fresh start

Been thinking about this dialogue from a great movie lately...

"The first time I ever saw you, you looked like Christmas morning."

{{"Why are you telling me this now in the end?"}}

"I guess in the end you tend to think about the beginning."

~ Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Beginnings and Endings are so relative.

There are about 20 or so in my day alone, who knows how many in a week or month but ultimately only one Earthly beginning and End.

I love the 1st day of each month, for some reason it gives me energy, like I'm starting fresh.

But I also enjoy the last day because it makes me feel like I've conquered another 'chapter' of something.

Try thinking about all the 'ends' as entrances instead of exits for a different perspective.

Little bit of thought for the 'middle' of the week :)

~ L ~

Solid

I was driving behind a cement truck the other day and here's what came to mind:

That cement truck was driving on top of the cement that it created.

It had built the foundation that it rode upon.

Created it's own ride in a sort of way.

Wow, I thought.

BIG epiphany.

Aren't we all part of the bigger picture?

A microcosm of the atmosphere?

There's water in that cement and there's water in you.

Do you recognize what's in you that's also in another?

Do you dislike something about someone else?

Take a close look, this time with patience, 

and embrace that it's also somewhat in you.

We're all water.

Respect. Learn. Accept.

Build a foundation you want to stand proud upon.

Seal it with cement, then enjoy the ride you've created.

~ L ~

~A Pile of Sand for Thought~

I had to take my pants off in the shower

because I knew there'd be a pound of beach sand inside my rolled-up cuffs.

As I stared at the sand on the shower floor I wondered where that sand had come from?

Was that sand over there from somewhere different from that pile over there?

I felt small in the grand scheme of life and then I thought of another time I felt this way...

In NYC on the corner of 79th and Madison Avenue....

So many people walking by me, each with their own different story. Everyone is coming from somewhere and going somewhere else.  Everything and everyone looked so busy, and even when I stopped to cross the street, this busy-ness moving around me kept mounting to an overwhelming feeling that my life, my world, is only one insanely small piece of this corner, this street, this city-world. 

 I glanced down at a piece of gum on the sidewalk and thought that person had a story, too.  In fact, that very spot on the sidewalk had a story, I thought.  Someone had walked on that piece of gum while breaking up with their girlfriend over the phone, someone was pregnant and didn't know it yet.  Someone was wondering why they hadn't received that raise at work or how they were going to afford next month's rent. 

For every occasion in that place, for every pile of sand I stand upon, there is an equal, counter-occasion somewhere else.

There's a family that's cozy and functional and warm and happy. There's another next door that's uncomfortable as a unit, dysfunctional, cold, miserable. Others are apart against their will - taken away for some reason or another.

Little fish Big pond.

Thankful for these humbling thoughts on a day that it is bittersweet as this

Thanksgiving Day is for me.

And all I can do is be aware of all that's right today and all that's not.

I ask the same of you. Read your internal compass on this day of Thanks.

Reflectively, Gratefully, and Warmly Yours,

~ L ~

Alive and well

When I sit back and recognize how overwhelmed I feel with all that is on my plate, I actually consider the thought that they'd all have to find a way to do it without me if I weren't here anyway. It's kind of laughable how much we sweat the small stuff.  We meaning Me. I may operate well under a fast-paced schedule, but I want to operate better under a slow-paced one.  

I want to do less better.

I've been thinking a lot about death lately, can you tell?

I find myself thinking about how 'unfinished business' is only unfinished business if you're alive to worry about it. That's what those of us still on Earth do, right? We do the worrying.

"Worry does not empty tomorrow of it's sorrow, it empties today of its strength."

~Corrie Ten Boom

Phew. I just gave myself permission to CHILL.

Thank you, Self.

Alive and well Self.

You can be 'Change'

It has been said by Mother Theresa that

"If you can't feed a hundred, then feed just one."

That's how "FEED JUST ONE"

got started back in 2007 by a group of friends.

Every shirt they sell for $20 feeds 30 girls one balanced, nutritious meal at the 

Think Humanity Girls Hostel in Hoima, Uganda.

This may seem so far away to some, but when you look at 

these kids,

their faces and stories hit very close to home.

The holidays are around the corner.

If you're looking for some gift ideas, what a great $20 gift with a great story behind it.

Click the above link to hear their stories 

and go to

www.feedjustone.com

to order shirts.

perspective as i miss you...

In light of - no - in 'darkness' of the crazy and stressful post-election world at present time and all of the opinions and complaints and dark forecasts for our country,

there is a light that shines down on me from above.....

.....as my cousin passed away from cancer last week.

She was young. So are her children.

There have been few words to say because it's all felt so deeply.

~  ~  ~

Death of a loved one, when it happens that the body leaves its form behind, can suddenly stop your world. No matter how inevitable it may be, no matter how much you try to make sense of it all, nothing prepares you for it's moment.  And the only thing I can think of that even comes close to stopping your world is the moment of a birth. 

Ironic, isn't it?

Birth. Life. Death.

And yet there are very few moments in between that stop your world as much as your entrance and your exit into life.  

I want to stop more.

Why do we go and go and do and do and not just stop and be?

Take in the sunset? The sound of rain, laughter? 

Does this ever stop you?

I vow to work on this moment when it arrives. Which is always right now.  

(( I tried to call you last night to tell you that you taught me this but....))