Tag Archives: love

11.29.25
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The Opera of Moving in 3 Acts

Change has a way of revealing who we are at our core. Some people thrive on the excitement and possibility it brings, others adapt out of necessity, and some feel deeply unsettled by it. Moving, especially multiple times, takes resilience and courage. It’s not irresponsibility — it’s a willingness to start over, to chase something new, or to follow where life leads. There’s a quiet strength in that kind of adaptability, even if others can’t always see it.

After years of marriage, I began to sense it — the quiet resistance in him. The way he settled into routine. My judgement. 15 years before he had built two houses on an acreage. One for us and one for my parents who purchased the land. After both parents were gone, I felt the need for a transition and asked him to do some remodeling of their house so we could move. Although, ironically, the idea of moving from the home where we made all of our family memories made me sad. It wasn’t until he moved the cats to the new house while I was working, that I recognized the big decision alone needed the tenderness in the meaningful act that made the new surroundings feel like home. My cats!

5 years later, both daughters were creating their own lives and both had moved away from us. The youngest was newly out of college and setting out to find her right place in the world. The oldest had already built a life in a city four hours away and was starting a family of her own. As fate would have it, a business opportunity presented itself there. It felt as though everything was falling into place…..confirming that this was the right move for us.

Ten years later I was filled with gratitude….the absolute joy of watching our grandsons grow. But, even amidst that joy, something was missing. I wasn’t living in the place where my heart felt at ease. I found myself yearning to return to my roots, to familiar places and faces that had shaped my life. The irresistible pull was welcoming a granddaughter….back home.

After much reflection…with emotions filled with agony, we made the decision to move once more…back home.

ACT 3. Everything came together — the move, the search, the finding of a new place to call home. The tears of sadness linger for the love and laughter we left behind, but tucked safely in the corners of my mind are the echoes of a life will-lived.

It’s taken some time to get settled and to find a rhythm. Today, as I prepared a puzzle table and moved lamps around for just the right light, I paused for a moment in gratitude. Grateful to feel free, to feel at home and to know that all is well enough for me to simply sit in the quiet, listening to the familiar tick of the clock and enjoy the quiet solitude. Let the puzzle angst begin!

Until next time….

07.16.22
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Muting the trigger

A Facebook post by my friend, Tami, woke me up this morning. She is “healing” from back to back years of family deaths including her husband who was her soul mate, her love and Half of Her. Over the last few years she has included her authentic healing thoughts and fears and anger through her blogs and to and with her friends. This morning she posted the song, Dirt Road Anthem by Jason Aldean. It wasn’t a song I knew even though I think it is a decade old. But to make a long story shorter, I YouTubed it and these two lines stuck out to me:

“Memory Lane up in the headlights. It got me reminiscing on the good times”

I have meaningful loving experiences on a day to day basis. Often when I take a memory photo of my experiences, I feel like I am one of the luckiest people I know in spite of the hardships and the mental fears of the future that I continually give energy to as I go into battle with them. But I often look back at my younger years…say my early 20’s or 40’s and have wistful longings for the good ole days.

…..and I know I’m not the only person who lives a good bit of life in my memories….including the hateful ones I have not yet healed from. Tami’s post hit a trigger nerve and brought clear realization that I love to think about those good times but when I have a negative memory pop in, I often immediately go to anger and hatefulness and then realize I’m doing it again and Force myself to STOP thinking about it…but, maybe the answer is to just sit with the emotion for a few moments. (Not the story but how it made me feel). Perhaps then I can mute the trigger.

The good memories…let them come, I love to smile and laugh and remember those who made me feel love and joy!

Namaste

08.29.21
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The surprise visit

I had a blessed visit this morning with my dad…..it manifested with steepled fingers. Elbows on the arms of the chair with all 5 hand digits touching each other only connecting at the finger pads. It’s one of those memories of seeing my dad sitting in his recliner with his head back with his hands touching in the steepled finger position. The very last time I saw my dad was from the door of his hospital room shortly before his transition, laying in bed with fingers in the steepled position occasionally moving his hands as if having a conversation with someone I could not see.

This morning during the Daily Word and meditation portion of our Unity Service with my eyes closed I felt tears beginning to trickle from the outer corners of my closed eyes and my attention was drawn to the fact that my elbows were resting on the arms of the chair and my 5 finger pads on each hand were touching in a steeple position and I knew that my dad was close by. I wondered why the visit!

