During my formative years, I had maids.  I did not know that they were on the household's payroll to take care of me, all I knew is that I felt loved and cared for.  

There is something undeniably lovely about being catered to.  Whether it was my Mother taking care of me whenever I was sick, or my Nanny ordering a box of my favorite cheesy snack, or my Father cooking breakfast...that feeling that I felt whenever anyone did anything nice for me, I have always wanted to share.

To be of service to someone does not make one subservient.  To be of service to someone, especially when affecting a stranger, is to show that one is capable of the act of unquestionably loving.

One of the utmost acts of service is sharing inspiration.  It takes so very little to inspire someone, and it takes even less to destroy someone's dreams.

I make an effort to be kind to everyone I encounter.  It isn't always easy, but it is so worth it to see the enlightened expression upon's someone's face who has just experienced unsolicited kindness.  I also make it a point to be kind to people who are unkind to me.  It has nothing to do with being weak, or encouraging stupid behavior. Rather, I am stubborn, and I refuse to allow some nasty little person to change my essence.

The little things that allow us to touch one another either in a tangible or spiritual way that uplifts is a form of service.

Bring a little joy to someone today.  

It's a joy that will come right back.  

I came upon a box today.  When I opened it, out came sheets of my past - all the things I thought I had left behind, I suddenly held within my hands.  The handwriting upon the paper brought back memories.  All the bad came back in waves, then the good flushed through my soul, as if none of it ever went away.  It felt as though all the good things that they were a part of had been a part of me all this time, I had only simply forgotten.  I then came across it.  The piece of tangible memory that brought me all the way back.  Funny how time has a way of hiding things.  I thought all of this had been erased, it hadn't been.  It's still here.  All of it - the good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly.  The painful memories resonate the most.  I think it's because I am wired to equate surviving pain to be synonymous with power.

Sometimes, the greatest gift we're given is not some tangible thing, nor the most beautiful.  Sometimes, the greatest gift comes when someone we love more than any and everything...walks away.  It is only then that we are left, to ourselves, by ourselves, in order to heal the wounds, and conceal our battle scars.

It was then, and only then, that I was able to experience what real strength felt like.   

Every few generations, a person comes along who completely annihilates the way in which people operate by making the world a more interesting place to live.  There was Edison, Graham-Bell, Ford, Lincoln (William - invented film), and Jobs.

Steve Jobs passed away yesterday, at the age of fifty-six years young.  However, he will be immortalized by the innovation that is synonymous with his name.  His impact upon the relationship between humans and technology is one that has completely shattered the precepts which existed prior to his inventions.  Steve had the instinctive methodology that took a concept, or an item, and brought it to such a heightened level of sophisticated simplicity that makes nearly all things possible.  The driving force behind his ingenuity was simply his love for the work he set out to accomplish.  I am sure that every man and woman who purchase one of the many Apple devices feel the wonder they felt when they were children on Christmas morning when they first begin playing with it.

I think the collective sadness that has followed Steve Jobs' death is one that carries a tone of yearning.  Wondering how much more could he have contributed?  What more could he have imagined?  What other elements of daily life could he have upgraded, in the way only he knew how.

For as long as I live, I will at the very least own and cherish an iPod.  The one I have now is a second generation, nearly five years old, and I use it to make the most mundane tasks more exciting.  My iPod is now more than just an MP4 player.  It is a daily reminder that one day, I too will be leaving this earth, and I will live only through the legacy I leave behind.  I will in no way, shape, nor form leave a fraction of the impact as Mr. Jobs has.  Although I believe that in the very least, so long as I, "think outside the box," and I, "never settle," I will function to the best of my ability due to the sheer joy with which I accomplish my goals.  

Thank you, Steve Jobs, for the inspiration and the advice.

Because of you, I will

"Stay hungry, stay foolish."

Dearest Reader,

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!  I see regular blog readers from Orlando, Jacksonville, and Canada.  Also, thank you to my international readers who even go so far as to translate their taste of Raw Honey.  I love you and thank you for checking out my thoughts!

