radical ramblings and thoughts of a southern girl
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Posted Jan 29, 2012 07:38 AM
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 <pre> When I try to describe myself; I think, I am the ocean.
I am the tall waves, roaring and crashing.
I am small splashes that spatter the sand.
I am the children, for seashells, they're dashing.
Or the little old couple who walk hand in hand.
I am completely understood or the depths unknown.
I am surrounded by people and still feeling alone.
And I too reflected the sun when it shone.
That is why I am the ocean.
I am the memories, from times long ago.
That wash away like sandcastles of girls wearing bows.
Sometimes I fly high like a kite on the shore,
And others I sink to the deep ocean floor.
I tell you now I am many things more.
But for now I'm the ocean straight down to the core.</pre><p re> </pre ><pre> poem written and photo taken by</pre><pre> Off Color Daughter</pre><pre>< span style="font-size: x-small;">"that's my girl"</pre>
I was so happy that first, she allowed me to read this and was ecstatic when she said I could share it. I'm pretty impressed with the depth of writing of a 15 year old. What a lucky off color mother I am.
Happy Sunday and Best wishes for a wonderful day!
The Radical Rambler the mother of Off color daughter
Hugs!
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Posted Jan 27, 2012 05:56 AM
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“Do not allow people to dim your shine because they are blinded. Tell them to put on some sunglasses, cuz we were born this way bitch!” ― Lady Gaga
glitter and shine, tie dyed t-shirts, hippy hair, droopy drawers, fill the world with sparkling light, color it, sparkles and shimmers amongst the conformed gray and brown and blue in their hues of drabbness.
the world says, "be like me" wear my style, choose my hair, my chair, be thin, be quiet, blend on into the scenery.
just look them in the eyes, smile and blink, and let your light shine and gleam and sparkle, tell them to close their eyes, turn around, stand your ground, let your light shine.
It might scare them, the brightness of who you are, don't give a damn, stand and be proud, let it shine your light that is... let it shine.
There stands a stand of frames and shades, offer them their choice of cover to protect them from your shine, cause they can't hide your light, and you won't turn it off, let it shine, shine, shine, to light the world
If they don't like it tell them to close their eyes, or select some shades from off the rack to protect them from your shine. don't listen to their whine pave your own particular track don't run with the pack, let it shine.
let it shine to change the world, cause you won't change, won't turn it off cause baby You were born this way!!!!!
Go on out and give it a try, go on make them fry.... let your light shine, shine, shine. Be yourself!
have a happy Friday!!!!
go on try and change the glow in the world today by being yourself!
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Posted Jan 25, 2012 03:14 PM
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When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.Cherokee Proverb
Four-score and nine years ago, on a snowy January I entered the world.While my creative spark and quirky sense of humorhas always made me stand out among those who conform to "what the world expects",I have had an exceptional life.I have traveled a bit,lived deeply,had some adventure,laughed hard and loudandfinallyhave learned that"what you do"does not equate to "who I am."This has been a huge learning in my life,I am so much more than what I do.On today,I celebratemein all my weird ways.I took the day off,Big Daddy did too.Off Color daughter had a stomach bug or so she saidandOff Color son had something. or so he saidSo the entire "off color" family has spent the day in bed--not together. Big Daddy and I watched a movie and fell asleep, both of us--old age is catching up.Off Color daughter surprised me with a hiking water pack--one I have wanted forever but been too cheap to buy.The boys got me a new telephoto lens--quite the impressive feat in itself--that they go the right one.Off color son, wrote me a sweet note that hit my heart just the right way.In a bit, we will head out to a Mexican restaurant of my choice--I thought about pizza--and still find myself wavering---but Mexican it is-----"so it's my birthday...it's my birthday.....Happy birthday to me."
Today,I celebrateall the friends who have sent me well wishes--the phone calls from family,the text messagesandthe deep love I am surrounded by.
I am blessedtruly blessedandhaving accepted my off color skin finally---well---I am comfortable with who I am these days---love me or leave me.Life has slowed a bit for mealthough I am in the best shape of my life,I enjoy the calm and peace of home,long naps with Big Daddy,a warm cup of coffee and tea on the couch,a good read or a great piece of art and time spent with the off color kids.I like myself,love myself,andtodayjust for todayI celebratewho I am.
