Feb. 03, 2019

It seems nearly impossible that January is all but spent. Where did the time go? As a kid, I remember my parents telling me over and over that time will soon be fleeting away, leaving me to wonder where time actually went. I thought at that particular moment in time how horrible wrong they were because it took at least two years for Christmas to come. How I pined as a kid mulling over each month as it painfully slithered slowly by, waiting for December to arrive. And when December 25 finally did arrive, the only days that actually did go by fast were the days just past Christmas. The days of Christmas break. Rather like summer vacation. One day after school let out I was outside playing and what seemed like the following day I had to go back to school.

I struggled all my life not to turn into my parents, doesn't every kid grow up saying, "I am not going to be like you?" And yet here I am so many years later with kids sprouting up faster than a wild weed, looking out a window and conjuring up old memories: getting married, bringing the first-born child home, buying a home, grounding one of the kid's for doing something I am quite sure I did as a kid, the first emergency room visit because one of the kids broke a bone, learning how to drive a car (OMG, I learned fast how my parents must have felt letting me sit behind a wheel for the first time!), high school graduation, first jobs and moving away from home. Where did the time go? Was it not just yesterday that my husband and I celebrated our last child's first birthday? Time didn't just go by, it FLEW by, with the aid of rocket fuel I might add, more fleetingly than I could have ever imagined.

All these years later, I realize, even though I am different from my parents, way too many things are my parents. And while I really wished that they had been wrong about how fast time would one day go, it really has not too bad growing up to become my parents. I love and miss you both very much.

Don't waste the day for tomorrow may never come, and if it does come, it will come faster than we may want.

Dec. 25, 2018

You just never know what another person is going through. They might be struggling with hard times, and on the brink of giving up. Tonight my teenage daughter and I dined at our favorite Japanese restaurant, just the two of us. Next to us was a man all alone who seemed just a tad sad. Looking back, I should have asked him to join us but I didn't think of it in time. As we were leaving I noticed he had a Bible sitting on the table next to him. I felt a tugging inside of me. Whenever I feel it, I will anonymously pay for the person's meal. As we were exiting and he was just being served his meal, I snuck over and payed for it. I told the waitress to tell him "Merry Christmas" and not to tell him until we left. I'm saying prayers for him tonight because I feel the need to. Christmastime is so very difficult for some people, and I hope and pray this guy is ok. Maybe he is struggling with his sobriety? Maybe he is missing a loved one who has passed. I don't know but I wanted him to feel some love from a stranger because sometimes that's all someone needs to feel to help them over a hard bump in the road. I want to think we all would like to make a positive difference in this world and share a piece of kindness and ourselves with others, after all we truly are all brothers and sisters.

#PeaceOut

#Christmas2018

#LetMeWalkWithMyBrotherInPerfectHarmony

Dec. 21, 2018

As the year quickly draws to a close, I sit here at my desk and reflect over my life; my blessings; my family and friends; and you, my audience.

This year has been filled with upheavals, from the loss of a good friend, to a job that turned out to be more of grave than of gravy. It has been filled with joy, from the celebration of my 29th wedding anniversary to my children's continued success. I am blessed. I have had the opportunity to meet with many of my readers and their families through book signings, Facebook and my Rupert the Frog web page. And after much debate, I have decided to undertake a podcast on YouTube.

Come the first of the year, I will be launching my first podcast in a series on YouTube called, Story Time with Pamela Tremain. I am very excited. I will not only share my book, Rupert's Big Move, but I will review and share other children's books on Story Time with Pamela Tremain.

I will be accepting paper books and epub books from children's authors to review starting Jan 1, 2019. After reading the story, and if the children's book scores above a 15 on a rubric scale of 30, I will post a review on my blog review page (coming soon) and any two review sites of the authors choice (e.g. Amazon, Barns and Noble, GoodReaders etc.). Along with a review, I will add the book to be read a loud on my podcast.

Epub books can be sent via e-mail to Pamela Tremain, author (pamelatremain@gmail.com). For paper books submissions please contact me at Pamela Tremain, author (pamelatremain@gmail.com) for mailing address.

So until next year, may each and everyone of you have a Very Merry Christmas.

