The baby you have is the baby you were destined to have. 

It was meant to be. 

That's what all the adoption people tell you

But everything else in the world seems so completely random. 

What if, one little thing, I said, or did could have made it all fall apart? 

What if I'd chosen another life for myself, or another person?

 We might have never found each other.

 What if I'd been raised differently? 

What if my mother had never been sick? 

What if I'd actually had a good father? 

What if? What if?...What..if? 

Your life is a gift. Accept it. No matter how screwed up or painful it seems to be. 

Some things are going to work out as if they were destined to happen.

 As if they were just meant to be.

 

 We've all heard the warnings and we've ignored them. 

We push our luck, we roll the dice, we play with fire. 

It's human nature, when we're told not to touch something, we usually do even if we know better.

 Maybe because deep down we're just asking for trouble.

In sickness and in health

  In sickness and in health. 

For better or worse. In sickness and in health, they say. 

It sounds so final, so binding. 

But it just means you have to be there. You have to really want to be there. For whatever is coming. 

And we don't know. It could all pan out the way we want, the way it's supposed to be

. Or it could be so much worse.

 According to this man's family, he was not a smoker, but the truth is he smoked two packs a day, in his car for twenty years, while his wife and children slept. 

 shame is the elephant in the room. 

The truth is right here for everyone to see and it doesn't need to say a single word. 

They say shame controls every aspect of human behavior. 

It's about who we believe we are.

  Our shame can choke us. Kill us. Can rot us from the inside, if we decide to let it. 

Don't let that happen to you.

  

Never choose the safety of what was known 

when there was the possibility of more to be discovered

Adapt or die

 We've all heard the saying. 

It's one of those things we learn in seventh grade science class. 

Adapt or die. 

Adapting isn't easy, though. 

You have to fight your competition, fend off their attacks, and sometimes, you have to kill. You do what you need to do to survive. 

Adapt or die. 

As many times as we've heard it, the lesson doesn't get easier. 

Problem is we're human. We want more than just to survive. We want love. We want success. We want to be the best that we can be. 

So we fight like hell to get those things. 

Anything else feels like death.

 You work, you study, you prepare.

 Months and years leading to one day. The day when you step up. 

On that day, you have to be ready for anything. 

But there's one thing you can never quite prepare for. 

The day when you step down. 

Sometimes, it happens in an instant. We step up. We become a leader. We see a path forward.

 We see a path, and we take it. 

Even when we have no idea where we're going.

  It's hard to fight against certain biases.

It's important to keep an open mind. It's how we learn. It's how we grow. It's how we move forward. 

Until we don't. Until we let our bias take over. 

Until we succumb to what feels right, or good, or satisfying in that moment,

 because even then, deep down inside, we usually know we're going to regret it.

 When we can't avoid pain, we try to understand it with pithy little quotes that we can wrap our heads around, like 

"suffering is optional", 

or 

"time heals all wounds". 

And my personal favorite, "Every pain has a purpose." 

God, I hope that one's true.

  Some biologists believe that it's human nature to help. 

Scientists believe we're biologically programmed to empathize.

 it's one of the reasons our species has lasted this long. We have an innate instinct to support each other.

 You can only take care of yourself for so long.

Because, let's face it, some problems are way too big to carry on our own.

 Fixing your mental health isn't like surgery. 

You can't just run the blood work and check the vitals.

With mental health, progress is way harder to measure and if something's wrong, we have to take action. There's a lot of uncertainty. There's a lot of fear.

 And what might be easy for one person, for someone else might take inner strength you can't even imagine. 

But we have to try. We have to stand up to our demons. We have to face reality whenever possible and ask for help when we can't. 

And when we do that, healing is possible.

 

However one more day decrease from life,
Sweet dream lost with Tuesday,
This is Wednesday, remembering..
what forget Last day, running to fulfil,

A day after Tuesday,
I think its Wednesday,
Every eyes and my destiny ask
"What you did on Tuesday"

 

Rainbow in Wednesday
echoes of nothing audience
society stresses....

Wednesday's child is full of woe 

hooray say the roses, today is Wednesday
and we bloom where soldiers fell
and lovers too,
and the snake at the word.


Because it's Sunday -- all the time --
And Recess -- never comes --
And Eden'll be so lonesome
Bright Wednesday Afternoons --

Little doing - for sacred, oh Wednesday, thou art
To the seven-o'-clock joys of full many a table --
When the Members all meet, to make much of that part
With which they so rashly fell out in the Fable.


That was Wednesday, 
for every Wednesday ended in darkness. 

 There is a breed of Tuesday in January 

in which time creeps 

and no light comes 

and the air is full of water 

and nobody really loves anybody.