I saw a t-shirt that cracked me up today....it said"Be nice to your children, one day they will choose your nursing home."it is becoming more truer every day...I do love my off color children---so don't forget how nice I've been in a few year.
On to dinner with the off color family---always an adventure.thankful todaythat I am ME!
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Posted Jan 23, 2012 05:22 AM
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“Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all of the lives I’m not living.” <tbody style="margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px;">
| Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (book- Jonathan Safran Foer)
The off color family went yesterday to see this incredible film that makes you think. Set in New York City, the drama unfolds by first leading us into the lives of a boy named Oskar and his mom and dad. Thomas, Oskar's dad, is an incredible father who continually teaches Oskar to break out of his shell by creating missions around the city that force him to talk to strangers, look in unusual places and connect to the world. When Oskar loses his dad in the 911 attack, the movie then takes us on a heart wrenching journey of a young boys incredible adventure to find a piece of his father once again. On his journey, he meets hundreds of strangers, shares his story and gets a piece of theirs all the while trying to uncover a mystery about a key found in a vase inside his dead fathers closet. It is a must see but be prepared to leave thinking about the gift of life, of those you love, of all the things you don't do enough of like hold someones hand, hug your children, and act silly and laugh. It had an effect on all of us. Off Color Son wrote an incredible piece of poetry, which he shared with me. I asked if i could post it...but he was not ready for his stuff to be out there for the world, so I'll respect that one. The quote underneath the dried up greenery, has my favorite quote from the movie:
"Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I'm not living."
What I do know is there are lots of missed opportunities, missed chances to dance, ungiven hugs, and times when I've held back my emotions for fear of what others might think or say or want.
I work hard to live my life in the fashion I feel called, but my bones they still strain abit, get burdened down by all the "what will they think" "what if..." "why" "nobody cares" that I feed into my head to cover up my shame for sometimes being afraid to live.
It is Monday, the rain falls steadily outside in the darkness of early morning. Cecil the Devil Dog from Hell is shaking--he's always scared during the rain-- he's also doped up on benedryl. Hershey dog is ringing the bell on the back door to tell me he is wanting out again. Chocolate is laying at my feet. Off color daughter is sleeping over at her cousins, Big Daddy is curled up down in the love shack and off color son is cuddled underneath his blue and white blanket eyes closed sleeping this cool morning. All is quiet for a few minutes and i breath in as i prepare to go out into the world.
My goal today is to give my old bones a break, to live my life,
to laugh alot, cry when necessary, touch a stranger in a way no one else will know and change the world by putting goodness back into it.
I'm only one person, but one person who no longer wants to bear the weight in her bones of the life she is not living. I want to live!!!! I hope you too make that choice on this dreary Monday morning start to a work week.
Happy Day and Blessings!
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Posted Jan 21, 2012 09:57 AM
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Ginger : So laying eggs all your life and then getting plucked, stuffed and roasted is good enough for you, is it?
