Valentine? More like vine time. Add a box of chocolate and you're all set!
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No words will ever be enough to give to the person who has given me everything.
You love flowers. You love the color purple because it reminds you of your mom. You love purple flowers because it feels like Naana planted them just for us. You love the Spring because the lilacs begin to bloom. I love April 14, because it's your day.
As I grow up, I am beginning to notice the sacrifices parents make for their kids, just as you and Dad have done for me and Cole. I am beginning to understand that I don't understand. I can't possibly understand the months you carried us in your core, the career you gave up, the very breath you shared to give us life. I see now that I don't thank you enough. April 14 is only one of 365 days I should be celebrating you, Momma.
You've never had it easy.
The world you grew up in spun too fast, forcing you to take the reins of adulthood years before you could even drive. But you didn't complain. You never complain. You fight, you conquer, you learn, and you persist. You never let anything slow you down, no matter how big the obstacle.
You taught me that quitting is not an option.
I know that year was the worst of your life. Some terrible twist of fate left you with a mom and dad-sized hole punched into your life. No one can be expected to hoist themselves up, look to the sky, and move forward as if every step feels just as light as the first. But you had to hide the pain, disguise the weight of your grief, wear a mask and put on a show of strength - all for me. You had to push me in that horrible wheelchair, the one we weren't sure I would escape. You had to steady me as I hobbled on crutches through the rain. You had to feel me break when I came home from school after the boys took my cane in the cafeteria. You had to stand on the opposite side of the lobby when they told me I couldn't leave unless I walked to the car. You had to hold my hand as I took off on the path I never chose to take.
You were there when all I had was pain, doubt, and fear. You helped me learn to walk twice in one lifetime.
When things got better, things fell apart. It's no secret I don't do well with change. But Momma, when our house split into two and everything was so different, you took every punch I threw with my words. I never hated you. I was uprooted. I was lonely, frustrated, and without an anchor, in the storm my life had become.
Once again, you refused to quit.
You refused to quit on your dream house, on your career, on your daughter. You have never once quit on me. I always wondered why, how, you never quit. It's because you're a mom. My mom. A magician, warrior, and superhero all wrapped up in the perfect, huggable package.
I sit writing this in the home you built, looking out at the sunset over the water, as the ferryboats set out on their journeys. In an hour or two, you'll walk through the door wearing the boots I always steal from your closet. You'll tell me about your work, your meetings, and the wonders you're working with connecting broken families on the side.
You'll be smiling the whole time. Like always.
Thank you for your infectious joy. For singing me to sleep. For warm hugs. For pizza at 8 pm when we're both too lazy to go to the store. For holding me when the world seems to fall in pieces around us. For always believing in the good when hate threatens to cloud the blue sky. For growing lilacs when life throws you dirt. For teaching me that this, too, shall pass.
I love you, Momma. With all my heart.
-Your Baby Girl
The History and Chemistry of Vitamin C.
By Alina Baiju and Annie Lin
In 1928, Hungarian doctor and biochemist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi found a very small amount of a mysterious crystallized material near the kidneys of a cow. Believing he had found a brand new substance, he decided to name the material hexuronic acid, named after its six carbon atoms. However, due to the lack of proper scientific technology in the first half of the 20th century, Szent-Gyorgyi was unable to clearly determine the substance's complete molecular structure with such a tiny amount. To obtain a greater mass of the mysterious new material, he began to look for other sources that contained this substance.
Though it was also present in many various fresh foods, in particular, fresh fruits, the large quantities of sugar in the fruits made it difficult to isolate the substance. He eventually found the substance again; this time in Hungarian paprika. After separating one kilogram of the substance from the paprika, he worked with chemist Norman Haworth to determine its molecular substance, which they found to be C6H8O6. It was then that they decided to rename this substance from hexuronic acid to ascorbic acid, an antioxidant (substance that inhibits oxidation) that is now commonly known as vitamin C.
As a result of their discovery, both Szent-Gyorgyi and Haworth were awarded with Nobel Prizes, with Szent-Gyorgyi's in medicine and Haworth's in chemistry.
The majority of mammals (such as the cow that Szent-Gyorgyi extracted the original sample of ascorbic acid from) have the ability to self-produce vitamin C from glucose through a series of four reactions. However, primates, guinea pigs and fruit bats lack the ability to do so and must find means to ingest it in some way. Humans are missing the enzyme necessary to catalyze the fourth and final reaction that is necessary to produce vitamin C in their bodies and thus must eat healthy diets with fresh fruits, vegetables and/or meats (where ascorbic acid can be found) to account for this.
