Everything Else Is Small Stuff...

"All of life's

BIG PROBLEMS,

include the words:

'indictment' or 'inoperable'.

Everything else

is small stuff."

~Alton Brown~

Wordage: Flatulence, n. Emergency Vehicle That Picks Up Someone Who Has Been Run Over By A Steamroller...

Whoops, this post did not automatically post like it was suppose to.... Sorry about that...

here is the Second Batch

The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.. And the winners are:

1. Coffee, n. The person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted, adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.

3. Abdicate, v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade, v. To attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly, adj. Impotent.

6. Negligent, adj. Absent-mindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown..

7. Lymph, v. To walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle, n. Olive oil-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence, n.. Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash, n. A rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle, n. A humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude, n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

13. Pokemon, n. A Rastafarian proctologist.

14. Oyster, n. A person who sprinkles his conversation with yiddishisms.

15. Frisbeetarianism, n. The belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Circumvent, n. An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

Wordage: Arachnoleptic Fit (n) The Frantic Dance Performed Just After You've Accidentally Walked Through A Spider Web...

Every once in awhile, I pull out some of my favorite funnies and have a good laugh.  This is one of them:

The Washington Post published a Style Invitational (aka The Mensa Invitational) where readers were asked to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing letters, and supply a new definition. Here are the winners:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time..

2. Ignoranus (n.): A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxication (n.): Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

4.***  Omitted due to possible offense, which is not my intention.***

5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy (n.): Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

7. Giraffiti (n.): Vandalism spray-painted very,very high.

8. Sarchasm (n.): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the Person who doesn't get it.

9. Inoculatte (v.): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Osteopornosis (n.): A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

11. Karmageddon (n.): It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

12. Decafalon (n.): The gruelling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

13. Glibido (n.): All talk and no action.

14. Dopeler effect (n.): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

15. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at two or three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

17. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

Rum, Diet Pepsi and Crab Fishing...

OK...I was a busy beaver today.  I net shared my Windows iTunes library with my Apple Mac Book iTunes library.  Uploaded three Chicago disks to my Apple mac.  Sync'd my iTouch iPod to my MacBook, and have been organizing the iTunes library and getting it all cleaned up.

I love listening to my iPod.  I have a little bit of everything on there, from the 50's to current, to comedy to classical.  I had a bunch of mp3 tunes my girlfriend gave to me and I am still working on it to get it all in alphabetical order.

I hate taking medication.  I have been taking the 800mg Motrin for my back...so tonight, since I am feeling so much better, I decided on a nice rum and diet Pepsi.  Very relaxing...

Izzy did great in the kitchen last night.  We left her four hours.  I was telling one of my blogging friends today, this kitchen thing may work out nicely when I vacuum or wash floors.  She likes to attack the vacuum and it is too big of a hassle to keep telling to her to "quit".  I usually lock her outside on the patio, but it is too hot to do that to her during the summer.

I am looking forward to watching SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE tonight.  Love that show.

Last night while taking it easy, I watched the two hour special on Discovery Channel of Captain Phil Harris, one of the several Crab Fishermen profiled on the reality show, DEADLIEST CATCH.  I am totally addicted that show!  I have been watching it since 2005.  He was a gnarly Captain of the Cornelia Marie with an x rated mouth, but a good man none the less.  He fishes the Bering Sea for King Crab.

It was a very touching two hours.  He lived life on his terms and was very rough around the edges, but he takes care of his family and his crew.

Does anyone watch that show?  He leaves behind his x wife and two sons, Josh and Jake.  No doubt the rest of the Captains and crew will keep strong connections with the boys, especially Captain Jonathan Hillstrand on the Time Bandit.

If any of you enjoy crab legs or crab salad or crab in any food form, it was most likely caught by one of the boats on DEADLIEST CATCH.

Thank You To Whoever Invented ICY HOT Packs.....