The energy of my dad visits often when I am open to his guidance or I am in a moment when I recognize I’m feeling lost or lonely and need some love. It’s not that I actually reach out or seek his connection, it’s that he just appears in my vulnerable heart. I am learning to allow the embrace, allow the connection, recognizing that his presence is here with me always and most importantly understanding that his presence is as real as if he were looking at me across the room from his recliner in his physical form.

Namaste

01.18.21
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Code name: Pink Flamingo

In the back of my mind, I’ve always known that if I ever became first lady or CIA, my code name would be: Pink Flamingo!

I have flamingo chimes thanks to my friend, Sue. I also have 3 metal pink flamingos in flower beds in the yard right now, as well as totes of the plastic ones which does include Christmas pink flamingos. My next door neighbor also likes them and has a little square in her side yard (my side) where her pink flamingos live along with pink flower pots. One Christmas she started decorating the yard with them and so I bought Christmas flamingos and set them up so they looked like they were headed to her yard. She and I may be the only two on the street who felt giddy about it.

Years ago my late night dispatch partner and I did crafts when 911 lulled. I taught her to crochet and she taught me to embroider. I have embroidered dish towels put away which will last many generations. I pulled out my embroidery hoops etc the other day and then sat with them because I had no idea what I would embroider or on what. I laughed thinking about his face if I started embroidering his underwear #notgoingtohappen But instead…I found this beginning/children’s punch embroidery kit during a late night excursion on Amazon. It came today.

…..and so it is!

12.19.20
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What is the Question?

I think the real question we need to ask each other and ask ourselves is this…..wherever we are in chronological age, do we have the same moral compass, the same opinions about other humans, race, sex, love and war that we did even a decade ago. How often and what exactly is the process for changing our opinions?

Without rules or an agenda today, my mind entertained me with questions and “answer” periods which seemed more like flashes of understanding. While I don’t really apologize for opinions I have honored through the decades of my life….they are illusions, anyway….thoughts and illusions of how I saw things based on how I showed up in each moment. These thoughts and illusions have changed often and each new declaration of opinion has been a barometer of my life…often liberating and somewhat painful.

I’m not really sure where to go with this thought process right now. I wonder if the answer is looking deep within ourselves individually and as a society in order to uncover what has made us angry, intolerant and hateful. When did we forsake humanity for selfishness and fear of “the other guy”? When did it happen in our personal timeline….when did fear become the prevailing emotion? Where, when and how does it stop?

I’ll think about that between the crunching!

Until next time….

12.17.20
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A day in the life of 2020

I’ve joined a zoom Strength Builders class that meets on Monday and Thursday mornings. For the last two weeks, I’ve been walking with a slight bend at the waste. I believe this 1) is not natural for most women my age; and 2) this evidence that I accepted the invitation in the nick of time!

After class I opened the door and

He’s getting his exercise too and actually has also been walking with a slight bend. He’s been putting a ceiling in our downstairs family room.

It’s nearly completed….just a few pieces left on my end of the basement then he can begin the reorganization of his art studio. He thinks he can make it cat free….He’s such a dreamer!

While everyone else will be in their warm cars tonight driving through the many Christmas light venues around us, we are meeting the Missouri family at Powell Gardens and losing ourselves in the beauty and mystery of the decorated Christmas wonderland!

It’s really hard to believe the 2020 version of Christmas is a week away.

Sadly I think the geese are getting ready to leave the pond. They’ve all been sitting around on a thin layer of ice today…..I’ve been sending them messages to stay awhile longer…the rest of the week will be warmer

This reads more like a Dear Diary entry but that is where I am in my head…holding myself close, appreciating the friendships and the love and the beauty all around me.

namaste

08.17.20
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Yesterday I was totally aqua

My friend Terri was in my head this morning when she posted a picture on FB of a cup of espresso – She captioned the picture “a few extra shots of espresso and new pens….it’s going to be a great Monday”. Oh Terri…I totally get it!

I have a brand new package of 12 multi-color gel pens laying on my desk…I have a partially opened (to grab the purple) package of multi colored gel “glitter” pens in the top desk drawer and I also have an orange zippered canvas pencil holder with my very favorite colored gel pens that I’ve picked up individually just because I can’t resist the color.

