radical ramblings and thoughts of a southern girl
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Posted Oct 30, 2011 06:22 AM
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Cole Sear: I see dead people.
Malcolm Crowe: In your dreams?
[Cole shakes his head no]
Malcolm Crowe: While you're awake?
[Cole nods]
Malcolm Crowe: Dead people like, in graves? In coffins?
Cole Sear: Walking around like regular people. They don't see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don't know they're dead.
Malcolm Crowe: How often do you see them?
Cole Sear: All the time. They're everywhere. quote from movie....Sixth Sense< /div>
Yesterday was my scheduled meeting with my beautification specialist. It was time for my usual try and color the gray streaks by adding a bit more blond treatment . I must say, as always she did a fabulous job--i have the best beautification specialist in the whole wide world. She's funny, kind and even off-color after one gets to know her.Spending a Saturday morning with her after twenty some odd years is like spending it with an old friend---because it is.The girls--off color daughter and hannatard--say my "do" is cute but if they saw me out...the would think that i was a lesbian based on the way I look---a muscle wanna be and short hair---whatever--lesbians are sexy hot too. Big Daddy thinks it is cute--and that is all that matters....at least he said it was cute and that he likes it--course as long as I love it--that is all that matters!!!!!< /span>
Yesterday while we were talking, she said that she had just attended one of her old clients memorial service. As she was telling me a bit about her memories of this client, I stopped her."Do you do dead people hair?" She smiled...."yes I have been asked to do that and I have on occasion done a few dead clients hair." of course this started me on one of my Oprah Winfrey question asking sessions....< /span> I wanted to know what it was like.... doing dead people hair that is...< /div> "Do you wash it?""no--that has already been done--it's really pretty easy--cause all you have to do is the front and sides." "Are they clothed?' "Sometime s---sometimes they are covered with a sheet? It is really kind of hard--cause I can make their hair look fabulous, but that is not what I want--I want them to look like the way everyone remembers seeing them during the day--so I spray their hair, fix it, mess it up, fix it some more, smoosh it and work until it looks like I know they'd want to be remembered."< /span>
"What do you do while your doing it, is it a sacred experience---doing hair for the dead?"
She thought for a minute and said.... "yes it is......while I fix their hair it is like they are there with me one last time.....watching me, making sure I'm doing it right. I usually talk to them--laugh some as I remember stories and the life we've shared.....yes it is a sacred spiritual experience."< /span>
I smiled---she's a deep beautification specialist! I say... well...if I wasn't going to be cremated...I'd definitely want you fixing my hair when I start the next leg of my adventure..."
and then as quickly as we touched the subject... we moved on to the next one... kids, sex, religion....life.. every four weeks.. I sit in a chair, get my sexy hot lookand share life and laughter with an old friend and it is good-- and it leaves memy sexy hot self.< /div>
So on this Sunday morning.. I am thankful... for a beautification specialist who will do dead people's hair.< /div>
Have a happy Sunday! Blessings and Hugs!< /div>
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Posted Oct 28, 2011 08:55 PM
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"Can you see the holiness in those things you take for granted–a paved road or a washing machine? If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.”— Rabbi Harold Kushner
I caught just a glimmer of the evening news tonight after I got home from work and the gym. The one section I heard and saw was about a father who had recently lost his business due to the hard economy. Because of his loss, his credit rating had fallen and thus when he applied for a position, as a common practice among some hiring institution a credit check was preformed, which hence disqualified him for the position. "Catch 22---you lose your business--try for a new job--can't get a job because you lost your business." I was touched by what he said, "I feel like giving up, like I'm not gonna make it. But then I look into the eyes of my two young daughters and then I realize---I can't give up---even if I wanted to give up--I can't." I looked at Big Daddy and said, "guess we need to try to live with more gratitude--we really do have much to be thankful for, don't we?" Big Daddy agreed. I've thought alot about this tonight.... about how to raise my awareness of my blessings instead of my woes.... Friday night...I'm always tired. I am already in my pj's early, eat supper and usually am in bed fairly early---that is what older people do on Friday night anyway. I'm sitting here thinking.....Big Daddy is screaming from our bedroom, needing a cuddle buddy--which really means he needs me to rub his back and put him to sleep. I'm getting ready to eat dinner.