Even a century after Szent-Gyorgyi's discovery, ascorbic acid still remains a relatively mysterious substance. Research is still being done on the roles that ascorbic acid plays in the body, and scientists are still examining its involvement in biochemical pathways.
The importance of presence of ascorbic acid in the human diet was most evident during the Age of Discovery. Starting in the early 15th century, the Age of Discovery was a time where countries (especially the major western European powers such as Great Britain, France, Portuguese, etc.) sought to expand their empire by finding and conquering new lands and to engage in trading with other countries (particularly with those in Asia for their desirable spices and silk cloths). Technology advanced. New navigational devices were invented, and ships were made to withstand deeper waters and longer trips.
However, because of the long routes that had to be taken to reach their destinations, voyages often lasted several months or even years at a time. As a consequence, sailors were only able to bring foods on board that could resist the long periods of time and the harsh weather at sea, including preserved, salted meats, hardtack (a nearly unchewable type of "bread) and soured beer. Vitamin-C rich fruits and veggies were left forgotten back home.
The result of these poor diets were devastating. A massive number of deaths began taking place out at sea due to a disease called scurvy that was caused by a deficiency in ascorbic acid. The symptoms of scurvy include exhaustion, weakness, diarrhea, muscle pain, swelling of arms/legs, hemorrhaging, bruising, lung/kidney problems, softening of gums (which made it difficult to eat hardtack), bleeding red gums, depression and more. They began appearing in sailors in only six weeks out at sea. This disease alone was responsible for more deaths out at sea than any other death cause. 90 percent of Ferdinand Magellan's crew died during his circumnavigation of the globe and nearly two thirds of Vasco da Gama's crew died during his sail around the southern tip of Africa, all due to the lack of vitamin C.
The importance of vitamin C was emphasized by the observations and research of the Scottish physician James Lind, who had looked into the preventative and health benefits of citrus fruits — including its products such as lemon and lime juice — during his time as a naval surgeon. Afterwards, he wrote a treatise recommending mandatory consumption of citrus fruits by British sailors to solve the issue of the scurvy-stricken naval forces. His research proved effective when the issuance of lime juice to all sailors resulted in the gradual elimination of scurvy within the entire British fleet by 1795 — before ascorbic acid was discovered as the factor in citrus that prevents scurvy.
The importance of vitamin C was further reinforced by the 1769 experiments of the British physician William Stark, who carried out many experiments on nutrition with only himself as the subject. The experiment included adjusting his diet to determine the relative importance of each food group — sadly resulting in his demise. Stark began his experiments by consuming only bread and water for about a month, adding other foods to his diet (ex: olive oil, figs, goose meat, milk) after each set period of time. After two months had passed, Stark recorded that he had red, swollen, bleeding gums — scurvy, from the lack of vitamin C in his diet. Even though Stark's diet was rich in meat and starch, he died within seven months of its inception due to the scurvy and cumulative malnutrition caused by the diet devoid of fresh vegetables and citrus fruits.
Ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, is still relevant to the modern world despite the opinions of any dissenters. The foods that contain it, such as citrus fruits, are encouraged to be eaten in all schools in order to prevent future ascorbic acid-related issues, and any existing cases of scurvy are rare, as its dangers are well known. Orange juice is a fan-favorite, and orange slices are often offered as meal-chasers at many restaurants. Additionally, daily dosage charts for vitamin C have been written so that the risk of obtaining any vitamin C-deficiency illnesses are even further reduced. So if anything, the impact of ascorbic acid has become more prominent in the modern day.
One issue with ascorbic acid is that it has often been believed to be associated with many diseases, including coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer. However, this controversy has been proven false multiple times in the past.
Coronary heart disease is a disorder characterized by plaque buildup in the arterial walls. According to many prospective cohort studies and and other examinations, the relationship between dietary vitamin C intake and the risk for coronary heart disease is, in fact, inversely related.
Stroke is a cerebrovascular event, classified as either hemorrhagic — which is when a weakened blood vessel ruptures, resulting in a bleed-out into nearby brain tissue — or ischemic, which is when an a blocking of the blood vessels into the brain block cranial blood flow. There was, for many years, believed to be a correlation between amount of vitamin C consumed and risk of stroke, and that has been confirmed. According to a study of a rural community in Japan, those that consumed the highest levels of vitamin C had the lowest risk of stroke — yet another inverse relationship between a potentially life-threatening disease and the consumption of ascorbic acid.