 

 

People don't like Mondays
but are Tuesdays any better
when Friday is that far off?

Monday always passes and there will always be a Tuesday with a beautiful blue sky with few clouds.

Tuesday isn’t so bad. 

It’s a sign that I’ve somehow survived Monday

Tuesday’s child is full of grace

Monday January 13th 2025 - the Wolf Moon

Wolf Moon

Said to be so named for the wolf's hungry howling during mid-winter nights.




It’s thought that January’s full Moon came to be known as the Wolf Moon because wolves were more likely to be heard howling at this time. It was traditionally believed that wolves howled due to hunger during winter, but we know today that isn’t accurate.

Howling and other wolf vocalizations are heard in the wintertime to locate pack members, reinforce social bonds, define territory, and coordinate hunting.


Another fitting name for this full Moon is the Center Moon. Used by the Assiniboine people of the Northern Great Plains, it refers to the idea that this Moon roughly marks the middle of the cold season.
Other traditional names for the January Moon emphasize the harsh coldness of the season: Cold Moon (Cree), Frost Exploding Moon (Cree), Freeze Up Moon (Algonquin), and Severe Moon (Dakota). Hard Moon (Dakota) highlights the phenomenon of the fallen snow developing a hard crust.
Canada Goose Moon (Tlingit), Great Moon (Cree), Greetings Moon (Western Abenaki), and Spirit Moon (Ojibwe) have also been recorded as Moon names for this month.

 I had a terrible day. 

We say it all the time. 

A fight with the boss, the stomach flu, traffic. That's what we describe as terrible, when nothing terrible is happening. 

These are the things we beg for, a root canal, an IRS audit, coffee spilled on our clothes.

 When the really terrible things happen, we start begging a god we don't believe in to bring back the little horrors and take away this.

 It seems quaint now, doesn't it? The flood in the kitchen, the poison oak, the fight that leaves you shaking with rage? 

Would it have helped, if we could see what else was coming? 

Would we have known that those were the best moments of our lives?

 It's a little bit horrifying just how quickly everything can fall to crap. 

Sometimes it takes a huge loss to remind you of what you care about the most. 

Sometimes you find yourself becoming stronger as a result, wiser, better-equipped to deal with the next big disaster that comes along. 

Sometimes. 

But not always.

 As babies, we were easy. 

One cry meant you were hungry, another you were tired.

It's only as adults that we become difficult. We start to hide our feelings, put up walls. It gets to the point where we never really know how anyone thinks or feels. 

Without meaning to, we become masters of disguise. 

It's not always easy to speak your mind, sometimes you need to be forced to do it.

 Sometimes, it's better to just keep things to yourself, though, play dumb, even when your whole body's aching to come clean. 

So you shut your mouth, keep your secret, and find other ways to keep yourself happy.

  Past experience usually helps, but for unique cases, you fake it first. 

 The old saying goes, "Fake it till you make it." 

Because sometimes, pretending you have confidence helps you find the real thing. 

When it doesn't work, when life doesn't give us second chances or dress rehearsals, you can walk away or you can go all in. 

We tell ourselves we don't care. 

We can try to hide our doubts and fears. 

Or we can accept the unknown and dive in. 

The real thing is better anyway.

 

Despite its complexity, the human brain can only focus on about one thing at a time.  Monotasking reduces distraction, sharpens attention, and allows us to operate at peak performance.  But a brain can adapt and thrive in just about anything. Even chaos. Scientists call the conscious thought needed to complete everyday tasks working memory.  That memory is always there, always there, getting you through the chaos of life, one task at a time. In some ways, that's all life really is, all the things we do strung together. This day, this night, this moment. This connection, this family, this friendship. And somewhere, in all of that, sleep and wake up.  Sleep and wake up. Sleep. And wake up.

 

When you're met with the impossible, the only place to turn is toward each other. 

When you lose, you have someone to cry with.

 When you walk into the unknown, you have someone to hold your hand.

 And when you win, there's someone by your side to celebrate. 

And suddenly, the impossible feels possible. 

But sometimes, there's no one to turn to. 

Sometimes, you're all alone. 

In those times, you have to keep the faith. 

Remember that even if you can't see them or feel them or hear them, your people are out there, waiting for you. 

Even after you're gone.

 In 1986, Congress passed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which prohibits emergency rooms from denying patients care. 

If you don't have a dollar to your name, it doesn't matter. You can go to any emergency room at any time and they have to treat you. Some people think this law has contributed to overcrowding and hospital closures. 

But I don't know a single ER doctor who would turn a patient away even if they could.

 The Greek myths loved to talk about the perils of hubris, the dangers of believing you can outrun the will of the gods. 