Life goes by quickly-- small moments, glimmers of holiness come to us. If we are lucky enough to slow down we see them experience them relish and cherish them--- other times... well a missed opportunity for warm fuzzies, awe, burning bushes.
I wonder what might happen if in our daily situations all of us began to focus upon the wonder, the small things we have instead of the things we don't have or the things we want next.... perhaps our perspective of what is important might shift too....
Tonight I find myself thankful for Big daddy screaming for me---it is nice to be loved---even if I'm not quite ready to get in bed....see once I lie down--the evening is over and I have to pick up off color daughter and her friends hannatard and norman from their Halloween party--- I'm thankful for their laughter as they dressed in their "jersey shores costumes" off color daughter was "snookie", hannatard was Dina and norman was Paulie, for off color son who always sends me an I love you text.... for a warm house, for the cool autumn air, for food, water, clothes, the washing machine which is working overtime downstairs trying its best to catch up my weeks worth of off color family laundry....
so as the evening ends... I find my heart full... full of love... full of gratitude.. full of thankfulness... for a wonderful, amazing life.... It is a wonderful life........ you know... we just have to realize it.
Blessings... What are you thankful for on this autumn evening?
hugs and peace to all of you.
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Posted Oct 26, 2011 05:03 AM
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You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Mohandas Gandhi
This morning as I let the dogs out at 4 am, I looked up at the stars. The wonder of it took my breath and I stood there in awe of my own smallness in the world. The dark sky coupled with the light of the tiny stars took my breath for a moment and I wondered how in such a huge world, universe, galaxy----I might stand on my own back porch--looking sexy hot in my t-shirt and wild hair and gaze out. As I stood, I said a silent prayer of thanksgiving for my many blessings---my family that slept inside, Big Daddy and a world of surprises, my off color children who were keep me laughing and on my toes--snuggled all in their bed, food for my stomach, gym waiting for me down the street and hot coffee brewing and inviting me to wake up.... and I stood just me the sky and the Universal Love together meeting for just a brief moment---and it was a great way to start the morning. As I did my morning routine before heading to the gym, I checked my e-mail and facebook accounts. As I perused the updates, I noticed an old minister friend from long ago mentioning something about Rumpelstiltskein and scarfs and Congolese women....it caught my eye.... I read some more and To make her story short, in support of our sisters in another place, she is using remnants of yarn to change the world one stitch at a time. Please take a moment to go over and visit her site and perhaps buy something to feed our brothers and sisters in the Congo.
so there was my message from the Universe for the day.... standing under the sky becoming one with the universe is not an alone kind of thing connections heart strings thrown out to the four corners of the world-- small things yarn and needles and a spark of an idea... trusting that a difference can be made... having the faith---to stick out a toe, a finger, a scarf-- and then allowing God's grace to take over and hope to float up--- that's how a difference can be made.
Please check out the site, say a prayer for my old friend's cause, buy a scarf, feed the world.
It all starts with us..... with me... by being the change I want to see.
LeAnn---thanks for the morning inspiration--- may we all move out and change the world by using our gifts and having a bit of faith and courage.
Blessings to all of you... hugs... now go on over and buy a scarf!!!!!
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Posted Oct 25, 2011 05:25 PM
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“The Voice
There is a voice inside of you
That whispers all day long,
"I feel this is right for me,
I know that this is wrong."
No teacher, preacher, parent, friend
Or wise man can decide
What's right for you--just listen to
The voice that speaks inside.”
― Shel Silverstein
rolled up balled up hidden away, those secret gifts, tiny dreams, blossoms of potential, hidden underneath that outer layer put on by someone other then self---mom, dad, grandparents, preacher, teacher, boss....we tend to trust them most--think they know best....
We reside there sides rolled up, holding the oughts and shoulds others give us.
wonder what might happen, if the colorful us were to open up, allow uniqueness to explode in a colorful kaleidoscope...
would the world change, would I change, what might happen if... if.. for one day... I believed my stuff mattered and I rolled down the corners of my balled up tightly woven existence and let my true colors out....
I wonder.....
happy Tuesday.. hugs and blessings to you all.
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Posted Oct 24, 2011 09:24 PM
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"Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all." ~ The Princess Diaries (2001) There is one thing I know for sure... we all will die.
