My Blog
“A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs…jolted by every pebble on the road.”
– Henry Ward Beecher
After raising our four uniquely amazing, exhaustingly energetic and superbly creative kids – and living to tell the tale – my husband and I now find ourselves doing it all again, raising our granddaughter. We’ve found that having a sense of humor is the only way to survive the pebbles on life’s road. Especially when they’re the size of boulders.
We try each day to keep our wagon springs well-oiled with a liberal sense of humor as we travel life’s pebble-strewn road. I’ve found I love writing this stuff down. Maybe to prolong the joy of the humor? I’m not sure why, but I feel compelled nevertheless
My Family
In keeping with the pebbly rock theme, but really to prevent weirdo strangers from discovering our family’s identity, I will be referring to the following people (should I happen to blog about them) as:
- Our Family: We’re the Stones, of course!
- Me: Mai (acronym for My alias is) Stone, Mrs. Stone, Me, Myself and I
- Husband: Mr. Stone, The Rock, My Rock, or just plain Rock. Because he is, and has always been, my rock. Really. I couldn’t make it without him and his strength. Also, sometimes he’s kinda stubborn. You know, in an unmovable rock-hard kinda way. I may at times refer to him as Rocky, Rocco, or maybe even Mr. Gibraltar, or any other rock-type derivative that pops into my head. I like to be flexible that way.
- Granddaughter: Pebbles, because she’s the smallest gem in our collection. The Rock and I have been raising her since she was four months old because her mommy, our daughter #2, Sapphire, was a drug addict.
- Daughter #1: Zani for her birthstone Tanzanite. Discovered in Tanzania, treasured for its rich color, beauty and brilliance, vivid in saturation, and commands premium prices. If you know her, you know how well many words in this description fit her.
- Daughter #2, Pebbles’ mommy: Sapphire, because it’s her birthstone. Medieval clergy wore sapphires to symbolize heaven, while commoners thought the gem attracted heavenly blessings. Sapphire fits her because she is our angel in heaven. She left us a month before her daughter’s third birthday.
- Son #1: Magneto for Magnetite, which is strongly magnetic. It was used by the ancient Chinese to make the first magnetic compasses. If you know him, you know how magnetic his personality is, and how sure and steady he has set the course of his life.
- Son #2: Xander for the rare gemstone Alexandrite, a truly uncomplicated and understated stone whose uniqueness and high value are not evident at first sight. Alexandrite is said to aid in creativity and imagination and to help the wearer discover new ways forward when logic will not provide an answer. If you know him you know how well this describes him.
- OCD Louie: Since he is such a big part of my life, my family page wouldn’t be complete without an entry for OCD Louie. If I had to give Louie a mineral name it would be wollastonite as it has been described as the most annoying mineral because of all of the tiny splinters it gives off. Louie’s sole purpose in life is to drive me crazy. So it fits.
Header Photo: Two-year-old Pebbles’ chubby little feet on a pebble road.
Copyright 2014 Mai Stone & Pebbles On The Road
Created with The Gimp
What a creatively clever and fun way to keep the identities ‘under a rock’ 😉
You deserve much credit for raising a family and moving onto help the next generation – it takes a very strong person of staunch character and tremendous heart to do so.
AnnMarie 🙂
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Thank you for the wonderful compliments, AnnMarie! They are much appreciated. And thank you for visiting my blog.
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🙂
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I love the disarray and helpless feelings, I identify with it. You are my kind of people. We have four kids and zero answers. Here’s to enjoying each others struggles.
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We hapless parents have to stick together and help each other find new ways to gang up on the little (and not so little) buggers. Otherwise they’ll surely defeat us. If they haven’t already. Sometimes that’s how it feels. {{SIGH}}
Thanks for visiting my blog. I look forward to learning from your mistakes. You’re welcome to take what you can glean from mine, as well. 😉
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I find it beyond my perception to comment but I am glad to have met you and everyone in your family.Its a beautiful idea of rocks; ‘The feelings will be eternal’ . A big kiss to ‘Pebbles’ 🙂
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Thank you, ady, for visiting my blog, for your kind words about my family and most especially for the kiss for Pebbles! You know, until you wrote this I never gave a thought to the eternal nature of rocks, but it fits my blog’s them so well. Thank you!
