(1) When you are getting ready for work, your cat will do everything in his power to sabotage this process. It is a matter of pride for Fluffy to get fur on your outfit every day. And you really should have known that laptop case made a great cat bed.
(2) Only your husband is better at getting in your way in the morning than the cat. When you are brushing your teeth, he will need the bathroom. When you are making tea, he will move your tea cup and make his lunch. He will cross the kitchen no less than 15 times during this process, making a separate trip for each item going in and coming out of the fridge.
(3) While you are simultaneously fixing your hair and figuring out what to do about that project at work, your husband will yell "Honey, where are my shoes?" As you ask yourself why he thinks you would know this, you notice there's a huge toothpaste stain on your blouse.
(4) If you put on one blue shoe and one black shoe, you will not notice until your cubicle mate tells the entire office about it.
(5) When your son was a little boy, you could never get him to go to sleep. You have now entered that phase of life where remembering your son as "awake" is a distant memory. He sleeps more than anyone you know. You'll have to call him 4 times this morning to wake him.
(6) You packed a nice healthy lunch this morning. You will be pulling into the parking lot at work before you realize it is still on the kitchen counter.
(7) Every day that same guy from the department upstairs arrives just before you and takes the last good parking spot near the building. You think to yourself if you arrived an hour early, he'd somehow know, and still beat you there.
As you walk into the building at work, where your job description resembles the Genie in "Aladdin" (think "Poof, what do you need, Poof what do you need, Poof, what do you need") you realize that if these are the worst of your problems, you've got a pretty darn great life after all.
You're at the home of Blue Stone Poet. Grab a cup of Earl Grey and pull up a chair. Welcome!
Monday, April 14, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Home
What is "home" to me? It is a place inside of me. A feeling, deep inside, that all is right with the world.
I have found home in many places over the years. We lived in many apartment buildings during my childhood. My dad worked very hard and doted on me. My mother loved and nourished everyone and showed it in her care for us and the house. I had my own room in each apartment, my own space, which has always been important to me. I always arranged and decorated it the way I liked, and felt that my room reflected "me."
There were wonderful neighborhoods, with more children running and bike riding than cars on the street. I spent as much time at my best friend's home as at my own. The park, the lake, the corner store, the bus to the nearby small city for shopping, all were at our disposal.
Because of moving so often, I became very good at "nesting" where I landed. I still do this now, whether it is a new home, a new office, or a temporary space such as a guest room for a weekend at a relative's house. I will instantly set out to organize my things and make the space "mine." Once I have done so, I will go and locate everyone and spend time with them. I love sitting for hours over tea, or a good bottle of wine, talking from the heart. I've happily lost much sleep over the years this way!
As a child, I was close to my parents and brother and my best friend, as well as one other good friend. I was happy and felt at home with them.
After high school I went to work. I became involved with a young adults christian group. We were a very intense group who forged strong bonds with each other. We loved each other, having fun, and worshipping God together. These people, many of whom are still my friends, became very important to me. When we were together, hands raised, singing and praising, I was home.
One lovely result of this group was that I met my husband there. My husband is a true "home town boy", something referred to around here as a "TOWNIE". He could never imagine living anywhere but here in his hometown, a place which now also holds my heart. Luckily, I fell for him, hard and deep. My heart was and is with him, and if here is where he wants to be, then here is home.
Home for me can also be a feeling, or a situation. When I go to Walden Woods or Quabbin Reservoir, two wilderness areas here in Massachusetts, I can be totally alone there, and be completely at home. The comfort and overwhelming awe I always feel in nature has always given me a feeling of home.
Music is also home. Some artists have a special gift of touching something deep down inside of us. I can listen to some pieces of music and I am home, no matter where I am. This can happen with any kind of music for me, from classical to broadway, from Stevie Ray Vaughan, to Metallica, country music, or Rogers and Hammerstein. I have always had a strong affinity for music and it is as much a part of me as breathing, and to me the right song is home.
So, for me home is inside. I know who I am, where I belong. I am a small part of this creation, and all of us are vitally important. I want to stay around here, my home, as long as possible, and connect with as many people as I can.
I have found home in many places over the years. We lived in many apartment buildings during my childhood. My dad worked very hard and doted on me. My mother loved and nourished everyone and showed it in her care for us and the house. I had my own room in each apartment, my own space, which has always been important to me. I always arranged and decorated it the way I liked, and felt that my room reflected "me."
There were wonderful neighborhoods, with more children running and bike riding than cars on the street. I spent as much time at my best friend's home as at my own. The park, the lake, the corner store, the bus to the nearby small city for shopping, all were at our disposal.
Because of moving so often, I became very good at "nesting" where I landed. I still do this now, whether it is a new home, a new office, or a temporary space such as a guest room for a weekend at a relative's house. I will instantly set out to organize my things and make the space "mine." Once I have done so, I will go and locate everyone and spend time with them. I love sitting for hours over tea, or a good bottle of wine, talking from the heart. I've happily lost much sleep over the years this way!
As a child, I was close to my parents and brother and my best friend, as well as one other good friend. I was happy and felt at home with them.
After high school I went to work. I became involved with a young adults christian group. We were a very intense group who forged strong bonds with each other. We loved each other, having fun, and worshipping God together. These people, many of whom are still my friends, became very important to me. When we were together, hands raised, singing and praising, I was home.
