Perfect Moment Monday -- The Big Apple Part 2

Tom and I in Times Square at night.
Lots of lights!

Each month I participate in Perfect Moment Monday, sponsored by the blog, WriteMindOpenHeart.com According to Lavender Luz, "Perfect Moment Monday" is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect Moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between." And so, here is a Perfect Moment for this month.

As part of Tom's curriculum, we had the opportunity to go to New York City together. My parents flew out to PA to do some "teen-sitting." It was PERFECT to have some time alone with Tom to relax with friends, see the city, take in a couple of shows and have a lot of fun.

As part of our trip, we went on Small Group Visits to tour a couple of large organizations. I figured these would be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and was excited to attend.

The organizations we got to see were the New York Container Terminal and the Port Authority.

Wow! I learned a lot about transportation in New York.

Tom at the New York Container Terminal.

The New York Container Terminal is the port where a large number of cargo ships arrive bringing containers full of materials to sell in U.S. and Canadian markets. Large trucks come to the Terminal to load the containers and transport these materials all across the U.S. and Canada.

To get a better understanding of how important this port is, they can access 20% of the U.S. population in under 8 hours with goods, and more than 30% of the population in under 48 hours.That's a lot of hauling!

The Port Authority is responsible for all transit between New Jersey and New York including trains, buses, subways, airplanes and the bridges and tunnels. We got to see one of their emergency control rooms that are "stood up" during times of crisis (see pictures below), which might include things like Hurricane Irene, 9/11, and other situations that require cross-agency communication.

The other Small Group Visit we participated in was to the Suriname Mission (part of the United Nations). The reason we went to Suriname was that Tom has a student in his seminar who is from Suriname, which is located on the northern part of South America. The ambassador from that country, and three of his five staff people, met with us to educate us on their country and their role at the United Nations. It was very interesting.

In addition to our tours, we got to see Wicked (the story that happened before the Wizard of Oz), and my favorite, Rock of Ages. If you grew up during the 80's and liked the music, you would love this show. It was the highlight of our trip.

Add in a little New York shopping, several delicious restaurants, lots of walking in Times Square and staying at an elegant hotel near Times Square, and you have the makings for a Perfect trip.

It was full of Perfect Moments and I'm so grateful for our time away.

Here are some pictures from our trip.

A picture out our hotel window.

The Empire State Building at night.

Grand Central Station.

Hugh Jackman getting into his limousine after his show.
No. You can't really see him, but there was a lot of excitement!

New York City Library which is a cross between a museum and a library. Wow!

Elevator up to the 5th level of the crane at the New York Container Terminal.
We got to ride in the 4-person elevator and take a look around. VERY HIGH!

Looking out from the top of the crane. Don't look down!

Loading and unloading the cargo ship.

Control Room at the NY Port Authority.

It was a great trip FULL of Perfect Moments!

If you'd like to check out more Perfect Moment Mondays go to WriteMindOpenHeart.com by clicking here.

Today is 11/11/11

Today is 11/11/11 and I am writing this at 11:11 a.m. It looks cool, especially on a digital clock, but what does it mean?

Knowing that some of the roots of tarot cards' meanings come from numerology, I thought it would be interesting to look into the meaning of ONES and ELEVENS.

Ones are associated with new beginnings, creation and the start of a new cycle. When doubled, the number 11 becomes a master number and according to Tarot: Plain and Simple, by Anthony Louis, "Eleven is a master number symbolizing insight, spiritual understanding, inspiration, awareness, revelation, illumination, intuition, creativity, idealism, teaching, wisdom, compassion, and enlightenment. In numerology 11 reduces to 1 + 1 = 2., and master number 11 is a higher octave of two." (page 312)

"Two is a number of balance, choice, harmony, moderation, pairs of opposites, duality, polarity, partnership, friendship, relationships, etc..." (page 309).  
 
