The Train Wreck!

Well, I had a Martha Stewart moment today!  Thought Aidan and I would have some 'quality time' decorating a gingerbread 'train' for the holidays!  Before the little love of my life arrived, I got everything organized...the base, complete with 'snow', the gingerbread train pieces all lined  up ready to 'glue' together, the various candies and decorations all in their own little bowls.  Ahh...Martha would be so proud!

The base...complete with 'snow'!

On went 'Raffi's Christmas Songs' on the stereo, for that little bit of 'ambience'.  Let the fun begin!  Aidan, perched on a stool at the kitchen counter, and Nana with icing bag at the ready.  It all looked so easy!  And yet...I managed somehow to mix up the gingerbread pieces (the square pieces all look the same, OK!) and proceeded to stress and frazzle over 'gluing' first the 'engine' and then the 'caboose' scraping and wiping beads of icing along the way!

The 'engine' and 'caboose'!

For some strange and wonderful reason, the little love of my life thought all of this was hilarious!  At first I wanted to cry with frustration, but the sight and sound of Aidan roaring with laughter at all the wrecked train pieces scattered about the kitchen counter, soon had me laughing as well!  To top it all off, poor Raffi and his songs were drowned out by the sound of my little grandson singing 'O Canada' at the top of his lungs!  Ahh...the best laid plans of mice and men... or crazy Nana's!

The 'rock' filled 'caboose'!

All was not lost, however!  I am truly amazed at the ability of smarties and jelly tots to cover up a multitude of icing errors!  Once I (more or less) got the 'engine' assembled, and the 'caboose' to (more or less) stay 'glued' together, I went mad with the icing nozzle as Aidan covered the train and the 'landscape' with candies...smarties, jelly tots, chocolate buttons, chocolate 'rocks' for the railway tracks, drunken teddy bear jujubes sprawled along the 'railway track' and chocolate santas and snowmen doing cartwheels in the snow!

A happy little boy and his 'train wreck'!

Not sure yet if this will become an annual tradition!  I guess it's a bit like childbirth...eventually, over time, we forget how painful it was, and do it all over again!

Tolerance

My heart aches for all the lost souls of the terrible tragedy in Norway this past weekend.  And for the families who are left behind to attempt to glue back together the fragmented pieces of their shattered lives.  And for the country itself, who's people pride themselves on tolerance and peaceful co-existence.  And, as difficult as it is...for the perpetrator of this tragedy.  For he too, is a victim of sorts.  Of ideology and fanaticism.

I have told my daughter, on many occasions, that if I have taught her one thing in this life, passed along just one attribute that I aspire to, it is tolerance .  The 'Live and Let Live' thing.  The understanding that we are all one.  Seeing the inherent goodness in all of humanity.  Accepting that there is more than one way to connect with God (whatever 'God' is for each of us.)  If I have taught her that, then I will leave this planet in peace when my time comes.

I think she gets it.  No, I know she gets it!  My joy, and my peace, is knowing that this understanding will be passed along to my little Aidan, with or without me.  Not that I'm the greatest mother (who is?!) but it feels good to know I did something right!

I gave up religion more than forty years ago.  I remember well the 'moment of decision' (though I'm sure it came about after much contemplation.)  Crossing an intersection of a busy road and saying Enough! Enough!  After crossing that intersection, is when the real journey began and continues still, and will, I hope, until my last breath.

So many books.  Some wonderful and life changing.  Others not so much.  And yet a few more went into the garbage can!  We read.  We learn.  We take away that which resonates with our hearts and souls, and let go of the rest.

I have studied most religions and...I think I've found the problem!  Most (well, at least the 'biggies') espouse to the theory that 'their way is the right way - the only way'  and if you don't follow 'their way' you will burn in hell.  Such hogwash!  I have little time (or, dare I say, tolerance) for 'organized' religion, and the 'holier than thou' stuff.  It is soul deflating and dis-empowering.  At least to me.  I know some people find strength in it, and that's OK.  This is about tolerance, right?

One book I read is called 'What God Wants' by Neale Donald Walsch.  First page - blank!  Second page - blank!  Third page - one word...'Nothing'!  God wants nothing!  Why would God want anything?  S(He) is God, for God's sake!  And if we are indeed 'God's children' like all the 'big books' say, then what would God, as our 'parent' want for us?  There are words in a children's song by Raffi that I think just about sums it up - 'A song in my heart...food in my belly...and love in my family...'

And we are all 'family' in the grand scheme of things.  A lot of us just haven't got that yet.  Dare I say, I must have faith?!  Faith that someday we will 'get it'!  All be it kicking and screaming.  And through tragedy, despair, and heartache, such as the events of this past weekend, we come to question 'why?' and then to question 'what can I do to change it?' Finding those answers is, and has unfortunately been for millennia, humanity's task.

My beautiful grandson!

My little Aidan...I wish you a lifetime of peace and happiness.  Indeed I wish you a song in your heart, food in your belly, and love in your family.  And I wish you tolerance...acceptance...empathy for all of humanity.  For they too are your 'family'!  And may you find your God...whatever that is for you, and only you.