September 11th

Today my heart goes out to the victims of September 11th and all the Soldiers who have fought, been injured or lost their lives since America was attacked in 2001.

Like the assassination of JFK and man's first footstep on the moon... September 11th is a day when we will all remember where we were when we heard the news.

At Festival of the Wise we are honoring both Veterans and Memories.

On Sunday there will be a Veterans Tribute recognizing all the sacrifices and efforts that the men and women of our armed forces have made to protect the freedoms of this great country. 

You can read more about it here:

http://www.festivalofthewise.com/features/veteranstribute.html

Throughout the festival we are also have a booth set up called: Words from the Wise where you can record your experiences and stories for posterity. This is a great way to share where you were when a world event happened and how it affected you. 

I asked my father where he was when we landed on the moon and he told me an amazing story about listening to the moon landing while flying a commercial jet. My father was a pilot and it was enriching to hear his first hand account of something I don't remember. No doubt, one day, I will be telling my children where I was when I heard the news of September 11th, 2001.

You can read more about Words from the Wise here:

http://www.festivalofthewise.com/features/wordsfromthewise.html

Happy Grandparents Day!

Grandparent's day was yesterday, September 7th. I was reminded of it when our awesome speaker, Pat Burns, sent me an email. With more than 1/2 the grandparents in America being baby boomers, it's little wonder Pat's written a Grandparenting guide for the Rock and Roll generation. It's called Grandparents Rock! and it was released yesterday. She'll be speaking on this topic in our lifestyle section of our conference.

I miss my grandparents. None of them are with us anymore, but I'm so grateful to have had the experience of knowing two of them, my dad's Mom and my mom's Dad.

Grandparents are amazing. Besides camping trips, Christmas presents and pumpkin pie they also gave me two things that are priceless:

1. Words that will live with me forever.

2. A personal insight into the world over the last century.

For my grandmother I remember her saying things like, "You don't have to worry about that Mary Ellen, she's going to be okay no matter what." Those words have carried me through any tough time I ever had. (fyi - Mary Ellen's my proper name). And one of my favorite things my Opa said was, "You have a no, you can get a yes!" Many, many, many requests I have made in my life have come from that statement. I have been amazed how many times I have gotten a yes.

The world my grandparents knew is not like the world I grew up in. They gave me a window into a world I only knew from the history books. Grandma Isa lived through the depression in Iowa and my Opa (Grandfather in Dutch) was a prisoner of war in World War II and helped build the bridge over the river Kwai. Their stories made history and the world come alive for me.

I'm blessed to have known my grandparents. I still miss them on family holidays and I definitely feel that they are always there watching over me.

Thanks for the reminder, Pat!

You can check out Pat's book here: http://www.grandparentsrock.com/

And see more of our LifeWise sessions here: http://www.festivalofthewise.com/conference/lifewise.html