"Happy Mother's Day to You" song like Happy Birthday. Sing it to your favorite mom and yourself too for taking care of yourself (as you and your mama would like you to)

Everybuddy knows the tune to Happy Birthday, so put the words Happy Mother's Day in there and celebrate that you have a woman who cared for you from your beginning to your more independent time of life, and maybe you're still feeling her guidance and care as an adult or even if she has journeyed on to the realm of the angels. My mother Mary Palmer Sr would have been 91, having had me when she was 40 years young. She had her last (a 12th child) at age 48 and that was back in 1970 when most women had kids around age 20 or by 25 and likely a few at most (okay maybe 4 to 6 still, particularly if they were religious--Catholic, Mormon, Fundamentalist, Muslim, etc). Only Jehovah Witnesses seemed to be saying people could 'plan to only have a  certain number of children'  as Christians in the teachings done for their congregants, using appropriate birth control measures to prevent pregnancies.

I may be oversimplifying, but Attorney Catherine Roraback from Canaan Ct was instrumental in allowing the birth control pill to be available to adults (maybe initially only married couples?) Every church or spiritual practice likely had its own stands and rules about relationships, intimacy, birth control (including condoms which Catholics were and are still taught are not allowed but which definitely needs further discussion). Someone used the term "Contrabortion" when trying to say 'controversial" in a comedy act featuring many teens and in a room of parents. Well, that is a helpful term to describe the controversy over abortion.

The various reasons from many traditions around the world could be described for more people to understand the roots of the controversy and the reasons to think about the issues more carefully and wholistically. There is now a Plan B pill which does not end a pregnancy but can prevent one from happening if it has not happened if taken within 3 days of unprotected sex. Free counseling (and that would include internet access to Learn about abuse, rights, options and reasonable terms of relationship for friends, family, partners, and parents, and ex-partners or parents as well), condoms and Free Plan B pills should be available to all students (ideally with parental permission but perhaps even without it). The laws are changing in every state over the years along many health care measures and privacy acts, so it's not always clear what a person (an adult, teen or youth) really has control over not only for others but for themselves!

Well, I will keep this a little lighter for today, having seen some moving musicals at the Warner Theatre in Torrington CT recently--Mulan and a musical All Shook Up (both of which happen for the last time at 2pm on Sun 5-11). Mulan tells the story of a young woman who goes to war for China to fight invading Huns. She disguises herself as a boy, risks her family honor and her life by doing so and taking on dangers and serious physical training. She has encouragement from a friendly dragon and her ancestors who watch over her from the heavens. The idea that people are born into certain roles and destinies with traditions that require strict adherence and severe penalties for breaking are all explored in profound but entertaining ways. Mulan first tries to do her duty to become a wife, but the matchmaker says she  is too clumsy. Then she sees a chance to keep her father from having to go into battle since he had no sons. She breaks with tradition and ends up saving China by creating an avalanche that crushes hundreds of advancing soldiers. She then convinces her army captain and fellow soldiers to dress as women to sneak into a room to save their Emperor from death by fighting the captors. The idea of 'what's male' and 'what's female' is also explored in All Shook Up.

That's a set of love stories intertwined which has rules once again scrutinized by the locals trying to live up to them either due to tradition or laws. Not all of the rules make sense though as 'true love, two friends who find they may share more of a romance than one or both thought possible either of opposite genders or the same. While these themes of relationships with people in terms of friends or romance have been part of our shared societal joureys (say Grease, Romeo and Juliet or Camelot and most people know what one is talking about, even Beauty and the Beast or other Fairy Tales old and new, such as Into the Woods which looks at what happens after the supposed 'happy enedings' (and is coming out as a movie soon if you don't read or see the play).

Meanwhile Mother Earth is getting our attention with climate change related storms and events filling headlines and sadly claiming lives as well. We need to think a little less about the details of romance and legalities and more about the ecology of our plan-it and how to help people meet basic needs for living without ruining our land, water and air supplies. That's a serious set of topics for a sunny day in May, but we have to start sometime.

Thanks for treating yourself and others with safety and respect, nurturing healthy relationships and terms of living for all in your home and wider circles.  Too many people face difficulties alone. The upside of the challenges we face with the climate is we can realize we Have to Work Together and Promote Peace and Well-Being so life can last as long as possible in ways that help us maintain our dignity. More small group efforts will help people weather the changes on all fronts. We may need to live in group homes or have campsites to help people find their way through storms or waves of climate refugees. When the ocean rises, masses of people will need to move to higher ground inland. Shorelines of all continents will be affected, so we have to be aware of the connections that can help during such challenges. We may need to have some 'exceptions to the rules' in terms of who can live in a given area or have schools function as shelters as well for people and more services. Thinking creatively and compassionately will go a loyoung, and old,  individuals and groups who 'dare to care and share' to live life fully.