Frosty the Snowman

One of the things that everyone who has heard and seen my three year vision has mirrored back to me is my desire to de-clutter the house and feel organized. (I know, welcome to January, where dreams of organization fill everyone's head.) Still, the truck is filled with 11 boxes/bags of stuff due for the thrift store; even Miss M donated 17 stuffed animals and a giant unicorn that she's had for quite a few years. I like the idea of teaching her and her brother that there's a free flow of energy and in order to open up for new energy you sometimes have to release some old.

And so we come to Frosty, the little guy in the picture. He was made by a woman I have no memory of, but he was a part of my childhood Christmases and so I've kept him all these years

He is looking a little worse for wear these days and, quite honestly, I just don't feel the attachment to him that I did. I have other memories that mean more to me. So, Frosty's gotta go.

I'll admit, it tugs on my heartstrings, his cute little face, his familiar little carrot...but no! I have to be strong; I have to be (reasonably) ruthless. I want to live a certain way and that means there will be some sacrifices. Frosty is one, sacrificed on the altar of organization and clutter-free living.

I worry that some day in the future I may pine for him. What if I want him "some day." The Hubby and I have spent a lot of energy living for that elusive "some day;" I have a picture of Frosty, one that doesn't take up any space or cause me to trip or sort through papers that have no home. I'm ready to start living for this day.

What are you willing to sacrifice in order to live for today?

Dream On...

The older I get the harder it is to find songs that relate to my life experiences. It's not like I'm 18 and falling in love. Or even 18 and having my heart broken. I'm a mom with a kid, figuring out how to stay connected to That Which Is Bigger. Pop music can be very limited, but that makes it that much more touching when I find a song I can relate to, like Aerosmith's Dream On, which I find I relate to more and more as the years go by:



Every time that I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face gettin' clearer.
The past is gone;
It went by like dusk to dawn.
Isn't that the way?
Everybody's got their dues in life to pay

I know what nobody knows -
Where it comes and where it goes.
I know its everybody's sin -
You got to lose to know how to win.

Half my life is in book's written pages;
Live and learn from fools and from sages.
You know its true -
All the things come back to you.

Sing with me, sing for the years
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears
Sing with me, if its just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good lord will take you away
(x2)

Dream on, dream on
Dream yourself a dream come true
Dream on, dream on
Dream until your dream come true
Dream on, dream on, dream on...

Sing with me, sing for the years
Sing for the laughter and sing for the tears
Sing with me, if its just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good lord will take you away.

What songs relate to your story now? What songs do you listen to when you want to connect with a story that is no longer current in your life? (like The Wall by Pink Floyd for the depressed teenager that I was...)

Faery Ring

There's a faery ring around the moon tonight here in North Carolina. My brother's girlfriend tells me that down here in the South, that's a sure sign of snow. Today we walked around in shirt sleeves - change is coming.

How do you sense a change coming?

Nightingale

I was listening to this song in the car yesterday; I had put it on a mix (The Godless Mix) that I made for a thirteen year old budding atheist. I told him when I gave it to him that I felt it was better that he be an informed agnostic than an ignorant atheist. Totally over his head, as is the song, but my hope is to plant little seed.

This song is one of the most under-rated songs about the search for God and it's hauntingly beautiful and heart-breaking in its message. Nightingale by Judy Collins:

Jacob’s heart bent with fear,
Like a bow with death for its arrow;
In vain he search for the final truth
To set his soul free of doubt.

Over the mountains he walked,
With his head bent searching for reason;
Then he called out to God for help
And climbed to the top of a hill.

Wind swept the sunlight through the wheat fields,
In the orchard the nightingale sang,
While the plums that she broke with her brown beak,
Tomorrow would turn in to song.
Then she flew up through the rain
With the sun silver bright on her feathers.
Jacob put back his frowns and sighed and walked

Back down the hill. "God doesn’t answer me"
And He never will.

What miracles might you find if you learned to see them?

Sacred Life...Monday

I cannot even begin to describe how wonderful (?), humbling (?), awesome (?) it feels to see the work of my hands enriching other people's lives. I can't find the words. What a gift to have people who get me. What an amazing, wonderful gift to have people who see my worth and reflect it back to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you...

Sacred Life Sunday: Prayer from Anna's World

The Summer Day

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean

--the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth

instead of up and down

--who is gazing around with her

enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms

and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention,

how to fall down into the grass,

how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

Mary Oliver

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
(this, and more of it...)

Transitioning Back

I recently emailed a friend to wish him a happy birthday. His response was mostly and apology for not emailing more often (with some catch-up details thrown in for good measure.) We go through this little exchange any time one of us emails the other. Admittedly, we don't email each other very often but we could save ourselves so much angst if we'd just agreed that this is the way our relationship works and that it's perfect that way.

Now, the more clever readers out there will have realized that this teaching tale was a round about way of saying "Hi, I'm back to blogging!" without actually going on at great length about how bad I feel about being away from my virtual community for so long. The trip to Zürich was wonderful, with few pictures to show for it, and the last few days have been spent playing New Year's "resolution" catch-up.

Here's what I've been working on:








A collage, a treasure map, a 1 year vision - call it what you will but it's the visual version of a homework assignment for my business coaching group. And now I gotta go because I've got an hour and a half to finish the essay. WooHoo! Just like college!!

What does you upcoming year LOOK like?