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What it means
I am Jewish. I am American. When I was 16 years old, I went with a group of teenagers from New Orleans and Atlanta to Israel. I met families, individuals and was introduced to a country I fell in love with so easily. When I was in my twenties, I made a plan to move to Spain because I wanted to live abroad, away from the United States and its incoming president. It seemed easy…
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Truth is Beauty
I came home from my travels to find two gifts waiting for me. One was a small letterpress poster from my friend Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. and the other an engraved ceramic feather with IMPRESARIO etched on it. I knew the second was a gift from Michelle Allee, an artist friend, who had read my blog. When I was in Tucson visiting Tin, we took the Love Language quiz again. My love language is still…
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Everything’s gonna be ok
As I traveled home from Tucson, I was sitting on the second flight when my phone alerted me that my keys were still in Dallas. My mind wanted to catastrophize the situation. This wouldn’t be the first time I lost my keys and arrived home not able to drive my car to my house. Instead, I said, it’s ok. You can take a Lyft home. You could get in your house through your lockbox. Your…
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Call me Lucky
Once again I’ve arrived to find something new in this alien landscape. The iconic saguaros are all topped with Frida crowns and what a delight it is to see them everywhere: on the roadside, in front yards, and in the wild. I hiked with Betsy in Sabino Canyon and breathlessly looked around in wonder. The landscape, so alien, has grown more familiar and so fascinating! I left behind gardenias and azaleas at home, and entered…
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Positive Memory
During my time living on Cleveland Avenue in the Spirit House, I began to wonder why most of what I conjure in my mind leans towards trauma, the tragic, the hurt, or the pain. I read a lot about how the mind works. Your mind has a negativity bias that is rooted in evolution. Your brain prioritizes and processes negative information more thoroughly than positive information because it would and could save your life. To…
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How I came to live in a blues hall
I was in Magnolia Antiques the other day hanging posters for an upcoming Blues Brunch featuring Bobby Rush, the King of the Chitlin’ Circuit, and I spotted a turquoise hamsa pendant on a beaded chain. Ten dollars – that is what it cost. I was shocked. Well it was $12, but she took $2 off for me. While at a celebration of life, someone commented on my hamsa, and I told her about my good…
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In my MawMaw’s house
Abandonment seems to be the word of the day. It has certainly been my son’s issue, and I have been trying like Wonder Woman with her metal cuffs, bracelets of submission, to protect Tin from people and situations who would trigger it. However, through his healing, I’ve learned about my own childhood abandonment, and how it presents itself now. I was the youngest child of six, and my parents were wrapped up in their own…
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Every part of me is loved
There are years that ask questions and then there are years that answer the questions I have a heart-shaped sugar cookie with red frosting that G-man gave me propped up on my desk. I liked looking at it. It reminded me of him. The ghosting started over a week ago, and I have reconciled feeling disappointed, sad, and hurt with words of gratitude for the experience. It is okay to be angry. Every part of me…
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The truth shall set you free
One of my revered meditation teachers, Tiger Singleton, talks about real freedom and our quest to find it. On the surface are all the things we think we want, things we are looking for and things we are afraid of losing. He says we get lost in the appearance of what we think we want and completely miss what we are actually looking for – freedom. Real freedom is liberation from suffering. Liberation from the…