Living Happily Ever After

It is possible.  But, let's get one thing straight - it doesn't happen like a Disney movie.  There will be good times and hard times.  Your Prince Charming will fart on occasion.  Your infant princess will scream her lungs out in Wal-Mart.  Your little prince will hand you his poo.

Exhibit A:   Grace Kelly

Beautiful American actress.  Married a real prince, but I wouldn't call him handsome.  Had three beautiful children, each of whom grew up and old surrounded by gossip and tragedy.  And, like another famous modern, real-life princess, she was killed in a car wreck.  Did she live happily ever after?  I'd say so.  There was nothing unusual about the heartaches she endured and, by all accounts, her prince did love her.  I have no doubt she's looking down from heaven with pride on her children and adorable grandchildren too.  (Prince Albert, Princess Charlotte, and their little Heirs to the Throne)

The point is, living happily ever after takes work, hard work.  There are no fairy godmothers in real life.  Sorry.  It can be especially hard when you've gone through times that made you feel like you were run over by a truck.  How do you pull yourself up, brush yourself off, and get back to Happily Ever After?  I don't know all the answers.  I'm still a work in progress.  Faith is a big one for me.  A bunch of ladies have inspired me, one of them was the Glamorous Housewife

She has a video on YouTube called How to Create the Life of Your Dreams   and I found it a great spring board for figuring this stuff out.  It's a frequent probably for moms who've totally devoted themselves to childrearing.  The little darlings draw on every ounce of us so that we forget what even got us started down that road.

I created a list of things which make me happy:

1)   The Wilderness

2)   Backyard Farming

3)   Babies

4)   Storytelling

5)   Vintage Living

6)   Everyday History

And then I came up with two personal character traits I need to work on to bring those happy things back into my life.

Proactive

Diligence

There are several other ladies who've inspired and encouraged me and I'll be sharing about them in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, you can look to the left side of this blog to find links to their sites.

Now, get back to work on your Happy.  ;)

Vintage Vaccines

*Choosing to vaccinate or choosing not to vaccinate our children is a hot topic right now, because of a Measles epidemic spreading across the United States.  The measles-mumps-rubella combination vaccine debuted in 1971 and Measles was believed eliminated from our country in 2000.  

"In the decade prior to the introduction of the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) combination vaccine in the United States, it’s estimated that more than three million people were infected with the measles each year."   -from History of Vaccines

Nevertheless, both sides continue to argue and insult each other like they're still in high school.  Sad.

I am not going to tell you what to do.  I believe you have the intelligence and rational mind to make that decision yourself.

I can tell you that we vaccinate and why.

You see, I am a history buff and I've studied the diseases of the past, mostly research for a novel I'm writing which includes pandemic flu.

Another super nasty bug was Smallpox

Mozart survived Smallpox.  Several powerfully influential people in the 1700s, like Benjamin Franklin, went public with their struggles with the disease and the vaccine which worked for them.  Smallpox was declared eradicated in 1977.

Going back the Flu, the 1918 Pandemic wiped out whole villages of Alaska Natives.  One major factor was they didn't trust the white people who told them to isolate themselves from each other to stop the spread of the disease.  Well, considering that the white people (first the Russians and then the Americans) had been lying, cheating, stealing, raping, murdering, and enslaving them for hundreds of years, it's no wonder they didn't believe what they were told about the Flu. 

So, I don't blame those against vaccinations.  I can see that they've lost faith in the medical community and sometimes with good reason.  Maybe if leaders from both sides of the debate got together and talked about these things, compared research, and established working relationships based on mutual respect, the conflict could be resolved and all the children would be healthier as a result. 

In any case, history has taught me what life was like before vaccines.  I agree that vaccines are not without risk, but we've decided the benefits outweigh those risks.

Did you know the population of the United States has doubled since World War II, thanks, in part, to vaccines?  Remember, the President at the time was disabled because of  Polio

Dismiss the hysteria and avoid the arguments.  Do your own research and make up your own mind. 

*The top photo came from a blog post about the Victorian tradition of photographing the dead.  http://io9.com/the-strangest-tradition-of-the-victorian-era-post-mort-472772709  

I often complain about what short memories Americans have regarding their own history.  The Flu Pandemic of 1918 was virtually forgotten because of World War I.  And ask any young adult what they know about World War I.  You'll be lucky if they know something of it because of the movies.  Nevertheless, I do believe a memory of that pandemic plus the many other horrible diseases of the past remain in our *collective subconscious* and it comes out in a fascination for zombie movies, like   World War Z

In this portrayal, the zombies are like gigantic viruses that you can see coming for you, but can't hope to stop.

My review of  The Great Influenza  probably the most thorough historical account.  Did you know this year's seasonal flu strain mutated right after the vaccine came out, rendering it ineffective by one-third, I think.  Guess we're lucky it hasn't shown itself to be as deadly as in 1918.

Here's a film documentary which includes survivors-   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J83DZQcDFy8

American Disinterest & Historical Reality Shows

This is 'My Sunday Best' post one day late.
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As a history buff, I’ve noticed something.