For me today's date, 11/11/11, is full of insight, spiritual understanding, creativity, wisdom and compassion. I feel Divinely supported as I more fully step into my purpose. So many positive shifts are happening universally and personally. The double "1" invites me to take a fresh look at what's happening in my life, especially new ideas, projects and adventures.

I've recently been doing some introspective work looking at my personal mythology. Personal mythology includes looking at human myths, societal myths, my ancestor's myths and my own to see how they impact my life.

The beauty of doing this work is that I get to re-examine my beliefs and re-shape them according to where I am now, no longer relying on old habits and patterns. I am much more conscious about my choices and my behaviors.

Through this work, I've uncovered some beliefs that will stay because they are still true for me. But there are others that, once viewed with today's wisdom, are being modified or discarded because they no longer serve me. It's deep work that is sometimes refreshing, and at other times heavy and emotional. But I am slowly moving towards a much better understanding of who I am and what influences me.


I welcome the energy of the number 11 to help me continue to find insight, spiritual understanding, compassion and love as I move forward.

With these insights, what does the date 11/11/11 mean for you?

Perfect Moment Tuesday? Visions of Graduation

Each week I participate in Perfect Moment Monday, sponsored by the blog, WriteMindOpenHeart.com According to Lavender Luz, "Perfect Moment Monday" is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect Moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between." And so, here is a Perfect Moment for this week.

If you have a teenager in high school (or were a teenager in high school not so long ago), you'll relate to this story. It's the battle of "who is holding the reins" as kids grow up. As a parent, when kids are young, you do everything for them...but as they grow up, more and more responsibility shifts towards them.

The conflict as they grow up (especially in the teen years) is how quickly do I (the parent) release the reins? What are they emotionally ready to take over AND what am I emotionally ready to release?  The parents' view of this typically differs (a lot) from the kids' view, which is one of the reasons the teen years can be such a struggle.

This past week served as a Perfect example of this...

Last week Tom and I were fretting over one of James' grades. After trying the nagging approach for the past three semesters (which created a lot of friction between us), we decided to try something different and determined that it is time to hand the reins over to James and see what happens.

Did a slight panic just shoot through your entire body, possibly delaying your heart beat for a split second? If so...my heart did the same thing.

What if it doesn't work? 

But we handed over the reins and jumped off the cliff, hoping that if we needed our parachutes, they would open up to save all three of us.

Lo and behold, after James took the reins, I saw him take a more mature outlook on his grades (including talking about school with us). He seems to be focusing more on his homework and looked online to see what his grades were. It was as if he cared...AND he was relieved that we weren't breathing down his neck.  It's only been a couple of days and the change is slight, there has been an improvement.

It gets even better...Last night we went to a lecture on post about preparing for college.

Are you sitting down? All three teenage boys attended! And they listened. And they got something out of it.

James, Bryce and Ryan heard many of the things we have been telling them about grades, getting involved, volunteering, working, and building a resume. But hearing it from someone else helped them to tune in and get something out of it.

How do I know? One reason I know is because when we got home, James and I had a great conversation about college, getting a job, investments, life insurance, grades, driving, and his expectations of himself.

After this pleasant conversation with such a nice young man, I went to bed with a smile on my face realizing that this nice young man was my first-born!

Bit-by-bit, he is growing up. His attitude last night reinforced our handing over the reins. In many (if not most) of his decisions now, it is up to him. Our job as parents now is to offer support, advice if necessary or when asked, and guide him as he moves through the rest of his high school education.

Will there be bumps in the road? Probably. But at least we continue to move forward. This brings to mind a statement I heard a long time ago while I was teaching parenting education programs (WAY before I had kids of my own):

Our job as a parent is to work our way out of a job.

Seeing this shift in James, ever-so-slightly and sometimes by great leaps, is what makes this transition worth it.

Just thinking about this conversation with James...is Perfect!

If you'd like to check out more Perfect Moment Mondays go to WriteMindOpenHeart.com by clicking here.