Yesterday started off like any other day in southern California in May.  The marine layer was hanging over looking gloomy.  Jeff left for work and called to tell me there were a lot of police cars, a firetruck and an ambulance at the end of our street near the entrance to the hiking trails.  We thought perhaps someone had fallen while hiking. 

I left for my morning walk and as I turned the corner I saw the gathering.  There were quite a few police surrounding a small blue car. One officer spoke to the landscapers while the prepared firefighters stood helpless on the side of the road.

The chill in the air seemed to sink deeper into my bones upon this sight.  A neighbor stood there watching and I asked what was happening. He explained that he had gone to the car to see if everything was OK as the engine was running. Unfortunately, he viewed something he most likely will never forget, the gentleman inside was dead.  As he started to share his thoughts on the situation, all I could think was…

“How could this happen when people live so close?”

I walked home numb and called our neighbor who is a detective. I asked if he could find out what had happened. We live in a nice part of Anaheim; a small gated community where the condos of 1100 sq. ft. cost a half million or more. People are generally happy here because it’s beautiful, expensive, but beautiful and the neighbors are generally very friendly.

But, how do we know what happens behind closed doors?

After a bit, our neighbor sent a text to say he had spoken with one of the officers. They confirmed that it was a person who lived in our complex. He had cancer and while he sat alone in his little blue car, parked at the end of our street, he took his life.

There were so many questions as I stood there frozen. How could this happen when people live so close? But the thing that made my heart just ache was that he sat in that little blue car, alone.

There is an End of Life Option Act in California.  Why couldn’t that have been his option?  Was it pain, or depression or confusion that drove him to his decision?

I thought of the suicide of a close friend of my daughter. And I had just recently heard about the suicide of a 30 year old, the nephew of a friend.

Could a call or a text or a card make a difference?  Could checking in on someone, keep the darkness away? I don’t know who the gentleman was, if he had a family or what his diagnosis might have been.

What I do know is how the ripple effect of what happened has affected a total stranger – me –

We donate monthly to the Patriotic Service Dog Foundation that provides Vets with service dogs. Those who are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).  This organization is working on taking the suicide rate of 22 vets a day down to 0.

By helping out an organization or something as simple as checking in with a neighbor or a friend, could we could help drop the suicide rate by one, then two, then many?

To the troubled soul in the little blue car, you will never be forgotten…

Grateful for you,

Sheree

Isn’t it interesting that old is new again, like organic food or being “green” by recycling?  All of a sudden people realized it’s bad to put pesticides on or inject the food we eat with chemicals; how brilliant of them! Could we be missing a simple fix to being green that’s beyond recycling? I found this great timeline on the History of Recycling.  The world has been working on the premise for centuries. 

Let’s step back in time to MY childhood which is not quite a century yet – ha ha. 

We had milk delivered in glass bottles and returned the bottles to the milkman.  We used paper straws and had to drink quickly before they got too soggy; they were paper. We covered left-overs in glass dishes with reusable covers sort of like shower caps.  And we used the popular re-sealable and washable Tupperware bowls to keep food fresh.  We wrapped our sandwiches in wax paper (no plastic sandwich bags) and took lunches in paper bags.  Oh and there weren’t plastic coffee pods, just percolator coffee pots that sounded awesome.  We didn’t have disposable dish cloths or throw away foamy scrubbers.  We had cloth napkins and carried cloth sacks to the grocery or were given paper bags.  We hung our laundry out to dry, no dryer sheets necessary.  We didn’t have paper towels; we used a dish towel to clean up messes.  And for diapers, I actually used cloth for both my ‘now’ grown-up children until potty training time. 

So America, besides the straws and plastic bags we’re all worried about, what about the trash generated from fast food? In a 2018 article from Franchise Help stated that “Globally, fast food generates revenue of over $570 billion – that is bigger than the economic value of most countries. In the United States revenue was a whopping $200 billion in 2015 – quite a lot of growth since the 1970 revenue of $6 billion.” That’s a lot of paper trash.

I’m not a hater on fast food, but this cannot be good for our waistlines or our “waste bins.”

What surprised me in California, which has banned plastic bags and frowns on straws, is the huge lack of recycling centers.  How is it possible that the people in California “lost out on at least $308 million in nickel deposits on cans and bottles in 2018, largely because it’s increasingly difficult to find a place to recycle them…”  KTLA.com. 

And while we’re at it should we be including those few gazillion cardboard boxes that are generated by that oh so convenient Amazon delivery company in this discussion?

Will the ban of plastic straws and plastic grocery bags keep the world from being polluted?  It obviously can’t hurt but how do we get other countries on board?  An article carried by Deutsche Welle in 2017 stated, “90 percent of all the plastic that reaches the world’s oceans gets flushed through just 10 rivers: The Yangtze, the Indus, Yellow River, Hai River, the Nile, the Ganges, Pearl River, Amur River, the Niger, and the Mekong.”  How do we make the world aware?  It seems that many just don’t know or don’t have access to recycling centers.