Babs: It's a livin' from the movie: Chicken Run
I read a post a few minutes ago about today being National Hugging Day. That's right--January 21st is a day set aside to honor hugging--who would have even know there was such a day. I don't think I used to consider myself a hugger--not that I was against it or anything---it just made me feel a bit uncomfortable. I became more of a hugger once I began working in the church world. As the congregation would leave on Sunday's, as they would pass, many would hug me, especially older women who lived alone. It took me back at first but after awhile I became accustomed to the hugs and even came to expect them. As a stanch independent woman per se, I didn't need hugs from anyone, and if I didn't hug or ask for hugs--well it proved I didn't need anything from anyone.--that was the lie I told myself. I started watching these women and a few older gentlemen who would sometimes hug a bit too close--I was younger than most of the women in their assisted living home. I came to appreciate each one and realized that my hug and touch at the door may be the only human one they get until the next Sunday. This re framed the act for me--hugging that is. Last year, my daughter complained that I never hugged them. It surprised me. I thought I did and even though I told them I loved them--it seemed they realized that I pulled away when they hugged me. I've thought alot about that statement and I've done some serious soul searching since then. I've realized alot of thing about myself and the way things in the past can haunt us in ways we never realized. Once we realize--we can change. Last year when I started blogging, I began reading My year of hugs, 365 days of hugging. Melinda spends her days hugging whoever she encounters often complete strangers and then blogging about her encounters. I've enjoyed reading her daily and watching her inner beauty unfold as she touches the world, changes the world, makes the world a bit more loving as she moves through her ordinary day of being a mom, shopping at target, getting produce from a local farm all the while hugging and then articulating her experience through her daily blog. I think I've been changed by reading her. I find that I'd classify myself as a hugger now. Yesterday, I hugged an employee who was upset and then hugged Big Daddy and was blessed with an opportunity to hug a person who gifted me by sharing a bit of her grief as she explained she'd lost her teenage son and mother within four months of each other. Every time, I hug someone---I think of Melinda's blog. I hope you'll go over today and tell her I sent you. All you have to do is type the word (Hug) she'll understand what it means. You can find her: tell her the radical rambler sent you.
touch it changes us molds us into more loving people changes ourself, our neighborhood and community and little by little it changes the world by putting goodness back into it. One hug at a time!!!!!
So go on... Don't be a big chicken baby---Hug somebody! I triple chicken dare you! bok bok..... Happy Hugging day....
(Hug)
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Posted Jan 19, 2012 05:40 AM
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Made a wrong turn, Once or twice
Dug my way out, Blood and fire
Bad decisions, That's alright
Welcome to my silly life
Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood
Miss "no way, it's all good", It didn't slow me down
Mistaken, Always second guessing
Under estimated, Look, I'm still around Lyrics from Pink: F*^&*&g Perfect
Marching to the beat of my own drum, running down the paths of in a mad crazy dash, I've been misplaced, misunderstood,mistaken... It's all good.
I've kept on plugging, kept on hugging, kept on clinging, I'm still around, see my neighborhood.
I don't care, don't even dare, to believe you comprehend, all my gifts, all my dreams, all my yearnings, it's all inside.
I keep on going bumps along the way they don't slow me down. underestimated,unseen, all bruised up, but I'm still around.
they think I'm crazy, it may be so true, but I'm not lazy I'm not rude, I'm just me and that's all good.
I'm still standing.
hope your day is full of surprises, blessings and hugs,
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Posted Jan 16, 2012 09:40 AM
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" I don't have very much time these days so I'll make it quick. Like my life. You know, as we come to the end of this phase of our lives, we find ourselves trying to remember the good times and trying to forget the bad times, and we find ourselves thinking about the future. We start to worry , thinking, "What am I gonna do? Where am I gonna be in ten years?" But I say to you, "Hey, look at me!" Please, don't worry so much. Because in the end, none of us have very long on this Earth. Life is fleeting. And if you're ever distressed, cast your eyes to the summer sky when the stars are strung across the velvety night. And when a shooting star streaks through the blackness, turning night into day... make a wish and think of me. Make your life spectacular. I know I did." from the movie Jack
Hey Look at Me! That's the line I use to drive my family crazy---look at me--look what I can do--and then I do something silly to as they put it--try to win their approval. Sometimes it works and they laugh. Other times--well they blow me off or look at me like I'm crazy or say something "mean". Off-color son--is the more positive one in the family usually. He will usually looks at me, smiles and give me a high five---"good job mom". Big Daddy--he tries to out-do me-by doing more than me. Off-color daughter simply say-, "don't try to win my approval." Sometimes she'll share in the antics and sometimes, she'll even laugh. Talking about spectacular---the off-color family---they make my life spectacular. Living with them is like traveling with a three ring Off-color circus--one never knows what adventurous act will happen next. It might be off color son and his teenage antics to try and keep me on my toes or watching him soar through the air to make a basketball hoop. Off-colors daughter is like a walking encyclopedia--especially of the medical kind---anything one brings up--she's either seen a documentary on it or recently read something on line about it. One never knows what she will decide to wear or what eclectic items will be her new favorite thing... and then there is Big Daddy.... oh my what can I even say-- few women in the world are blessed with the ringmaster like Big Daddy--- I mean confess women-- how many of you have had your husband don an old bathing suite and show up at the pool acting like a immigrant from another country? not many I would say.
