Perspectives | Uniquely Yours Craft Journal

Memorial Day

25 May 2015 1 Comment

by uniquelyyourscraftjournal in Perspectives Tags: medals, Memorial Day

Dear Fellow Journalers,

The following is from Memorial Day 2013 written by our friend G. Enjoy!

Sallie

Last Friday, my adopted granddaughter Carla arrived for a sleepover and to spend the day on Saturday. As she arrived, I was in the middle of the constant effort to clean out the many years of accumulated stuff in our home and I was working on the many boxes of military uniforms and insignia that piled up over the years. Stuff was all over the floor in the living room.

Carla slept later than usual on Saturday morning, probably because of the 92 pieces of pepperoni pizza she’d eaten the night before.

As she groggily made her way down the hallway, I looked up from this military mess I was working on, said good morning and asked if she wanted some breakfast.

“No thanks Granppy, I’m not hungry (wonder why?) Just some milk please.”

“You want to watch cartoons while you wake up honey?”

But for some strange reason, she was more interested in what I was doing. She clambered up on my lap, and began to ask questions.

“What’s that Granppy? What does that mean Granppy?” I did my best to explain.

We even found some old photos of long ago and far away. Carla remarked “Boy Granppy, you were handsome then!” I laughed so hard I almost busted a gut. Realizing what she had said, she tried to recover. ‘I mean you’re still handsome now, only much older!” I almost fell off the chair I was laughing so hard.

Finally we reached the box that contained my medals. I tried to close the box quickly, favoring to sort this one in private. Carla was having none of it. She demanded that I identify each one. I tried to fluff this off, but she insisted.

When I finished, she said “Boy Granppy, you were brave!”

I really wanted to get this one right. I wanted desperately to say the right thing. I wanted her to know that there is no glory in war, only pain, suffering and heartbreak.

“No sweetie, I was afraid, VERY afraid. But I prayed that God would give me strength and love, because love of my country, of freedom, and of my fellow Marines would give me the strength to do what I had to do, and God answered my prayers.”

This wonderful, amazing child said no words, only put her hands around my neck, kissed my cheek, and hugged me. Right then and there, if I ever needed affirmation of the things I had done, I got it.

While I’m very concerned about America today, this sweet child of God made me know that our American way of life must go on, and the things my brother soldiers and I did made her an inheritor to the heritage of freedom.

Carla slid off my lap, and poured herself another glass of milk. (She only spilled a little!) Then she went over to an American flag displayed in a corner of the room.

“Granppy, know what I like best about America?”

“No honey, what?”

“McDonalds Happy Meals!”

How can you argue with logic like that? Glancing at my watch, I saw it was about that time.

“OK Sunshine, go wash you face, brush your teeth, get dressed and let’s go!”

Puzzle of Life

15 May 2015 Comments Off on Puzzle of Life

by uniquelyyourscraftjournal in Perspectives Tags: birthday, life, Mod Podge, puzzle

Dear Fellow Journalers,

Puzzle Piece

Several months ago, our Library sponsored a Puzzle-Off contest. Each 1000 piece puzzle was the same and the teams competed for prizes. I loved putting puzzles together when I was younger. The puzzles I worked on were copies of Charles Wysoski paintings. I remember that it took several days to complete the puzzle and while a challenge it was rewarding when the pieces fit together. Some of the puzzles were so beautiful that I used Mod Podge and hung them on my craft room wall.

Have you ever realized how many similarities there are between puzzles and life? In a puzzle, each piece plays such an important part in the big picture. Loose a piece and you loose a part of the picture. I remember once loosing a puzzle piece of a wood paneling. No big deal I thought. But the finished product sure did look odd! (As though something was missing!!!) In life, it is people and events who play the important parts.

Everyone knows that in puzzle-making, you put the frame (edges) together first. Sometimes you can have a piece that you are sure fits somewhere but it doesn’t. That can be frustrating.

The pieces in my life, my family, my friends, community, celebrations are a mixture of good and bad, joy and tears, happiness and sorrow Each event or person comes into our lives for a purpose. We never really know how our life fits together and won’t until the end.

As my Granddaughter and I face new birthdays this month, I hope that the pieces of our lives continue to make us happy and we continue on this journey of puzzle-making with joy, peace and love.

‘Til next time,

~Sallie

Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given

To Sallie and uniquelyyourscraftjournal with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

You may reach Sallie at uniquelyyourscraftjournal@outlook.com

Over the Rainbow

13 May 2015 Comments Off on Over the Rainbow

by uniquelyyourscraftjournal in Perspectives Tags: dream, Rainbow

Dear Fellow Journalers,

Another post by G. Enjoy!

