I thought about this exchange we were having as I was setting the table and they touched the potatoes even after being cautioned and having the experience of touching the hot potatoes. Even though their touch was just for a second, they still repeated the unpleasant experience. Perhaps, they wanted to know if the potatoes were still hot or perhaps they were just trying to show me that they had their choice to make and I couldn’t decide for them. I will never know. Four year olds and 20 month olds don’t always understand why they do things, nor can they explain to us. Even sometimes, we, as adults, don’t understand why we do things we do.

Do we ever make the same mistakes over and over again or do we learn from our mistakes and leave the “hot” things alone? During the next week, we will be setting our goals, putting our plans in place for 2010 and evaluating our progress of 2009. What will your progress be? What goals will you set for the coming year? What plans will you put in place so that you achieve those goals? And will you learn from the mistakes of the past and have a more peaceful life in the future?

Setting goals empowers us to move forward in our lives. How will you empower yourself today and in the coming year?

Last night, we attended the Kindergarten and Preschool Holiday Program for the school where our daughter teaches. I didn’t know any of the children, but loved watching them perform for their parents and grandparents. They were precious. (At one point, my husband leaned over to me and asked if I could tell which children were kinesthetic learners. It was obvious by the movement.) They were happy. They were dressed in their best holiday clothes. There was a 4 year old who played the violin. I loved it when he called out to his mom, “How does it start?” Then, his mom called out: “bom, bom, bom, bom.” He started immediately. He knew the code she had given him. She was important to him, not only as nurturer, clothier, feeder, but also as teacher. He recognized that she could help him get where he needed to go.

One child cried. His mom encouraged, even putting him on the stage, but in the end, she sat in his chair and held him. He wasn’t ready to be on that scary stage yet.

And, there was the mother who ran to the stage as she recognized the sign that her daughter needed a quick trip to the ladies’ room.

Some children sang, some danced, some did the hand motions, some did not do any of these things. But, they were there. They were loved by their families and their teachers, which included students learning to be teachers. The children were tall and short, big and small, of many cultures and all were precious souls sent to earth for us to love.

We were proud of the children. We were proud of our daughter, who was very much in the background, letting the children shine. At the end of the program, she was presented with red roses. It was a great experience for all of us!

There is a wonderful gift given to grandparents. We are able to love the whole world. Isn’t that a
great thing? Love is an empowering gift from God. How will you use this gift of love today?

One of my favorite memories of Halloween was when I was growing up in South Carolina. We lived in a house that was on a very busy road. On the opposite side of the road were many neighborhoods. My mother always was the parent who took us “trick or treating”. We would go from house to house until we were so tired we were ready to go home. My mother was the master encourager. She believed we could go farther than we ever thought imaginable. She pushed us just a little more. The prize was worth all the effort.

Pushing onward and forward has become a part of me. I learned that we “pick ourselves up by our boot straps” when we fall and “keep moving forward”. No matter what is happening “our ship is always coming in.”

Tonight, we will celebrate Halloween. We will go to our daughter’s home where we will have a birthday celebration for her son and then I will stay to give out “treats” while our children help her with her children as they go around the neighborhood. They will sing and talk and laugh and just enjoy being together. Isn’t that what life is all about?