20 Good Trends in 2011

Perhaps there IS something to sing about as we head into the New Year, 2011! According to statistics, good things are happening in this country even though we cannot always see them. Here is an upbeat list to ponder as we head into the future. We can only hope that we continue on this upward path.

1. We are safer. Crime is down. The number of crimes in the U.S. has continued to decrease since 1989.

2. W use less energy. Since 1989, the average per-person consumption of energy has decreased about nine percent. And, the economy as a whole is becoming more energy efficient, down 53 % to produce a dollar's worth of goods and services.

3.We give more. We are giving more time and money to philanthropic endeavors. Americans gave $3 billion to charities in 2009, and more in 2010.

4.The use of public mass transit grew 38 % from 1995-2008 and is even higher today, thus, conserving fuel.

5.We are living longer and feeling better. People today will live, on average, ten years longer than their parents, and according to "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences," people over 50, decrease their levels of stress, anxiety and worry.

6.Young people are making smarter decisions about their well-being. High School students are using less drugs and smoking less with greater numbers of teens perceiving these as dangerous to their health.

7. We are connecting and social networking with people more than ever before resulting in an increase in happiness. For example, more and more marriages are the result of the couple meeting via the Internet.

8.We can connect easier, even while flying in an airplane. And while this can be either good or bad, it is a tool that we have available to us almost anywhere we are in the world. An example, in 1964-66, I was in the Peace Corps living in Africa. I was not able to talk with my family for two and a half years, whereas today, volunteers can call up their Mom from almost anywhere.

9. Our bonds are stronger. The rate at which couples are getting divorced continues to fall, from 4.0 per every 1,000 in 2000 to 3.5 in 2008.

10. We are giving things away before we throw them away. For example: the online site: freecycle.org has mushroomed. In our town of Normal, we have a column in The Pantagraph Newspaper called "Good Neighbor" where people give and take what they have.

11. Our forests are growing. The total acreage of forested land in the U.S. has increased during the last 30 years according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

12. We breath cleaner air. Since 1990, levels of six common air pollutants have fallen, and in most of the country, concentrations of carbon monoxide, lead and nitrogen dioxide are below federal standards to protect human health and the environment.

13. We drive more carefully with the result of less fatal accidents.

14. We are growing more of our own food and enjoying the benefits. Farmer's Markets are everywhere, and people are realizing the value of buying their produce etc. here, and enjoying fresher tastes. The nation as a whole is realizing the amount of fuel, time and preservation it takes to not buy food locally.

15. Public smoking bans are now in almost every state, and places where this law is in place, there is a significant decline in emergency room visits for heart attacks.

16. We buckle up when driving; at least most of us do with the results being less serious injuries in an accident.

17. Bees are making a come-back with the result of less threat to crops and eventually the health of our food supply. More than 100.000 estimated back-yard beekeepers are fighting back the plight of the disappearing bees. A good friend of mine is one of them!

18. Women are healthier. Breast Cancer is on the decline.

19. We move more, resulting in healthier bodies and the message to do this to fight obesity is everywhere.

20. We understand the power of positive thinking with more upbeat attitudes and less pessimism. We now know more about the mind-body connection and how it affects our health.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT OF ALL