One lovely result of this group was that I met my husband there. My husband is a true "home town boy", something referred to around here as a "TOWNIE". He could never imagine living anywhere but here in his hometown, a place which now also holds my heart. Luckily, I fell for him, hard and deep. My heart was and is with him, and if here is where he wants to be, then here is home.
Home for me can also be a feeling, or a situation. When I go to Walden Woods or Quabbin Reservoir, two wilderness areas here in Massachusetts, I can be totally alone there, and be completely at home. The comfort and overwhelming awe I always feel in nature has always given me a feeling of home.
Music is also home. Some artists have a special gift of touching something deep down inside of us. I can listen to some pieces of music and I am home, no matter where I am. This can happen with any kind of music for me, from classical to broadway, from Stevie Ray Vaughan, to Metallica, country music, or Rogers and Hammerstein. I have always had a strong affinity for music and it is as much a part of me as breathing, and to me the right song is home.
So, for me home is inside. I know who I am, where I belong. I am a small part of this creation, and all of us are vitally important. I want to stay around here, my home, as long as possible, and connect with as many people as I can.
Running From It
Fate
Or change
Driven toward a goal
Truth
And pain
Flavored by your soul
The fantasy is open
Reality has fled
The carnival is coming
Greet them in your head
It’s too hard
I can’t
I won’t go, you say
If you don’t
Your life is naught
The end of this, your play
Or change
Driven toward a goal
Truth
And pain
Flavored by your soul
The fantasy is open
Reality has fled
The carnival is coming
Greet them in your head
It’s too hard
I can’t
I won’t go, you say
If you don’t
Your life is naught
The end of this, your play
Journey
Patient
Waiting
Craving More
Carving out a brand new door
Questing, prying, one more time
Chanting, screaming, intertwined
Waiting
Craving More
Carving out a brand new door
Questing, prying, one more time
Chanting, screaming, intertwined
Freedom
Freedom
Live authentically
Walk your path
Be who you are
No excuses
Brave!
This is the real me
Who I really am
I must walk my path
I do hope we can continue to walk together
All of us
Because this is my path, and I must walk it
Live authentically
Walk your path
Be who you are
No excuses
Brave!
This is the real me
Who I really am
I must walk my path
I do hope we can continue to walk together
All of us
Because this is my path, and I must walk it
For one who is afraid to live
Telling me no
you don't even know why
You've come undone
Afraid to fly
Cabbage for dreams
Silent screams
You filter your life
and hang on tight
Fear is your mantra
The familiar your friend
Even if it's not working
You won't even bend
Contorting and twisting
Control you must have
The time you are wasting
You can never take back
you don't even know why
You've come undone
Afraid to fly
Cabbage for dreams
Silent screams
You filter your life
and hang on tight
Fear is your mantra
The familiar your friend
Even if it's not working
You won't even bend
Contorting and twisting
Control you must have
The time you are wasting
You can never take back
An Argument with the Self
Cans full of hope
Who took my can opener?
The label looks delicious
I can’t get in there
Probably not good for me anyway
Too rich for my system, right?
I’ll stick with this old crust here
Yeah, if you want things this way
So, do you like it like this?
It certainly seems like it sometimes
You have control
You can feel sorry for yourself
That’s easier
Generate pity
Poor you, right?
Give me a break
You don’t like your life?
Get off your ass and change it
Who took my can opener?
The label looks delicious
I can’t get in there
Probably not good for me anyway
Too rich for my system, right?
I’ll stick with this old crust here
Yeah, if you want things this way
So, do you like it like this?
It certainly seems like it sometimes
You have control
You can feel sorry for yourself
That’s easier
Generate pity
Poor you, right?
Give me a break
You don’t like your life?
Get off your ass and change it
The Wrong Kind of Compromise
I am finished with the particular brand of compromise I have been subscribing to for most of my adult life.
No more.
I thought that in order to follow Christ, I had to do what everyone else wanted me to do, always. I always acquiesced to others wishes, no matter what the situation. I have discovered that I had it all wrong.
When you don't walk your own path, when you ignore your truth, you lessen yourself. When you lessen yourself you have nothing worthwhile to share with or to give to others.
From this point on, I decide what I do with my life.
Where I work.
What hours I keep.
What groups I join.
What I do with my spare time.
Whether I hold positions of leadership or not.
What I write about and when
What I eat
How my home looks
What I accept in my life
What I reject as unacceptable
From here on in, I decide. This is the real me. Take it - and remain in my life, or leave it, and do not remain in my life.
Your choice.
No more.
I thought that in order to follow Christ, I had to do what everyone else wanted me to do, always. I always acquiesced to others wishes, no matter what the situation. I have discovered that I had it all wrong.
When you don't walk your own path, when you ignore your truth, you lessen yourself. When you lessen yourself you have nothing worthwhile to share with or to give to others.
From this point on, I decide what I do with my life.
Where I work.
What hours I keep.
What groups I join.
What I do with my spare time.
Whether I hold positions of leadership or not.
What I write about and when
What I eat
How my home looks
What I accept in my life
What I reject as unacceptable
From here on in, I decide. This is the real me. Take it - and remain in my life, or leave it, and do not remain in my life.
Your choice.
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