As for cancer, which is an often fatal disease caused by abnormal or out-of-control cell growth in the body, it is also a disease that has also been previously associated with vitamin C consumption. In general, studies report no associations between the consumption of vitamin C and the risk of developing a given type of cancer, with the occasional moderate inverse association. To be more specific, two large studies concluded that vitamin C intake is inversely associated with breast cancer, several observational studies have concluded that increased dietary intake of vitamin C decreases risk of stomach cancer, and that dietary intake of vitamin C was not associated with colon cancer.
Customer service employees are just trying to do their job, not ruin your life.
I've had my fair share of bad experiences as a customer service employee. It's a struggle, and emotionally exhausting. But, working in customer services has a brighter side in all the dark.
Sometimes, there are nice customers. These customers always improved my workday and made me excited to come back to work the next day. Even just a simple comment like, "you guys always do such a great job," or, "this service is why I eat breakfast here every day," would absolutely make my day.
While the respect aspect of customer and employee interactions impacts a big part of these experiences, I've now decided to take a more in-depth look at the way customers talk to employees. So, I developed an anonymous survey to try to analyze these interactions.
This survey asked questions about specific thing customers will say to employees. It was directed at those who work in customer service. They were asked about things customers said that ruined their day and surprising things customers have said. I expected to hear some interesting stories about other employees' experiences. The survey turned into an outlet for the employees to vent about all the bad customers.
A constant response from employees, when asked about things customers have said that ruined their day, was that the customer blamed them for something that wasn't their fault.
"A customer let her kids make a mess and she told me to clean it up...saying it's my job." "I got cussed out and nearly slapped for something I had no control over." "Being called a racist because an expired coupon would not scan."
"Your prices are too high." "I'm so disappointed you never have my bread in stock, I went online and complained." "Every time I see you, you're on break."
Another common response was being blatantly insulted by customers when the employee was just trying to help, understand the situation, explain policies the customers were trying to get around or just doing their job.
"I was cussed out and the woman threatened to sue me and my company because we could not help her in seconds." "Telling me I'm rude for speaking to a co-worker about their order." "Rudeness, shortness, and entitled attitudes." "They said I had no brain cells when I was trying to help them."
"I am making your job difficult, hahahaha." "You and your company are a bunch of f---ing idiots." "You know why you work in a theme park? Because you are a terrible person. You are so stupid." "You're not pretty enough to be working up front like this....they should have you in back stocking so no one sees you."
And of course, there was a fair share of just plain unreasonable stories.
"A parent told their child to pee in the corner instead of asking if we had a bathroom." "'Is my food ready yet?"' As I'm sitting on the toilet in the bathroom. Yes, she followed me into the bathroom to ask about her food."
"At that price, does it come with a free gold necklace?" "You are forcing me to get a loyalty card so you can keep tabs on me."
Obviously, there is a disconnect between employees and customers. While lack of respect is a big aspect of this disconnect, another reason is a lack of understanding.
Most of these negative interactions could be prevented or shorted if the customer would take a moment to get out of their own selfish world and listen to the employee trying to explain why they can't take an expired coupon or why their food is taking a bit longer than usual. If customers understood that there is a reason behind every decision or policy, maybe they wouldn't find everything so unreasonable.
So next time you're in an inconvenient situation at the store or in a restaurant, try to understand the situation from the business' perspective. There's always a reason.
But there's never a reason to say these nasty things to customer service employees.
When you've had a shit day... me too.
For whatever the reason bad things happen. Bad things happen to good people. I don't consider myself a good person, but I don't consider myself a bad person either. I'm just meh.
But still, bad things happen. When one thing goes wrong, everything else seems to go wrong. The world seems to take all this negativity and just throw it at you. It's like a bunch of bricks, slamming you. And it sucks.
This isn't going to be an uplifting BS article glorifying how that after a storm there is a rainbow- it's a legitimate article that makes you realize, that you may have a shit day, but someone else has had one too.
It's true though that after the storm, there will be a rainbow. You will only see the rainbow if you want to see it, if you stay in a state of mind that is negative, you'll see nothing but rain.
You are allowed to have a bad day, we all are. But that's all it is, a bad day. Not a bad life.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. No one ever once said how the lemonade was going to taste. Some people get good sweet lemons, and others are left with sour lemons. The lemonade might really suck, but it's all about what you do with your lemons.
You can't live your life being in the dark, you are justified to have your time to feel that way. However, at some point, you have to start living.
Acknowledge that you had a bad day. Text your person whoever that may be, and tell them. Post a rant about it. Go outside and scream. Let the world know that, today was a shitty day.
Just don't let the fact that you had one bad day control your life. A bad day does not mean a bad life.
Wake up the next day, and find the sunshine in life. Take your sour lemons and make lemonade, and once it's made go out and buy some Splenda. Make today a good day.
