Anna Banana My Nana

Grandma How I have loved thee

Weeks shy of “Ninety Three”

You gave life to my mother

And therefore me

Your Irish eyes

Blue as the skies

Your white hair

Your skin so fair

Fashionable well put together

Signature color purple heather

You spoke with a NYC twist

How you pronounced Beau Ti’ Full will be missed!

You lived through “The Depression”

Which made quite an impression

On your three and the rest of our family tree

Watching you gazing

Always appraising

Seeing the beauty

You made that your duty

Tea and Toast

You loved the most

Although you would never pass up a roast!

Your appetite was tremendous

Your giggle stupendous

Anticipating your glass of wine

Your face would shine

Always demanding a turkey sandwich

You made us twitch as we murmured what a bitch!

You made us laugh

As we worked for you time and a half!

  

We all loved you in our own ways

We all knew “one of these days”

You would depart

And break our hearts

We all cried

Jan 5^th 2011 when you died

You will live forever in our hearts

Daughter of Hannah

Owen’s Anna Banana

My Nana

Feb 24^th 1918  –  Jan 5^th 2011

Dear Klout With My Deepest Regrets and "MY" Solid Social Media Following to Protect ...

{EAV:a7136bbdc64cc4fc}

Dear Klout,

With My Deepest Regrets and "MY" Solid Social Media Following to Protect ...

I felt it extremely necessary to Close my Klout Account today. 

I was ok with my score being adjusted for the sake of transparency when my Klout score took a 15 point dive when your company implemented the changes in October.

I looked forward to a more accurate social media tool.  I continued to support Klout  through the newly implemented way of accessing one's Klout, through usage, giving +K's along with allowing Klout to assign me a score that other people viewed as my Social Media Valuation.  

The more I used my Social Media Accounts the "less value" I seemed to be attaining. 

Mid November there was a week that I was not very active as I usually am.  

My Klout score jumped 2 points

.   Does this make sense for the sole “purpose” of Social Media which is 
“To Engage”?

I have watched very closely all these weeks since "The changes" took place.

Today was the last straw for me.  When I signed into Klout this morning I was greeted with my score taking another tumble.  I would not mind the tumble if I felt like I truly earned the tumble.  I am an avid Social Media User.  I Tweet and Retweet quite regularly.  I have observed that Retweeting affects my score negatively.  I love to Retweet my friends and have made this a regular practice especially on #FF.  

I know that the Klout score does not represent me accurately and therefore maintaining an account and further endorsing a company (with +K ing) that does not represent me and my brand transparently is not in the best interest of me or the people I have endorsed Klout  to all this time.

Also…. since Klout’s  plans include user’s scores being used in so many business and social settings/transactions I definitely do not want my Identity to be scored in the way it has been most recently.

I do not want my name to be represented with a score that I feel does not represent me for truly who I am on Social Media or in any other arena.

I wish your company the best and hope one day I can work with you again when and if your measurements truly align with who a user really is in Social Media..

In closing It took me some poking and asking around to find out how to completely close my account.  

 Thank you my Social Media friends  for the link that enables one to close a Klout  account.-->   http://klout.com/corp/privacy

Warmest Regards,

Kathleen Decosmo

Celebrating 50th Anniversary West Side Story with The New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Conductor David Newman

Last night my husband and I attended the 50th Anniversary Film Release of West Side with a special screening and live performance  of the score at Avery Fisher Hall NYC  http://bit.ly/NYPHL  

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/154271-New-York-Philharmonic-Accompanies-West-Side-Story-Screenings-Sept-7-8

The NY Philharmonic Orchestra performed all the music keeping time with a live presentation of the original movie. Academy Award nominee David Newman was the conductor.

                       http://twitpic.com/6hyn46

Russ Tamblyn/ Riff and  George Chakiris/ Bernardo were there and my husband looked like the cat that swallowed the canary!  My husband played Riff in College and has played Piano for the show several times so this indeed was very special to him.

  

I also had the pleasure of sitting next to and chatting with a world famous Opera Conductor who studied under Leonard Bernstein  http://www.leonardbernstein.com/   He was kind enough to recant the history of West Side Story as well as vividly describing its Premeire that he attended  Oct 1961  http://nyti.ms/WestSideSTRY  

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra holds a special place in mine and my husband's heart. http://nyphil.org/about/

Our friend  Jerome A. Ashby was the Philharmonic's Associate Principal Horn and Principal Wagner Tuba.  Jerome had joined the Orchestra in 1979; his last performance with the Philharmonic was on December 1, 2007.
http://nyphil.org/about/jeromeAshby.cfm  

We will forever remember the kindness and love that was expressed from The New York Philharmonic while Jerome was battling cancer.