It was the coldest of winters that year and Christmas Eve came to the Conlan house with howling winds and snow on the ground. It had been a hectic time for our family without the full attention of our mother who loved holidays and parties, and loved to deck the halls. She had not even sat down at the piano to play Christmas carols with all of us gathered around to sing along. It was a different year, and a very different feeling permeated our household. We had help in the house but it wasn't the same; Mother always showed us how to wrap our presents and tie the bows so that the presents under the tree looked like art. (My mother was an artist.) But this year, Mother was clearly tired, and she looked wane and worried. We had not even gone to the Cincinnati Crone Conservatory to see the live creche where Mary and Joseph sat among live animals and waited for their baby to arrive, which is just what my mother was doing that Christmas Eve. Mother herself was heavy with child carrying our youngest sister Christine Helen to arrive on Christmas morning. Mother wanted to see all of us open our Christmas presents before she went off to the hospital, and I can still see her sitting in our vast hallway in an antique velvet chair, small packed suitcase at her feet, hat and coat on. She was delighting in the sounds of her children's excitement and joy as we, one by one, opened our gifts. I received a shiny black three-speed bike that my two brothers carried up from the basement. I was in awe, totally unaware of the real treasure in the room that Christmas, unknown and unseen by all of us.
After the last gift was unwrapped, Dad carefully walked Mother to the family station wagon in the driveway, and we all waved good-bye as they drove away. We then ripped into our toys and treasures, playing until bedtime which came all too early. And, no bells were rung from our rooftop that night; a tradition every year, and no one set cookies and carrots out for Santa and his reindeer. Santa had already been to our house, but he had not brought the best present of all....our sister, Chris, who came home with Mother a week later form the hospital.

* Art by my sister Maureen Conlan.

Christmas

Well, here we are; Christmas time again! This will be my 70th, and I am sitting here remembering some of the more memorible ones. As a young girl growing up, the year that I turned twelve, my mother was pregnant with my youngest sister (of six siblings) and that Christmas eve, I can still see my mother sitting with her coat and hat on, in our hallway, small suitcase next to her, watching us open our Christmas presents before she went off to the hospital to deliver Christine Helen. That year I received a shinny new black three-speed bike that my dad brought up from the basement, and I thought that was the best Christmas present I had ever received. And it was not until I realized in years to come that the real Christmas present that year was my wonderful sister Chris who continues to be a blessing in all our lives today. That too was the only Christmas that the Conlan kids were allowed to open their gifts on Christmas eve.
As a child growing up, the tradition in our house was to go to bed early and listen for Santa's sleigh bells which one of my parents rang sometime in the night for us to hear. This happened after we had put out cookies, milk for Santa, and carrots for Santa's raindeer. Christmas morning, each of us (seven) took our place on the steps going downstairs according to age, the youngest first, and waited, and waited, and waited for everyone to get up, especially Mom and Dad. Then, as we decended the stairs together, we all sand Jingle Bells. This was our tradition, and I remember it with great fondness. Usually, under the tree, there was one big gift for each of us, and I remember the year that we all got ice skates.
When we moved to Colorado, our family created our own traditions, one of them being to gather with our neighbors on Christmas eve to put together things for our children. One year, we had the biggest snow storm ever on Christmas morning and I remember neighbors up and down the street on skies, sleds, and snow shoes going from porch to porch where Christmas goodies were being offered and served. We had lots of snow, but also that fabulous Colorado sunshine.
What really strikes me about Christmas as I get a little older is that all my favorite memories around Christmas involve the people I most love and cherish. One year I flew home from Colorado and surprised my mom and dad, wearing a big red bow in my hair. This was the Christmas before my dad died, and I am so glad I had that special time with him. Another year, our family flew to New Orleans to be with my sister and her family, each of us wearing a T-Shirt on the plane that, when standing together, spelled "Merry Christmas Meltons, HoHoHo." Everyone on the plane loved it, and we loved being in New Orleans that holiday. This Christmas we will be with our small, but mighty family of seven, and will delight, as we have in past years, watching the "grands," Sara (6) and Ben (3) open their Christmas toys. Ah the delight, the wonder, the belief that "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." And, if you have not read that book recently, I suggest that when you do, you will, once again, believe in "Santa Claus."

Fall, 2010

I have to say that I love the Fall. And this year, we have had a beautiful one here in central Illinois. I can appreciate it more this year as I compare it to last year when we had rains into December that all too quickly took away the colors of this lovely season. Last year when my husband helped his brothers with the harvest (which he does every year)he came home late at night and was up early, sometimes 4:00 a.m. to get in line to empty the corn or soybeans at the grain elevators. It was a messy harvest to say the least, and the farmers around here said it was the worst in living memory. Amen. They finally finished in early December. This year, the harvest was finished in mid October and the colors are still visible today on the trees and bushes. Today, the weather is still in the 70ies and my husband is on the golf course with his two brothers. This may be the "last" of it, however, which is why I am writing about it. When it is cold, rainy and damp in the months to come, I will want to remember days like this and remind myself that they will come again. (Pictures taken at our Farm.)

