of this, and talk more about how to create trust and build communication, rather than destroy it.
(Kozo read my mind again with this one, as I was planning this article a few days before he announced this month’s topic.)
Related Articles:
Since posting something small with minimal text has become somewhat of my Sunday ritual here, I’ve dreamt up a name for it. From now on I’ll be titling these posts “Sleepy Sunday” and tagging it as such. The same exceptions apply here that are already in effect for my “Daily Daydreams“.
There will be a short, “dreamy”, artwork, photography, or possibly even poetry-driven post every Sunday unless:
With that out of the way, here is my little doodle for today. It’s very girly, but I think both male and female could appreciate it. 
It’s called:
Fluttering
(My son helped me choose the colors. He’s the greatest.)