The United States has three Historical Reality Shows,

Colonial House

Frontier House

Texas Ranch House

The last one was made in 2006 and none of them were set in the 20th century.

The United Kingdom has at least seven, that I know of, and the last one was released in 2012.

Manor House

1900 House

1940s House

British High Street

Turn Back Time

 

Coal House                 

-this one was set in two different time periods, two different series

 

Oh, sure, we have lots of movies in which facts can be twisted to suit the political climate of the day and viewers don’t really have to think about how people really lived.

 

Seriously, most Americans today think hardship is when they lose their iPhone.

‘Ignorance is Bliss,’ but an ignorant person is more easily manipulated.  And ignorance has a way of coming around and biting the ignorant person on the butt.

This is why I always urge everyone to go back to original sources.  Don’t accept what a teacher or preacher or politician or overpriced shampoo salesman tells you as fact.  Search out the truth for yourself.

Knowledge is power.

And your local public library is free.

Also, you can find a lot of old news footage on YouTube.

Try talking to senior citizens too.  There’s nothing like eye witness accounts!

I love when a senior notices my Rita Hayworth hair!

Honor Flight

November 11th is Veterans' Day.  For Living It, I'd like to bring your attention to a charitable organization called Honor Flight.   http://www.honorflight.org/

This organization was set up to provide free travel to World War II veterans so they could visit the memorials set up for them one last time before they pass away.  For some, this is even the only time in their lives they could visit.  These are the heroes from the Greatest Generation, the generation which literally saved the world.  There are very few of them left.

Sixty-eight years ago, they were just terrified young people going to do what needed to be done to save their friends and family.  They knew they would probably died a horrible death, split apart by bullets.  But, they went anyway.  This is true love and courage.

Some of these young people survived to tell us the incredible tale.

***Study this picture carefully.  That's a sunken ship under there, the USS Arizona.***

If you're so unfamiliar with the history that you just don't get it, try watching this Steven Spielberg movie, Saving Private Ryan.

I've spoken to vets.  They say the landing is the most accurately portrayed they've ever seen.  Here's a movie clip-   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqSg7WO4tT4

And they went through this hell on earth so that you could have the chance to Live Happily Ever After.  Don't let them down.  Now, shake a vet's hand and say thank you for your freedom, 'kay?

^"13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." John 15:13 The Bible

Much love, Blog Buds.

NOTHING TO TELL by Donna Gray

Blurb:

Sitting at the kitchen tables of twelve women in their eighties who were born in or immigrated to Montana in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, between 1982 and 1988 oral historian Donna Gray conducted interviews that reveal a rich heritage.  In retelling their life stories, Gray steps aside and allows theses women with supposedly “nothing to tell” to speak for themselves.  Pride, nostalgia, and triumph fill a dozen hearts as they realize how remarkable their lives have been and wonder how they did it all.

Some of these women grew up in Montana in one-bedroom houses; others traveled in covered wagons before finding a home and falling in love with Montana.  These raw accounts bring to life the childhood memories and adulthood experiences of ranch wives who were not afraid to milk a cow or bake in a wooden stove.  From raising poultry to raising a family, these women knew the meaning of hard work.  Several faced the hardships of family illness, poverty, and early widowhood.  Through it all, they were known for their good sense of humor and strong sense of self. 

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Okay, it's me here, Kimber An.  We're staying on the family homestead here in Montana right now, so I've enjoyed burying myself in state history.
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I've posted a bunch of times on my old blogs how much I enjoyed watching Frontier House    a historical reality show which put three modern families in 1883 Montana.

There's also a great book with all the details, like what they had to pack and why.

Two of the consultants on the project, Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith wrote the Forward for NOTHING TO TELL.  The title is ironic.  There is plenty to tell and anyone who is fascinated by pioneer history or Montana really out to get this book.  Here's another great book by Peavy and Smith-  

 

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pioneer-women-linda-peavy/1113804198?ean=9780806130545

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The trouble with history is most of us were taught to hate it through either a recitation of facts about a bunch of old dead white guys or we were throttled with politically correct revisions of it.  The truth will set you free from that, but you've got to go digging for it. 

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The basic truth of it is these were real people who lived, just like us.

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The ranching women who were interviewed for NOTHING TO TELL had much to teach us about humility, hard work, and enjoying life without iPads and Netflix. 

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I encourage anyone who is curious about how people really lived to pick up this book. 

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The heroes of history, like Davy Crockett and Lewis and Clark, are only a small fraction of it.  The rest of it was made up of folks like us, men, women, and children just going about the hard work and fun of daily life.

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It was fun to read these ladies tell their stories and talk about going to school in this town or to the store over there and I would think, "I know where that is!  I've been there before."  And history comes alive.

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Much love, Blog Buds

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http://www.peavyandsmith.com/

 

Change in the Schedule

To make sure I'm not being too hard on my hands, I've changed the schedule so that I have Mondays and Tuesdays off.  Instead, Wednesdays are now simply Non-Fiction.  That may include History, Hobby Farming, Alaska, the Old West, etc...