Sept. 24, 2018

Time can be a good thing, or it can be a troubling thing. Over the past few weeks I have had the luxury of time unappropriated, which allowed me to reflect and ponder over the past couple of years and my journey in becoming a children's author. The new friends I have made. The interesting places I have seen. The many people I have meet. And what I have learned from these experiences are that even though we would like to believe we are uniquely different in our vast arrays of colors and shapes, ages and sexes, beliefs and ideals, personalities and idiosyncracies, we are in fact more alike than separated. Always putting the left shoe on first, hanging shirts with the buttons facing forward, folding underclothing in thirds, pulling the covers up on the bed before getting out so it is easier to make.

Before starting my blog on being a Failed Stepford Wife, I looked at myself as being bravely alone in my struggle to be the perfect wife and mother. What I have come to realize is that I am far from alone.

I don't always fold my laundry right away. And in fact, some days I get as far as the sorting, but the washing might not happen until tomorrow, which might be followed eventually by the folding. And those darn gremlins of the finished laundry whose only purpose in life is to create more wrinkles than those dried apple faces I made as a kid in school, I could just throttle and put down my garbage disposal because ironing is definitely not on my list of 1,000 things I'd just love to do. Oh it all gets done, eventually, but it surly is not done like the traditional Stepford Wife.

My husband and children are fed, but there are plenty of times that I stand at the threshold of that daunting kitchen wondering what the heck am I going to fix. And I have absolutely no doubt that if I was caught on camera at that particular moment in time, I would look more like a deer in headlights, dazed and confused, with maybe even a dribble of drool at the corner of my mouth, hair askew and clothing rumpled like Goofy than any rational person about to prepare a feast for a band of babbling baboons.

The point I am trying to make is that even when we feel alone in our endeavours, we most assuredly are not. Give yourself permission to laugh at yourself. Make time for yourself, even for a few moments, to just breathe and enjoy the sunshine even if it is raining, for the sun is absolutely shining someplace.

Aug. 4, 2018

#RupertsBigMove #SparklingRedDragonfly #Strength #Courage #Happiness

When I wrote "Rupert's Big Move,"

I had no idea about the Dragonfly and their unique significance.

Thankfully, Rupert soon discovered the magical properties of the Dragonfly.

July 31, 2018

Life Lesson #22 - GOOD TEACHERS ARE SO IMPORTANT

#Teachers

When I was in first grade, I attended a private school that had an excellent reputation. One of my earliest memories of terror involved a frog and a bad teacher. I can't remember her name, so we will just call her Ms. Ratched. Looking back on Ms. Ratched's behavior, one would surmise that she hated her job and also loathed the very children she was employed to teach. 

She took great delight in singling out her "class pets" for praise and also her "class dunces" for emotional torture. One day we were handed very large sheets of paper, and we were instructed to draw the animal of our choosing. I chose a frog (not an animal, but whatever) and I was unsure as how to even begin my drawing. I was terrified of being singled out yet again for a verbal tongue lashing. 

I sat there for an eternity until she walked by and asked me "WHY AREN'T YOU DRAWING ON YOUR PIECE OF PAPER, PAMELA?" I muscled up my courage and drew a teeny tiny little green speck of a frog smack dab in the middle of my huge sheet of paper. "What on Earth is THAT?" Ms. Ratched snarled. She grabbed the ginormous piece of paper, flipped it over (the entire class is now watching) and grabbed a big, green crayon, shoved it into my hand and then proceeded to wrap her hand angrily around my hand and harshly and furiously drew a big frog.
I choked back the tears that burned my throat, as I was not going to let her have the satisfaction of making me cry.

I survived her harshness and after my Mother dropped by unannounced one afternoon (the door was open and Mother overheard her by standing in the hallway) as Ms. Ratched berated a very shy little boy by telling the entire class, "Go ahead Melvin, make MUSIC for the class - we are thoroughly enjoying it" as he sat there and cried in front of the class. Mother immediately removed me from that school.

So the whole point of my story is that GOOD Teachers ARE very important and parents always need to be on their toes. I am a grown woman and I can still recall the pain I felt that day. Thankfully the good teachers easily outnumber the bad ones. 

And I hope that Melvin, wherever he may be right now, is okay.