The Incredible Editor of the MomseyBlog

We met on the eve of a new year. She punctuated that evening with her bubbly personality and engaging smile. She had come to us from another time, foreign to us, a period of despair. It has been five years since that moment when the 18 year old dynamo entered our lives. A singer/songwriter, with an impressive resume, 'Lucy' stole our hearts and quickly became family. The tiny girl with a great heart and mind to match is the editor of the Momsey blog, my boss and our youngest son's girlfriend. 

From the outset, she insisted on calling me Momsey. No other name would fit. I thought it odd, considering, we had just met. Day in day out, it was “What a Momsey” “You're so beautiful” “smart”. (Yes, I am, I thought. But how did she know? We had just met.) She created the moniker for the Momsey blog, beginning in March of 2012. Lucy had thought of many different titles but only one worked. She insisted on the Momsey! I would be writing about stories important to me. Would I last writing about these historic moments of my life? Time would tell. ... Lucy would bring out the best in me.  ... The computer monitor - or the written page - whichever 'it' happened to be, that day, would start my journey. ... I began with trepidation. Would others want to read my 'thoughtful' words? Lucy said yes. The Momsey knew stuff. ... She expected results. There were things that needed saying. The world needed to hear from TheMomsey. (My son formed the other half of this storied couple. As a film director, musician, writer, he designed the face of the Momsey blog and the business cards that attested to this new life.) 

My weekly meetings with Lucy began in March 2012 and evolved, ever so slowly, to lengthy 'cut and paste' emails, by the next year. She was becoming busier and family pets began to take center stage in my life. Attention to elder pet care was now a priority for me. Writing would be done in my 'off' hours. ... Cut and paste became my new thing, the quick and easy solution to our working 'together.' It took months for me to finally learn its simplistic, easy 'program', thanks to the ever-patient, all-knowing editor, Lucy. (I am from another century, I reminded myself. My learning curve was different. Lucy understood but did not care. I would learn because I was smart, she would say.) Cut and paste has become the secret to Momsey's longevity and time well spent. Now, I cut and paste, all over the place, then send these important stories to Lucy and wait for permission to post them on blogger. We are a team. Moving thoughts and ideas about is easy and fun, now, because Lucy showed me how! We brainstorm, in person, when my well runs dry or seems to. Lucy expects the best so I try not to disappoint her. (She knows where I live!)

As a ten year-old, Lucy spent two years learning the computer. Now she teaches me with much patience. She definitely knows it all and tries to share that knowledge with me, a member of the generation gap. Between her youth and my advanced state of decomposition -Ha Ha – we have become a formidable pair, Lucy, being the formidable part of this duo. She is my editor, after all. She is president of her burgeoning company, teaching all manner of in-home music lessons, to children,  and hires teachers to help her company extend its reach to more families. ... She is an exceptional driver, a human GPS.  ... Lucy gives her best, attracts the best and, hopefully, receives the best from everyone around her. She never disappoints. I better not try! She is a great teacher. I listen. It makes me a better person. Lucy refuses to accept defeat, especially from an old lady who 'could' be her grandmother. ... Her encouragement keeps me thinking of issues that are important to us both. A slump in ideas and insights are an ongoing threat. Years ago, the thought of adopting a teen girl, had entered my mind. ... Having no sisters and only sons made my pink, giggly world of cute and adorable things a lonely place, at times. But having pets in my life helped make up for the shortfall. Now I have girls who make me feel special. Lucy is one of them. She thought of me as the Momsey long before we thought of her as a daughter. We take the label seriously. But she already knows. 

Lucy resume is shockingly impressive. She maintained over 90% average in high school while balancing a high wire act of unbelievable proportions with awards in economics, music and citizenship. She participated in many charity fundraising events such as: BigBrothers/Big Sisters and SOS Children's Villages. Lucy was an opening act at one fundraising event. Burton Cummings was there, too! ... She kept busy because to do so otherwise would have destroyed her completely. We knew she cared and wanted to learn it all. Little did we know she had. Music has been her lifeline, her safe place to fall. She has been a music director at summer camps and now has her own band. Lucy plays the guitar, piano and has been president of her company since the tender age of 20. ... She cares deeply for animals and people alike. Though initially allergic to cats, Lucy is now a proud a mom to two 'rescued' sister felines. She lives a simple life with a strong focus on cooking and eating healthy, living with integrity and telling the Momsey to keep on writing or else! She wants to be a lawyer, too, or maybe a politician who really cares. Her list keeps growing. (Please stop! I think I need a drink!)

Once upon a time, Lucy was a member of the Toronto Youth Orchestra. Whew! In spite of a distressing childhood, she has risen above her past, to assume her rightful place, with joy and confidence, in the world and in our lives. She is on a mission. How she came to be the editor of the Momsey Blog, not even the Momsey knows. But boy, is the Momsey ever glad!