During the winter months, I usually get the blah's. The colors I love tend to fade to brown's and all the things I love to walk around and examine appear to die. During this time the resting season the things that keep me going, getting out of bed, loving life is the antics of the off color family three ring circus! It is quite the adventure and one never knows what will happen next.
Is your life boring, ordinary! Come on over to "off color" paradise where you too can become part of the show.
My life.... even during this dormant time of year is full, rich, wonderful, ordinarily extraordinary. It is quite spectacular in the off color kind of way.
Happy 50th Anniversary to my parental units--that's a really long time.
and to all of you
Find a way to see the spectacular in your life. claim it and name it. Share it if you will, I'd love to hear about yours.
Happy Day and Blessings
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Posted Jan 14, 2012 08:42 PM
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“The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.” ― Madeleine L'Engle
Today is one of my best friend's birthday. I sent her a text this morning and tried to call. Later in the day, she replied letting me know that she was "at a car show with her guys and she was sitting in every convertible that she could looking sexy hot from the neck up!" She cracks me up and has always been in my corner for anything I've been going through. We met as freshmen in college where we lived in the same dorm and for the remainder of our college life, we were next door neighbors sharing a shower between our dorm rooms. Back then, we were two naive country girls who suddenly found ourselves in the city. While everyone else partied that first night, Catwoman Jean and I shared a bag of popcorn and a tab along side my best friend from home. Since then, we have remained close--like sisters of sort--- we've shared good times and made each other feel better during bad times. We stood beside each other at our weddings and cheered at the birth of our babies. I wish everyone in the world could have a friend like Catwoman--- (she got the name by donning a pair of homemade glasses colored with markers and a cape and I've called her that off and on for the past twenty-five years.)
So on your birthday--the 49th one---as we begin the road to being really sexy sizzling hot for fifty----I wanted you to know how much your friendship and love and support has meant to me over the years.
Today I celebrate You!!!! and wish I had a big turtle cake that we could divide down the middle.
Thank you for: *always loving me--no matter how crazy or stupid or wrong I may have been at any given moment. *for standing by me through thick and thin, good and bad, better and worse and worser. *for your laughter--that deep belly laugh that turns into a cackle that is so contagious everyone has to laugh whether they are included or not. *for that time you called in because you'd had that "bad tuna sandwich"---sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do to recover if you remember what I mean. *for loving me, the Big Daddy and all the off color family. *for being the kind of friend who will take off work, drive three hours to sit with Big Daddy while I have surgery then drive three hours back so you can work the next day....not once but twice. *for all our adventures, our eating, our laughter and our thinking out loud with each other. *for always being the one person who can make me feel better regardless of what is going on, who can make me laugh when I really want to cry and for being a friend who'll help you duck tape that last fingernail---when it feels like that thing holding us up might break. *for being a model of honesty, hard work, dedication and diligence. *for being a woman who does whatever she needs to do to keep standing...
we may be getting older, we may have a few holes or wrinkles or blemishes in places we consider all the wrong places but we are on our way to the sizzling hot sexiness of fifty and we just keep getting better.
Here's to another year as we journey toward our moo moo days in the nursing home. I love you and I wish everyone in the world could have a friend like my Catwoman Jean.
"Big daddy says----knock, knock!"
happy birthday may your world be full of hope, love and laughter you deserve it!!!
hope you all have a great day and have a piece of cake to celebrate my friends big day!!!!