It was a remarkable evening with talent that exceeds any words I can write.

Congratulations to The New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Conductor David Newman!

  

Miss Abigail’s guide to Dating, Mating, & Marriage Review

http://twitpic.com/53qw5a

We were standing in line at Starbuck’s picking up my iced Café Mocha Grande discussing our afternoon plans of getting to see one of our childhood favorites on an off-Broadway stage.

My husband and I both growing up in the 70’s had our favorites.  I had already dragged him to a Donny Osmond Concert and he did not complain when we seen Marie Osmond on one of my other adventures.

We invited our best friends to accompany us to Miss Abigail’s guide to Dating, Mating, & Marriage.  James and Sharon are married 3 years less than my husband and I so we pretty much don’t need the guide but wanted to enjoy the advice anyway.

I pleaded with my husband to not point me out or thrust me on stage like he has in the past.  I had the spotlight on me with a Kenny Rogers impersonator in Myrtle Beach and have not lived that down yet!

Last September I designed a Rose of Distinction for the Cake Boss  and delivered it to one of his performances.  We took James and Sharon with us and James ended up on Stage with Buddy designing cupcakes!

http://bit.ly/CKBossRofD  

 

Needless to say James and I decided we did not want to end up on stage and asked our spouses not to point us out or wave us on the stage.

We just must have those types of faces.   I ended up on stage dancing with Paco and James was invited by Miss Abigail (Eve Plumb) to accompany her on stage to read for her!

Here is the thing, my husband always asks me to stop leading when we dance and I have no control over leading so subsequently my dance with Paco was anything but smooth.  It looked like a great start when we shook our hips together but it ended there.  I might have hit him in the head on a few turns and the audience was laughing as I looked like I was wrestling him a few times. 

Our friend James is a good dancer but a public reading is frightening for him!  The three of us clenched the seats when he strode up and took the book in his knuckle white, clammy hands.   James came through for Miss Abigail and became the butt of Paco’s stern glances the rest of the show. 

The play is a "play on words", laugh out loud when you least suspect and both Miss Abigail and Paco did an amazing job together!

Today is the last appearance for Eve Plumb as Miss Abigail so if you have a chance I encourage you not to miss enjoying Eve Plumb as Miss Abigail an accomplished actress and artist. 
                      Purchase Tickets   http://www.missabigailsguide.com/tickets.html

Check out  Eve Plumb’s  Art   http://eveplumb.tv/

Mauricio Perez ( Paco )  http://www.mperez.net/Mauricio_Perez/Welcome/Welcome.html

Five Years Ago Today

It is about a 45 minute car ride from my home to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital without traffic.   The appointment was for 9:00 AM and I knew everyone was waiting on my arrival.  I contemplated not making the appointment then perhaps it would all go away and the situation would just fix itself if enough time passed.  Perhaps they were all wrong and this was a premature decision.

I could not even believe that I was called upon to be part of this decision and requested to attend! 

Driving that morning the years flipped like pages, images from the very beginning played in my head.  I tried to recall any birthday we celebrated together and remembered only one when I received the only birthday gift I could ever recall.   I pressed my memory hard searching for anything positive I could grab hold of.   The bad memories were trying to surface and as I have done for so many years I suppressed them.  I was a master of suppression.  It was in the survival packet that I called upon frequently in order to maintain my life in a good place. 

I hit traffic and massive construction and I thought perhaps this delay was fate.   I prayed for strength for myself to be able to minister in the hours ahead of me.

I was a few minutes late as I walked into the room.  All eyes were on me, eyes filled with tears ready to brim over.   I greeted each person with my eyes avoiding the vision I did not want to see, the reason why I was there early that Monday Morning.

I heard muffled sobs coming from the corner of the room.  My older sister by 16 months was falling apart before my very eyes.  She was the reason I told myself why I showed up there that day.  My sister is not much older than me and I have always felt the need to take care of her.  She asked me to be with her through all of this and made me promise I would beside her.    I grabbed her, held her and felt her body convulse in involuntary jerky motions.   I knew this was going to be extremely difficult for her today since it was her son’s 17th birthday, my only godson and nephew.  This was not where we ever thought we would be on his 17^th birthday.   My sister had big birthday plans for him and wanted to be with him for his driving test scheduled for that morning.    

