05/11/11 - NNHS Newsletter - Anticipation

“But if we learn to think of it as anticipation, as learning,
as growing, if we think of the time we spend waiting
for the big things of life as an opportunity instead
of a passing of time, what wonderful horizons open out!”

- Anna Neagle
(20 Oct 1904 - 03 June 1986)

... Thought with your news about you relocating to Fayetteville perhaps you should reprise "Anticipation," Carly Simon's hit from 1971 in some future newsletter. Sounds like lots of good things going on -- you and       Paul (Harty - Bardolph HS, IL - '61 - of IL) deserve it...

   Thanks, Normie - a great idea!

BONUS #1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDJ_Mz8ftqI - Anticipation - Carly Simon, 1972

BONUS #2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NwP3wes4M8 - Anticipation - Carly Simon, sometime later

... The song was notably used in commercials for Heinz Ketchup through the late 1970s into the 1980s.

http://www.nnhs65.com/reunion-class-of-1966/45th-Reunion-Letter-2011.doc: 

Dear Classmates,                                                                                                             

The Class of 1966 will hold an OPEN 45 year reunion on Friday and Saturday, August 19 and 20, 2011.  Here is the schedule:

Friday night – 7:00 p.m. until closing - RJ’s Restaurant and Pub located at 12743 Jefferson Avenue (Denbigh Crossing Shopping Center), Newport News, VA.  The owner, Ron Johnson, is a Typhoon alumnus. Each person attending on Friday night is responsible for the cost of their dinner, drinks or snacks. 

Saturday night:  Warwick Yacht Club, located at 400 Maxwell Lane, Newport News, from 7:00 p.m. till midnight.  We will have light Hors D’oeuvres and a cash bar.  Dress Code:  Dressy Casual (no shorts, jeans or ties, please).  Music by the Rock-it-Men Band.

The cost for the reunion will be $40 per person.  Included in this cost is the rental of the Yacht Club, paper, envelopes, printer ink, stamps, food, bartender, carver and server fees.  If any of you would like to make a monetary donation to help underwrite the cost of the reunion, it will be greatly appreciated.

In order to meet planning deadlines, please respond by July 8^th by returning the attached form, along with your check, made out to me, Dee Bartram. 

Updates on the reunion will be sent out by via e-mail to those of you that I have e-mail addresses for.  Also, Carol Buckley Harty, Class of 1965, has created a NNHS website at http://nnhs65.com/NNHS-Newsletters-2011.html where I will also post updates.

We look forward to seeing you at the reunion!

NNHS Class of 1966 45-Year Reunion Committee

Dee Hodges Bartram      (757) 868-8443            E-mail:  dhbartram@cox.net
Terri McAfee Artman               898-4042                          t_artman@msn.com
Judy Phillips Allen                   928-9748                            jwallen3@cox.net
Joe Dickson                            872-0690                         widetrack48@cox.net
Albert Dorner                          874-3406                           aldorner@msn.com
Richard Marshall                     851-2325                        DMARS44903@aol.com
Marilyn & Chuck Springfield    245-5887                           mpscws@cox.net
Sandra Thomas Reinholdt       989-0942                          sthomas4@cox.net

Please send the registration form and your check, payable to Mrs. Dee Bartram, by July 8, 2011.  My address is 21 Laydon Way, Poquoson, VA  23662.   The cost after July 8^th will be $50 per person. 

Please give me the count for each night.

Will attend:  Friday Night _______      Saturday Night _______

Name: ________________________________________ (Ladies – please include maiden name)        

Spouse/Guest Name: ____________________________

Address: ______________________________________

Amount Enclosed: _______________

NOTE:  If you are going to attend Friday only, I still need to know in order to give the restaurant a count.  Please extend me and the restaurant the courtesy of letting me know if you will be there by either e-mailing me at dhbartram@cox.net or calling me at (757) 868-8443.

If you are unable to attend the reunion, please e-mail or call me with any e-mail address updates or home address change updates.

   AN OPEN REUNION?!?  But of course, Dee - thanks so much!

The link is now on the main page as well as the Reunion Page:

   Thanks so much, Elizabeth; I appreciate your efforts! I added Bob's birthday; what about yours?!?

http://nnhs65.com/Happy-Birthday.html
 

Be sure your volume is on.

For you guys..., even tho the focus is on women I believe that men also have the same capacity for loving and caring about their families.  So please read the words and let them touch your hearts too. J

Joan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60jwTc9LA-Q

   Thank you so much, Joan! This was something I needed to read just now. The music and images only made it that much lovelier!
 

"Never squat while wearing your spurs."

Will Rogers, who died in a 1935 plane crash, was one of the greatest political sages this country has ever known.

Enjoy the following:

1. Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.

2. Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.

3. There are two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither works.

4. Never miss a good chance to shut up.

5. Always drink upstream from the herd.

6. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

7. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back into your pocket.

8. There are three kinds of men:

-The ones that learn by reading.

-The few who learn by observation.

-The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.

9. Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

10. If you're riding' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there.

11. Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin' it back.

12. After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him.

The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.

ABOUT GROWING OLDER...

First ~ Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

Second ~ The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.

Third ~ Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me; I want people to know 'why' I look this way. I've traveled a long way, and some of the roads weren't paved.

Fourth ~ When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.

Fifth ~ You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.

Sixth ~ I don't know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.

Seventh ~ One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it's such a nice change from being young.

Eighth ~ One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.

Ninth ~ Being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.