After mulling over all of these points, I wanted to come up with some earth-shattering solution to be presented on Earth Day 2019.

The solution, at least for Americans, was very simple:   TIME

We have one or two jobs and our children need to be involved in something 24-7.  Our work week is no longer 40 hours but rather 60, making shopping on-line for clothing, food and entertainment a way of life, which then generates a whole lot of boxes.

Drive-thru food is convenient when there’s no TIME to cook.  Disposable packaging means less TIME doing dishes, cleanup or planning.  We don’t really think when we reach for a plastic bag to store a slice of cheese or grab a paper plate to hold a few chips.  If we slowed down we’d grab a reusable bowl to store that cheese and a glass plate for those chips.

With more TIME we could reach for reusable things not just recyclable things.  We would be present in our lives instead of living a blur to get us from this day to the next; a blur that causes us to do things that are more convenient than conscientious. We might like being calmer and choose a lifestyle that affords us more TIME which would ultimately help us create less trash. 

Well that was easy…. Enjoy your Earth Day 2019!!

Grateful for you and living on this big blue planet,

Sheree

We went to see the movie “Unplanned” this weekend.  Knowing it was going to be intense I tried psyching myself up. I believed I could logically get through it, plus the major TV channels weren’t advertising it, so that also piqued my interest. 

Why shouldn’t this side of “a woman’s choice” be told?

Jeff and I sat with our neighbor Sandy.  We had our “just-in-case” tissues in hand as we sat and watched previews of cute movies coming out this summer. Finally, the movie began and it was pretty intense right off the bat.

As my chest tightened and tears flowed, I was surprised I became so emotional so quickly. It wasn’t from a ‘bloody’ standpoint, although there was blood.  It’s not blood you’d see in every action movie or video game caused from bombs, guns or knives.  This blood occurs from a procedure on a table and pills to induce an abortion. 

My tough façade melted in front of the screen as my one fricking tissue became soaked with tears that just could not be stopped.  Jeff was lucky, he had a cloth handkerchief!

Possible spoiler alert:  In one scene PP performs a vacuum aspiration using an ultrasound to guide them.  The baby with all its limbs developed, appears to push away from the suction device.

This is the scene I couldn’t catch my breath because I’ve seen my baby push away in an ultrasound just like that. At around 20 weeks into my second pregnancy I was 35 years old.  My doc stated I needed an amniocentesis being an “older” mother, the baby could have defects. 

I had no history in my family of losing a child or birth defects, nevertheless I went along with it. They numbed my large abdomen, and did an ultrasound to locate the baby, which we now call Emma! The nurse attempted to insert a very large needle into my belly, but couldn’t pierce the sack to take a sample of the amniotic fluid. Watching the ultrasound we saw our little girl consciously move out of the way of the incoming needle.  The nurse withdrew the needle and tried again.  Once again the uterus lining didn’t give way and the baby moved to avoid the intrusion.   The nurse asked us to come back the next week and try again.  We both looked at each other and said “uh no.” No matter the health of this baby – who has been waving at us through the ultrasound comes out – she’s ours.

This movie pretty much puts the purpose of Planned Parenthood (PP) right up in your face.  Sadly, in my youth, I was as naïve as the author of the book as to the purpose of PP.  I believed PP was there to “just” provide birth control, female tests and advice on “planning” births.

I AM NOT KIDDING YOU, I really did!

The headlines in the news, for the past few years have made it crystal clear that the number one purpose of PP is to provide abortions.

I read the reviews of the movie which follow the pro-life and pro-abortion lines.  I looked through them for a mention that maybe, just maybe someone would suggest there was an alternative to termination, but I didn’t really find it. The one thing that amazed me in those reviews that no one touches on the physical and emotional wounds that a woman could deal with forever.

The movie has a MPAA film rating:  R – Restricted – Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. Contains some adult material. Parents are urged to learn more about the film before taking their young children with them.

I don’t agree with the rating, but perhaps this makes a case that parents should be with their 16 and 17 year old sons and daughters at this movie. They can discuss the outcome of having sex and the affect is has on all parties.  These children so desperately want to act like adults, so they should be given both sides of the story.  The term “getting an abortion” is so easily used in conversation; it’s like saying “I’m going out for coffee.”  It has no personal resonance because the physical and emotional effects are never really discussed.    

I understand that many believe life starts at conception.  And as a logical human being I also understand that there are unwanted pregnancies, the pill and protection don’t always work and there will always be that “heat of the moment” thing. But… should having sex be given a higher importance in society than taking a life? 

This was a very hard movie to watch and even harder to think about afterwards. Perhaps we all need to be a little uncomfortable…

Grateful for you,

Sheree

Did you know you can be heavily fined and/or go to prison for harming the eggs of a sea turtle or bald eagle. That made me think to myself, what IS the value of an unborn or aborted human life compared to that of a turtle or eagle egg?  Is it about choice at conception or choice at termination?  Should I remain silent on these points and just let others discuss them? Has my silence implied consent?