I asked myself why it had to happen this way and on this particular day in time.

The nurse came in and asked us if we were ready.  Ready I wanted to scream, who is EVER ready for this!   We asked for a few more minutes.

My sister clung to me as we watched the others quietly approach the hospital bed whispering their Good Byes.  Person after person wiping their tear stained eyes upon exiting the room.

  

All had exited the room leaving my sister and me among a few other family members.  Now it was our turn to say our Good Byes.   I let go of my sister’s hand and motioned for her to go up by herself.  She grabbed hold of my hand and jerked me to my feet to accompany her. My sister stroked and kissed his face sobbing his name, a name that had not passed my lips like it was passing through hers.  Daddy, Daddy she sobbed and sobbed.  She pulled me close to her this time taking charge of me.  Her eyes directed me to say my own Good Byes.

What happened next was involuntary.  I leaned over my father and whispered to him.  I touched his face, kissed his forehead and whispered I love you Daddy. 

The nurse came in asked us to step out so she could undo all the life support equipment. 

We were allowed back in the room to be with him as he took his last breaths.    My sister and the rest took turns approaching the bed speaking in low tones.  I kept eye on the heart and BP monitors winding down like a clock going out of commission.

One last time I went to my father’s side.  I recited some prayers, Bible Verses, the 23^rd Psalm in his right ear.  I told him I would see him when I see him.  I prayed with him for salvation and eternal life.  

I do not know what took place those last few moments only God knows and one day I will know.  I kissed him Good Bye for now.

He breathed on his own for almost an hour and a half.  It was painful to watch someone struggling with each breath.

After he was pronounced dead, one by one people came in and said so many things to him.  People that I had never met or vaguely knew.  People that knew my biological father obvious to me in ways I never knew him in.  I filed that to deal with at another time.

I focused my attention on my sister.  I stayed with her for quite awhile and helped her make some Birthday plans for her 17 year old son.

I was driving up the NJ Turnpike in the hustle and bustle of North Jersey traffic, business as usual numb, dazed and probably in shock.  I looked around and all I could see was life going on as usual.

I wanted to scream so loud  “ I just watched my father Die”  can the world just take a pause for a second!    I realized that I most likely was not the only one driving that day that had just experienced a tragedy.  I thought to myself how many do we meet every day that have a smile on their face all the while dealing with a broken heart quietly.

To be contd…

May 21st 2011, My Response to Harold Camping

Growing up in the 1960’s there were clear defined lines in our American culture.  One of the defined lines was the neighborhood and Parish you lived within.

I was raised in an Irish, Catholic, Democrat home and neighborhood.   I was unaware of anything outside of my very small world which consisted of my Parish and my neighborhood. 

What do I mean by Parish?  A portion of a diocese under the authority of a priest legitimately appointed to secure the helps of religion for the faithful dwelling therein. › Catholic Encyclopedia    My hometown had many Parishes and those Parishes were also defined by particular ethnic group/groups. 

I grew up in the same Parish my Father’s Family grew up in when they settled in my hometown from Ireland.  My little brother even had the same Kindergarten Nun that my Father when he attended Kindergarten just to give you an idea of how deep this Parish mindset was.

I was Catholic; I breathed, ate and slept my Catholicism.  I had many questions that nobody would or could answer.  I was taught that if a Catholic even visited a Protestant Church it was a very bad sin.

Meanwhile my little brother had questions of his own and decided to study Greek, Latin and Spanish.  He studied Greek and Latin so he could further study the scriptures and Spanish to communicate to the friends he made along the way not in our “Parish”.  My little brother quietly discussed his findings with me and continually rocked my Catholic world with his discoveries.

I continued to carry on trying to be the best Catholic I could be.  I had major screw ups along the way and was quite the “regular” at Saturday Confession.  My brother, sister and I would walk to confession on Saturday afternoons discussing all the “bad things” we needed to confess and sometimes chanting curse words just to get them out of our system before we said our confession and did our penance.  We wanted to make sure that we had all our venial and mortal sins tallied up correctly and the cursing was just to make sure we relieved any badness that still might be present since cursing was not really part of our regular vocabulary.

