Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Strength in Numbers


Anyone familiar with the Shaheen family knows that it is a male dominated clan. My dad is one of five brothers. My parents had five sons. I have three sons.  Four of my brothers all have at least one or two sons. One of my brothers married a man! Gee whiz!

Females are a rarity.  And we stick together.

We are not the perfect family by any stretch of the imagination. We’ve been through some tough things and have come out on the other side, strong in the broken places.  Each of us has a story to tell about the Shaheen men we have lived with, supported, nurtured and loved unconditionally.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Sleepless in Morgan Hill



You name it, I’ve tried it.

I cannot seem to get a good night’s sleep.

This isn’t anything new. I’ve always been somewhat of an insomniac. It runs in my family.

At work yesterday one of my colleagues suggested a sleep mask. That in combination with the “Best Rest Formula” from my chiropractor got me to sleep at 8:30 pm but after the stroke of 11:30 pm, I was up practically every hour.

I’m somewhat tired (no pun intended) of everyone’s advice. Of course I have solicited it so I shouldn’t complain.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

"Baby, love never felt so good!" ~ Michael Jackson



These two… 

 

He leaves her little notes around the house, in the silverware drawer, on the bathroom mirror, in her favorite coffee cup. She makes sure he eats healthily, supports his dreams and believes in his goodness and integrity.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Mandatory Pre-wedding Mother/Son Breakfast



It’s all the rage. Right up there with pre-marriage counseling. And I invented it.

Peter is my first son down the aisle. The first one to get the pep talk and the unsolicited advice about marriage and women and everything he’s ever wanted to know about life but didn’t know he didn’t know!

On my way up highway 101 to our meeting place- Stack’s in Burlingame, I contemplate my speech. I have resisted the urge to bring index cards with notes. Isn’t this wisdom encapsulated within? Aren’t these things I know by heart?

Oh, now I know what that means… To know something by heart.

Friday, June 13, 2014

25 Things I Learned from my Dad...



1. How to swim in the ocean.

2. To always take my vitamins.

3. How to use a thesaurus to improve my writing.

4. Army songs… (I left, I left, I left my wife and a 15 kids, over there, over there…)

5. That a freshly showered man in a nice suit is something to behold.

6. To smile often because I’m pretty when I smile.

7. That daily exercise is an important part of keeping fit.

8. To honor my mother.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!



It’s hot. I mean really hot. So glad I brought my sunscreen and my souvenir hat from the last game. Anyone who knows me knows that I am here to have the garlic fries and beer and to do some serious people watching. I’ve already had my first cold one and a bag of peanuts. The shells are under my seat and under the seat of the person sitting to my right who hasn’t arrived yet. Here she comes with her huge husband. Oh, I hope she sits next to me rather than him.

I get lucky.

But before she sits down she swiftly sweeps my peanut shells from under her seat back at me with a couple hostile swipes of one tennis shoe covered foot. I guess we won’t be engaging in any small talk today.

Friday, May 23, 2014

The Keeper of Things

 



My oldest son texted me during dinner last night. “Hi Mom! I’m going to swing by your house tonight after my final if that’s ok. Need to grab some of my camping stuff.”

I am quietly thrilled. I am the keeper of things.

He arrives as I finish up the dishes and wipe the kitchen counters. I hug my first born son- life changer, trail blazer, heart breaker, 33 years of connection, love, and journey together infused in an embrace.

We walk the time line through the laundry room and into the garage where the archives of family life line the walls- boxes labeled “Patrick’s GI Joes”, “brio train”, “Christmas decorations”, “dress up clothes”, the wooden toy horse made by Grampa Healy, a shelf crammed with size 13 crocs. We rest our eyes on the row of sleeping bags and tents above the work bench and the requisite green plastic tubs that hold the treasures of camping trips of yore- plastic table cloths autographed and decorated by camping buddies, liquid dish soap, camping stoves, a variety of pots and pans, lanterns, plastic forks and spoons, make shift coffee makers, propane tanks, camping games.

Friday, May 9, 2014

25 things my mother taught me...



1. To save all my receipts from everything

2. To stand up straight and hold my shoulders back

3. How to pluck my eyebrows so that they don’t run together above my nose

4. How to roll a pot of stuffed grape leaves in less than an hour

5. How to iron parts of a shirt in the correct order

6. How to cook without a recipe

7. To love my siblings but never go into business with them

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Master of the Urban Universe


“It’s called Technology” says my youngest son, Peter, as he walks me through downloading the app for UBER and showing me how it works. We are at some groovy cafe in the Marina District of San Francisco having “detox” salads sans the chicken. “It’s Good Friday” I remark to which my cradle Catholic son snarls “So what?”

