Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers!
This morning when I logged on to my Instagram account, I saw that one of the MANY Hello Kitty accounts that I follow was celebrating "Parents' Day." My first thought was "Um hello, we already had Mother's Day in May and Father's Day in June - now it's Parents' Day in July? Those greedy bastards! What will August bring? Parents' Day - Part 2?"
It is my birthday weekend (I am now 987 years old!) and I have been celebrating in "Golden Girls" style with a weekend in Boca Raton, Florida. It is my first visit to Boca Raton and as I had guessed - it's much nicer than Tampa with better Jewish deli options. I love a good Jewish deli. When I visit New York, I always make sure there is time for some matzo ball soup.
Amidst the "celebration of me," I have also taken some time to catch up on my own personal journal writing. For about 3 months straight I wrote in my journal every day. Then in May, I fell off the wagon and have been very bad about writing. I am trying to get back in the habit.
My brain functions so much better when I give it the chance to "offload" all the junk in my head via journal writing. In keeping with this "deep thoughts" mood, a couple things happened this weekend that have me thinking about life and the things we take for granted.
Today I read a sad story about a 29 year old woman, Faigy Mayer, in the tech field who committed suicide. According to the story, five years prior she had left her ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community. In doing so, her family severed all ties with her. Although in leaving the community, she - as a woman - was now free to pursue a career in technology without religious oppression (some ultra-Orthodox communities do not allow women to have access to smartphones), the price of losing most of her family seemed to weigh heavily on her.
In Boca Raton, I visited the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens and the so delicious, it hurts Kapow Noodle Bar. It was a very "Asian" birthday celebration for me. I thought a lot about my parents during my birthday celebration - how they would both very much enjoy the lovely Japanese gardens and the amazingly delicious noodle bar.
I read about the first Japanese farming settlement in Florida - "Yamato." According to the Morikami Museum, almost all of the Japanese settlers returned to Japan after frustrated farming in Florida. (And no, I didn't mean for that to have an alliterative air - it just happened.) My mother was an immigrant to America and I wonder how many times in her first early years here did she perhaps wish she was back in her homeland.
When I spent a month in Malaysia, after two weeks I went to a Western grocery store and purchased diet Coke, a baguette and some Brie. I was so tired of fish and noodles for most of my meals. I wanted to embrace my Western heritage - and evidently my Western heritage is chemical-laden soft drinks and French food. ;-)
With these thoughts of family and cultural struggles, I read the sad story about Faigy Mayer. It really hit home for me just how much I take my parents' support and encouragement for granted. They fully support the career choices my sister and I make and have never put restrictions on what we can or cannot do as women. (And yes, we both have smartphones.)
To think that there are people who are ending their lives because they do not have the support that I, myself, take for granted - there are no words for that depth of sadness. I will say that the human race may not always get the family we need and so for those who do not have support and acceptance, they should build their own family of friends who love and nurture them. Faigy Mayer reportedly echoed this in her Facebook post.
There's a saying that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I finally saw the documentary "Amy" about singer Amy Winehouse - who died of acute alcohol poisoning (and it has been speculated that her death may also have occurred due to weakened condition from the effects of alleged long term bulimia) four years ago this past weekend. She had so much talent, I wanted to reach through the screen and somehow bring her back to life. With people who commit suicide, I have the same hopeless feeling - like I want to turn back the clock and save them from themselves.
But I can't.
No one can.
Instead on this "Parents' Day" (who decides these holidays??), I am thinking about all the consistent love, support and encouragement I take for granted from my parents - and wish to thank them for always being there. My sister and I are truly lucky - and so many others do not have what we have.
Deep thoughts for a Sunday! I hope you are having a great weekend, LilyOnTheLam readers! And as always, thank you for reading!
P.S. Hours after posting this, I watched the season premiere "I Am Cait" about Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner. She also talked about suicide being a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I realized that the post I had written earlier today could also ring true for issues in the transgender community. I read this opinion article on CNN.com about an internet meme Director Peter Berg posted. I like Peter Berg's work very much, so the opinion article made me sad but I absolutely agree with the author's statements.
