Woman to Woman

Let's talk!

Are you content with the condition of the world? Does it bother you that children go to school in the morning and are shot at by their school mates?

Does it make sense that we tell our daughters to say no to sex yet they are bombarded on a daily basis that they will not be "cool" or "liked" if they don't dress, act, talk and look sexy. Does it make sense to our duaghters and sons that we say we are so offended with the images of women and girls in advertisements, tv and movies but we continue to purchase and consume the very products who advertisements offend us?

Are you comfortable with the fact that almost every mother and father (especially fathers) on television are portrayed to be bumbling idiots. Dad can't plug in the toaster without blowing up the house and Mom is an emasculating Robo-Woman.

"Apathy is not the most dramatic form of suicide, just the most common." William J. O'Malley

What are we going to do to make this a better world for our children and grandchildren? Henri Amiel wrote, "Woman is the salvation or the destruction of the family, she carries it's destiny in the folds of her mantle." Mr. Amiel is right.

Men tend to define themselves according to how autonomous they are. We always wonder why they won't "commit" and I am sure it is because to "commit" is to lose one's separateness and therefore, one's identity. Women, on the other hand, define ourselves by our relationships. Unconsciously we believe, "I have a relationship therefore I am!" How many women stay in terrible relationships because unconsciously we believe that if we don't have even a lousy relationship we might cease to exist.


Now, one might think that this is a weakness but it is, in my humble opinion, one of our greatest strengths. It is because of the way we define ourselves that we are the caretakers of the earth. We are connected, we feel compassion, we nurture! We know in our hearts and souls that if any thing is wrong with one baby, one family or even one lake or river, that something is wrong with us all.

We just need to teach our daughters that the first relationship they have is with God, Goddess, All There Is, The Great Spirit, the Higher Power. The next relationship is with their self. Next, the relationship they have with Mom and Dad will accompany them for the rest of their lives so show them how important they are, how much they are loved and respected. If they never witness respect they will never recognize it.

A woman who was four-months pregnant asked her obstretician when she should begin teaching her new baby. The doctor answered, "You're four months late!"

Look at how connected we are? We menstruate on the same cycle as the moon and tides, and in the days before artificial light and synthetic birth control, we cycled with the other women in our huts and caves. We invented villages, agriculture, math! We are good!

Somewhere, sometime, somehow we lost our footing. We need to regain it. I'm not suggesting that we grab the reins from men and take control but I am suggesting that we put the focus back on our children, our elderly, our families, our communities. We turned our backs on the living and breathing and have surrendered to the inanimate, the governments, the corporations the organizations. When did we decide that it is more important to "give" our children stuff than to share ourselves with them.

Within...or.....In My.....

I've been tagged......what is cyber tag anyway? Steven tagged me and says I have to answer the following questions....like I do things I "have to!"

5 things in my fridge:

unopened egg nog, a hostess gift from Christmas....think its still good?
celery
carrots
lettuce....just in case we get an unexpected visit from a rabbit!
white wine....again for unexpected guests, I prefer red.

5 things in my closet:

journals
a 3' tall doll with orange hair that I had when I was a little girl!
two large boxes of Mitch's writings
dresses...in many different sizes and eras!
scarves and hats and gloves....for those winters when California pretends to be Montana for a day or two.
dust bunnies....wonder if they like lettuce....

5 things in my work supply bag....?
Okay, hard one here....do you mean my teaching bag or my Mary Kay bags?
Can't mean a typical gym bag as the really most extreme sport I participate in is my morning showers and luckily no bags are necessary!

Mary Kay bag:
15 Look catalogs
15 "Invite" booklets
Business cards
Samples
Records & scheduling book

5 things in my car:

Rob Thomas cd, love Street Corner Symphony.
Wayne Dyer collection of cd's...can't learn too much about creating my reality!
Mary Kay bag
Travelers bag with sketch pad, pencils, pens, journal and water bottle.
quilt....never know when the need for a nap or picnic will hit and I believe in being prepared!

Okay, Steve says I have to tag 5 other people and I say, "Steve, You are not the boss of me!"

Words

Words. I love them. I love where they come from, what they mean, how they sound. I especially love words that dance on the tongue. I love juicy words!

Roots! Now that is a good word. From Old English, from Old Norse, the root of root is wryt...yummy huh! Root is a noun and a verb, trees and teeth have roots, families have roots, pigs root, people root around and I bet you didn't know that the lowest tone of a chord (as C in a C minor chord) when the tones are arranged in ascending thirds is a root.

How about "Phosphatidylcholine"? Don't you just love how it plays in your mouth and gets your tongue all juiced up? I don't know why there are no children's poem or riddles with phosphatidylcholine in them. It is every bit as fun to say as Mary, Mary, quite contrary and much more interesting than a Snuffleupagus.


What about Snickerdoodle? It doesn't tickle my toes like Abaculus but it is a jolly word. Abaculus, now that word should never be spelled out in whole letters but should be written with dots, small broken pieces of letters, grout is optional.

