Took a vacation day today and felt the apprehension of not doing what I normally do every day as soon as I got out of bed, so I checked my blackberry and then I tried to relax. I went to lunch with a friend and that proved to be therapeutic because she has a stressful job and we were talking about how to find balance in a world where everything is take take take and…
I went to a Tai Chi class last night and again realized just how much difficulty I have being rather still and breathing deeply into my stomach – it’s almost as if it makes me feel like I’m in a straight jacket. But after the class I did feel as if I had moved something, whether it was chi or me, hard to say. My Tao te Ching meditation is about overvaluing people or things…
The late Ernie K Doe wrote the song of all songs, Mother in Law, forever sealing the stereotype in sound. I was having lunch with a friend and she asked how things were going with my mother in law in the house and I said, actually this is the easiest mother in law I’ve known and the reason is there is no competition for the beloved son. My friend went on to tell me how…
A friend lost her grown child in a sudden tragic accident. You try to find words to say for this occasion. I came up short when my friend’s two year old was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease, I kept trying to give her examples of how this wasn’t so bad when she kept telling me how fucked her daughter was – and in the end she didn’t speak to me for six months, her…
I was coming out of yoga today, feeling like I was cramming in what is good for me into a day jammed with things to do and I saw that my mother had called. I listened to her message which had an urgency that has the same effect on me like the boy who cried wolf. “Rachel! Call me right as soon as you get this message.” I called mom, and she said in an…
Today, I was racing from one point to another in my truck when I saw a funeral procession going by on the opposite side of the street. In the town my mother grew up, Franklinton, Louisiana, if a funeral is going by every car pulls over to show their respect for the dead. Here in the “city”, we keep racing on by. It put me in mind of Emily Dickinson: Because I could not stop…
My friends made the last entry into the online journal they have kept while their young daughter was dying. I still remember going to the hospital that day when the baby was born. I remember her red red face. I remember seeing my friends happy to have been through the delivery and ready to start their new life. The reality came at them in micro adjustments so that by the time two years had come…
Inside of me live two separate identities, one is the baby of six kids, the aunt of 11 nieces and nephews, the great aunt to seven children and from a large family who thrives in groups with all the cacophony and action and interaction. The other person inside of me relishes solitude, quiet, and reflection. I need both to survive. Why is it that the longing to be with someone is such a strong pull,…
T is always talking about my American optimism, but since I know so many American pessimists, I wonder if it is an American trait at all. At the same time, I covet her Eastern European Living (eel) ways of appreciation, relaxation, and pragmatism. Yet, even though I find T immensely hilarious at times, there is a humor barrier between the Americans and EELs. Take this joke her mother told me: A little bird was sitting…
The World Walkers for Peace arrived in Faubourg St. John around 3:30 pm See them again tomorrow at 5:30 pm at Fairgrinds. 5:30pm – 7:00pm – WorldWalk Peace Tour Presentation Two Hungarian brothers walk around the world and stop here tonight. Looking for the world’s best coffee? Not exactly, though we hope they find it here. No they are promoting Peace through co-living – Brotherhood and friendship. 25,000 miles and 5 continents, they walk to…