When I heard talk about ending the Electoral College, I had to refresh my memory on the purpose of the process.  That led me to an interesting comparison, the map of sanctuary cities and the electoral votes for the 2016 election.   The cluster of pin points has an interesting link to the population density in those cities, which then relates to the number of electoral votes allowed.

Weirdly enough on the same day of my search, a post by Mr. Kevin Bowe listed some facts that sort of blew my mind because I had no idea.  (And yes, I took an hour out of my life that I will never get back, to fact check all his points, which were all true.)

“For all the people who fell asleep in civics class

It’s (the Electoral College) a safety net so that EVERYONE’S vote counts.

1:  There are 3,141 counties in the United States.  Trump won 3,084 of them.  Clinton won 57.

2:  There are 62 counties in New York State.  Trump won 46 of them.  Clinton won 16.

3:  Clinton won the popular vote by approx. 1.5 million votes.

4:  In the 5 counties that encompass NYC, (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Richmond & Queens) Clinton received well over 2 million more votes than Trump.  (Clinton only won 4 of these counties; Trump won Richmond)  Therefore these 5 counties alone, more than accounted for Clinton winning the popular vote of the entire country.

5: These 5 counties comprise 319 square miles.  The United States is comprised of 3,797,000 square miles.

6: When you have a country that encompasses almost 4 million square miles of territory, it would be ludicrous to even suggest that the vote of those who inhabit a mere 319 square miles should dictate the outcome of a national election.

Large, densely populated Democrat cities (NYC, Chicago, LA, etc.) don’t and shouldn’t speak for the rest of the country.

And this is WHY you have an Electoral College.”  (posted 3-20-19)

After reading this I looked into a map that popped up in my search, that of the county vote in the 2016 election. 

Obviously every person in every county didn’t vote Republican, but a majority in those counties turned them red.  It appears that people in the smallest of areas, want their voices to be heard.  Eliminating the Electoral College would eliminate those voices.

Believe me it’s a very helpless feeling having no voice in elections (residing here in California), or being silent on topics of controversy in hopes to avoid hurt feelings or angry backlashes.

I have worked with and lived near very sweet people who are liberals. These individuals do not have a problem speaking or posting their beliefs online. And, for the most part I have stayed silent (except to fact check of course, ’cause that’s just me…). I envy their boldness.  After leaving the Democratic Party in my 30’s I became a quiet polite Conservative.  This didn’t mean I wholeheartedly believed or supported what each President had to say or enacted, but I tried to stay true to ‘my’ beliefs. Moreover, I didn’t speak up or post things when I disagreed with the previous President’s policies, I quietly waited and hoped my vote would eventually speak for me.

Make no mistake, though, my silence on many issues does NOT imply my consent…

• Changing the Constitution to suit the needs of the few – this document has stood the test of time for 230+ years and many countries have tried to emulate it.
• Supporting the killing of the unborn and newly born.
• Ignoring the Bill of Rights.
• Eliminating the Electoral College.
• Allowing non-residents to vote for anything or anyone in this country.  People worked hard to become citizens don’t devalue their journey.
• Prosecuting accused individuals in the media for all to hear without undeniable proof.  Blindly attacking people via social media behind a screen where it is safe.  Where has our sense of decorum gone?

With all of these issues filling every minute of the news and social media, it’s understandable why so many young adults are confused and are so incredibly unhappy with this country and their lives.

Has our silence in teaching them the positives in this country, rather than highlighting the negatives, failed them? Has our silence allowed an entire generation to be ungrateful?

Have we been silent about religion and God for too long? Young adults aren’t taught to believe in something greater than themselves.  If they fail, the whole world is a failure since they – ARE – their whole world. Should we keep being silent or should we take the burden of being a ‘god’ off their shoulders?

My silence and the appearance of consent stops now…

• I didn’t ask to be conceived – but I’m grateful I was.
• The Hennessey, Baumgarten, Ross and Larsen families chose this country to call home!
• I don’t consider myself a racist, sexist, homophobic or a feminist, rather I am a woman of the human race, a Christian, and a conservative. I also have a lot of other human-type friends I am grateful for.
• I have sinned but believe I have been forgiven. Although knowing that, doesn’t mean I want to push my luck and run out of any additional “forgiven” possibilities.
• I believe that since I was born, I am actually a person of privilege; the privilege of being alive.  Born in a generation that wasn’t at war their entire lives, as in other countries.  Brought up in a country of abundance, opportunity and diversity. It has scars but is always learning from them and shouldn’t be looking backwards, but rather forward.

What I’m asking for, is the adults in the room STAND UP. Perhaps read both sides of an argument and use your common sense to choose a side or parts of a side that make sense for the entire country. Stand up for the trials you’ve gone through, the sacrifices you’ve endured and the work you had to put in to become the person you are today. 

I believe for too long our silence, as logical and experienced adults, HAS implied our consent.  

Grateful for you and being here,

Sheree