I love smooth writing pens…love them…I write a lot…I write haikus, I write notes for haikus – I jot a lot. I take very brief notes at work and often use different color pens to separate notes for different callers. I jot myself don’t forget notes… while on the phone I make stars and color them in, I make faces, I jot down and play with my favorite letters or favorite words. Yesterday I filled out doctors office paperwork with aqua…I hesitated but completed the task in bold, beautiful aqua because that is who I was yesterday!

It’s Monday…be brave…be a beautiful color!

04.01.20
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I did a grocery store thing

I woke up around 5 this morning, chatted with a bestie on line, tried to read a book which I’m not finding fascinating but I feel it does enhance my language skills since I’m not talking very much. There are a few big words in it which I hope I would pronounce correctly due to the fact reading written words is much different than wrapping your tongue around them. I knew the book could not satisfy me like a good sunrise on a clear day….and then I thought…I can be at the grocery store when it opens at 7 and avoid all of the angst of people.

It was freeking depressing. There were a few cars in the lot and every person in there other than cashiers were my age and older….and everyone looking like they did exactly what I did. Grabbed clothes hanging on the end of the bed and off to the store. Depressing…because I could feel it and see it in their faces. It was a totally different experience than a trip to the store during the heart of the day or after 5 pm.

There were no smiles, no nodding of the head. They slowed down on approach and actually stopped. I considered turning my cart around and going the other way so they would be more comfortable…but I realized this would not work looking at the big picture.

I tried to avoid everyone the best I could. I kept a smile on my face, love in my eyes and blessed everyone in the confines of my life in that moment. With the frequently blasted death sentence of the corona virus, older folks are genuinely scared and we need to respect that and love them with everything we have.

Namaste

02.07.20
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So much mental flapping dominated by unimportant crap

When it comes right down to the bottom line…most of the crap I give energy to in my day absolutely does not matter….often the rapid ego crises fires off one after the other as I move on to another earth shattering decision I need to make about my hair or what shoes to wear with my jeans.

On my journey, I read and think I have absorbed the difference between thinking with my ego brain…the fear brain or my spirit brain. That fear brain full of I’m not good enough, what if, this could happen, what do they think, if I do that, why is she such a bitch, why is he driving like that, why would she wear that, what will they think if I do it? And the difference in brains. My spirit brain which is fueled by love but most importantly, my spirit brain only recognizes what is happening right here…right this moment. If I’m not thinking about the next moment with my fear brain, I can be in the moment right now where life is happening and it has nothing to do with what if or what they or should I. It’s right now. What do I see, what can I feel, what do I hear right now.

This blog wrote itself after a text from a beloved about an E.R. visit. I went full bore into OMG mode, what if. Irrational fear gripped me until I recognized the behavior. Stop, breath in and out feeling every breath, center myself to what is happening at this moment…right now…..right now all is well.

Hope this helps someone else in crisis mode!

10.11.15
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The simple Mind…

Watching Jax sit on Papa’s lap this morning watching SquareBob Stretch pants…or whatever it is called…I realized that my husband of 36 years is simple.  I’ve known for many, many years that there is something genuine, calm but with a short fuze but peaceful in his soul.  I used to envy his ability to sit during a house-is-a-mess-things-need-to-be-done hurricane and turn it all off and read a book.  I asked him many times how do you shut things off and not jump from the high dive into the deep end…he always said…I just don’t think about it.  Actually this used to piss me off beyond belief but I also wanted it – I wanted the peaceful soul.  I still do.

I think it has to do with upbringing – there were no pressures on him as a child other than to be a child.  While I don’t think he necessarily learned what I consider adult responsibilities as a child, he learned peace.  Unfortunately in our early days together, I had a whip trying to beat our life into a frenzy of perfection of my goals and he wanted me to relax.

I’m getting there.  I am giving myself permission to relax and do what I want to do now…and he has evolved into the perfect husband.

I was overwhelmed with love and thankfulness yesterday when he installed a new water heater…I priced installation through Home Depot – it was outrageous – he said, I can do it.  He can do it…he has that kind of mind and ability – when the job needs to be done, he figures out how to do it.  With the exception of plumbing…if you are reading this, dear.  I don’t want you to do plumbing.  My stress level can’t deal with it.

My husband is gentle and loving and has no idea how great he is and how much we all depend on him.  It is most evident when love oozes from him with Jaxon.  I’m still learning from him.

Until next time….