All my affection,
Veronica

Whenever I'm in town - when I'm home, I run in my favorite park.  For the past six years, hitting the pavement has been an escape for me.  I run toward my bliss.  One of my park mates is an elderly lady who I often see when she walks her two dogs.  One is a dachshund (Hercules), and the other is a lhasa apso (Salsa).  Three years ago, she and I began talking, and every once in a while, we run into each other.  For an eighty-three year old, she looks amazing.  She has bright eyes, toned arms and legs, and an attitude about life I can only hope to grow into.  She lived through World War II, the women's rights era, civil rights movement among others, and  I appreciate her perspective.  Today, she and I got caught in the rain, and we had a chat in a gazebo that was longer than usual.  She told me about her life, and about when she was a young woman, "...females were not really allowed to work.  They could become nurses, or librarians (not teachers), or they got married.  Those were the choices."  She then asked me for my age and when I told her I am twenty-five, and her eyes lit up and she said, with the utmost sincerity, 

"At that age, you can be anything in the world you want to be.  You can do whatever you want." 

She is a widow who has five grown children.  She asked me if I have a family of my own, and I reassured her that I have other plans with my life, to which she replied,

"Marriage is not for everyone.  I don't think everyone should get married.  When you get married, you become a slave to your husband, and when you have kids, you become a slave to your husband and your kids.  When your husband dies, and your children are young, you're still a slave to your kids, and when your kids are grown and you're old, you're a slave to your dogs."  

I told her how much I appreciated the sentiment, because I often meet people who are baffled at my singlehood, and at times have even questioned my sexual preference.  I sometimes feel strange for being happily free.  

"Oh, that's just stupid.  Forget what anyone else says.  It's your life.  You do what you want.  Whatever makes you happy, that's all that matters."

Spoken by a woman who has lived through over four generations.  Less than twenty years shy of a century, this stranger repeats a sentiment reiterated to me time and time again.  Today, I left the park a different person than I came. 

All my life, I have been so blessed by people, especially strangers, both young and old, who share with me the light that is their wish for my happiness.  I have been sent cheerleaders, and it is my hope that as a living tribute to Ms. Ruth, and to all those who have wished me happiness, to echo the same wish for happiness to You, My Dearest, Lovely Reader.  

"If you want to be happy, then be."

When we first adopted this little Westie Mix from Animal Rescue in Florida, she was a mess.  She was malnourished, had not been leash-trained, and did not know how come, neither when we called her by her old name, nor by her new one.  Hannah has come a long way...

She had been so malnourished that her fur did not grow.  She lives a different life now.  Every helpless animal deserves a new chance at a new life.  I, personally, would never buy a dog or cat.  There are countless furry friends out there who need a good home.  The site I found Hannah through is Petfinder.  Petfinder is a database for adoptable animals that have gone through the rescue process.  Most cats and dogs listed on Petfinder has been through the ASPCA, or is currently there, waiting to be adopted.  Take Bear, for example.  He was rescued from a high-kill shelter.  

He is now a member of our family.  He is happy, playful, and is one heck of a guard dog.  I recommend adopting a pet from rescue to anyone who is looking to add to their family.  With a lot of love and a little patience, rescue animals will prove to be an integral element of what makes home feel like home. 

On January 12, 2010, the Earth both shook and stood still for millions of people.  Lives were lost.  Families were displaced.  After the devastating earthquake that ravaged Haiti, everyone knew that life there was never going to be the same.  To this day, rubble is still everywhere; there are more villages comprised of tents than there are neighborhoods of homes.  More than 2 million Haitians are still homeless.


Of the lives that were, lost, I heard insensitive comments, including, "That was God's way of controlling the population."  


...Are you kidding me?  


I realize that this world is full of ignorant and insensitive people.  Oafs such as the source of that awful comment, no longer surprise me.  


On March 11, I received a tweet alert from the Breaking News Organization regarding an earthquake in Japan.  I immediately sat up from my prior horizontal position in bed and began scouring the internet for updates using my smartphone.  I have family in the Philippines and wanted to know exactly which region of Japan was affected, and the likelihood of a tsunami reaching my family members.  When I found out the magnitude of the quake, I was speechless and felt helpless.  Thankful that my beloveds were in a safe zone, if there is one in this case, I was terrified for all who will be affected.  No doubt this is one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent history.  Besides Japan itself having been moved eight feet, the Earth's axis has also shifted.  