Fear of dying while not in a “State of Grace”  (see  Paragraph 1862  CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH  SECOND EDITION  http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s1c1a8.htm#1862  )  was a recurring nightmare of mine,  The End of the World “Doomsday” that always played out of me running from one locked church door to another to give my last confession to attain  my “State of Grace” so I would be guaranteed a place in heaven .

 My ongoing question to myself was would  I ever be in a ”State of Grace” longer  than the time  it took me to say my Penance and walk home .  Maybe I should just really guarantee my entrance into heaven by becoming a nun and really shore up my eternal home.  Surely the nuns were always in a “State of Grace”.   That was the answer for my recurring Doomsday Nightmare.  I would become a nun and always be a stone’s throw away from the confessional.

My last 30 years have been a journey of discovery and a long way from the little girl who was looking for an Eternal guarantee by becoming a nun.

I have not had the Doomsday nightmare since I became a Christian almost 30 years ago.  I no longer fear that I need to run to a confessional to guarantee my place in heaven.     I simply get on my knees and confess to my Savior.  This is freeing for me and many others that have come from a similar background and have discovered the freedom this presents.  With this freedom comes very serious responsibility to show Christ through our words, actions and our general way of life... 

I am free to ask for forgiveness and be forgiven.  I am not free to do as I please and act recklessly then just say a quick I am sorry.  I have studied the Bible and believe The Holy Bible is the Inspired and Infallible Word of God. 

Since the Bible is my anchor and my roadmap to life then what Harold Camping is quoted as saying is quite upsetting to me as a practicing Christian.

I am deeply troubled that Christians as a whole are being depicted as they are because of Harold Camping and the noise he is making again.

Yesterday I was commuting to NYC to join my husband for a Met/Yankee Subway Series Game.  I sat on the bus looking around at all the different people immersed in their little iPod, blackberry and iphone worlds seemingly quite unaffected that this could be their last full day on earth.   I likened it to myself as a child and had been immersed in my Irish, Catholic, Democrat Parish years ago unaware of other’s worlds.   I felt sad to myself and asked myself have I done all I can to show Christ’s love to all I have encountered.  Have I been living as “if” this could be my last day on earth?

I walked to the 7 train under Port Authority and heard a thunderous Man’s Voice booming, echoing through the underground tunnel.  No it was not God but a man screaming Bible verses condemning people and shaming them to turn away from their sinful ways quite aggressively with a huge Bible opened.   I was disgusted that this man did not realize that he was turning off so many passerbies to maybe their only encounter with “a Christian”.  I heard the whispers and utterances of the throngs of people muttering “crazy Christian, lunatic Christian, cult like” etc.    Many I was rubbing shoulders with seeming to group all Christians in one crazy group.  This was the result of one chance encounter. 

I have seen the news and the images of the buses, the people who have given up their jobs, sold their possessions to hand out tracks and make sure they spread the word of the end of the world.  My heart goes out to them.  They are earnest in their endeavor and for that they have my respect. 

I do not agree with Harold Camping and his follower’s interpretation of the Bible nor their approach.

  I feel being lukewarm and apathetic is also detrimental hence why I am writing this post.

My faith and walk with Christ is based on my belief that the Bible is the Inspired and Infallible Word of God.    Therefore if what Harold Camping has said came to pass today then my world would have been blown this day spiritually and physically.

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to even write this post today.  I understand that many will continue to group all Christians together as deranged lunatics.   I pray that this Christian can give some insight to a “Christian”.    

I hope that more Christians will come forward and allow people to see them for their Christ like love and character rather than be depicted and sentenced to being negatively labeled and unapproachable.

Please allow me to share some thoughts from a website I came upon just today that has an overview that includes some Bible verses that I have come to learn in my Christian walk.

Like a thief in the night.  http://www.lastdaysmystery.info/like_a_thief_in_the_night.htm

Jesus first expressed this idea that He would return “like a thief in the night” in the Olivet Discourse.  Four of His disciples came to Him on the Mount of Olives and asked, “what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3). During His response Jesus described the signs that will take place before His return, providing a way for us to determine the general time of His return.

Repeatedly, Jesus told of the increasing deception that will come in the Last Days. He commanded us to watch and stay alert so we would not be deceived and get caught off guard.

