Colloquialisms.....

Colloquialisms....., I was raised on these things and have always known what they were, having heard them from childhood.  Having said that, I want you to know that I had to use spell check to get the spelling right.

I've been thinking a lot lately how much the nifty little sayings of our Mothers and Grandmothers apply to us today; such as:

"Waste not want not" - being raised by parents that were "depression babies", certainly made me realise how important it is to "use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without out".  When I was a kid, we got one new pair of shoes at the beginning of school.  I remember that about half way through the year, the soles of our shoes would wear through.  We, often, didn't have enough money to have the shoes resoled, so my Dad would cut cardboard in the shape of our shoe sole, place it inside the shoe and we'd use that till it wore out and then cut another.  It worked.  Not that well when it rained, but thank goodness we lived in So. California where the weather was always pretty good.

     I certainly know why I have a tendency to be "thrifty".  It's always amazing to me when kids look in the refrigerator or cabinets and say, "I'm hungry, we have no food."  Now if you're familiar with my home, you know that's just not a possibility.  I'll say, "You're either blind or nuts.  There's tons of food in there."  The standard response is, "but nothing I want to eat."  Meaning, nothing that isn't instant, junk food or easily microwavable and sometimes the microwave part is just too much to handle.

     When did we become a society that thought in terms of "easily disposable" and "instant gratification"?  I'm not sure, but it might be a good idea to return to the good old days when "waste not, want not" was a standard of living as well as really good advice.

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions" - This indicates a destination, not a swear word.  I use and think of this one a lot.  I'd like to share a little story....I was teaching a class one day and was telling a group of women that we needed to be more "in tune".  We needed to listen to those promptings that triggered the thought.."I should call so and so", " I should check up on.....", we've all had them, but in our busy lives we may have a tendency to ignore or discount them. 

     As I looked around this group of women, I saw a girl that I had been thinking about all week.  I'd kept thinking that I should give her a call and, because I was busy, I kept putting it off.  I looked at this young girl and said that I needed to apologize, that I'd felt all week that I should call her and I hadn't.   I'll never forget her response.  She said, "I wish you would have called, I was having a problem that I couldn't resolve by myself and I know you could have helped me." 

     WOW!  This was a HUGE moment for me.  We can teach, we can preach, but can we learn?  I'll never forget that moment in time for it truly was a lesson of "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."  We are not judged on what we intended to do, but on what we actually do.  Good advice.

"Time flies when you're having fun" - How true is that?  It becomes even more glaringly obvious when your not having fun (oye, a minute can seem like an hour).

"There's not enought time in the day" - Time is a concept that facinates me.  We have the same number of hours in a day, the same number days in a week, the same number of weeks in a month and the same number of months in a year, but does it seem that our time is passing more quickly?  I can remember, those "slow, lazy days of summer".  They no longer exist.  I can remember when we couldn't wait for our kids to go back to school because summer seemed to last forever.  Now summer passes so quickly that we don't seem to have shared the "family time" that we had planned for.  Our children are off to school again and, more quickly than we'd like, we've celebrated Christmas, Easter is past and another summer is upon us.

     When "old" ladies say, "enjoy your children, they grow up too quickly", it's true.  39 years ago, last January, our oldest son was born.  It seems like yesterday.  I can still remember looking at him after delivery, unwrapping him and checking for 10 fingers and 10 toes.  I can remember his stages of growth and thinking, at the time, that I had all the time in the world to enjoy these moments.  Not true.  "Time ceases for no man".  Time never stands still it just keeps progressing consistently forward. 

     My advice to you?  Take time.  Take moments in the day to stop.  To appreciate.  To be present.  You'll find quickly enough that if you don't take those moments, they're lost to you forever.  There's no going back, only forward in time.

     Colloquialism are fun.  They're representative of an "era", but still applicable today.  Ask your Mom or Grandmother about colloquialisms they were raised with.  Write them down, talk to your children about them and determine how they apply to you today.

     Just because something's old, it doesn't mean it's useless.  Often the older things are, the more value they have.  Have fun and find some favorite colloquialisms to share with your family and friends.