This map depicts the expected path of tsunami created by the shift in the Earth's tectonic plates that were the cause of the earthquake in Japan.  The Earth's lithosphere is made of tectonic plates (also known as lithospheric plates) that shift and collide erratically.  Here's is a geography lesson for those less informed regarding the younger face of the Earth that is better known as Pangaea.  

Rewind 250 million years...

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/images/evolution_pangaea-big.gif

Pangaea was a megacontinent, if you will(top depiction), comprised of all the continents we recognize today(second from top).  I am no expert on anything, least of all on geography, but the fact is that the Earth's land masses are constantly changing.  If all 7 billion of us had lived on the land mass that is known as Pangaea -  if the land masses never shifted apart, I do believe we would have been an extinct species long ago.  I highly doubt all the nations of people could function in such proximity.  My point is, I think too many of us lose sight of the fact that this planet we live on is, for a lack of better term, alive.  There is constant movement.  From floods to hurricanes, droughts to volcanic eruptions, we are at the mercy of the changes our environments undergo.  Many earthlings have forgotten that.  

We treat this planet the way we treat each other.  We stay for a few years, use/abuse/reuse the resources, and then...we bounce.  

I can't imagine that any group of people deserve a natural event of cataclysmic proportion.  As some like to state that this was an act of God, because people are evil, etc., etc.  People are always going to be people.  Good, bad, or indifferent, our history exists because neither a geological catastrophe, nor an astronomical one, has yet to wipe out the human race.  The Earth moves constantly.  It's just that sometimes, this is the result.  

http://raincoaster.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/japan-earthquake-tokyo-fires.png?w=535&h=357

It is just unfortunate that people happen to be in the midst of it.  I think we forget that on any land form resting on a tectonic plate, this could result.  This could happen any where, at any time, with us feeble humans being, once again, at Mother Nature's mercy.  Keep in mind those who are closely affected by natural disasters such as this, because as trite as the notion is, it is the truth.  

"What happens to one of us, can happen to all of us."

Today would have been Dr. Martin Luther King's eighty-second birthday.  I wish he would lived to see the progress the United States has made as a people to become more tolerant of those who are not the same as the majority.  How much progress have we made?  There is no doubt that the American Civil Rights movement has brought about change in regards to attempting to set an equal playing field amongst a group of people who belong in the same nation.

I question why this even had to be an issue in the first place.  History states that descendants of the Europeans and the British who wiped out the gracious Native Americans felt the right to enslave a whole group people on the basis that they were different.  Needless to say, civilizations around the globe have employed others as slaves.  What gives any group of people to treat another group of people as inferior?  Upon what basis is the justification of mistreating others acceptable?

Why is it that ethnicities for the African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Pacific Islanders in America is actually an element that still proves to be a disadvantage?  I can not wrap my mind around the notion that being different is a bad thing.  Just because someone is different does not make them bad.  Not understanding someone's customs does not make them any less or more.  Xenophobia is a foreign notion to me, yet I realize it runs rampant in the realm of society and politics.

As a Filipina in the US, I have thankfully not seen the staunch and offensive prejudice that has been described to me.  There have been a couple of occasions at the most, but for the most part, fitting in has never been a problem.  However, I was blown away by a comment a man I once dated made.  He said that he did not believe in the Civil Rights Movement.  He didn't think that Affirmitive Action was necessary.  He was born into a middle-class family and was of German descent.  I don't think he'll ever understand.  It isn't about race, it's about treating each other like people.  We all deserve an opportunity, respect, and justice.  Judging someone by the color of their skin is a notion that is alien to me.  I don't believe in it.  I guess I am considered naive because I believe in loving everyone, giving everyone a chance.

If Dr. King were alive today, would he be proud?  Of course we have more work to be done.  We still have healing to do after centuries of prejudice and the oppression of those who are different.  As a nation, we've come a long way, but we still have a long, long way to go.

One Love

In honor of Thanksgiving, I did not want to limit myself to one day.  So, I started a tradition last year that helped me become a more appreciative person.  For every day in the month of November, I would think in my life, either major or frivolous, that I am thankful for.  This will be edited daily, or as often as I have time, for the sake of the list.