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Posted Jan 12, 2012 05:23 AM
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“How we feel about ourselves, the joy we get from living, ultimately depends directly on how the mind filters and interprets everyday experiences. Whether we are happy depends on inner harmony, not on the controls we are able to exert over the great forces of the universe.” – Mihaly Csikszentmihaly
As the New Year begins again, we all set out to live life in a different manner. Some of us expect to lose those pounds that have built up over the years. Others plan to become healthier by quitting habits that are not good for us--like smoking, coffee, drugs, alcohol. I myself decided that this would be the year I really tried to appreciate the things around me. I vowed--I will not let the little things bother me. I will stop and smell the flowers, let the rain fall on my face and watch the world for signs of hope and love and grace. Some days I almost succeed. Other days, like all the days this week, I have allowed circumstances beyond my control to have an effect on my outlook on life and guess what---I allowed it to happen. For a fraction of a moment--which is all it take--I glanced from positive to negative, from contentment to dis-something. I allowed my expectations to color my outlook on life. Why you might ask? Good question. I get busy. I get all wrapped up in my little world and my plans and when someone interrupts--- well it is as if they actually took a moment when I wasn't looking and someone or something peed in my cornflakes---truth is----only we have control of our own cornflake bowl. The past few weeks have been difficult for me. Difficult in terms of being busy, difficult in that circumstances beyond my control have played havoc on my emotions allowing worry to sneak into my pretty little world. Work--well new year comes---so has everyone else and they have showed up in my office playing havoc on my ability to control the flow or my day. Ah...control....see when I lose control or can't control that's when I start to see the pee in my cornflake bowl. Perhaps... just perhaps... if I would learn to go with the flow a bit more, let go of the ropes that try to keep everything in line, allow life to unfold and experience it one day one moment one second at a time and live it on my own terms of choosing happiness and peace and calmness.. then maybe today will be a day free of pee.
let's hope so anyway... I will try how about you.
blessings
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Posted Jan 10, 2012 04:20 AM
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Triumph is born out of struggle and Faith is the alchemist. God in Bruce Almighty
Some days, I find myself falling deep inside a dark hole
buried so deep within myself and my thoughts and my own little world
that I can almost lose touch with the reality of my experience.
Something or Someone does not go as i had planned
or
perhaps
they have not done what I expected
and
so
I
retreat
to a place where I lie and tell myself
"they can't hurt me here"
truth is
that is the lie I tell myself
because
it is just my own intrinsic reaction
to that which I cannot control
or don't feel comfortable with
or
don't understand--my hiding room within--that is.
It is not always a bad place,
but
sometimes
way too comfortable like a favorite pair of old blue jeans--you know the really worn one's with the hole on the knee.
It is a nice place to visit--but not a place I should live---I keep working on that one.
Trouble comes
and
when it does
we all
bow our head and sing
"oh woe is me"
"nobody knows the trouble I've seen".
but
human experience is all much the same
just different tales,
characters,
and
settings.
We all got some trouble going on in our lives, now don't we.
Here is what I know to be true:
The sun comes up in the morning...don't forget. Things always look worse in the dark.
Some things are providential and perhaps we'll never understand the rhyme and reason
to why the world works a certain way or why things happen to us. It is life. Accept it on life's terms..
it is what it is and we humans most often just have to roll with it.
bad things do happen to good people
but
the difference between defeat and triumph
is
woven in the character of the way a
person holds their head when they are down, defeated, and broken hearted,
it is displayed in the manner in which
someone chooses to see the half-full verses the half-empty glass
or
the whether they can see that ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.
Troubles
they come and they go
the storms come but so does the sunshine and the rainbows
life rolls along and
in the mix there is a reaction taking place
chemical and unseen in nature
a
force of love
pulling us forward
to
a better place.
triumph comes
in small ripples and sometimes roaring waves...
but
it comes....
trust that
and
let faith hold you in-between.
blessings to you on this Tuesday morning
hugs.