Humility makes you good, but ego makes you great. 

If that means flying a little too close to the sun, well, that's a risk we're willing to take. 

On our best days,  you feel invincible, like you can do no wrong

 But inevitably, our hubris catches up with us. 

In those awful moments, we're left with nothing but the wreckage of our shattered egos.

 And we're in total free fall.

 When life forces us to do something impossible an explosion happens inside the body. 

A rush of hormones blasts through us, making us stronger, making us faster. Biology overrides fear and that makes the impossible possible. 

Nobody wakes up thinking: "My world will explode today. My world will change." Nobody thinks that. 

But, sometimes, it happens. 

Sometimes, we wake up, we face our fears. We take them by the hand

. And we stand there waiting, hoping, ready for anything.

  

Freezing. Choking. Getting tongue-tied. 

It's what we call it when your mind goes from brilliant to blank.

 You can prepare all you want, but the feeling can still hit you, out of nowhere. 

So when it hits you, when your mind shuts down, when you open your mouth and no words come out, the good news is, it happens to all of us. Freezing. Choking. Getting tongue-tied.

 There's a reason it happens. We lose our words because the stakes are so high and we have so much to lose. 

We're petrified of saying too much or saying it wrong, when the truth is the only wrong thing you could say is nothing at all.

  

There's an old story of a father who had two sons. 

When he knew a civil war was about to break out, he sent one son to fight for the North, and one to the South. He figured if he had sons on both sides, there'd be a better chance one would survive. 

when you fight a war at home, the casualties are your neighbors, your friends, your family, leaving you all alone. 

War isn't civil. You pick sides and defend them. You attack. You hurt people. You get hurt. You fight, and you fight, and you fight. To what end? What are we fighting against? What are we fighting for? 

When is it time to just quit all of this nonsense and simply surrender?

 I don't do reunions. 

I don't need to make superficial conversation with a bunch of people I barely remember. 

If I wanna keep someone in my life, I keep them in my life. 

Or, maybe it's just that I don't know how to get rid of them.

 I don't do reunions, but I can see why people do. 

They can make you feel like you haven't felt in a long time. It's comfy. It's familiar. It's kind of like coming home. You see how people turned out, if they realized their hopes and dreams, or if they have lost their hopes and dreams. 

Or maybe you see that they have found what we all should find: brand new hopes and dreams.

 

There is a breed of Tuesday in January 

in which time creeps 

and no light comes 

and the air is full of water 

and nobody really loves anybody

Murphy's Law

 In 1949, Edward Murphy conducted a rocket sled experiment to see how much pressure a human being could withstand. 

Murphy's experiment failed spectacularly, over and over. 

Needless to say, he didn't start off on the right foot. 

That's why it's called Murphy's law. 

Because if anything can go wrong, it will. 

Once things start going wrong, it's hard to break the cycle. Murphy's law is not physics. It's just a thing a guy said to try and make sense of a crappy day. 

Just because things go wrong, it doesn't mean they're out of our control. It's on us to fix things. It's on us to take everything that can go wrong, and make it go right.

 It's on us to try, anyway.

  

Our skulls cushion our brains. 

Our rib cage guards our hearts. 

The body is built to protect our most vulnerable parts. 

At least that's how it's supposed to work. 

The body adapts. It protects itself.

 But it can't close off completely, or we're not really living, right? 

So we leave the door open just a little, hoping like hell it's worth the risk.

 When you hold on to anything for too long, your muscles conform to the position you're holding.

 That applies to the heart and the mind, as well as the hand. 

The pain you know is coming is what makes it easier to just keep holding on.

January 6th Epiphany

 Epiphany 

- The visit of the Three  Kings to the Christ child 

Theophany - The Feast Of The Baptism Of The Lord 

The Wedding at Cana 

Plough Monday - back to work 

the Epiphany, 

sometimes also called Three Kings' Day 

Epiphany , also known as "Theophany" in Eastern Christian tradition, is a Christian feast day commemorating the visit of the Magi, the baptism of Jesus, and the wedding at Cana.

In Western Christianity, the feast commemorates principally (but not solely) the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child, and thus Jesus Christ's physical manifestation to the Gentiles. It is sometimes called Three Kings' Day, and in some traditions celebrated as Little Christmas. Moreover, the feast of the Epiphany, in some denominations, also initiates the liturgical season of Epiphanytide.

Eastern Christians, on the other hand, commemorate the baptism of Jesus (but it is also called Epiphany) in the Jordan River, seen as his manifestation to the world as the Son of God. The spot marked by Al-Maghtas in Jordan, adjacent to Qasr al-Yahud in the West Bank, is considered to be the site of the baptism of Jesus and the ministry of John the Baptist.

