The Meme

Tagged by Travelin' Texans.


I AM: A single gal in her early early '30s.

I WANT: Chocolate right now, but can't find any in this darn house.

I WISH: I could figure out my passion.

I HATE: People who lack common courtesy.

I MISS: My nieces and nephews.

I FEAR: Never finding a "real" passion for someone, something, a hobby.

I HEAR: Lawn mower noises in the background.

I WONDER: If I'll ever mind my life partner, or even if I'm meant to have one.

I REGRET: Things I said to my Dad before he died.

I AM NOT: As social as some friends think I am.

I DANCE: All the time, whether at home or at swing dance, ballroom, or salsa clubs.

I SING: All the time, especially in my car.

I CRY: At everything. In fact, I carry kleenex with me everywhere just for this reason.

I AM NOT ALWAYS: As organized as people might think.

I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: Baked goods. I love baking and just cooking in general.

I WRITE: All the time and save posts as drafts, but don't publish everything in blogger.

I CONFUSE: My mom sometimes when I talk about my job.

I NEED: Lots of affection, and I give lots of it too.

I SHOULD: Stop analyzing things so much.

I START: A lot of projects with full gusto, then really have to work at completing them.

I FINISH: My day with prayer.


I tag anyone cares to do it! :-)

Memorial Day "Thank You"

Inscription on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier:

HERE RESTS IN
HONORED GLORY
AN AMERICAN
SOLIDER
KNOWN BUT TO GOD

--------------------------------------

The days leading up to this Memorial Day weekend had me a bit bummed. Travel plans of mine didn't happen as I had hoped, so I was moping a bit. Then, as I watched the news and saw all the coverage about this being the 'official start of summer' and hearing all the statistics about all things travel-related for this holiday (gas prices, freeway traffic, etc.), it hit me.

This holiday is NOT about travel. It's about remembering those Americans who lost their lives protecting and defending this country that I live in.

In all my life I had never felt so ashamed about my attitude on this holiday as I did on this one. Don't get me wrong, I knew this holiday was all about honoring those who have died in serving our country, but that paled in comparison to the fact that I got a 3-day weekend, you know? I'm sorry for having this attitude. I really am.

This year - this moment - was 'different'. These past months I've had a renewed sense of gratitude about all the things in my life. I've been SO thankful for all that I've been privileged with in my life: good health, family, my job, friends, and so on.

And today. Today I had real gratitude for the freedom to live my life as I choose to, and for the endless opportunities given to me because of the soldiers (and their families) who sacrificed and gave their lives to defend this country. Because of these soldiers I can wake up each day and go wherever I want. I can do, say, and behave (within reason) whatever and however I want. I can profess my love for Jesus Christ one day, then decide to practice Buddhism the next. I can read whatever I want, even eat and drink whatever and wherever I want to.

Words can't describe the gratitude I am feeling for all of you soldiers, past and present, who answered the call on your life to honor the United States by serving in the military.

Thank you, and God bless you and your families. God bless America and all that she represents.

In Him,
Rambling Muse

Estelle (Peck) Ishigo (1899 -1990)

Man. I am glued to PBS these days. Lots of great fodder for the brain and spirit...

I saw a wonderful documentary the other day called, Days of Waiting. It is a memoir of sorts about a woman named Estelle Ishigo and her days spent living in an internment camp during WWII. She was a caucasian woman, married to a Japanese man. This fact is actually an insignificant theme in the documentary, but it did play a pivotal role in the path that her life would take.

The interracial marriage back then, while it was "taboo" in those times to marry outside of your race, was pivotal because it took her life in in a totally different direction that led her to experience life interned in the camp. When WWII began, the Japanese Americans were told they were being sent to camps. She had the option to separate from her husband because she was "fortunate" to be caucasian. She chose to stay with her husband and that sent her life down this path that has culminated into a wonderful documentary that really touched me. What if she had chosen to separate from her husband when all the Japanese Americans were being sent away? Amazing how one seemingly obvious, or not-so-obvious choice sets things in motion for all of history.

Throughout her years spent in the camps, she sketched pictures and recorded her thoughts and experiences. Her story was beautifully told and I highly recommend catching it if you can. She wrote a book called, Lone Heart Mountain. You can be sure I'm picking up a copy to read!

"Untitled" (1943)
Estelle Ishigo

Her bio, as copied from the Japanese American National Museum website:

Estelle Peck (1899-1990) was born in Oakland, California and moved with her family to Los Angeles at the age of twelve. While studying at the Otis Art Institute she met Arthur Shigeru Ishigo, a San Francisco born Nisei. Anti-miscegenation laws at the time prohibited interracial couples from marrying, so in 1928 Peck and Ishigo took a trip across the border to Tijuana to be wed. Shunned by her family and other European Americans, the couple lived among the Japanese American community. With the outbreak of World War II, Ishigo chose to accompany her husband into the American concentration camps. In the Pomona detention center in California and in the Heart Mountain, Wyoming camp, she lived with other Japanese Americans. In Heart Mountain she worked as an illustrator for the War Relocation Authority reports division and was granted permission to draw and sketch throughout the camp. After the camp was closed, the couple moved to a trailer camp in Burbank, California where she continued to make her art. Estelle Ishigo's drawings of the incarceration were published as Lone Heart Mountain in 1972. In 1990, she was the subject of the Academy Award winning documentary, Days of Waiting. Drawings, sketches, watercolors and documents are included in this artist's collection.

For additonal biographical information, click here.