Tenth ~ Long ago, when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today it's called golf.

And, finally ~ If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't have anything to laugh at when you're old

   GIGGLES! Thanks again, Joan!

By Jeff Maziarek

Stop for a moment right now and think of something that happened in your past that you still carry some regrets about. Perhaps it's a botched relationship, a job that you lost, a business that failed or a business you failed to start, an accident you either caused or one that affected you, etc. You can also complete this exercise by thinking back to something pleasant that you experienced, such as falling in love, getting a promotion, or having a wonderful time on vacation. Whether what you experienced was positive or negative, as you get in touch with that event or set of circumstances, realize that what you are doing in effect, is time-traveling within your own mind as you search through your bank of memories.

The truth is the past is merely an illusion, as it is only what your mind is able to selectively remember. Moreover, the longer something remains in the mind, the more it changes and the less it reflects what may have actually occurred. The bottom line is that all you really have is your perception of what happened, and it is not necessarily clear, since the lens you are looking through may actually be clouded by the emotions associated with that memory. In addition, as referenced above, your memories tend to change over time, and therefore may not accurately reflect your original perception. Despite this, the average person spends a great deal of time in this illusionary world of the past, either feeling guilty, regretful or angry, or reminiscing about the so-called "good old days."

If you find yourself feeling remorseful about something you have said or done, or regretting something you feel you should have done, what you must do is learn to forgive yourself. By this I mean that you literally need to look at yourself in the mirror and say with conviction, "I forgive you for the mistake(s) you made, since I now know that you were simply doing the best that you were capable of doing at that time." It is likewise important for you to acknowledge that everything that ultimately did occur was a necessary part of your soul's growth. What you also need to do when you are feeling guilty isn't necessarily to apologize to whomever you hurt or disappointed, but instead to acknowledge your commitment to never repeating the behavior again. This is not to say that you shouldn't make an apology for something if you feel compelled, rather, that it is more important to avow that you have actually learned from your mistake.

If you feel angry about something that occurred to you in the past, stop and internally remind yourself that according to the principle of cause and effect, it was you who initiated the cause, either consciously or unconsciously, that led to the effect that incited your anger. By adhering to this view you effectively prevent yourself from becoming a powerless victim of circumstances. While it can be very challenging to adopt this perspective, once you do it becomes nearly impossible to get angry at anyone for more than just a brief moment. Instead, you learn to look for the deeper meaning or a lesson behind each of the troublesome situations that you encounter, and learn to silently honor those individuals who can 'pull your strings', for they are serving as valuable teachers. Moreover, make an effort to remember that these annoying individuals are providing you with valuable opportunities to practice remaining centered in the midst of turmoil.

If you tend to reminisce about good times or relationships you have experienced in the past, you must understand that these types of thoughts also keep you from fully experiencing the present moment. Ideally, what you need to do is to develop the ability to completely experience whatever it is you're experiencing at any given time, and then leave it behind. In the words of Fr. Anthony DeMello from his book "Awareness":

"Don't carry over experiences from the past. In fact, don't carry over good experiences from the past either. Learn what it means to experience something fully, then drop it and move on to the next moment, uninfluenced by the previous one. You'd be traveling with such little baggage that you could pass through the eye of a needle. You'd know what eternal life is, because eternal life is now, in the timeless now."

Although this may seem like novel advice, it is quite practical, because many of us have a tendency to, as Henry David Thoreau once said, "loiter in winter when it is already spring." If you are a person that is inclined to focus on good times in the past, please understand that all you are doing by 'time-traveling' in this way is wasting thought and feeling energy that could be used in far more constructive ways. If you can begin to put into practice even in a small way what DeMello is recommending, you would most certainly notice an improvement in the quality of your life. You would also come to realize that these are indeed "the good old days."

The past only has an impact on the present when you continue to waste your powerful thought and feeling energies on something that no longer exists at all, other than in your own mind. Whatever it was that happened is finished now, and no matter how uncomfortable it was for you, you need to come to the understanding that at some level you chose it, and that it helped to build your character and make you a stronger individual. Whenever you do find yourself wondering why something turned out the way it did, I suggest calling to mind the old adage that often times 'God does work in mysterious ways'. The truth is, you really don't know the "big picture." So, even though you might be inclined to feel sad about a certain event in your past, make the decision to accept the realization that there is a higher order to things, and that something good will eventually come of it.

Before closing this article, I want to share with you a thought-provoking analogy I have heard Dr. Wayne Dyer use on more than one occasion during live presentations. The analogy is this: when you believe that the past has a significant, if not irreversible effect on your life today, it is just like saying that when a boat moves across the water, it is being propelled by the wake behind it. Naturally this is ridiculous, because everyone knows that the wake is the result of the boat's forward movement through the water and nothing else. The reality is, your past doesn't drive your boat in the present moment, you do!
(The preceding article is an adapted excerpt from Spirituality Simplified, Copyright 2002, by Jeff Maziarek.)


About the Author:

Jeff Maziarek is an inspirational speaker and author. His first book, Spirituality Simplified (http://www.spiritsimple.com) is an easy-to-understand and entertaining work that provides an ideal starting point for anyone with a sincere desire to pursue a path of personal and/or spiritual growth. His second book, Codi's Journey, is a memoir about his Border Collie who passed away in 2005. It is available in Kindle format on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, the Apple iBookstore, and Smashwords.com. To subscribe to Jeff's free daily inspirational emails called "PONDER on THIS," please visit http://www.pondercentral.com.