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Kevin’s Peace of Mind
www.kevintharpe.com (770) 503-1022
July 2024
Celebrating Callie on her 20th Birthday PARENTING LESSONS FROM LOVE AND FAITH
Twenty years ago this month, the celebration of one event created the celebration of another for my family. July 9 is our daughter Callie’s birthday — she’s turning 20 this year — and we celebrate that day with the same excitement today as we did on the day she was born. July 9 also allows Missy and me to celebrate another July event — National Parents Day on July 28.
seat in the back seat of my truck, it hit me — What do I do now? We weren’t given a “Steps to being a good parent“ brochure from the hospital. But, from the beginning, my wife and I have embraced the role of parenting Callie with values rooted in our faith, drawing wisdom from the Bible as our main source of inspiration and guidance. Fortunately, the bible verse “spare the rod and spoil the child” was not often invoked when raising Callie. However, according to my parents, that verse was often invoked in my raising, and my dad said that his Bible had my name inscribed next to that verse. As Callie has grown, our approach to parenting has certainly evolved. We have navigated the transition from making decisions to providing for her daily needs when she was little to now supporting her as she makes her own choices as a young adult. This shift has come with its challenges, requiring us to balance this change and give her room for growth. I vividly remember when my parenting intuition came into play regarding a recent trip Callie had planned with her friends to hike Grandfather Mountain near Boone, North Carolina. Although I did not want to disappoint her, I did not have a good feeling about this trip. I told her I did not want her to go on this trip. As her dad, I had to trust my gut. Of course, Callie was disappointed and upset with me at the time, but she
understood my reasoning in time. This was a big lesson for me as a parent. Sometimes, we enforce rules our kids will not like or understand, but our job is to be their parents first, not necessarily their friends. Parenting is about more than just providing for our children — it is about sacrificing for their futures and guiding them with love and patience. My parents sacrificed a lot for me, and I always knew I would do the same for my children. My and Missy’s main goal as parents has always been to raise Callie to be a strong, godly young woman prepared to make responsible decisions. She knows and appreciates that and often thanks us (sometimes after the fact) for our hard work and dedication as parents. Missy and I appreciate how grateful she is to us for providing a comfortable life where she can work hard and achieve her dreams. It is encouraging for us as parents to see that all we have invested in Callie’s life is paying off for her and us every day. Happy Birthday, Callie! We love you so much! —Kevin (a.k.a. Dad)
Parenting is a journey filled with joy, challenges, and growth.
Callie’s birthday is not just a day of celebration but also a reminder of the responsibilities and lessons Missy and I have learned as her parents. I will never forget the day Callie was born. It was one of the most incredible events I have ever experienced and one of the most frightening moments in my life. The day we left with her from the hospital, as her grandparents and other family waived goodbye when just Missy and I were now with this little human life bundled and buckled in her car
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Cleveland’s Catastrophic Balloon Fest THE GREAT DEFLATION
While you may have heard of Fyre Fest, the disastrous music festival that became the subject of documentaries on both Netflix and Hulu, you may not have heard of its record-setting older cousin Cleveland’s BalloonFest ’86. The event was supposed to improve its reputation. Instead, it became a notorious example of an event planned with good intentions that ended in disaster. More Than Just Hot Air On Sept. 27, 1986, Cleveland held the 1986 BalloonFest as a fundraising event for United Way. This charitable organization works to provide access to health care, education, and economic mobility for underprivileged communities. The idea was simple: For every dollar donated to United Way by Cleveland schoolchildren, two balloons
would be added to the celebration. At the end of fundraising, the tally was 1.4 million balloons: a world record. Shadows From Above After volunteers spent a full night and morning preparing the balloons and the net meant to contain them, they were released in front of Terminal Tower in Cleveland’s Public Square. With more than 100,000 people filling downtown, events quickly went from majesty to misery. The launch went well, but as a storm swept in, the cloud of multi- colored balloons turned into a giant plastic clump blocking air and street traffic and littering nearby Lake Erie. What the Helium?! In addition to shutting down a local airport, helicopters could not operate
over Lake Erie. Tragically, a boat carrying two fishermen had
been overturned that day, and the balloons made it impossible for the Coast Guard to mount rescue efforts in time to save them.
The largest balloon-related disaster outside of the Hindenburg is also notable for setting a Guinness world record, as 1,429,643 balloons were released at once. Unfortunately, that record only makes the event more notorious rather than giving Cleveland the prestigious victory it sought. No wonder no one has attempted to break it since!
WHAT’S THE SCOOP?
TRACING THE HISTORY OF ICE CREAM
While fables exist of Marco Polo returning from his adventures in the Far East with a recipe closely resembling modern-day sherbet, that was not the inspiration for the treat we’re exploring here. The history of America’s favorite dessert is as varied as a cone of Neapolitan ice cream! Beginnings in Europe While people have enjoyed iced desserts for thousands of years, sources tell us that the origin of ice cream dates back at least four centuries , with written records from 1600s Naples boasting that everyone in the city was born with the gift of making sorbet. While this was similar to the dessert we enjoy today, it was still quite different. A typical 18th-century ice cream maker was the sorbetiere , a bullet-shaped pewter mold filled with cream or custard, immersed in a salt and ice slush, and twisted
back and forth with a handle on the lid. Every few minutes, you had to remove the lid and scrape away at the sides to keep it from freezing into a hard block, making it a labor-intensive process. Crossing the Atlantic Our favorite treat likely made its way across the pond sometime in the early 18th century. Our first president, George Washington, was an ice cream fan. In 1784, presumably as a reward for winning the Revolutionary War, he bought a mechanical ice cream maker for his home in Mount Vernon. However, until refrigeration was invented and homemade ice became accessible to the masses, the dessert remained a rare delicacy reserved for the wealthiest Americans. However, by the 1940s, ice cream production flourished, and ice cream shops popped up just about everywhere. The dessert has remained popular ever since, with the average American eating roughly 20 pounds of ice cream yearly!