It is a statement, more than a question, we don't like to think about it, dwell on it, some won't even admit it out loud, but it is true. At some point, either expected or unexpected, the Life force will leave us and we will exhale our last breath, and that thing,
the Mystery we can't explain..
departs,
goes back to where it came and the only thing left is carbon and hydrogen and nitrogen... which eventually turns into dust. we came from it we return to it.
The question one should ask oneself is this:
Have I lived?
we say... tomorrow.. in a minute.. next time...
we put off becoming all that we can until it all is right... until the kids grow up... until ... until.. until...
we put it off until one day it might be too late to do that thing.. become that person... offer your gift...
I wonder... if a person who has already had their life force leave them I wonder how they might live if they could come back for just one day....
I wonder.. what kind of lesson they might teach us?
Life it is precious... this moment... right now.. right here... it is all we know we're gonna get...
so breathe in the gift of Life... cherish it... let it energize your body... and Live..
sing dance hug laugh love
these things these joyful things.. they are the things that really matter... so .. throw it all to the wind... and Live!!!
hugs and blessings
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Posted Oct 23, 2011 07:30 AM
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Infatuation is when you think he's as sexy as Robert Redford, as smart as Henry Kissinger, as noble as Ralph Nader, as funny as Woody Allen, and as athletic as Jimmy Connors. Love is when you realize that he's as sexy as Woody Allen, as funny as Ralph Nader, as athletic as Henry Kissinger and nothing like Robert Redford - but you'll take him anyway.- Judith Viorst
It is your lucky Sunday---time for another one of my infamous "Big Daddy" posts. As many of you may know by now, life with "Big Daddy" is never dull--it is always an "off color" adventure waiting to unfold. This one....well it is one of my favorites, right up there with the black bathing suit at the water park.
So on with the "off color" tale.... please note.... with any "Big Daddy" story.... Readers...beware...the story may and will get a bit off-color....
It was several years ago... back when off color son and off color daughter were barely three and four. We'd been busy being exhausted as new parents in our mid thirties..... tired, worn-down, in desperate need of a nap when our anniversary suddenly approaches. In years past, Mama Dee and Papa, "big Daddy's parents" had graciously exchanged houses with us. They slept at our house for a night so we didn't have to rent a u-haul to bring the accessories necessary for two energetic toddlers. We'd use their clean house for our anniversary "love shack".
So....anniversary approaching and Big Daddy tells me he is going to take the "off color" off s to mama Dee's and papa's early. I got up in my pj's looking "fabulous" in my early morning hair. I sat down on the couch and realized Big Daddy had already left.... leaving behind a steaming cup of coffee and folded newspaper. I noticed red writing on the front of the news paper and continued my read. It said, "for a good time......read the classified ads".
I sipped my coffee and sat down... as i found the classified section, I noticed that the personals were circled. I read on...
"Looking for a pumpkin butt (big daddy's nickname for me) to celebrate an anniversary with....you adventure starts at...and lists an address..."
I take my shower and proceed to the address...< /div> It is a floral shop. I walk in.. < div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> newspaper in hand.. andthe shop owner says, "Are you....?"I nod... "your husband is the sweetest.....he's prepared an afternoon adventure for you which begins here...."she hands me an angel box and a red rose. I'm quite sure my face looked puzzled and she said, "I think he left you a clue..."
I opened the box and inside was a hand written note from Big Daddy...now that your adventure has started,let's see if we can find you something"sexy and hot" to wear.....proceed to....
I feel myself blush a bit....yes even sexy hot mama can turn a bit red when a floral shop woman is staring over her shoulder....
The next clue takes me all the way across town to a clothing store. I go inside and walk around a bit, looking for some type of clue...suddenly a college aged boy approaches me...
He said, "are you looking for a clue"
I nod... he hands me an envelope... " take this gift card and buy yourself something sexy to wear....andthen open the next envelope to proceed."
I spend a bit of time, searching for something that fit my stretched out post two pregnancy body that might look sexy, made my purchase and went back to the car....
omg, I'm thinking... what in the world will he do next....i open the envelope...
"Proceed to..............address.< /strong> When you check in you need to ask for a key to Harry Peter's room."
like I said, never know what Big Daddy will do next. I arrive at the location... not some shabby out of the way dive, but the new Hilton..
I can't remember who was behind the counter,but do recall being very nervous asking for a key to "Mr. Peters" room.
