Resolution...

Start new
again.
This night.
Each day.
Resolve
this moment.
Step up.
Move on.
Now.

Bye, Bye Holidays...

...except for New Year's Eve, and that's a piece of cake.

Christmas here was quiet but lovely.
I spent the day reading a book that I got from a friend. IM'd with my brother in Utah and a high school friend in Ohio. Then multiple phone calls from other sibs and a couple of old friends. Reading bunches of blogs, of course. And, reading and responding to several e-mails from other friends.

No direct human contact all day, but still lots of communicating with lots of people I care about. Warm and fuzzy feelings.
Not bad at all.

So, now that's all done and I can get back to normal.
Wait... I'm not normal. I don't like normal.
I don't want to be normal.

I think I need more coffee to ponder this a bit.
Perhaps a bit of the Dalwhinnie I bought myself for Christmas.
Oh, yeah... that sounds like a much better idea.





p.s. I almost forgot to mention what I did the day after Christmas...

I got to meet a blogger. In person!
My first real in person blogger meeting...
Scott, of When The Smoke Clears, is a gentleman
of the Nth degree. Charming, intelligent, fascinating, wonderful sense of humor.
We spent over an hour chatting, but the time really flew.
Thank you, Scott, for making time for me during your vacation.
I truly hope we get to meet again.

Merry Christmas...

I hadn't planned on doing a holiday post, but...

I just spent several hours visiting all my favorite blogs. Yes, hours.
You folks have no idea how you lift me, inspire me, make me smile and cry.
Thank you all for that.

When I got to Valerie's blog, I lost it... big time.
I have tussled with religion, faith... all of that... my whole life.
But, that doesn't mean the words of those who believe are lost on me.

I want to share what she posted... words from Nelson Mandela...

Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we
are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you NOT to be?
You are a child of God; your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel
insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone, and as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear our presence
automatically liberates others.





We all have lights to shine, don't we?
I want to thank all of you for shining yours on me.

Merry Christmas, my friends.

Try Harder...

"Folks will try harder to keep from losing something
they think they have,
than they will work to get something
they think they really want."


Berry Connell, July 2006

The Old Gazebo...

Winter. Late afternoon.
The beach is empty. The air is grey-blue.
The ocean is grey-silver, scattered with foamy white waves.

At the high-tide mark is a long wooden, railed walkway leading to
an old gazebo perched on top of the highest dune.
Inside the gazebo is a picnic table with benches.

Under the table is a pair of small deck shoes.
Between the shoes is an empty styrofoam coffee cup.

The most interesting thing is on the table. An open book.
The pages on the left are flapping lightly with the breeze.
The pages on the right are clipped together by a pen.
They struggle to move with the wind..

On that first page on the right is a single handwritten line.
In the most delicate and precise penmanship. It says...


"I am going home."