This morning when I logged on to my Instagram account, I saw that one of the MANY Hello Kitty accounts that I follow was celebrating "Parents' Day." My first thought was "Um hello, we already had Mother's Day in May and Father's Day in June - now it's Parents' Day in July? Those greedy bastards! What will August bring? Parents' Day - Part 2?"
Little did I realize when I woke this morning that I would be thinking a lot about my parents today. And not just because the fine folks at Sanrio implanted it in my brain.
It is my birthday weekend (I am now 987 years old!) and I have been celebrating in "Golden Girls" style with a weekend in Boca Raton, Florida. It is my first visit to Boca Raton and as I had guessed - it's much nicer than Tampa with better Jewish deli options. I love a good Jewish deli. When I visit New York, I always make sure there is time for some matzo ball soup.
Amidst the "celebration of me," I have also taken some time to catch up on my own personal journal writing. For about 3 months straight I wrote in my journal every day. Then in May, I fell off the wagon and have been very bad about writing. I am trying to get back in the habit.
My brain functions so much better when I give it the chance to "offload" all the junk in my head via journal writing. In keeping with this "deep thoughts" mood, a couple things happened this weekend that have me thinking about life and the things we take for granted.
Today I read a sad story about a 29 year old woman, Faigy Mayer, in the tech field who committed suicide. According to the story, five years prior she had left her ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community. In doing so, her family severed all ties with her. Although in leaving the community, she - as a woman - was now free to pursue a career in technology without religious oppression (some ultra-Orthodox communities do not allow women to have access to smartphones), the price of losing most of her family seemed to weigh heavily on her.
In Boca Raton, I visited the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens and the so delicious, it hurts Kapow Noodle Bar. It was a very "Asian" birthday celebration for me. I thought a lot about my parents during my birthday celebration - how they would both very much enjoy the lovely Japanese gardens and the amazingly delicious noodle bar.
I read about the first Japanese farming settlement in Florida - "Yamato." According to the Morikami Museum, almost all of the Japanese settlers returned to Japan after frustrated farming in Florida. (And no, I didn't mean for that to have an alliterative air - it just happened.) My mother was an immigrant to America and I wonder how many times in her first early years here did she perhaps wish she was back in her homeland.
When I spent a month in Malaysia, after two weeks I went to a Western grocery store and purchased diet Coke, a baguette and some Brie. I was so tired of fish and noodles for most of my meals. I wanted to embrace my Western heritage - and evidently my Western heritage is chemical-laden soft drinks and French food. ;-)
With these thoughts of family and cultural struggles, I read the sad story about Faigy Mayer. It really hit home for me just how much I take my parents' support and encouragement for granted. They fully support the career choices my sister and I make and have never put restrictions on what we can or cannot do as women. (And yes, we both have smartphones.)
To think that there are people who are ending their lives because they do not have the support that I, myself, take for granted - there are no words for that depth of sadness. I will say that the human race may not always get the family we need and so for those who do not have support and acceptance, they should build their own family of friends who love and nurture them. Faigy Mayer reportedly echoed this in her Facebook post.
There's a saying that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I finally saw the documentary "Amy" about singer Amy Winehouse - who died of acute alcohol poisoning (and it has been speculated that her death may also have occurred due to weakened condition from the effects of alleged long term bulimia) four years ago this past weekend. She had so much talent, I wanted to reach through the screen and somehow bring her back to life. With people who commit suicide, I have the same hopeless feeling - like I want to turn back the clock and save them from themselves.
But I can't.
No one can.
Instead on this "Parents' Day" (who decides these holidays??), I am thinking about all the consistent love, support and encouragement I take for granted from my parents - and wish to thank them for always being there. My sister and I are truly lucky - and so many others do not have what we have.
Deep thoughts for a Sunday! I hope you are having a great weekend, LilyOnTheLam readers! And as always, thank you for reading!
P.S. Hours after posting this, I watched the season premiere "I Am Cait" about Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner. She also talked about suicide being a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I realized that the post I had written earlier today could also ring true for issues in the transgender community. I read this opinion article on CNN.com about an internet meme Director Peter Berg posted. I like Peter Berg's work very much, so the opinion article made me sad but I absolutely agree with the author's statements.
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