Thank you, Larry King

Maybe 15 years ago I was walking on the beach with my brother, Gary, and we were talking about our life goals. Gary is the Director of Olympic Sailing, with a degree from Cal Tech he has parlayed his sailing abilities into a very successful career. He mentioned something about Larry King, and I then did not know who that was.

"Do you live under a rock?" he asked. He travels all over the continents while I dig in the dirt.

Yes, maybe. When you have the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of so many people in your life, then today's pop culture can squeeze past virtually unnoticed.

Would you believe I've never seen an entire Oprah show? I'd like to watch, I've seen a few minutes at a time over the years, but it comes on at 4 when I'm cooking and tending to the kids after school. I could DVR it, but I'm finding I don't have time to later watch what I've digitally recorded anyway.

Last night I did watch Larry King. When my parents moved in six years ago I noticed that they watched him every night, and I got to where I was, at least, interested in who he was interviewing, or maybe more so at his ability to extract a very interesting hour from someone.

Last night he again explored the arena of motivational speakers interviewing a man from The Secret, proving to me that I really must live down a long, long dirt road as I'd not heard of it. I'm now immediately fascinated by it though. I love motivational speakers and writers; I love them with an exclamation mark!

OK girlfriend, it's been on the NY Times Bestseller List, and apparently, all over the TV talk shows. I used to read book reviews for a living, when I was a media specialist, now my free time for that endeavor has been eliminated by default.

I truly do believe in the simple power of thoughts, of positive ideas, and the theory that we can have it all if we so desire and if we take action.I believe that I do have it all, I'm living my dream right now. Yes, I've had some bad times and I've sometimes lost sight of my goals and my happy face, but that's been my fault, not the kid's faults. I'm the one who chose to respond negatively instead of concentrating on the good stuff.

My kids come to me with very negative self-images, and sometimes I allow their attitudes to dominate. My son Edgar, as handsome as they come, can be terribly negative, sucking all the air out of a room, and I usually skip off outside so that I can breathe, when I need to keep teaching him that a good attitude is so much more valuable than his very good looks. No woman is going to want to date a man who constantly whines or complains about everything. Lighten up, son.

A teenager yesterday emailed me from somewhere that she dreamed of having a large family, she'd been reading my blog, felt she wouldn't be too naive, and I totally agree with her. It starts with a dream. I can remember when I had time to go on long walks, when I formulated my plans for our family as it grew and grew, that's when many of my ideas came to me, which is what also happens to me while I garden. Gardening is more than a verb to me, it's a way of life.

Larry King included Lisa Nichols who explained her, "no matter what," principle. No matter what happens, I can deal with it. I was literally responding to the TV, "No kidding, honey! Preach it!" as she continued.

Once again, under the enormous pressure of negativity, I've lost sight of my dreams and goals, that I am living in the middle of each day. Get a grip Big Mama. Be large and in charge, get goofy and happy once again, you've crawled out of so many disasters so far, keep on going now.

And I will do so, I always do.