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You’ve heard of shut ins – those people who don’t leave the house because they can’t bear the world. Well, this weekend I’v been a shut out as in I’ve not let the world in here. It’s been an amazing respite from the usual go go go. My cold has almost subsided. I’ve kept myself from snacking by reading and reading and reading. I finished one good book and started another. Jim Grimsley’s How I…
During Passover, we missed the rabbi’s seder because Tin got sick that day. At our seder the next night, Tin ended up being the only kid present even though I have been making the seder for him – for children. Some times life just doesn’t go the way you plan. Our theme this year was to answer the question, What does it mean to be a slave? My piece was from Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search…
Thoreau lived in the turbulent times of the mid nineteenth century. Rachel lives in the turmoil of today. Thoreau sought nature. “An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” Rachel seeks nature to bring her solace from her overwhelming life. Forgive the use of third person, I’m feeling detached, disassociated. Rachel is exhausted by a life well lived and needs to replenish, and the only place that holds sanctuary is in nature herself.…
My writing workshop instructor says to let go of all the lists you are making in your head at the bus stop and instead write in your head. This was always my thing – I often write in my head – but my head is crowded with so many competing voices these days – whether it is the board minutes for SISTAWorks, the dojo newsletter for NOLA Aikido, the race and parenting blog, this blog,…
“I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind’s door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends.” ~ Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem
When I was in therapy after my divorce, the therapist said that we each come to a relationship with a bucket of love chits and that we keep exchanging them, keeping our buckets full (read: best case scenario). In the case of my relationship, my bucket was feeling lighter with each passing year. I felt I was the one always bending to the beloved. Concessions, compromises, love, acts of service, and all of those love…
I’ve been thinking a lot about renewal and beginning again these days. It’s the topic of much of my conversation and thoughts and musings. Then suddenly I was sucked into a whirlwind of activities. In only a week, I was at a train birthday party for one of Tin’s friends: Then it was a Stevie Wonder concert. A while ago, a friend had said that he had an extra ticket for Stevie Wonder that I…
Anybody who went through the 2005 Federal Flood became comfortable with “re” glommed onto whatever word you can think of – it was reNew Orleans, refresh, rebuild, relive around here for quite some time. This year will be ten years that we are commemorating what happened down here. In ten years, though the Flood was epic, it pales in comparison to other events in my life that have caused upheaval and the need to pull…
Somedays the struggle just gets tired and I want to give it a rest I want to braid my little one’s hair and watch her jump rope to play with her. Sometimes the rhetoric gets tiresome no matter how true and I want to listen to my son sing at the drum to sing with him. Somedays the cause get tedious no matter how pressing and I want to watch my sisters dance jingle dress,…
The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing. It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive. It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your…