Taking another new road, yet again!

I went to my first Pampered Chef party about 15 years ago. I thought, at the time, that it was something I could sell, but I didn't know if my lifestyle would be condusive to building a busines. Afterall, I moved every eighteen months to three years so how could I possibly establish myself with such uncertainty? You know, we make some stupid decisions as children but the ones we make as adults are so much worse! But everything in its own time.

Being a stay-at-home grandmother and taking classes doesn't offer me much opportunity to make extra money, and the job market being what it is presently, no one is hiring for work 1 day a week. Having a home business seemed like the next best solution. I received my box of paperwork and was immediately overwhelmed. So much to do, so much is expected, so much to organize, and my immediate reaction was "Have I bitten off more than I can chew?" Probably, but I have a pretty big mouth and it takes a lot to choke me. I do, however, wish I had taken this chance AFTER completing my algebra course, but it's too late now.

So, here I am, off on yet another adventure. I am a good salesperson so that aspect will be a no brainer. I love entertaining so I can handle that part of the job. I was a theater arts major so standing in front of a crowd performing and selling won't be too hard. Having a son that is attending culinary school, having a background in entertaining, and having once worked for Williams-Sonoma and knowing products shared by both businesses, I feel as though I have a foot hold that most might not, so product knowledge should not be a problem. But where do I find my customer base...yikes. It's too late for second thoughts now and not willing to quit so easily when faced with a challenge, I will conquer Pampered Chef as well. If anyone out there would like to purchase Pampered Chef products, please let me know!

A Little Sunshine on a Damp and Cold Day

On a day that is overcast and gray in a country suffering from a recession that fills all news sources with blurbs that are as dark as the skies outside, the Today show aired a wonderful little vignette that lifted my spirit and my lips while making a few tears paint my cheeks. Forty years ago, this baby's family was killed in an apartment fire. Since she was an early teen, she has wondered about this man who was kind enough to give her his breath of life, as her stepmother reminded her. So she went on a search and finally found him.

My daughter, who is 25 and still so naive in many ways, has had a very privileged life. She grew up in the military so was not taught prejudice. She travelled the globe living in far off, exotic places and was raised both here and abroad so she does not comprehend racial hatred. So therefore, as this news piece was airing and I was as still as a cat in a room full of rockers, she was quite unaware of the significance of the story. She could only see life being given to a child. What is not depicted clearly above is that the child is black.

At a time when racial tension in the country was at it's peak, this white, Irish Catholic firefighter from Boston, an area that was rife with tension and hatred between blacks and whites, held this small negro infant in his huge, gentle, yet capable hands and kissed her with the breath she so desperately needed in order to survive. That is the miracle, that is the heart of the story, that is why we have hope. I would like to think that any firefighter would have had the honor and compassion to do what he did, but having been alive during that time period in history as well as having highly educated extended family members that hate black people just because they are black, I can imagine there are some that would rather have let her die then place their own mouth upon her. But not Firefighter Carroll who did what he knew was best. And thank heavens above he did.

I don't know if it took forty years to find him, or that long to get the nerve to find him, but find him she did. And the reunion was special and heartfelt...and by the looks of it, her children have found new members to add their extended and extending family. Blessed may they all be.