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TAKE A BREAK
The fast-paced modern lifestyle many subscribe to nowadays has lasting effects on our mental health — from broken sleep to chronic multitasking. A graduate student at the University of Arizona has ideas for protecting our brains from stress created by life’s hustle. Emily McDonald, a doctoral candidate in neuroscience who posts health advice as EmonTheBrain on TikTok, lists these three things to avoid. Avoid your smartphone when you wake up. The brain is highly suggestible upon awakening, and “the content you consume … will have a greater impact on your mindset,” says McDonald, who is also a mental health coach on top of her doctoral work. Studies show that while waking up, the brain transitions from theta waves, a deeply relaxed, inward-focused state, to alpha waves, which promote alertness. Reaching for a smartphone to look for texts or other content often triggers a dopamine release in the brain, encouraging the user to repeat the activity. If this occurs first thing in the morning, it can disrupt your dopamine levels for the rest of the day, leading to a continuous need to check our phones. Resist negative self-talk. Repetitive thoughts about ourselves get wired in over time, and “what gets wired in is what we manifest,” McDonald says. A 2021 study in Scientific Reports shows that brain scans of people who recite scripts expressing self-respect and self-confidence exhibit stronger connectivity in regions associated with motivation. Guard Your Mind, Ignite Your Life BRAIN BOOST
ALIEN BALLPARK CHERRY FIRECRACKER FLAG INDEPENDENCE ORCHID PADDLEBOARD PATRIOTIC SUNDAE
SUNSCREEN TRAMPOLINE
SUMMER PIZZA
Inspired by AllRecipes.com
Ingredients
• 1 lb pizza dough • 1/4 cup pesto • 1/3 cup shredded quesadilla cheese • 10 thin slices of zucchini • 10 thin slices of summer squash • 2 mini bell peppers, thinly sliced
• 1 thin slice of red onion, diced • 1 strip cooked bacon, chopped Butter Glaze (optional) • 1 tbsp butter • 1 tsp steak seasoning
However, it’s important to note that positive self-talk can also trigger overconfidence, leading to impulsivity and inaccurate responses on cognitive tests. Avoid highly processed foods. “There is plenty of science to show that what we eat affects our brains,” McDonald says. An eight- year study of 10,775 people showed that the cognitive functioning of people
Directions 1. Preheat grill to high heat on one side. 2. Reduce the flame on half of the grill burners to low. 3. Roll out pizza dough into a circle. Place dough on the grill over high heat. 4. Close the cover and let dough grill for 1–3 minutes until bottom is slightly cooked and shows char marks. 5. Use tongs to flip crust over and move it to the low-heat side. 6. Brush dough with pesto, sprinkle with cheese, and evenly distribute veggies and bacon. 7. Grill for about 3 minutes until cheese is melted; then carefully remove. 8. Optional: Combine butter and seasoning. Brush crust edges with butter glaze and place pizza in broiler until golden.
who ate highly processed foods, including hot dogs, pizza, pastries, white bread, cakes, and instant noodles, declined 28% faster than that of people who ate more fresh and unprocessed foods. A diet of highly processed foods speeds the aging of the brain, which no one wants.
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(770) 503-1022 www.KevinTharpe.com 405 Broad St. Gainesville, GA 30501
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Growing Through the Journey of Parenthood
1
When Balloons Caused Chaos in Cleveland
2
The True Story Behind the Invention of Ice Cream
Summer Pizza
3
3 Tips to Protect Your Mental Vitality
Tips for Meditation Novices
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FINDING SERENITY Start Your Meditation Journey
Modern life is filled with distractions; while some may be harmless, others are negative and draining. Tuning out the noise and focusing on what’s important can be difficult. However, meditation can help focus your mind, combating stress while improving attention. If you want to improve your memory, attention span, and awareness, consider
investment. You don’t need dumbbells, ellipticals, or resistance bands — just time, a quiet space, and patience. Get started with the basics. First, take a seat somewhere quiet. Once settled in a stable position, close your eyes and focus on breathing in and out. While the goal is to stay focused on your breathing,
meditating. Meditation is easy to attempt and difficult to master, but the benefits are well worth the effort. Here is how to start your meditation journey. What is meditation? Before you start, understand that meditation is an exercise for the mind. It has been used for millennia to relax, focus, and de-stress. There are many forms of meditation, from contemplation to mindfulness, each with different objectives. Unlike other workouts, there is no upfront
it is natural for your mind to wander — when it does, the key to successful meditation is to be kind to yourself, notice the thoughts, and then quickly refocus . After 5–10 minutes, you can open your eyes again and go about your day. The more you practice, the less your mind will wander, and the more effective the meditation will be. Like all forms of exercise, it is most effective when built into your daily routine. Best of all, it is easy to get started, and the benefits grow over time.
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