Breath, it will be o.k.

Take Patience with your love and yourself!

It is easy to get mad with a person you love, it is easy to take your feelings out on them and use harsh words.  Love is not simple, love is not easy!  It will test the depths of your compassion and bring you to your emotional limits.  Remember to tread lightly . Some words easily spoken are almost impossible to take back !

If only it were easier.  It takes two to tango, and sometimes the other party does not want to dance.  The other party might not be able to help!  They might be having problems of their own.  So easily we can assume the other is O.K.and able to function, but this is not always the case.  So easily we all forget to show compassion, to be kind, even when we are at our breaking point.

The best medicine is to breath.  To slow down.  To think and to speak softly.  Maybe you need a moment.  Tell them!  "I need a moment... I'm upset.  I don't want to fight, I love you."  Or something you practice to break the tension.  Breaking the tension in the air of any situation normally helps!  Take a moment, breath, go take a shower, or just go to the fridge for some cold WATER.  Not alcohol, alcohol has never helped a wound except in the E.R.!  Cold water is refreshing and it relieves tension.  Just like a hot shower it can lighten the mood and ease the tension!

Then go back and... with kindness and a new calm tell them what YOUR problems are and why you are upset.  It will go a long way to helping you both.  And if you were wrong or rude... Or mean.  Apologies go a long way when they come from the heart.

Much Love to You From OST

Well, with all the wonderful work Holly is doing on the Facebook Community page I thought I better start working too!  So here goes!  A new post on our blog!!!    I know... I can't believe it myself.  I stopped writing after the Connecticut shootings and just did not come back.  I think part of it was the post affected me, but it was also a hard time for us struggling to keep Facebook going.

Holly has been working so hard on OST, and Facebook has not always been so easy to work with.  We have been banned, blocked, hacked and sometimes insulted.  Holly took it pretty good!  If you know Holly she pulls no punches and WILL tell you what for at times.  She has it hard and little things hurt when you try as hard as she does.  I on the other hand work in the background when I do and am affected much less directly than her.

We both try very hard to bring happiness and a smile to our friends on On Second Thought.  It is our hope that you can find a little bit of peace and fun with each visit.  Making this world a little bit better one smile at a time is why we do this.  Not for likes, we appreciate them, but we enjoy your laughter and smiles much more.  So please stay tuned and I promise to keep this portion of OST updated much more often.  In fact, I am desperately looking for  blogger!  So let me know if you can help!

We love you guys very much and appreciate the kindness you show on Facebook.  Please be sure to stop by and join in the fun.  We post what we like and hope you like it too!  We also share pages WE find fun and entertaining.  And I also hope you share the things I create.  They are there for you to enjoy!  And it really helps us and me out when you share them with others!  It also makes me so happy to know others will maybe laugh at my creations and enjoy themselves.  We wish you the very best!  Much Love to you all!

                                                                      - Crowe & Holly

We Pray for you all! Only Love!

Saying Goodbye

I am sorry that we have not posted to the Blog for the last few weeks.  The truth is I couldn't get myself to write anything positive.  I was in a wonderful moods, but just a downright laziness stopped me from posting anything.  I wanted to do it in my heart, but just kept putting things off.

I know we all put things off, but today I cannot continue to do this.  First, is for me, I love posting to this On Second Thought Blog and sharing my thoughts and hopes.  The second is sadly because of what happened today.  Today Twenty Seven People Died in a school shooting.  Most of the victims were only Six to Ten Years old.

I cannot tell you how much this hurt my soul.  My heart skipped a beat, and I had to stop reading several times.  Nothing can preparing us for the horrible murder of our children.  My heart stops if I see a child trip and fall!  The thought of someone intentionally hurting small children for any reason was sickening to every ouch of my being.  Why?  Why such hatred?  Why such anger?  What did they do to ever deserve this?  Of course, the answer is nothing!

Nobody can tell you why these things happen... there is no good answers, because answers come after the fact.  The only thing we can try to do is comfort each other and try to grow and learn.  We can honor and show our love by our actions.  It is here that we can help others through this tragic event.

I was asked today where was God today by someone being angry, and a little bit hateful.  Upset.  My answer was that God is there and to blame anyone other than our own selves for such horrors is to step aside of our responsibility.  The thing that killed these children WAS human.  I wish I could blame it on an animal, or a disease, but it was not.  It was a very disturb and sick individual who has probably needed help for a very long time.  Was he evil?  That is philosophical, but I would say not entirely.  Most people are shaped these ways through life experiences.  Mix that with Psychological disorders and some personal stressors and your are asking for trouble.  Does this take away from his horrible acts?  NO  !  What he set into motion was sickening and a tragedy.  I just wish someone had seen his problems and done something about it.

Sorry for rambling on...  in short:  My heart goes out to the survivors and the children they have lost.  I only ask we all stop and show some type of kindness to others.  If we just show a little bit of old fashion kindness and respect to each other this world would be such a better place.  Smile more and laugh.  We all can make a difference.  Thank you!  - Crowe & Holly, OST

Thank you and we love you!

