Quiet Strength

I know people who are drama queens, who crave attention, who feel a need to be loud, brash and in your face, they have to put in their two cents, they need to control the situation. These people can drive me crazy sometimes, probably because I'm not like that.

I've always been on the quiet side, not shy, but quiet. I was the good kid in class, not the show-off. I was the one the teacher said, 'I'm so glad she's in the class to balance out some of the others.' I was good old reliable Lis. Sadly, the one the loud kids thought was shy and had no back bone.

Just because a person is quiet, doesn't mean they are shy, doesn't mean they can't assert themselves, doesn't mean they aren't fun. Quiet people, also known as introverts, are people who can think rationally, can keep calm in a situation, are at peace with themselves, don't need to attract attention to feel good about themselves. There's a strength that comes from within, a knowledge of self that isn't loud, it's a quiet comfort to quiet people.

I know people have thought I'm shy, can't make decisions on my own, don't have a backbone, let others make my choices for me, that I give in, am no fun, kind of boring. But it's not true. I know what I want, and I get what I want. I don't need others to validate my worth. I am assertive, fun, happy, a talker, a decision maker, and I'm also a listener, a peacemaker, a peace giver, a compromiser, a friend, a safe place.

Sometimes loud people, extroverts, have trouble seeing past themselves to others. They don't have the patience to get to know someone who isn't loud like themselves. Their friendships and lives are a series of explosive good and bad times. They need but dislike predictability, quiet alone time, calmness and peace, attention to others. It's a hard world they live in, but they thrive on arguments, drama, and loudness. Their sense of self worth is based outside themselves.

Introverts base their sense of self worth inside themselves. They know themselves and love themselves which helps them to know and love others. If you need a friend, a shoulder to cry on, a helping hand, a good word of advice, a safe haven, a good clean fun time, draw on the quiet person qualities within yourself or find a quiet person to help.

Saturday Laughs

Three Bones

Wishbone- We all need dreams, aspirations, and hopes to inspire us to be better and to get us through rough times.

Backbone- We need to stand up for ourselves and our beliefs and not let others push us around or make our decisions.

Funnybone- We need to be able to laugh at ourselves and our lives at appropriate times to diffuse the stress and tension, to be able to see the hilarity of being human.

Star Spangled Banner

'On a rainy September 13, 1814, British warships sent a downpour of shells and rockets onto Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor, relentlessly pounding the American fort for 25 hours. The bombardment, known as the Battle of Baltimore, came only weeks after the British had attacked Washington, D.C., burning the Capitol, the Treasury and the President's house. It was another chapter in the ongoing War of 1812.

A week earlier, Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old American lawyer, had boarded the flagship of the British fleet on the Chesapeake Bay in hopes of persuading the British to release a friend who had recently been arrested. Key's tactics were successful, but because he and his companions had gained knowledge of the impending attack on Baltimore, the British did not let them go. They allowed the Americans to return to their own vessel but continued guarding them. Under their scrutiny, Key watched on September 13 as the barrage of Fort McHenry began eight miles away.

"It seemed as though mother earth had opened and was vomiting shot and shell in a sheet of fire and brimstone," Key wrote later. But when darkness arrived, Key saw only red erupting in the night sky. Given the scale of the attack, he was certain the British would win. The hours passed slowly, but in the clearing smoke of "the dawn's early light" on September 14, he saw the American flag—not the British Union Jack—flying over the fort, announcing an American victory.

Key put his thoughts on paper while still on board the ship, setting his words to the tune of a popular English song. His brother-in-law, commander of a militia at Fort McHenry, read Key's work and had it distributed under the name "Defence of Fort M'Henry." The Baltimore Patriot newspaper soon printed it, and within weeks, Key's poem, now called "The Star-Spangled Banner," appeared in print across the country, immortalizing his words—and forever naming the flag it celebrated.'

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/flag.html#ixzz2Y0CJhMFz

The Path Less Travelled

The more people I meet, the more different I realize everyone is. The more I'm grateful for how good of friends my husband and I are. We are best friends, husband and wife, we have a great relationship and get along really well. I was told that the things you have in common with your spouse is like money in the bank. We're rich! Of course we have different hobbies, likes and dislikes, but we agree on most everything, and all the important things. We know how to compromise and put each other first. We also can enjoy the differences we have, enjoy each other's hobbies and interests.

But, our marriage and our goals and lifestyle is different from others, whether happily married or otherwise. Our friends are all different, our families are all different, but we are all doing the best we can for ourselves, and that is the only thing that will make us happy.

It amazes me how two people will meet and have kids, and then there are two people's genes mixing together to produce vastly different siblings. Many siblings would never be friends if they weren't family first.

I have several friends that are very different from each other, but I'm friends with all of them. What happens when you have different friends is that each relationship fulfills a slightly different area. The friend who is just pure fun, the friend who just listens, the friend who you've known forever, the friend from bookclub, the friend who is serious, the friend who doesn't care what people look like, the friend who loves to dress up and do makeovers, and the friend who always has good advice.

People are so different in looks, politics, religion, knowledge, interests, personality, and tastes, but the combination of differences offers an abundance of colorful options. If differences were celebrated and enjoyed instead of division causing, the world would be a much happier place.

The most important thing to remember is that deep down we are all the same- we all need food and water, we all need love and companionship, we all need recognition, we all need to be treated as human beings.