It is on the top floor.....< /div> I insert the key... Big Daddy meets me in a room full of window....< /div> andthe fun began.....< /div>
As I have said before...Life with Big Daddy is never dull...
andone mornings I'm having a bit of writers block due to the lack of caffeine in my system...well he makes for a quick and easy............write.
My wish for all of you is that someday... somewhere... your big daddy or sexy hot mama
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Posted Oct 21, 2011 04:56 AM
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The universe is one great kindergarten for [humankind]. Everything that exists has brought with it its own peculiar lesson. The mountain teaches stability and grandeur; the ocean immensity and change. Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes - every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man. - Orison Swett Marden
life moves forward in motion pulling us whether we want to go or not Eyes may be open or closed to the process the process of this thing we call "living" but I have found that when i am awake, look around let the world be my classroom, there is never a day, that is not filled with beauty, lessons, awakenings love, light, and life.
The classroom teaches me about strength endurance purpose wonder
it surprises me delights me thrills me moves me God grabs me...
so sharpen up your pencils, wipe the sleep from your eyes take a walk in the classroom of life and let the world awaken your senses to beauty and wonder... and be changed by it all.
happy Friday and blessings.
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Posted Oct 19, 2011 05:03 AM
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As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you... Psalm 42:1 < div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
longing: a strong desire especially for something unattainable :
I seek to know the answer to the Mystery of the Universe. Where did we come from? Why are we here? What is our purpose? Who or What put us here?
There are no concrete answers no cool drink for my soul, I catch a glimmer of a stream, as quickly as I see it, I run to it, feel the panting of my parched spirit, I arrive to the sacred drinking spot and my soul catches just a quick sip of something so wonderful so amazing, so deep and rich and wide that words cannot describe it and I'm taken away soar if you will to a place to which I cannot describe...
I return... the water is gone leaving only a dark outline along the banks... I swallow, savor the sweetness and suddenly my longing returns... can't get enough want more, seek more,
doubt comes did I imagine that sacred place, the surge of Energy, the electric God bumps on my arms.... I try to think it away the experiential aspects of the quench.........
and just when I'm sure I have an overactive imagination, the thirst begins again, dryness < div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">leads to longing...and my soul begins to search again, for another sacred place to get another sipfor that/he/she/IT.
I wonder on this cool rainy Wednesday evening..
does the Mystery ever pant for me?
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Posted Oct 18, 2011 04:55 AM
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"Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings-always darker, emptier and simpler" Friedrich Nietzsche
They come and they go, shoot through my psyche in random splurges, scattering around, moving around, pulling me along with them. Tiny little electric impulses, coupled with ions and secret channels and secret meetings, Thoughts.
Thoughts what drives us, beckons us, changes us, don't understand them, can't quite comprehend how this Mysterious Shadow drives me...... I try to listen and the waves of words, feelings, awe sweep over me, they change at a moments notice.... but if I really pay attention, these thoughts... They drive me to the next level of my growth toward Becoming... if I ignore them... well I stay stuck in the shadows of their teachings..... May today, be a day, I move from the shadows and really feel.
May your Dark shadows, light shadows and tiny little shadows teach you a lesson about yourself this morning.
Happy Tuesday... hugs and blessings.
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Posted Oct 17, 2011 08:46 PM
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 "God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars."Martin Luther Under the canopy of blue sky, I stood, scattered and rattled, unsure of what to do, how to act, what to believe, suddenly from nowhere and everywhere all at the same time, something Holy snuck upon me and the breeze came, blew through, lifted me up, and love rushed over me in a sacred sense that words cannot describe. The location of my space did not change, but something, something mystical and sacred, shifted my perspective just a bit changed me if you will... loved me, nurtured and supported me taking me on a sacred sabbatical of spirit and
in a fragment of a moment I realized i was not alone but supported in a way that can't be seen with my human eye but can felt on the strings of heart in a gentle rhythmic fashion... and for today... for this moment... I believed wholeheartedly without intellectual question or argument and I felt my Spirit Shift and it was good, as our story tells us someone said back at the onset of time and I'll add for me very good in a spiritual sacred sense. Have a wonderful Monday... hugs and blessings
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Posted Oct 15, 2011 08:36 PM
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 "I < /span>wanted you to see what real courage is,.... It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do." Atticus Fitch from To Kill a Mocking Bird
Rarely do we meet a person of real courage... most folks are too afraid to try, scared they will fail and bind them self by that statement that rings inside their head, :what if I don't make it: so they just don't begin..... stay stagnant... choose the road traveled most, and think secretly about the "wonder what if's" I've met alot of these in my life... at work, in the church, in family settings.. something seems to hold ordinary folks back fear keeps them at bay and so they never see the top of the pedestal, never make to the top of the hill, never use their gifts to make a difference in the world... they are... and that's where they stay...
