Did you get to see the once in a lifetime SPECIAL Lunar Eclipse last night? (Check out that link for a cool photo of it! ... scroll through to see some other wonderful shots, too!) Unfortunately, I did not get to see it. There was complete cloud cover here... & it was supposed to be snowing. Besides, I went to bed early... early for me... before Midnight! 
(I might just be getting back into a better sleeping pattern... will see how long it lasts!)Oh, yes, I know, lunar eclipses happen more than that... HOWEVER, last night's was so rare, last time it happened Galileo was alive. (At least that's what one of my Facebook friends said last night. LOL)
What made it so special was that it was a TOTAL eclipse & coincided with the Winter Solstice "arrival". 1638 was the last time this happened & December 21, 2094 is when it will happen again. (Here is a link to some other photos of this rarity!)
That's right, in the Northern hemisphere of Earth, WINTER HAS ARRIVED!!! WOO HOOO!!!
For my Aussie friend(s) & anyone else in the Southern half... it is Summer... so, for you... WELCOME TO SUMMER! I sure hope it's not has hot as it was last year for you!
This morning I took the dogs into the groomers to get their Christmas bath. LOL... & since I was out and had not eaten yet... I decided to go ahead to the laboratory to get my blood work done for my doctor's appointment next week. (Had to be fasting!)
Well, the appointment was actually supposed to be today, but my ride (my mom) ended up having a dentist appointment... & since her dentist rearranged his schedule to fit her in... well, it took precedence. Besides, I had forgotten to the blood work last week anyway. LOL. (She (or someone) has to take me, because my family doctor is now 30+ miles away. :-/ ... & to be safe, I am still not driving that far myself. I can drive short distances & as long as I'm not doing much, (like shopping). Otherwise, I have someone else take me... or pick up stuff for me. (ie: My hubby.) ;o)
Oh, before I continue... just so no one (DAD!) worries... this was just a normal routine check up. It's just a check of my thyroid & a cholesterol levels. That's also, what the doctor's visit will be about. Along with getting established at his new office.
So, anyway, I go into this place & hand over my script for the blood work & sit down to wait to be called. A young girl (I'd say about 10 to 13 in age... maybe slightly younger?) was sitting waiting her turn. (At least I thought that's what she was waiting on... seems she actually had to wait until so much time had passed from when she had eaten last. No, I didn't ask... just what I had heard her & her mom talking about it.)
Just as I get seated, she pops up to the window & ask, "What time is it?". The nurse gives her the time & she sits back down. Her dad (I presume) who appears to try to be reading a magazine says to her, "Say 'Thank You'." The girl mumbles "Thanks"... so softly, that I bet the nurse never heard her.
Then the dad proceeded to say something to the fact that she needs to be a bit less "demanding" & how she's probably not aware of how she is coming across. She is sitting there playing her Nintendo DS (little hand held video game) & replies "Blah, blah, blah".
At which point, I decided to lay my head back against the wall (ouch, forgot my pillow, to support my neck! *sighs*) & started thinking to myself... how DISRESPECTFUL she was... Not just to her dad, but also to the nurse... AND to all of the rest of us in the waiting room, because she was playing with her game with the sound up... & I mean it wasn't soft... it was loud enough I could tell when she had "lost a life" or what have you!
Then she keeps asking her mom, "when can I go back?", in not such a nice or soft voice, mind you. The mom softly replies "They'll call you when it's time."
A couple moments later she shuts off her game in haste & then pops up to the window & asks if she could have some water. They nurse there said, it was out in the lobby. & She then verified if she was allowed to have water. It was confirmed yes... & as she's walking out, she tells her mom, "I told you so!" (very rudely... not in a fun way!)
I, jokingly, say to the mom, while she's gone: "Now they'll probably call her name." She just smiled.
The girl returns & is bouncing back & forth in her chair. Then, one of the other nurses calls back an older lady & the girl turns to her mom & exclaims: "She was here way after us!"
Calmly the mom replies, "You have to wait until so much time has passed since you ate."
She's like: "I'm so bored in this place." ... No response from the mom. A few seconds pass & she says: "I want a candy cane." ... again, no response from the mom. Good for her! ;o)
Oh, a few moments prior to this, the dad left & was sitting in the lobby... (I knew this, because I went out for a drink of water too, just after the girl came back in.) I guess he had enough of his daughter's impatience.
Thankfully it was only about a minute later, I was called back. Had the mom had not said something about her having to wait, I would have said she could have gone ahead of me... but since she did... I didn't! ;)
As I'm walking back, the girl pops back up to the window & asks the nurse, "How much long do I have to wait?" The nurse looks at the clock & sweetly replies "About 5 minutes."
After I got in my truck & started back home, I thought of how that is basically how a lot of kids are nowadays... & it's such a shame. & Thought, "Wow, had that been one of us growing up... we would have been grounded."
I was thinking of how rude it was of the girl to sit there with her game up so loud... & the mom, nor the dad said anything. I guess they figured they didn't want to create "a scene"... she's probably threw fits before when they'd ask.
Tell you what... Had it been me, I would have said turn it down or I'm taking it away... & if any flack was given, I would have ripped that game out of her hand and put it in my purse. Then said, "You'll get it back in the car, if you remain quiet until we leave... if you don't, you'll not get it back until... however long I thought at the time would make the point clear."
Yeah, probably would have been met with some major resistance & probably crying or screaming... but I would needed to have stood my ground.
Ok, ok... it's easy to say that now... & I'm sure that mom was probably tired of listening to her girl's whining & figured that was the best way to keep her quiet. What gets me is that some parents just let their kids get away with it. And then we all wonder why they are all so disrespectful.
I'd like to know where child rearing has gone so wrong that the kids will not respect their elders... or anyone else, for that fact.
Again, that's all easy for me to say from my perspective... I did not have the benefit of raising my son after his dad & I divorced. Seeing how he is now & comparing him at the age of this young girl I saw today... well, I feel for that mother.
For, I do know that there are times, even now with my son at the age of 21, that I just get tired of trying to "correct" him... that I'm like "Whatever!!!"
When did we all get so complacent about teaching our children to be respectful & courteous... & teaching them "Please & Thank you??"... YES, I am including myself in this "all".
What changed in the past 20 years to make us give up teaching values & morals to the next generation? Again, I include myself in this, mainly because I was not that much part of rearing my son.
HOWEVER, I do know that my mom (who did the better part of raising him), tried her best to instill all that... He still though can be quite rude... And I try my best, when around him, to remind him... but of course, now that he's officially an "adult"... it's harder to try to correct him.
I do have to say, my son does have his moments that makes a mom (& his grandma) proud! He will do or say something that shows us that somewhere in there he knows how to act!
Ok... for anyone who may have a child like the above mentioned girl... I feel for you, because I'm sure it's extremely hard to try to teach, when so many other parents are not & they learn from those kids that it must be ok to act like this. (Make sense?)
Anyway, I'm not saying I'm the perfect parent... nor that any other is a bad parent. I just want to know what happened to make us (as in parents or grandparents) to let our kids just walk all over anyone older than them, who may just be trying to teach them!???
Whatever happened to "Children should be seen, not heard?" ;o)
Alright, I'll step down off the soap-box now... sure hope I didn't offend anyone... if so, I'm sorry... just keep in mind this is my opinion! ;o)
I have this sneaky feeling that my phone will be ringing soon with a call from my mom... or my dad... to say that I there were times, I was like that little girl in the waiting room today. But, why is it though, I can't recall ever being like that, when I was little? Hmmmm....