11.1.10

I am thankful for the innovations that people have made in order to better this world.

11.2.10

Today, I am thankful for wild animals who do not react wildly toward humans who show them love and affection.

11.3.10

I am saddened and thankful for Andy Irons, athlete extraordinare and for the legacy he has left behind.  RIP, my friend.  Ride those endless waves...

11.4.10

I am thankful for comfortable stilettos.  Sexy and functional.

11.5.10

Today, I am thankful for those who walked out of my life when they did, because that is exactly when they needed to give me the proper view.  Some people are the most beautiful when they walk away.

11.6.10

Sunshine makes me grateful for the days some weren't blessed enough to live to see.

11.7.10

I am thankful for Cupcake Vinyards Sauvignon blanc.

11.8.10

I am thankful for professors who want their students to do well.

11.9.10

Today, I am thankful to my family and friends.  The very few and special ones in my life who never hesitate to call me out on my shit.  Y'all tell me when I'm being dumb, unreasonable, and petty.  Most importantly, whenever I have felt defeated, you remind me that there is nothing in this world I can not do.

11.10.10
Crackers.  I love and miss crackers.

11.11.10
Doggies.  I am thankful for dogs.

11.12.10
Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

11.13.10
Bikram Yoga

11.14.10
Books.  Hardback, paper back books.

11.15.10
Facts versus versions of the truth.

11.16.10
Air travel.

11.17.10
Old friends and new situations.

11.18.10
My favorite sweatpants.

11.19.10
Nice days to run at the park.

11.20.10
Bed picnics.

11.21.10
Friends who are like family

11.22.10
Jimmy Choo

11.23.10
Lattes

11.24.10
Freedom

11.25.10
Butterflies in my stomach

11.26.10
Lamb Burgers from Crave

11.27.10
Skin

11.28.10
Scented candles

11.29.10
Large, designer handbags

11.30.10
Love fixing all that ails the world...

Fall is in the air.  The cool, clean, crisp smell of the outdoors is a simple reminder that winter is once again upon us.  There are few things I love more than taking a deep breath outside, right after dusk.  Ever since I was a child, I have always loved this time of the year.  I want to stay outside until winter rears its cold head.

As much as I adore autumn and the month of October, I realized something last week.  Most of the relationships I look back on and scoff about ended in the tenth month.  This year was different.  One of the most precious relationships I will ever have in my life didn't quite end in October, it changed.  My darling dog, Brandi, known by those who love her most as "Lurs," passed on after having spent the final four years of her life with me and my family.

Before her, I never knew what it felt like to fight for something that I knew in the entirety of my being was right.  You see, our story began on a blustery day in 2006.  When I met her, she had long, matted fur.  It was about 28 degrees outside, and it was raining.  She was tied to a tree.  She was emaciated and smelled awful.  The moment we set eyes upon each other, it was as if something clicked.  I instinctively knew that she was my charge.  I needed to take care of her.  Perhaps it was because of the fact that in that period of my life, my relationships were rough ones.  I had forgotten what unconditional love felt like.  I prayed, and prayed, and begged and begged for permission to be able to take her home.  She ended up in the car with us for the six hour ride home.  Rehabilitating an old dog is not a simple, nor inexpensive undertaking.  I brought her to the vet, had her groomed, adjusted her eating habits.  She was just happy to be with me.  I went back and forth between homes for some time, but when I left, no matter how long I was gone, when I came home, she was always the first to greet me.  As if she thought I would have been gone forever and all of a sudden gave her the best surprise of her life.  Lurs loved me back to sanity, and I am a better person because I had her in my life.

I have no idea what breed of dog she was, or how old she was when I began taking care of her.  All I knew is that it was the right thing to do.  So many people who knew her owner, and had an idea of her actual age.  They constantly tried to tell me how old she was, as if that would discourage me from caring for her and loving her.  I never understood why it mattered to people so much.  Love knows no age.  The point is to love unconditionally.  It is important that we learn to care for people and helpless creatures who need us.

The ability to care for those who need us is not a burden, it is a privilege.