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Wow, this promises to be quite the adventure! I look forward to it…You are a wonderful writer, I can tell that already.
Pam
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Thank you for the compliment, Pam! I will try my best not to disappoint! 🙂
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I nominated you for the Liebster Award. https://conversationswithyolandi.wordpress.com/2014/12/18/the-liebster-award/ Thanks for a great Blog!
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Thank you so much for deeming my blog Liebster-worthy! I accept your nomination with humble gratitude. This is my second nomination. You can read my post about my first nomination here.
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I love the quotation at the beginning of this page, and the clever and fun way you describe your family. Humor truly is a life saver. I need to go there more often.
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Thank you for visiting and reading! When my oldest son, Magneto, was young he used to go around quoting a line from the movie Roger Rabbit: If you don’t have a good sense of humor, you’re better off dead. That was what I had in mind when I was choosing a name and a theme for my blog. There are days – when you love an addict, when you lose your addict to an overdose, when you’re raising your addict child’s own damaged child – when it so very hard to maintain a sense of humor. But sometimes that’s the only thing that makes it all bearable.
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I’m truly sorry that you lost a child.
Your blog is amazing, so are you promoting it yet? I have Google, Twitter and Fb too. Google an Twitter mostly sit idol. lol
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Thank you, Gibber with a J, for the compliment and the condolences. It’s definitely a wild journey we’re on. And speaking of wild journeys, I just made a quick visit to your blog and I’m definitely hooked! And, no, I haven’t started promoting. (My bad). I’m kinda afraid to. I haven’t decided if I can truly commit the time to keep churning out blog material, you know? And it doesn’t seem fair to go out and advertise for followers and then flake out on them. Am I the only one who wrestles with this dilemma?
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It’s a pleasure to visit your blog. Thank you so much for coming over here to this craziness. You’re definitely not the only one who goes through it. I haven’t figured out how people keep up with all the social media stuff. I don’t enjoy Twitter at all. Oops did I just say that out loud? I’ve opened and closed a few blogs and websites in my three year journey. I understand your worry, it’s like you’re committed if then if you start advertising. I hope you’re having fun with your blog, it sure seems like you are.
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I am having fun with it. Too much really. That’s what worries me. I need to give Pebbles’ homeschooling more attention than I currently do, but I keep finding myself back here, tweaking and adjusting, molding and shaping, reading and commenting. And I agree with you about Twitter. I *hate* it! I’ll never understand how it became so successful. It’s an OCD nightmare!
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You can incorporate blogging into her homeschooling…lol (Just joking). It’s so addictive eh?!
Fist bump for Twitter hate! My downfall is marketing. I haven’t learned it. I don’t know if I want to. Maybe…
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I like your introduction to your family. As you were saying to Gibber, blogging can require a commitment. But the more you get into it, the more it can become an obsession, until you’re posting about everything. And then blogging can require you to be committed.
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LOL! I hope I recognize it before I get to the point of having to be committed. 😉
I’m glad you enjoyed meeting my family.
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It is a privilege to meet you, Mrs. Stone! I am very sorry for your loss and am inspired by your family love. I look forward to reading more from you ❤
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Thank you very much, Angie. I’ve been sorta MIA from the blogosphere lately, which I intend to blog about when I….um….have more time to not be MIA. 🙂 My absence has been for a good cause, though. It’s for Pebbles, and she’s the very best cause I know.
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I’m relieved to hear that you are MIA for a good reason ❤ See you soon!
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I hope everything is going okay with you guys. 🙂
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