Vaccines: A Momsey Perspective.

The vaccine debate looms large in our lives. Once upon a time, vaccines were a very important part of my early life, then our sons'. There was no questioning their viability or the resulting inoculation schedule. Vaccines were given to protect children against the ravages of childhood diseases. No discussion! (Were these vaccines created differently, perhaps better, back then?) They were a predictable, necessary part of the health picture. Today, however, the internet has painted a different picture, showcasing vaccine's darker side, in some cases, and their purported health benefits. Now we ask ourselves, “What do we do?" "How many vaccines are necessary today?" "Where are we headed with this never-ending chemical soup?"

We have entered a period in our history where the word vaccine conjures up fear and apprehension, on a grand scale, unheard of, back 'in my day'. I hesitate. It is problematic. (A routine test to check for rubella antibodies was done before I had children - to protect the fetus. A vaccine would have been given had the results been negative.)  Where parents of previous generations followed the rules of inoculation 'law', without question, today's parents are less likely to do so, without verifiable proof. Who can blame them? We are now being inundated with all manner of vaccines, to be given for all manner of disease - real or imagined. Some of these diseases are risk factors, to some populations, less so, to others, depending upon the climate in which the organisms are likely to originate and thrive. ... Vaccines are reminders that the scourges of disease are with us everywhere we go. It is buyer beware!

We now have the annual flu vaccine, to eliminate this egregious illness that makes itself known, annually. Then, there is the springtime flu vaccine, I have heard, being touted as another 'supplement' we should also consider, earlier in the year. Would that be two shots annually, in perpetuity? Newer flu vaccines are being produced to address the current year of flu strains that have yet to hit us. Yet time and time again, I have heard on the radio, that relic of a bygone era, that the current shot being given is not necessarily 'compatible' with the newest flu strains under scrutiny. Mutations of previous strains can interfere with new flu strains rendering current vaccines totally ineffective in protecting us. Sometimes, last year's flu shot has decreased the efficacy of this year's shot. And on and on! What do we do? How do we keep up? Then we have the Gardasil and Hepatitis A, B vaccines to protect us, potentially, from 'other' formidable diseases that may result from careless behaviours. A pre-pubescent vaccine for 9 year olds? Now what? What has happened to get us here? 

“Get your flu shot here”, the sign reads as I enter the parking lot of our local grocery store. With an on-site pharmacy located inside the store, it is now easier to get the 'flu shot' rather than bothering the doctor for it. Problematic? Maybe. We are being reminded that flu shots are readily available at certain locations, as though being programmed, like those citizens, in the sci-fi thriller, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”. Should all things that are good for us or not so good for us be that easily available, at all times? As I listened to the background noise of the commercial, the headline startled me, “Fast-tracking human trials to get vaccines to market,"...... Are we, perhaps, those humans to which the headline refers! Are we slowly becoming unwitting guinea pigs to a host of vaccines whose efficacies are still unproven?

Aluminum has been implicated in the degenerative brain disease known as Alzheimers, one of the worst health scourges on earth. Yet this metal is found in many vaccines, (and in some processed food, too) along with other metals. Does this have long-term neurological health implications?... Is autism one result?  Is healthy eating being dismissed as a way of strengthening our immunity? Is vitamin D a viable option for strengthening our immune system? It is one nutrient that is often overlooked in weight loss, bone strength and now building a strong immune system. Being nourished and out in the sun for 15 minutes per day - where vitamin D is created on our skin - helps fortify the body's defenses in its fight against illness. Proper hygiene helps, too. Are we circumventing the foods that impact our health in favour of vaccines? Are vaccines slowly becoming a substitute for the job our antibodies should be doing? ... Even veterinary medicine is changing. Its yearly rabies shot has now been replaced with a rabies vaccine, given once every three years. ... Yay! Inoculating our pets was always a concern to me but their diseases are real in the dog world they inhabit. I am thrilled the rabies vaccine schedule has been modified for them.

What part does the ingestion of 'questionable' foods - pre-packaged, processed, canned or frozen – contribute to our body's inability to stem the tide of illness and disease? Is our body's defense system - this co-ordinated team of microscopic soldiers called antibodies - doing its assigned job, adequately? Antibodies used to fight off the flu we used to get, once upon a time! A disease that is here, virulent and kills quickly requires a 'nothing to lose mentality', understandably. We take whatever medicine is available- orally, topically or intravenously. But how does fast-tracking human trials for vaccine development help restore and build confidence in a society already suspicious of the motives of government and companies that make these human and animal vaccines? 

Previous generations simply followed the prevailing wisdom, at the time. We were compliant citizens, back then. Now, we are becoming an insufferable group, inquiring until the truth be known. It is “Buyer beware.” The truth is out there!