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Posted Jan 9, 2012 05:35 AM
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 "Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response."< /div> unknown
Yesterday Big Daddy, off color daughter and I took a walk at the local arboretum. The last walk I took there was at the end of fall when the colors were at their most brilliance. Yesterday there was nothing but stark dried up remnants of the season past. Off Color daughter and Big Daddy had great fun in making fun of my camera stance and breaking off sticks and sticking them inside the band of my sexy hot baseball cap---making me look like a reindeer of sorts. Once I pulled one out not knowing there was another and off color daughter stated, "oh and Rudolph only had a red nose--she only has one antler." Off Color son stayed home and played video games--I think he is embarrassed to be seen with us sometimes. Later in the day, off color daughter and I went to target to pick up some kind of special water bottle that squirts when you bite it. While there we passed the books, I caught a glimpse of one with an interesting cover and picked it up. The cover stated that one day the writer woke up and decided that she had spent too much time waiting to be happy so she was going to choose it. She stated that she was going to spend a year choosing to sing, choosing not to grumble, choosing to acknowledge the happiness that was already hers. I put the book back on the shelf but I have continued to think about it. I wonder what might happen if I too made that choice. The seasons of our life come and go just as the palate at the arboretum changes. We experience the ups and the downs, joy and sadness, love and pain and in the middle of it, I suspect that there are always moments, glimmers of light shining through even the darkest night of the soul waiting to be caught, felt, acknowledged. I'm willing to give it a try....try to choose happiness for a week or so and see what happens. I will smile intentionally. Sing to the music or write my own tune. Dance--even when people say, "don't do that." I will jump and skip and touch and be be all that bubbles inside of me. smile and skip and surge and simmer happiness is a conscious choice --- let's make today the day we choose wisely.
blessings and hugs
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Posted Jan 6, 2012 05:53 AM
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Everything is temporary. Everything begins and ends and begins again. When I look ahead, I imagine infinite possible futures repeated like countless photocopies, a thousand blank pages, and in each one I see myself, never hiding, never sitting silently, and never just waiting and waiting and watching the world go by... FROM THE MOVIE CLOCKWATCHERS
i wish i was optimistic enough.. to see the infinite possibilities, to catch a glimmer of the unwritten pages of things that begin and end and begin again. Most days I am the idealistic dreamer watching... standing observing the dance thinking and analyzing and unwinding the intricate odysseys of humankind. The continuous circle plays on beginnings, endings filled with moments of highs and lows, woven with friends and lovers and ecstatic moments and then without rhyme or reason or explanation the circle dance changes music life slows to a lull and just as quickly the craziness like that of rap and blues pops in....
Life... it begins circles around and just when you think it is ending... it begins again with new pages to be written in our story book.... new adventures to be lived, new love and hope to be birthed into existance.
For today... just today... I will fully participate in the dance, move my feet, feel the beat, dance dance my own moves--good or bad--- listen to my heart and enjoy the ride to a new page of my story.
May today.. be the day.. we all embrace life as it is our unwritten circle of story and fill our pages with good stuff like love and grace and hope and laughter and laughter and relationship...
I'd love to read your tale.... come on...tell me about your day.... where did you see the fragility of life, the wonder of adventure, the hope of a new day...
blessings to each of you as you write your page today...
hugs and blessings
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Posted Jan 4, 2012 05:36 AM
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Life is worth living, and you never know when a little thing will come along that will change your life. Or a little thing that you do might change the life of someone else. No one is alone. We're all connected.” ~~Monica, Monica's Bad Day touched by an Angel tv series It was Sunday and I was having a bad day. I may have got up on the wrong side of the bed or had the wrong hormonal mix or maybe just not enough coffee. I was working at an inner city church and on Sunday Morning church members gathered and prepared bagged lunches and soup and coffee and went to a local hotel parking lot in the middle of down town and they came. People of all sizes, shapes and colors, came to pick up a free lunch as there was no other feeding program available for the homeless and hungry in our city on Sunday mornings. This happened to be my Sunday to participate. It was freezing cold outside, so I dressed warmly. Church members had already assembled the 200 or so bagged lunches, cooked up heaping hot pots of soup and coffee. The lemonade was prepared with love and the "angel brownie" had arrived--a member who baked delicious looking homemade brownies each week filled with all kinds of surprises and wrapped individually--these were always a hit and knowing the member---well I'm sure they were baked with her heart. Long story short, the church van was