Hamulus rhymes with abaculas but sounds better in pig latin: amulushay, but the Hook is when would you use both words in a poem?

Relinquish...anouther good sound but not an action that most of us choose freely, unless its to relinquish a hated chore or paying the bills, I would gladly relinquish my daily dose of phosphatidlycholine and finishing the abaculus with the hamulus but I absolutely will not relinquish my snickerdoodle.

Another word, a word that opens the door..and several windows...on many more juicier words and concepts is epistemology! Can you just feel the goose bumps building up your back?

Epistemology! What makes justified beliefs justified? (here come some excellent words folks....hold on). Deontological justification! Contextualist! Tripartite!

Is it possible that there is deontological justification for daily doses of phosphatidlycholine? Would that constitute deontic logic...well, maybe non-deontic logic, which is much more fun to say anyway!

A word that confuses me is tree! A very inappropriate word for such beautiful beings. The word tree is so tiny and all above the line, no g's or j's, no p's or y's! No roots or wyrt's, and the tallest letter is a t, what about the l's and f's. Tree will just not do....let us make up a new one. Not a word for boot tree or saddle tree or family tree (whew, talk about roots). Well, I'm up a tree on this one...any ideas?

Do I have a favorite word you might ask? Do you have a favorite word? A word you use in everyday conversation? What about "contemporary" or "random" or "serendipitous"? Consequently! Pursuant....eww, thats a little precocious!


Pray tell....share with us your favorite word and why!

Memories of Past Christmases

I just came back from the annual Christmas party of my husband's store. As we all sat around we shared our memories of our best or most memorable Christmas.

So many good stories and even some sad ones, all very memorable. All very touching.

My memories of Christmas as a child, my most significant memories blend together.

It's difficult for me to remember if this incident was the same year as that occurence.

I remember lots of cousins, lots of aunts and uncles, singing, dancing. I remember the Christmas tree at my grandma's and grandpa's house that went all the way up the stair way.

I always wanted a two-story house with a wrap around stairway so that I could have a big giant tree like the ones I remember there....though the other 50 weeks of the year climbing stairs has absolutely no appeal to me.....absolutely none.

There was always lots of love, people laughing, kids running around and around. I remember and still do the wonderful feeling of belonging....belonging to something significant and something bigger that me....I was a part of the whole.

Fog

My dear friend has been so sad of late. She sits in the corner at the office and stares into nothingness. When I ask what is wrong she just moves her head, slowly, from side to side. My heart tells me that her gesture is not telling me that nothing is wrong but she is telling me she just doesn't know.

Then I ask, "Is there anything I can do to help?" and she tells me she wants to lay down and never get up.

I wrap my arms around her and hold her until the next patient walks through the doors.

We go through the day, answering phones, taking blood pressures, guiding this person or that into a room. Two and three days pass and still my friend is only physically in the space, her spirit and soul have journied off....somewhere....but not here, not in this office, not with these patients and files and chores. She remains as passive and spiritless as a human can be.

She calls in the prescriptions to the pharmacists and even some of them, pausing in the routine of it, ask her what is wrong....but they can't see her head move from side to side...and she lets them return to their tasks.

One bleak morning, the fog is thick, the corners dark. Everytime the door opens the chill creeps in; grabs us. We tell our Family Nurse Practitioner that it is a full morning. Lots of patients coming in, lots! We ask her to "kind-of" expedite her visits with her patients. Oh, when will we learn?

it is 10:30, the waiting room is standing room only, and over-flow has gone into the second waiting room at the back of the clinic. Our FNP is only on her 2nd patient. the patients are starting to grumble and the coughing and sneezing is in need of an orchestra conducter with his wand to try to make some sense and order of it.

My friend jumps off her stool! Jumps! She has hardly moved in days but today she jumps. She grumbles! Grumbles! Grumbles about time and taking too long and wraps her knuckles on the door of room 2! "Time!" she calls through the door.

She briskly walks back to my office.

Suddenly, electrically, a switch from far inside her flips and with a wonderful glow in her eyes, a genuine look of surprise on her face she shouts, "I'm back!, I'm back! I don't know where I went but I'm back!"

We both laughed and danced and rejoiced!

I am secretly relieved that, as in the movies, I never had to slap her!

A Must

While Wandering and Wondering, I wandered onto another world. It truly is in the universe of Imaginarium. It's name is hydrogenballoonclown and it is truly worth the price of a ticket....oh....wait....Admission Is Free.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please place your seats in an upright position and fasten your belts.

Was that the Holy Spirit?

Something has changed in our world, it has slowly been gestating for the past 21 months. Consciously, I am ashamed to confess, I was unaware of what was happening, and, quite frankly, I am not just a little sad that I was so blind. Looking back I can recall little telltale hints and conspicuous prognostications of what was slowly growing and developing.

