Facebook is not real life

I found myself writing that to a dear respected friend today. Facebook is the illusion of our lives in bits and pieces of what we choose to place as our status updates. We can create images of our days by our words.

I realize as I was writing to my friend that people think that Facebook is real life. Now, at times, I can see where people could confuse the two. However, Facebook can never let you feel the human touch of a hand or a hug. Facebook can never let you linger over a long lunch or dinner enjoying not only the morsels of food and drink but also the human company.

Facebook can give you an quick reaction and sometimes; sometimes that is what we all need. Maybe its a prayer request, maybe a congratulation or maybe its I am sorry for your loss.

Facebook can connect long forgotten friends and relatives.

Facebook may give us the immediate satisfaction but is not real life.

So go jump in a puddle, dive in a lake, canoe down a river, surf on the coast, your real life is not on Facebook.

Happy Valentine's Day

May Your Home be Blessed with Love! Happy Valentine's Day!

Jen's 40 and Fab Party

So we had a friend who held a 40th 80's theme birthday party at a local skating rink. I used to love to skate, but due to bad back I was hesitate. Then I thought to myself when I am ever going to dress up with my husband from the 80's and go to a roller rink. So I skated a bit. Not enough to do damage but enough to have fun with some great people. Happy Birthday Jen!

Relay for Life of Livermore 2011-My pitch-Join Us!

My pitch because no matter how small or big your company is form a Relay for Life of Livermore 2011 team. Or maybe you want to be connected with a team. Or maybe you want to sponsor the event. Or maybe even a poster in your store front (thank you to our downtown stores who are already displaying the Relay colors) Or maybe a few brochures in your lobby because while maybe you are not in a position to be there this year but you might be help to motivate someone who should. So here I go.

Hello, my name is Kathleen Schoening and I am Team Recruitment Chair with the Livermore Relay For Life. Right now we are reaching out to local Livermore businesses to invite them to join us in the fight against cancer. This amazing 24 hour event is being held on June 25th and 26th at Livermore High School.

We are looking for teams and sponsors to participate so that we can Celebrate, Remember and Fight Back for every person whose life has been touched by cancer.

Still not sure and have questions? I would like to talk with you because we would love to have you as part of this incredible community of survivors, caregivers and people who care.


Why do I Relay? I Relay because when our daughter was 2 years old her daddy, my husband was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. For a year, my husband underwent chemo and radiation. Our daughter and I stood by, praying for the day we could say that daddy was a cancer survivor. And now, one year later he is.

So come join us.

This is going to be one amazing year!

Kathleen Schoening

Team Recruitment Chair

Alameda Beach-The first beach I knew as a kid

This is the first beach I knew as a kid. This is the beach our mom would take us to and where the love of water and sand were instilled in me. So today, I detoured from a grocery store trip and went. There are days like this that I wonder why I am in the suburbs where my heart longs to live near a beach.

Winter at the Beach

Emma and I packed a lunch and headed to the coast today. We played in the sand,the water and met new friends. It was beautiful. Winter at the Beach always nice.

"No Room for Racism"

that is what the sign said in the back of my car window 19 years ago. I remember picking up my grandparents in Fresno and as my grandpa got in the car hauling his oxygen tank in he said, "Can I get in?" and he laughed. It was not a mean laugh, but rather a laugh of acknowledgment. My grandpa was a preacher and when I knew him, as I knew him and as I remember him he was not a racist but a man of God who welcome all in his church.

When my grandpa's health problems forced him and my grandma (the giggler) to leave the Church of Christ in Fremont to retire, they went to the home they owned in Fresno. There he was to rest. However, God had another plan (funny how God always does). My grandpa was called to yet preach again at a rural church (literally a two room church) in the middle of farm land. I think it is Road 22 Ave 12 right outside of Fresno or maybe Road 12 Ave 22. In the room where my grandpa last preached where the poorest of poor and an elderly black who came every week to hear grandpa preach. I said hear because the man could not see, he was blind. I will never forget that.

Here's why.

That day 19 years ago, when I picked up my grandparents we were going to a family reunion as we did every May. I remember that day like it was yesterday for some reason. My grandpa kidded I had lead a foot and laughed some more but it was the under currents of that day as I remember.

It was the whispers. The haunting of past generations being heard. Apparently without my grandpa's knowledge KKK meetings were held in the church where he preached in the south so many, many years before. Times were different then. It made my stomach turn. God is not a racist and neither should a place of worship be. I am not sure how the meetings stopped or if my grandpa moved on. Perhaps someday I will get the rest of the story.

Fast forward a few years down the road. My grandpa had passed and another family reunion was held. Talk there was how Snoop Dog might be related to us. You see Broadus/Broaddus are not common surnames.

I could hear my grandpa laughing now. I actually think grandpa might like a good clean rap about no room for racism.