loaded and a couple of men and I headed out in the freezing elements. As soon as we pulled up, they came and without hesitation, and began to set up the tables, carry the coolers and help get us ready for the food line. I was still in a bad mood this morning....but as the cold set in my bones, I began to watch these people file through the line. Calloused and dirty hands of people dressed in layers of clothes to keep them warm. Some of them with shaking hands, not enough alcohol in their system or missing the medication they cannot afford--tiny tremors unnoticed by many. I walked among the men and women--- Their faces revealed the hardness of their life, some of their clothes were dirty and torn but yet there they sat and stood, laughing and talking and eating. A gathered community and in the midst of it all, I stood in my bad mood and wondered where in the heck God was in the midst of folks with so little.....and as quick as my bad mood said it... There he came.....a tall black man with very gentle eyes---eyes filled with lots of life experience and pain, but yet---his eyes twinkled as he spoke to me---twinkled with some kind of joy that bubbled from somewhere deep. I named him David. I don't know what his real name was but for just a moment on that Sunday.....I had a visit with an angel of sort. We started off chatting about the weather and before I knew it... David took off in a litany of all he had to be thankful for----warm coffee, sandwiches for later, the wonderful brownies----and for just being alive. He smiled and said, "Do you ever read the Bible?" I laughed and said, "sometimes". He said..."Did you ever read them Psalms? Oh my they lift my spirit......I have so much to be thankful for....God has blessed me....God is good....all the time God is good." and as quickly as we shared our conversation, David left me. I never saw this gentle thankful man again but I have never forgotten the the way this man touched my heart in such a powerful way. I have never forgotten his toothless smile, his twinkling eyes,or his blue skull cap. Sometimes, when I have another of my bad moods, he comes to visit me in my memories and once again helps me start to count my blessings instead of my miseries.
I have been blessed because I've been touched by an Angel named David and my life and my world has been all the better for it... For I am blessed....blessed all the time.... and the Mystery.. the Mystery continues to surprise me.
Watch today and see if perhaps someone like David doesn't come along and shift your world.
just watch.
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Posted Jan 2, 2012 09:31 PM
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Faith is believing in something when common sense tells you not to.
We hang around in clusters clinging thinking our world will never change when suddenly something starts to bubble up, trickle up, an electric surge, an unexplainable urging and we do it... let go of what we know, decide to turn loose and let our clinging hands rest for a bit.
fear begins to emulsify mix in with the heat of potentiality, fingers open, and we fall alone blown wherever the wind goes, to the left, to the right, we wonder if we just might die, might not make it... afraid of where we will land, when something undeniably mystical moves from somewhere we can not explain and we feel ourselves begin to float in a direction we never expected.... no apparent rhyme or reason and It---grace---it catches us, hold us, nurtures us ..... grace it catches us,
then faith encourages us to trust again and if we have courage enough we let go and it all starts over again.
may we all acknowledge that thing that tiny little thing that keeps us holding on and open our clinging hands and let grace catch us
it will you know.. catch us
go on... let go... you won't fall...something will catch you i promise.
blessings and hugs
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Posted Jan 1, 2012 08:42 PM
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“There comes a point when you either embrace who and what you are, or condemn yourself to be miserable all your days. Other people will try to make you miserable; don't help them by doing the job yourself.” ― — Laurell K. Hamilton
EPIPHANY: A sudden realization about the nature or meaning of something. An epiphany can often come about due to some experience that may trigger the sudden "aha".
Incredible light flashes along a pathway, fire blazes from a bush in desert places without burning anything up, water thirst-quenching life saving water springs forth from dry ground awaking our senses and our capacity to actualize into that which is intended.
Epiphanies.. wise men and wise women bearing gifts being led by a bright star against the dark sky, in search of something, something they had never encountered before expecting a new awareness of hope and suddenly without rhyme or reason one finds oneself being changed twisted, challenged world turned upside down inside out opening up a whole new world full of the possible and fulfilling impossible missions.
The New Year will bring them to us, in the midst of our ordinary lives, extraordinary encounters that fill us with hope, change our being, help us blossom into more than we ever expected to become....
Epiphanies. possibilities unlimited. watch open your eyes, the light flashes across the sky and the bush.. the bush of holiness burns wherever we are.. may we find our way, open our heart and be changed... and then in turn may we change the world one small gift at a time.
Happy New Years to all of you... be all that you are meant to be... Awaken to grace, hope, and love.
Peace and Blessings from the radical rambler!!!
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