If I was truly aware, I would have been able to sense the beginning beats of her heart the first flutters of movement.

Though labor was extremely rough and perhaps long as we all waited through the day, some pacing, some praying and others dancing in anticipation. Millions of people were glued to televisions, radios, internet connections and each other. Many just as equally unaware of what was happening as we all awaited the outcome of the elections in the United States of America.

Tuesday evening, November 4, 2008, she was born. Many missed the moment of her first breath but the tears of her first cry were seen and felt around the world, but especially in the states. Some people were overwhelmed by the defeat of losing a long battle and in their sadness missed those precious minutes. Her birth was a monumentous moment in the history of the U.S.A. and, becuase of the the whoeness and energy of planet Earth.

Now, many missed her gestation period and even her birth, but even the blind could not miss her presence on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. I'm not sure that she has been named yet, I'm not sure she can be named, for what name could be be worthy of her. You can see evidence of her in the softened faces of people of color. You can see her in the rounded threshholds where hard angry edges once existed.

She inspires hopes, dreams, and promises.

Obama promised change. Who knows what his challenges and successes will be or if he will be able to change anything as far as economics, education or wars are concerned but I know, in my heart of hearts that when he walked on that stage to accept his victory in the presidential election that something changed.

I witnessed it on the faces of every black man and woman in the audience and every day since then. It was a moment that we truly became brothers and sisters. My whole life I was raised by my parents to know that we were all brothers and sisters, equal, in the eyes of God, in the eyes of the law. November 4, 2008, my black brothers and sisters finally received the message.

Samhain, Halloween, All Hallow's Eve,

Don't you just love this time of year?

Crisp air...long nights.....curling up on the couch with an old soft quilt and a good book.....sipping hot tea on the patio while the wind blows leaves all around you...

...ladling a big bowl of hot homemade soup and fresh bread any time of night or day because it's been simmering on the stove or woodstove all weekend.....knitted over-sized sweaters and long skirts with cozy thermals underneath.....I Love These Days.

I can't wait for the little kiddoes to knock at my door tonight....I like to listen to their conversation as they come up the driveway, talking about the jack-0-lanterns and the leaves crunching beneath their shoes.

I love that the veil is thin and I am closer than ever to those ancestors who glazed the trail before me. I love the long, long nights....three big heavy quilts on the bed....pumpkin pies and zucchini bread....Yup, this is a good time of year....one of the best.

...and there was joy

I'm not sure how to start this blog...seems it might appear to some to be heretic mumbo jumbo but might ring true with others. It actually feels pretty right on with me and despite my creative, juicy, somewhat mystical way of thinking I am really a very logical person.

I believe that we have a divine heritage that we so often refuse to acknowledge. In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we are introduced to the Spirit of God. We are told how the Spirit of God manifests so many wonderful new things, the universe, raging ocean waters, day and night, plants, grain fruit. God first thinks it, then it is, and then God has Joy in it. Now logically speaking what do we know about God and the Spirit of God?

1. The Spirit of God thinks it..(..what an imagination, if I do say so myself).

2. That which God has thought is manifested.

3. God had Joy in it!

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image!"...

Hmmm, I went for the grade instead of pass/fail in my college Logics class and I got an A, with very little kissing up so I feel pretty solid in stating that this logicaly makes me believe that our divine heritage, granted to us by God is that we can think it, co-create it ("let us") and that we should have JOY in it.

Now I don't take this lightly, despite my attempt at humor. There is great responsibility in this divine inheritance. There is the responsility of thinking good positve stuff. How many times have you been so afraid, investing your emotion and imagination in something terrible only to later say, "Oh man, that's just what I was afraid of!" Then there is that "Joy" thing, which to me means that whatever I create must not be at the expense of anyone for how can you have Joy in something if it is not good for all.

Then Jesus came and he said, You are my brothers and sisters and that which I can do you can do and more.

Now, what do we do with this incredible gift?

Filling the Well and Stocking the Pond

2009 is on it's way.

Have you packed for it?

These are my ideas on what to pack:

Integrity and Good Music.

Imagination and Good Books

Open Mind and Soft Shoulder

Creativity and Spirituality

Courage and a New Bathing Suit

Crystals, a Good Pen and Chewing Gum

Door knobs (in case some doors appear closed with no apparent means of entry...always carry an extra door knob with you)

Good Wine and Good Friends

Verboten Objects ~ What to leave behind:

Maps, Whining, Bad Attitude, Brussel Sprouts, Judgemental People and unfair judgements on my part

Be On The Lookout For:

Opportunity to tell loved one:

"I Love YOU"

"You are Special"

"You are important to me"

Miracles, Angels, Sunrises, Sunsets,

Good Books, Good Music, "Good Waves, Man"

Hugs, Kisses and Macaroons,

Vintage Linens and Gin & Tonics on a hot afternoon

Crystals, Naps and Opportunities for Growth

What are you packing, what are you leaving behind and what are you going to be watching for?