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, or Theophany, is the feast day commemorating the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Originally the baptism of Christ was celebrated on Epiphany, which commemorates the coming of the Magi, the baptism of Christ, and the wedding at Cana. Over time in the West, however, the celebration of the baptism of the Lord came to be commemorated as a distinct feast from Epiphany. It is celebrated in the Catholic Church as well as the Anglican and Lutheran Churches on the first Sunday following The Epiphany of Our Lord (January 6). Some Lutheran churches celebrate it on the Sunday before Lent,

January 5th

 12th Day Of Christmas 

12th Night 

Epiphany Eve 

Plough Sunday 

12 Days of Christmas - still

 The Yule 12 days are of course December 20 to December 31 

- 31st being New Years Eve and the Twelfth Night

The 12 days of Christmas in Christian theology  is the period  that marks the span between the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi, the three wise men. It begins on December 25 (Christmas) and runs through January 6 (the Epiphany, sometimes also called Three Kings' Day).

Christmas Day is the First Day. The Twelve Days are 25 December to 5 January, counting first and last. The Octave, or Eighth Day, is New Year's Day and the Feast of the Circumcision, the day Jesus was circumcised according to the Jewish faith. The evening of the last day is Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve, the next morning being Epiphany.

For Christian denominations such as the Anglican Communion or the Lutheran Church, the Twelve Days are identical to Christmastide (December 25 through January 5). For the Roman Catholic Church, however, Christmastide lasts longer, running through the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.For some, the Twelve Days are considered December 26 to January 6,  thus including Epiphany.

Epiphany , also known as "Theophany" in Eastern Christian tradition, is a Christian feast day commemorating the visit of the Magi, the baptism of Jesus, and the wedding at Cana.

In Western Christianity, the feast commemorates principally (but not solely) the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child, and thus Jesus Christ's physical manifestation to the Gentiles. It is sometimes called Three Kings' Day, and in some traditions celebrated as Little Christmas. Moreover, the feast of the Epiphany, in some denominations, also initiates the liturgical season of Epiphanytide.

Eastern Christians, on the other hand, commemorate the baptism of Jesus (but it is also called Epiphany) in the Jordan River, seen as his manifestation to the world as the Son of God. The spot marked by Al-Maghtas in Jordan, adjacent to Qasr al-Yahud in the West Bank, is considered to be the site of the baptism of Jesus and the ministry of John the Baptist.

The traditional date for the feast is January 6. However since 1970 the celebration has been held in some countries on the Sunday after January 1. Those Eastern Churches that are still following the Julian calendar observe the feast on what, according to the internationally used Gregorian calendar, is 19 January, because of the current 13-day difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The Alawites and the Middle Eastern Christians also observe the feast on January 19.

In many Western Churches, the eve of the feast is celebrated as Twelfth Night (Epiphany Eve) on January 5. The Monday after Epiphany is known as Plough Monday. 

Twelfth Night (also known as Epiphany Eve depending upon the tradition) is a Christian festival on the last night of the Twelve Days of Christmas, marking the coming of the Epiphany. Different traditions mark the date of Twelfth Night as either 5 January or 6 January, depending on whether the counting begins on Christmas Day or 26 December. 

 January 6 is celebrated as the feast of Epiphany, which begins the Epiphanytide season

Plough Monday is the traditional start of the English agricultural year. Plough Monday is the first Monday after Epiphany, 6 January. References to Plough Monday date back to the late 15th century. The day before Plough Monday is referred to as Plough Sunday, in which a ploughshare is brought into the local Christian church (such as the Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican traditions) with prayers for the blessing of human labour, tools, as well as the land

The Feast of the Circumcision of Christ is a Christian celebration of the circumcision of Jesus in accordance with Jewish tradition, eight days (according to the Semitic and southern European calculation of intervals of days) after his birth, the occasion on which the child was formally given his name.

The circumcision of Jesus has traditionally been seen, as in the popular 14th-century work the Golden Legend, as the first time the blood of Christ was shed, and thus the beginning of the process of the redemption of man, and a demonstration that Christ is fully human, and of his (parents') obedience to Biblical law.

The feast day appears on 1 January

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, or Theophany, is the feast day commemorating the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Originally the baptism of Christ was celebrated on Epiphany, which commemorates the coming of the Magi, the baptism of Christ, and the wedding at Cana. Over time in the West, however, the celebration of the baptism of the Lord came to be commemorated as a distinct feast from Epiphany. It is celebrated in the Catholic Church as well as the Anglican and Lutheran Churches on the first Sunday following The Epiphany of Our Lord (January 6). Some Lutheran churches celebrate it on the Sunday before Lent,