I am feeling old.

He thinks I’m out of touch with technology (although I can create a mean excel spreadsheet and share a google doc with the best of them) and my religion is regarded as dated and useless.

As I attempt to keep up with my 6’2″ son forging the steep hill towards his home, Peter gives me last minute instructions on the goldens, Lua and Willow. “Make sure they know who is boss? Don’t let them walk you! Be in charge!” I listen carefully and nod appropriately like a good student.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Blessed



Hail Mary, full of grace

At a Lenten overnight retreat with 65 adolescent girls.

The Lord is with thee

Yoga pants, push up bras, still trying to make sense of their bodies and their souls, clear skinned and broken complexioned, immature and seeking- all seen and heard and embraced by a higher power.

Blessed are you among women

You are precious and perfect in God’s eyes, a temple of the Holy Spirit, hope for the world. Don’t ever underestimate what lies yet dormant within you. You are destined for goodness and prosperity.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

The Plight of the Green Thumb


Last Sunday as I opened the window over my kitchen sink to let in the warm spring air I turned around and noticed this beautiful healthy poinsettia sitting quite proudly on the island, definitely out of place. Who keeps a $7 poinsettia alive not only through the Christmas season but way into March?? Ah.. the challenges of having a green thumb.

My home is beginning to look like a nursery. Give me a plant? You can bet it will be twice the size next time you come over. My indoor plants take all the love and attention I can muster. I often give them baths in my bathtub or kitchen sink so that they can luxuriate in a cocktail of plentiful filtered water and the morning's left over coffee. I swear they are smiling as they absorb the nutrients and attention! (Maybe it's the cocktail I'm drinking.. ?)

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Drinking the Kool-Aid..


Day 14 of a 14 day detox program and ready to report on better health, better sleep, better outlook on life, better woman, better have a glass of wine soon or I’m going to levitate off the planet.

I’ve drunk the Kool-Aid and I’m detoxed, de-flead, delightful, decompressed, delivered from sin and indecisive about the results, end product, over-all value of the experience and determination to continue some kind of gluten, sugar, dairy, alcohol, caffeine, throw caution to the wind never again kind of life-style.

Did you follow all that? Perhaps you need a detox so that you can think more clearly and join the ranks of the “free people” who will certainly reach a state of nirvana in this lifetime.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

A Plethora of Women


This last weekend I had the opportunity to facilitate a Day of Reflection for AMEN- The Alumni Mothers Extended Network for Bellarmine College Prep, the high school where my three sons attended and thrived. I was sort of a replacement gig. Sister Rebecca Shinas, better known as “the rockin’ nun of MySpace”, had some urgent family business to attend to. So, my friend, Rosemary, had the thought to ask me.

Well of course! What are the degrees of separation between Sister Rebecca and me? I do have a Facebook…

Wondering if I was equipped to replace a sister who has devoted her entire life to spirituality and celibacy, I was hesitant to accept.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

One woman's trash is another woman's treasure.


At the end of the last school year as we scurried about preparing for graduation I found this lovely Buddha in the highly polished North Hall, dangerously close to a large trash can. I took a photo with my phone and promptly sent it to our resident art teacher to see if she knew whose it was. “Yes of course. That’s Sophie’s Buddha!”

The email exchange went something like this…

Subject: your Buddha

Hi Sophie, I’m not sure if you intended to throw your Buddha away but I found him near the trash cans in the North Hall. If you don’t want him, I will buy him from you! That will make you a professional sculptress!!

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Answered Prayer


I'm sorta kinda glad that God doesn't work like a gum ball machine. Prayer in, answer out. Automatic and immediate. Feeding the Silicon Valley habit of getting things instantaneously. Google this. Twitter that. Instagram it! Now you see it, now you don't on Snapchat.

I assume that God is more tech savvy than we are. Yet counterculture in the most innovative manner. God absolutely answers our prayers but not before we have wiggled and squirmed and hit road blocks and narrow openings of escape and experienced anxiety and fear and dread and hope and love and amazement.

Life giving clues come out of nowhere in places we are not looking. Yet the door we stare at remains closed.

Popular Posts