Occasionally... on rare occasions.. one meets a unique individual who has found the strength within themselves to overcome fears, their ears are closed to the nay sayers who say....he/she will never make it... instead, that seek something down deep inside, make a connection to something greater and begin the hard work of doing something most are afraid of.... most might even say--- that's impossible she/he will never ever make it ... "why are they wasting their energy"..
Courage.. it takes sweat, inner peace, believing in yourself and something bigger then one can even imagine. it takes hard work... it is being unafraid of what will happen if the thing doesn't....
Courage... sometimes it is not enough, but sometimes we get there climb to the top, make a difference....
Go out and live fully and courageously we only get this one moment, live it well.
blessings and hugs
Cowardly Lion: Courage! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot? What have they got that I ain't got?
Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman: Courage!
Cowardly Lion: You can say that again! Huh?
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Posted Oct 14, 2011 09:11 PM
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"I've been thinking Hobbes --"
"On a weekend?"
"Well, it wasn't on purpose..." ~ Calvin & Hobbes Quotes
After waiting all week, the afternoon on Friday finally came. I stepped out of the workplace, knowing I was free of the constraints, free from having to think, from from being in charge and having to clean up.... I walked to the time clock, zipped my badge and I swear, I do believe I could hear the sound of "celebration....woo hoo.." My step gained a spark, My eyes, revived from a tiring week, I walked out the cool breeze grabbed me, blew through me, woke me up... colorful leaves scattered haphazardly from the sky landing along the the pavement dropped < div align="center"> in a flower girl kind of way, paving my way to the ghetto van... Ready Set.. Weekend... Hallelujah!!!
I'm wrapping up my evening, full stomach, tired muscles, warm bed waiting.... Life is fabulous, and once again... I realize
I am blessed, warm food, warm bed, roof overhead, and clean sheets...and an off color family to share my love with...
Hope everyone is as happy as me about weekend... may it be blissful and delightful for all you... blessings and hugs.
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Posted Oct 13, 2011 04:55 AM
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“I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze. But I think maybe it's both. Maybe both are happening at the same time.”Forrest Gump (1994)
I spend alot of my time, wondering, wondering if things have meanings,wondering what my lesson in life might be about any given situation,< /div> I am often puzzled.
providence or coincidence? that seems to always be my big question of the day. < div style="text-align: center;"> Things happen...often they seem connected... you think of a friend and call them--they needed to hear from us... you feel drawn to ask someone a question--next thing you've heard their whole life story and in the midst of it... a teaching moment....< /div> I often wonder if other people think about life in the same manner in which I do? Is there so much wondering?< /div>
I am sort of in the ballpark with Forest Gump on this one... I think perhaps it is both....and it is up to us to capture the providential teaching moments,learn from them...My passion drives me, my tender heart keeps me awake sometimes,< /div>my mind---oh my that gets me in trouble,seems like I'm always doing some kind of human experiment in my head.....
I look at the pea pod in the picture...< /div> little seeds that float around at the whim of a slight breeze after being so bunched and scrunched up inside the pod.....They are carried in some kind of manner,wind underneath their helicopter like wings...some of them land in just the right places,get just the right nourishment, find just the right soil conditions to root down and grow...others well...they land on hard concrete,become part of a nest to cushion eggs, land in water and float around until some tiny fish mistakes it for free food...happenstance...but yet providential all at the same time...the cycle continues,< /div> more pods form, they break open, root down and burst open, wind comes and they float around...landing somewhere to start it again.
I wonder,Do the same things happen with us humans?Are we carried to some place in a happenstance kind of way, < div style="text-align: center;"> Life comes and goes, people live differently and yet, < div style="text-align: center;"> some in every culture and every class find themselves< /div> in just the right spots, just the right conditions, to grow and excel,
perhaps for the ones who make it... perhaps our jobs are to pave the way for the others to do the same...in this manner..we turn our happenstance existenceinto providential hope for a better world.
