Sparks Ignites

Okay, it’s that time of year again. You know, the Holiday Season – when Halloween morphs into Christmas. We’ve barely had time to put away the cobwebs, ghosts and gravestones before out come the snowmen, holly and lights. In fact, retailers don’t even wait for Halloween to be over before Christmas starts blending into the mix

The following four posts were written over the course of four days.  They are a reflection of living with and inside depression.

Many times we don’t realize the significance of something until after the fact. We’ve needed a chance to reflect upon it, or we see it differently after time has passed.  There can be a lesson learned, and we see the greater scheme of moments in our lives. The other day I was deleting email and trying to clean old voice messages off my iPhone. I got to a certain point with the messages when I reached a number of them left by my mom. It wasn’t a surprise. I knew they were there. I haven’t deleted them, because it’s still a connection to her. My mom died two years ago today.

I’ve never been interested in “afternoon tea,” “high tea”, or any type of formal tea custom. To me, it was a group of older, dowager-like ladies with pinkies erect, pressed lace collars, and big royal-sized purses at their feet.  A snooty way to sip a spot of tea and nibble on tiny cucumber sandwiches.  The whole routine seemed stodgy and a bit grandmotherly.

Never just go by what's on the outside. You must dig beneath to find the real substance of what can be hidden by a pleasing exterior.

This September marks the 14 th anniversary of 9/11. The day when the world watched in shock as the terrorists attacked the US, destroying the World Trade Center’s twin towers, damaging the Pentagon, and crashing a passenger plane into a Pennsylvania field. This act of terrorism killed almost three thousand individuals, decimated New York’s Financial District, and left the country in panic and fear. It was a tragedy that resulted in the largest loss of life from a foreign attack on American soil and the greatest single loss of rescue personnel in our history. Time can help diminish the pain of a tragedy, but we “never forget.” The act of destruction, devastation and terror of that day is etched in our minds. It’s one of those horrible, defining days in our country’s history like the assassination of President Kennedy.   We all remember where we were and what we were doing when we heard the tragic news that planes crashed into the twin towers.

My partner had a business trip to New York City a few weeks ago. He was going to One World Trade Center for a meeting in the Conde’ Nast offices.   An impromptu get-a-way is something we both enjoy, so I was invited to go.   It was a great opportunity to visit the 9/11 Memorial Museum, and the “One World Observatory.   He made reservations at the Millenium Hilton across the street from the World Trade Center Complex. I pulled out my overnight bag and prepared to enjoy the city. I received a call from my sister who watches the news much more than me. She is a great source of late-breaking information including weather updates. I now refer to her as SNN (The Sister News Network). So, SNN calls me and asks if I knew there was a ticker tape parade scheduled for the day of our trip? Of course, I had not heard of the parade. I wasn’t aware of any recent major historical events   - no war heroes making headlines or astronauts returning from the I...