Family and a Walk in the Woods

What could be more wonderful than a walk in the woods with your family? Here, my precious family is taking a rest after a crisp Fall walk through nature trails, colorful paths and along a sky-blue tranquill lake. For me, this is truly what makes life worthwhile, and joyful! Family and nature; nature and family. Two really great things life has provided me, and I am so grateful for both! And when the two come together, well then, it is just wonderful. I believe that the universe provides us these moments so that the rest of the time, when we are in the trenches with problems and worry, we can remember these days with the hope that there will be more. It has been true in my life. I must remember this.

Voting

Today, November 2, 2010, I am writing this from the Urbana, Illinois Free Library...a great place I discovered while here visiting my daughter. This is the college town of the University of Illinois with lots of thinking going on....some good; some not so good. And, downstairs today at the library, people are walking in to vote as this is a polling place, and this is the day for that. For the first time in my adult life, I am not casting a ballot. My father, who was quite active in the Democratic Party all his life would surely roll over in his grave if he knew. Around our big Irish family dining room table each night growing up, the topic of conversation would often turn to politics....usually what the Democrats were doing right vs. what the Republicans were doing wrong. I was highly influenced by this on-going dialogue, and usually vote just to the left of center. But not this year. This year I have come to view Politics like I view many other traditional institutions these days, as businesses with big money interests. We used to joke that "the boys with the most toys, win." Today, the party with the most money contributions, wins. I have lost any trust I once had in a process that does not, in my opinion, use values, honesty and reasonableness in what they represent. I don't know what the rally in Washington with John Steward accomplished, but minimally, if it pointed to how far we have come in lacking any fair-play and decency in our dialogue of differences, then it perhaps did some good. We are very far from what I think our forefathers wanted for this country to become great; they knew we had to have moral choices, American values and a way to discuss our differences with civility. When we get back to these kinds of choices, I will go to the polls again.

What is Beauty

Yesterday I attended a beautiful lunch and style show at my daughter's Fashion Boutique where she is a new manager. This Boutique is one of a kind and is called Bella Mia, located in Champaign, Illinois. The show was stunning with lovely models and rich high fashion; so delightful to look at and admire. It brought to mind some thoughts.
My mother used to say, "People will always treat you the way you look and dress...that first impressions are crutial." My mother was quite stylish in her dress and manner but I don't think this was the essence of what she wanted to convey to me. Mother meant that one should always look "put together," (not necessarily fashionable), neat, and dressed in presentable clothes that fit well. She particularly wanted me to make sure that my children looked nice when they went out with clean combed hair, washed faces and clean outfits.
"Your children will benefit from the positive affirmations they get, even from strangers (when babies) when people treat them as well as they look, and she was right....babies and children soak up positive messages like a sponge. The opposite is also true; children instantly sense when negative messages are coming their way. And like it or not, people do react positivly or negatively according to what they see.
The other message I received around the idea of beauty was from my Dad.
"Beauty is only skin deep," he would say..."the rest is up to you."
He would often suggest to his five daughters that women of great beauty in our society were at risk of never being anything else. Women especially have been highly idolized for nothing more than looking fabulous. This is a danger my father would say; the danger of not becoming anything of any worth or consequence. Of course, my father was an intellectual who highly prized education above all else, and was always promoting the value of this. I was blessed by his ferver and determination to give the same love of learning to all of his children. My mother valued this as well but, on ocassion, when the whole family was together, seven children and their offsprings, she would look around the room and say, "Aren't we all just so good looking." I was doubley blessed, I guess.