Joyful Household

We are a three generation household. Great-grandparents, Great-Aunt, Grandson and his bright-light girlfriend and their precious 9 month old daughter. We also have three dogs, a border collie and two pit bulls and, occasional puppy-visits from Coco and Charlie, two chihuahuas. Now before you pull your hair out and run screaming...relax, it's all good.

We are five pretty happy, mature adults who love, love, love each other. We are incredibly devoted to OUR baby and she knows she is loved! A happier baby you cannot find!

Everyone in the house is experiencing some major life event (or two or three). The environment is supportive, nurturing and exudes a sense of humor that has no match. Adam Sandler, Will Farrell and Kevin Hart would pay us to participate in any given afternoon or evening.

I, honestly, can't tell you that there is not a few f-bombs flying around but those little explosions are  directed towards some miscellaneous aspect of a random 'life event" not each other.

Dinner time is an active, social occasion. Originally, we had planned that each family would be responsible for two dinners per week, and, for the most part, that is still the plan but, as we prepare the food it becomes a little team effort. One of us peeling potatoes, one of us washing the asparagus and several of us adding a little more (pick one), salt....pepper....garlic...seasoning...garlic...salt... and a little more garlic!  Dinners are yummy but the deliciousness is, in part, the love and camaraderie.

I can't imagine going through the 'events' we are going through without the support. My parents are failing in health; grandson is in a medical crisis but glimpsing a little light at the end of the tunnel. Other 'stuff' is tough but our little band of Big Kid Zoo Crew have each other's backs.

We are each other's SIX!  That's a good thing!

Poison Toadstools

Photo courtesy of http://www.tenderlogic.com/

Magic is...well....magical!

The following quote  touches all my mystical, whimsical senses. It is Robert McCammon's quote from his book, Boy's Life.

"We all start out knowing Magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand.
But then we get the Magic educated right out of our Souls. We get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up, for God’s sake. And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our WILDness and youth, and because the Magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they’d allowed to wither in themselves."

Do you know people who have let the vibrancy of their souls wither? Have you noticed that most of those people try to get the magic back by attempting to squeeze it out of others? These people are poison toadstools. 

There is no handbook for living our lives but I am sure if there was, there would definitely be a chapter on keeping your magic and it would start out with "Avoid the poison toadstools!"

There would also, most certainly, be a chapter on feeding the soul. Directives may include playing in the dirt, dancing at dawn (and noon and dusk and midnight), making love in a forest (often), carry a quilt in the trunk of your car for spontaneous cloud watching and, definitely,  swimming naked.

One of the most important things about keeping your magic is not hiding it in the shadows. Let your magic shine, sing to those birds, read those clouds and get those toes of yours in some sand!

Rejoice in your magic!

Shooting Star

My heart hurts as I write this. For the last several years Teresita, a young woman of 19, has been a close friend and family member of my niece and sister. She and her younger sister were adopted by a nice family, rescued from pretty frightening bio-parents.

She spent the last year trying to discover herself; who she was; where she belonged. She was much like any other 19 year old, just a bit more intense.

Ten days ago, Teresita was killed in a horrible auto accident. Three other young people died, one person is in a coma, one is on life support and another walked away with a couple of bumps and bruises.

Saturday we attended her funeral service. The service was incredibly sad but not for the reason one might think. I walked out of that service feeling as if I had just been cornered in a back corner of a used-car sales lot. Even sadder, so did the kids that shared life with Teresita and my niece.

The crew of kids loved and cherished Teresita. They are all devastated by her death. They left the services extremely angry with the church and God.  We met with them after the service and all of them felt as if the service was, "Sorry your friend died, nothing I can say is going to make you feel better so as long as we have to be here let me sell you God!"

There was so little about Teresita and her wonderful nurturing, loving personality. She was a pillar of a young woman in the way she supported and protected her friends. She was estranged from both her adoptive family and bio family so those kids were, easily, her family for the last year.

I believe in God. I know the strength that Faith can offer in times of grief. Not one of the kids that attended the services had anything to hold onto as they left.  The service focused on two days in her 19 years of life, days when she was much younger, for a few short minutes. The other two hours was  used to evangelize.

We will be having a Celebration of Life service for Teresita later this summer. We will be celebrating Teresita's life, sharing stories, videos and pictures. Maybe some of her favorite songs and favorite things.

God will definitely be in attendance at our service but will not shove the beautiful spirit of this young woman aside to take center stage. I believe in God with all my heart and believe, again, with all my hear, that God will not mind sharing the light with her beautiful soul.

You will be missed, Teresita. You were loved.

What Is Act III

Several people have asked me to explain what I mean when I say I am in the Act III stage of my life. The following is a brief explanation, and as in a typical play pretty much follows a basic pattern.

Act I: The protagonist is introduced, events occur that set action (life) into motion. Act I is all about discovering self, the rules and regulations according to "The World".  It's the time in our life when we explore our space. We are filled with awe and wonder and adventure. Events, culture, education start to define the protagonist. By the way, we are the protagonist in our own lives (hopefully). Self is defined by family, teachers and community/culture.

Act II: Events challenge the protagonist's foundation of beliefs, theories, character. Choices made (poor and good) have consequences. The protagonist questions and examines the bedrock of beliefs, truths, spirituality; self sheds the layers that don't fit, reinforces the layers that feel true to the real essence of one's soul. The self nurtures a personal relationship with God, All There Is; with the Divine, instead of an unquestioning robotic pantomine of what we are taught our relationship should be. The true self is born.

ACT III: Time to share the wisdom without the audaciousness of believing you 'know it all'! Still having much to learn but  willing to stand without the false armor of living in our culture's costume but to stand naked our own truth. We discard ego (some of it, but sadly, not all). Act III is the time of advocacy, championing, crusade without trepidation, without fear of what the 'others make think' or of 'not winning'! No longer looking for external validation. To reach for the stars and dreams without worrying about failure but enjoying the reach for it's own sake. 

Yes, my committal hearing will probably be scheduled soon and that's okay. It might actually prove interesting!  It is good to be rid of (for the most part) the definitions and 'shoulds' of the world and to own my truth. To know who I am through my own examination, not through the rules and regulations of the world.

Act III to me is about expanding horizons, mine and those around me; to touch lives in ways that will make the world a little bit better place, a safer place, to help the people around me to recognize that divine surrounds us.

Act III is pretty damn exciting and I like it!