Today many people are confused and deceived regarding the meaning of the expression “like a thief in the night.”  They mistakenly believe that Jesus will come “like a thief in the night” to the Church.  Meaning that the Church will not know the general time of Christ’s return.  However, this is totally incorrect. Both Jesus and the apostle Paul clearly tell us that the Church will know the general time of Christ’s return. Jesus said,

Matthew 24:42-44    http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24%3A42-44&version=NIV

Luke 12:39-40  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+12%3A39%2CLuke+12%3A40&version=NIV

1 Thessalonians 5:1-5  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Thessalonians+5%3A1-5&version=NIV

Revelation 3:3   http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+3%3A3&version=NIV

Revelation 16:15  http://bible.cc/revelation/16-15.htm

Believers will be aware of the general time of Christ’s return but unbelievers will be caught off guard when Jesus Christ returns to earth “like a thief in the night.”   Therefore, don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, many signs will occur before Jesus Christ returns to gather up His Church.

If  the coming of the Lord catches you by surprise, you will be treated as an unbeliever.

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour (Matthew 25:13) http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A13&version=NIV

In Answer to: Do You Think You’re A Good Parent?? How Do You Know?

I am a mommy of 3, ages 26, 24, 20.    There were and still are days that I ask myself “Do I think I am a good Parent and how do I know”?   These days my husband and I are reaping more fruit and seeing so much more come into fruition.

I started my Mommy career warning my oldest infant child and only daughter that I hoped she would survive because the plants sure did not!  She peered up at me from her receiving blanket with a knowing, trusting smile that later would reveal she trusted me even if I am a plant killer.  It is all about priorities I would later explain to her and my other 2 children as we trashed the unlucky plants month after month.

Parenthood is full of choices and priorities.  What most do not understand is that your priorities must never become your choices.    Let your choices be chosen based on the priorities you set.   What do I mean with this choice/priority talk?

While raising our children we always stressed to each of them that our number one priority for them was to lead them to be autonomous adults.  So based on that statement we proceeded with basing all decisions on that goal.

So our priority was established and the choices begun which were:  what kind of education, what kind of food would I feed them, should they watch TV and how frequently, what kind of discipline would we apply etc. etc. you get the drift?

.

The choices we made based on our number one priority could make a smash hit sitcom.  Our children love to sit around together and describe the insane woman that homeschooled them feeding them herbs and organic fruits and vegetables with a highlighted in Yellow TV schedule stuck on the Fridge and their little brother in time out for the 100^th time in a day.  The laundry piled as high as the snow, chemistry projects were fizzling, art supplies were strewn as far as the eye could see and a mini cooking show was being produced by the amateur videographer standing about 3 foot tall. 

  

They also love to rehash how the three of them wrote and produced mini plays every week for the children they minded at the Women’s Bible study.   I say minded loosely since they themselves were 3, 7 and 9 years old and very in charge arriving each week with their overstuffed suitcases of costumes and props.   The ladies took up a collection each week to reward the 3 of them for their time.  This is the part when you know you have done something right, here it comes…....  

The 3 of them used their earnings to send an underprivileged kid to summer camp.  I still get choked up when I think of their shining bright eyes and smiles as they handed in their earnings.   They will also recant how strict we were in things other parents weren’t and vice versa.   We later explained that we tried not to set them up to fail because there were certain things not even the so called “best behaved children” could resist such as not having a party if your parents left you alone for an extended period of time without accountability, Not Leaving the house stocked with liquor in an unlocked liquor cabinet, oh just not leaving them unattended period even if they were 16. 

Parenthood is still full of choices and priorities even with them being older.

My priority as a mother of young adults is now to step aside and let them be adults with minimal input unless asked.

Failure is the tuition they need to pay for the success they will achieve.

These days my husband and I still make ourselves available to help advise, guide and just be the ear to listen.

I am happy to report that we have managed to achieve the number one goal of raising autonomous children/adults.

Our daughter is a model/actress.  She is getting married this year and we are pleased with her fiancé  who makes her very happy.  Our Second child, oldest son graduated College, landed a great job and is contemplating his MBA from Columbia.  Our Youngest son is still attending College, builds computers, fixes computers and is presently writing an Iphone application.   All of them are very supportive of me and my business and help in any way they can.

Back to the initial question.  “Do I think I am a good Parent and how do I know”? 

Yes I think I am a good parent.  Have I made mistakes?  Absolutely but keeping my eye on the priority and not allowing the plethora of choices become the prioritiy has determined where we all are today and that is a family with great stories of insane parents.