But not with you!!!

On this most beautiful of days I just wanted to take this time to remember the friends who make all the difference in my life.  Not just the ones I know, but the ones I do not.  Who stop by OST and wish us the very best.  Some have only just discovered the site and are new friends with us.

It is these kind sweet hearted people who make us feel so loved and a sense of something bigger.  Have you ever noticed how much energy hatred and anger use up inside you and how good it feels to let that go.  To feel it flow out of you, just the physical act of taking a deep breath and loosening up your muscles can make all the difference in your daily life.

We live our lives with too much rush and running around and too little thought of the small things and the kindness and beauty in everyday life.  So to my friends I would wish you many things, but of all these things I would wish you a moment to reflect on something pretty or simple and to really enjoy that moment of relaxation.

I wish you and all my friends time and patience and beauty in your lives.  Remember Beauty is only waiting to be discovered, you only have to look and slow down, and you will see it all around you.  Smile and say something nice to someone.  Be kind and patient.  Be hopeful and rejoice in the incredible diversity of life around each other!  We love you.  And we will be hereto help you when you need us... just like you have been for us.  Together we can accomplish anything!  - Crowe & Holly, On Second Thought

Repairing the Fabric of Life

Today I read a very good message of hope and learning from Rabbi Aaron Benjamin Bisno.  It was cute, and I thought a good message for all of us.  How do we repair the world?  Read it and see if you agree we all can make a difference if we try.  It kind of fits with what we are doing here at On Second Thought.  Trying to help life be better, funnier and happier one person at a time.  We love you guys!  And hope to see you On OST today!  Crowe is working on new funnies, and I am already drinking my coffee!  - Holly & Crowe

Repairing the Fabric

One of the traditional Jewish acts of mourning is the tearing of our clothes -- the performance of what is called kri'a -- literally tear in Hebrew. By ripping the fabric of a lapel, a pocket, a sleeve, or a black ribbon opposite our hearts, we acknowledge through a physical act of tearing, the emotional and psychic sundering death brings.

In response to the loss, fury and sorrow we experience as we process grief -- in response to what our President has called our "quiet, unyielding anger" at the upending of our world, Jewish Tradition decrees we rend the fabric of our garments, that we might thereby be returned in some small measure to wholeness.

But what shall we do when it is the fabric of our society and world that is rent? What shall we do when it is the rending that is the cause of and not the response to our grief? What shall we do then? How shall we react when the way we understood the world and our place within it is today rendered unrecognizable and we cannot go back to the way it ever was? What do we tear then? And how do we begin to make our world whole again?

Perhaps an answer can be found in the story of the young student who found a large map of the world in the newspaper. Curious, the student took the map to his teacher. Seeing an opportunity to challenge the student, the teacher took the map of the globe and tore it into many, many pieces. Fragments of paper fell to the floor at the student's feet. And then handing over a roll of tape, the teacher challenged the student to reassemble the map of the world, and then the teacher returned to work.

The student dropped to the floor and, in short order, completed the assignment by correctly taping together each of the pieces of the whole of the world. Where only minutes before the image of the world we believed we had known so well was torn asunder, and strewn across the floor, now it was being offered up as an intact whole.

When the teacher asked the student how it had been possible to reassemble the fragmented world so quickly, the response was short and to the point: "There was a picture of a person on the back side. I repaired that one person and the whole world got fixed too."

(Rabbi Aaron Benjamin Bisno) 

Hope - URJ

We would like to thank Rabbi Aaron Benjamin Bisno and the URJ for making this message of happiness open to the world, not only for Jewish followers, but non-Jewish friends and love ones.  Thank you for being a beacon of hope and friendship in this world of ours.  - Crowe

Faith, Hope and Love

Holly & Terry's favorite Saying.

     Sometimes, the hardest things to handle hit us when we least expect it.  I know at least for us here at On Second Thought we fill our day with laughter and happiness as much as we can.  It is through this effort that we have met so many wonderful people.  They tell us we have touched their lives, and I know they have deeply touched ours.  We have grown so much as people.  Learned so many new things and helped each other through some really hard times.  I guess it is the good times that sometimes make the bad things so much harder to cope with.

     Life is not a given.  We should all know that.  Sometimes life throws us so hard and so fast for a loop it is hard to hold on to anything.  Especially hope and faith and sometimes even love.  But it is these very times that test us, sometimes far past our limits, that we need these three things.  Faith, Hope and Love.  These three... hold these three things sacred, but the most of all Love.

We're Flying now!!!

We have really been blessed to have met and made this many friends.  Holly almost cried today when OST hit 5000, why not?  She has worked so hard and I love her for that and so much more. Today I watched as all of us opened up and shared and laughed and had so much fun!  It was on of the best day we have, and I have ever had on OST.  Thank you so much for making this a place to come for fun and good times.  For love and laughter and maybe even a little tears.

The love and support we have received while doing this is incredible.  And for this I thank you.  Let me leave you with a couple of our Original pieces we have shared on OST.  Thank you friends!  Thank you!