The wind is underneath us, floating us if you will in a spiritual kind of way... trust it... root down where you can and dig in to make the world better.
Hope floats carrying us to all kind of new destination, grace covers us, and love... love gives us nourishment in just the right doses...
What do you think? Do we just float...or does the Spirit blow us to our next spot to learn a new tool. Heavy stuff for so early in the morning.
Think about it and act on it wherever you are.. happy Thursday...
off color son is now driving...< /div> off color story to follow...
one day until Friday....< /div>
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Posted Oct 10, 2011 07:12 PM
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Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. unknown
Well Monday has arrived and we have four more days until we hit the weekend again. I personally can't wait!!!! I am finally learning what one is supposed to do on their day off---rest---relax--have fun--be--even do nothing. It has taken me more than forty years to learn this and I'm so glad now to have learned a bit of the art of relaxation. < div align="center"> I look around,listen to all those close to me, tell their tale of their weekend,and i remember beging in their place of hustle and bustle..always trying fill up every minute with something,< /div> never being okay doing nothing or taking the time to walk in the sunshine, feel the crunch of autumn leaves under foot, feel the breeze blow through their hair that they most often have forgotten to let down. This weekend was a good one....Big Daddy and i went to bed early on Friday night. Off color son took his first road trip with people his age driving...< /div> I was a bit nervous but they made it home from their amusment park aventure all in one piece, though one of the drivers was pulled over, and recieved a rather substantial ticket--can't say that I'm sorry that off color son didn't learn a valuable lesson by being in the car....he says he's not gonna speed.....time will tell...he takes his driving test on Wednesday---mail me some valium---Off color daughter and I went to an apple orchard in a town not far from here. The weather was fabulously warm with a cool breeze.We walked among the various apple trees, played under the pears, picked a bag of apples and tasted a really fabulous raisin oatmeal cookie. We walked and laughed and took turns using my new camera. She didn't much like my get down low camera stance but she didn't act like she was too embarrassed. Autumn colors splashed against the light blue palate of the sky, horses galloped in fields, pumpkins lay strown through out a parched and dying field and all the while, all I could think was about how wonderful it was to be there taking in all the beauty and laughing with the off color daughter...she is really funny and can be as off color as anyone, but I'm beginning to see a piece of her soft sensitive side underneath her exterior....she has the best laugh and I love the twinkle in her eyes. On Sunday we all took a walk together with the three dogs and then Big Daddy cooked a family nacho dinner while off color daughter and I went to the library. Off color daughter could not find her library card, so she wanted to use mine. I told her I'd just wait in the car----she looked at me and said, "how much are your fees?". I laughed--for those of you who have read most of my posts--you may have read about the time I got sent to a collection agency over my library fees..... This time, I only owed $1.35--so we checked out about 30 books between the two of us. We sat around in the evening...off color son talked about his weekend and football picks. The one thing he did do was an imitation of me--and he did an explicit demonstration of my new "picture taking pose". He got down really low, bent his knees, stuck his butt out in the air and pretended to take a picture of a leaf on the ground. The entire off-color family thought it was really funny.... I personally think my new picture taking squat is sexy hot...I think off color son was just embarrassed because the teen on the bike was looking at my sexy hot butt in my biker exercise shorts.... Life in the off-color family is different-- "we're not like all the others" we laugh and joke and walk and talk sometime argue even... but truth is there is no other family I'd rather be a part of....
The off color family--- they rock... they are originally off color.... and for all of it rolled up in one off color home...
My heart is filled to the brim with love and passion and joy... for I am blessed... blessed indeed.
four more days until the weekend....
Happy Monday and hugs to all of you...
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Posted Oct 9, 2011 12:12 PM
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 <tbody><tbody>"I lay flat on my back and looked up into the darkening sky. How sad it would be, I thought, if we humans ultimately were to lose all sense of mystery, all sense of awe. If our left brains were utterly to dominate the right so that logic and reason triumphed over intuition and alienated us absolutely,
from our innermost being,
from our hearts,
our souls."
Jane Goodall, "A Reason to Hope"
There is a tension in side of me,
a struggle between the left and right,
my scientific mind thinks in logical, analytical patterns,
that part----connects the dots in a linear fashion,
doing experiments and collecting data and watching and waiting,
weighing and measuring.