~Sallie

Remember that beautiful old song: “Somewhere over the rainbow, birds fly high, if birds fly over the rainbow, why then oh why can’t I?”

I’d like to suggest you can! Oh not in every thing and all the time. We all have our weak points. Take me for example: I’m terrible at math. From the earliest days of long division to Trig and Aniline Calculus, whatever side of the brain handles that, well mine went out to lunch one day and never came back to work. But I never let it get me down. So I’d never be an engineer or rocket scientist, let somebody else do that, but I did have talent in History and Writing. So I decided that limits are barriers we set on ourselves, and I decided it was time for me to fly over the rainbow.

My first manuscript entitled “The Siege at Sevastopol” was not exactly a page turner. It lacked the two things every good piece needs: Heart and directed purpose. So I went out to try again, and with some mentors to help, my new manuscript entitled “The Siege at Sevastopol as Compared with the Siege at Khe Sahn” doubled my readership. These two events, over a hundred years apart, had both much and little in common. It started talk among true military historians, it even started debates. I was now the toast of the town. Invited to speak and lecture. I had managed to fly over the rainbow!

My next challenge is to fly over the moon. I don’t know if I’ll make it, but if you drive by my home one night and notice the lights on in the Study, you’ll find that crazy bastard friend of yours is trying to write the piece that will build the rocket!

By the way, did I mention that the view from the top of the rainbow is FANTASTIC! Much better than that you see with both feet on earth. It invigorates your spirits and allows you to put aside the weights that have been holding you down.

So what rainbow is yours to fly over? What’s holding you back from doing it? Strengthen your wings and come up to where the air is rare!

So in the words of that old Frank Sinatra song: COME FLY WITH ME, LET’S FLY, LET’S FLY AWAY!

Old is New again

15 Apr 2015 Comments Off on Old is New again

by uniquelyyourscraftjournal in Perspectives Tags: Journal, uniquelyyourscards, web

Dear Fellow Journalers,

Have you ever started a journal, got 3 pages in and then abandoned it to a shelf and forgotten it? Sometimes writing a journal is too ambitious or not interesting. Sometimes it is too time-consuming and sometimes you’re just not in the mood. What other choices do you have?

Back in January I wrote a post for my other blog, uniquelyyourscards.wordpress.com entitled Your long-lost and best possible self see below:

http://uniquelyyourscards.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/your-long-lost-and-best-possible-self/

Why not take this idea and transform it? Write yourself a letter, summing up your year so far and what you want to accomplish in the next several months. Put the letter in your underwear drawer and read it every now and again.

I read a suggestion that I had not thought of – say you have 3 or more journals that you found on that shelf. Tear out a few pages from each of them. Staple them together with a blank page in the front and back. Put them in a drawer where you will see them. When you feel like it, write some comments in different colored inks, such as what has changed in your life now.

Make a list of phrases you started using in the last 3 years. Where did you hear them first? Why did you start using them? This is different from a Dictionary Journal. A friend of mine used to have a rather large collection of Webster Dictionaries dating back about 10 years. He liked to review how word meanings changed from year to year. The collection over took his library so he resorted to journaling. Remember when the word ‘web’ meant a spider’s lair or a web of lies? Now of course ‘web’ has a world-wide conation! (sorry, couldn’t resist!)

Please feel free to comment on what you have done with your un-finished journals. Thanks in advance.

~Sallie

Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given

To Sallie and uniquelyyourscraftjournal with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

You may reach Sallie at uniquelyyourscraftjournal@outlook.com

The Power of Words

08 Apr 2015 Comments Off on The Power of Words

by uniquelyyourscraftjournal in Perspectives Tags: arrows, power, words

Dear Fellow Journalers,

Another though-provoking piece from G.

~Sallie

Isn’t it truly amazing the incredible POWER of words?! Doesn’t matter if they are written or spoken, every one of us has had the experience of words either exhilarating us, or destroying us! Chances are, no matter which was the case, it had a profound impact on us.

Words are the method by which we learn, teach, and acknowledge. We communicate, inspire, and defend with them. They are the sole expression of our thoughts. Words really do almost everything in our lives. I can think of few things they don’t do in fact!

Some one famous (I can’t remember who) once said: Words are like arrows. Loose them thoughtfully, because once loosed, they can never be recalled! Boy do I wish that I had remembered that more often. All too often I have said things in anger that I wish I had never said. I bet you have too. And usually to people that we care about most. Oh, if we only could recall those loosed arrows! But they found their mark, and the damage was done.

So you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to do my best to remember always the incredible POWER of words.