The other side of me,
that creative side that I'm just learning to free
can look at just about anything,
see the splash of colors mixed together,
see the inter connective nature of the universe,
feel the dirt under my feet and the smell of grass mixed with the pine needles that emit a sweet oil as I walk over them.....and suddenly the creative wonder takes me to a place of Mystery and wonder...
there is a constant battle brewing,
a constant need to explain and know and understand,
the thinker in me seeks a resolve and uncover the myth,
so that the human mind can understand,
explain away....
and
then
without rhyme or reason,
in the midst of an ordinary kind of day,
something amazing reaches out,
grabs hold and suddenly
that
ordinary thing,
a small plant or some other thing,
goes from a simple kind of thing to
something so multi-layered and complicated that
the only word to describe the awe I feel is
sacred Mystery....
and
suddenly
the scientist in me
sits back for just a moment
and says,
hum....
perhaps...
and
for just a sliver of a moment,
a second in time,
the energy of the Mystery swirls around me,
bubbles up from somewhere ancient
and
infuses
my being with wonder.
I can't explain something that words can't describe,
and
to do so in a sense would minimize the
"burning bush kind of moment"....
today
I stood,
gazed at the color,
the intricate detail,
the splashes and the connection of life to each other
and
The Great Mystery came to visit
and
she
stirred within me a passion and zeal and wonderment
stirred my being up and mixed it all together..
and
for that
on this Sunday morning...
for
me
that was worship in itself
all balled up in a small fraction of a second.
May each of you...
be bathed in a splash of the Mystery on this day
and
may She Stir
up the Mystery in You.
Hugs and Blessings,
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Posted Oct 7, 2011 11:52 PM
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Never lose the child-like Wonder. It’s just too important. It’s what drives us. Randy Pausch, "The Last Lecture"
I remember as a child going to the drug store located on the downtown street of the county seat of my hometown. I loved going there. Seems there aren't many places like "the dime store" as we called it-anymore. It had a cafe there where you could get a cheeseburger and cherry coke, if you were good and lucky. Parents could purchase just about anything there--peroxide, pantie-hose and even "step-ins" as my great grandmother would call ladies underwear. My sister and I typically went in with a dollar each and back in the early seventies....well a dollar could buy a whole lot of stuff. We'd walk along the low bins filled with various treasures---Chinese finger pulls, gaudy fake necklaces, yo yo's, jump ropes, and my favorite kaleidoscopes. Right next to the treasure bins, one would find other bins filled with penny candy---gum, kool-aid in a straw, tootsie rolls, carmels and even those fake para film shaped lips with teeth that one could hold between their lips and appear to have a clown mouth. I also loved the little para film soda bottles filled with syrupy sweet sugary drink--about one sip--I'd bite the top off, suck in the juice and then chew on the para film. I loved the excitement of going in with a dollar and coming out with an assortment of treasures in my very own brown bag.
We tend to loose that sense of wonder all too easily as we grow up--or else--someone squishes it out of us---tells us it is not cool to enjoy the simple things that cause delight. We learn that it is not cool to pick up the kaleidoscope, hold it to our eyes, point to the light and turn.....it makes us look funny...ungrown up...not hip or happening!!!!
I love what Randy Pausch said in his "last lecture" done for his children as he knew the end of his struggle with pancreatic cancer was nearing... "Never lose the Child-Like wonder--it drives us." I think he had something there-- a rich tidbit that we sexy hot adults can learn from...
perhaps....somebody said to us "Grow up" "your too old for that" "act your age" and there are probably good arguments for actually doing these things sometime... but if we lose the wonder, the ability to question what would happen when, or how something works. or dream about getting the biggest bag of sweet candies to share with our friends... well when we get all stiff and grouchy and "grown up" sometimes we forget to press our faces up to the tinted glass to see the world in all kinds of spectacular color, we forget what it's like to blow smoky smoke from our lips on a cold day or dig through the clover looking for one with four leaves.
Our child like wonder--- it grounds us... teaches us about how amazingly wonderful the world is and can be...
May we learn from the words in Peter Pan "I don't want to grow up" and somehow embody both a grown up modality in which to function coupled with a hint of our inner child like glimmer that leaves a twinkle in our eye when we experience the mysteries of life....
May we all see the world, gaze at the moon and stars, breath in the air and cherish each "wonder" we are blessed to be a part of ...
Happy Friday and
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