My back is improving,thanks to ICY HOT PACKS.  I was able to walk Izzy this morning, take her to get groomed, meet my husband for lunch and do some rummaging around some thrift stores.  I found a Vera Bradley wallet/checkbook holder for .49 cents.  I found some socks with Kocopelli designs and some pink ones with tiny red hearts....99 cents each.  I found a dog bed with a zipper cover so I could wash it, for $5 and a cute soft, rosebud printed baby blanket with Sweetheart embroidered on one corner...for $1.99.  Perfect for Izzy's bed.

I also found two baby gates for a total of $8.  They are normally $10-$12 each, at Walmart.  My girlfriend up the street, has the same model house we do, and we walk our dogs together.  She puts her dog in the kitchen area and puts up the baby gates. We put Izzy in her crate when we go out, otherwise she will go outside the dogie door and bark at anyone opening their garage or anyone walking a big dog.  We don't want her to disturb the neighbors, so we lock her up.

When I leave during the day, she has the run of the house and uses her doggy door when she needs "to go".  She rarely barks during the day, only at night, I guess to protect her packs property. She looks so forlorn, like she is being punished when we put her in there...so we might try putting her in the kitchen when we leave and see how she does.

My husband is so glad I am feeling better and moving around, he told me to be ready when he gets home, because he is taking me out to dinner.  I have a coupon for a two for one dinner at Sunset Station's Buffet.

Better get myself freshened up.  Thank you everyone for all your well wishes and kind thoughts.

Thankfulness...

Thank you so much for the feed back, support, and understanding. I write for myself, in order to grow, learn and communicate. When someone relates to my thoughts, igniting a thought they in turn share, it invigorates me, hearing an other's truth, and it always makes me feel alive and stimulated ...as part of the circle of life.  We are all in this world together, united by far more than we realize.

I do over analyze and dissect things...I have always been hyper vigilant...
but, if I cut away all of my wondering, pondering and pause,
I would be proud if the highlights of my 63 years of my life were:

To be here.
To have the gift of sight.
To have the ability to speak and communicate.
To be healthy and capable
To have the ability to move and dance.
To be my parents daughter,
To be my two daughters Mother,
To be my two grandsons, (soon to be three) Grandma "Teataw"...
To be my Sister's sister and best friend,
To be my Father's Advocate and first born child,
To be my five brothers sister,
To be my husband's wife and partner for the rest of our life together,
To be step mother to my husband's six children,
To be step grandmother to his six grand children.
To be the Care taker of all the animals I have loved.
To be Friends with all my wonderful friends, who bless my life.
To purchase a home on my own, after my divorce, for my daughters and myself
Writing in all my journals for the past forty five years.
Painting "STAR GAZER", which hangs in my sister's house
Doing these blogs,
Meeting all you wonderful bloggers,
And knowing each day is a gift.

Brailling My Way Through...

I haven't written much lately...I am searching for answers and I don't have any. I have been posting quotes, poems, trying to put "my best foot forward" and stay positive. Hoping some enlightenment comes my way. I have been afraid to write what I feel, for fear my depression, lack of direction  (or whatever I perceive this to be) would bleed through.  Today, I don't seem to care, so here goes...

If I am seeking my truth, I certainly cannot hide from it.  My feelings are my feelings, right?  I am allowed  "down time".  Maybe I have already become too boring. My initial motivation for this blog is to discover and explore. I want to dig around and question my reality. Just "hoping for the best" is not good enough.  I want to peel back layers. I want to unearth and examine.  I admit my frustration at not finding any answers, but I WILL find them. I will risk judgment. I need to know. I want my life to have meaning and purpose.

I feel I am blindfolded some times, bumping into the days in my life, with little making much sense. I feel, many days, I just am Brailling my way through my life.. Often, if we can't see some thing, we don't trust it.  I feel some thing coming, I just don't know what it is or when it will arrive.  I must remember to have faith and trust my instincts. Times like this, I get impatient and down...it is not happening fast enough for me...

I have been "busying myself" working on my office, and de-cluttering. Things I do when I feel out of control or aimless.  My office is where I spend the majority of my time.  I am always on the computer and often listening to music or have something on the TV.  I am trying to make it more inspiring as I am contemplating doing a book about my Father, who as some of you know, has Alzheimer's. My recent conversation with a published author, confirmed I am on the right path...

I believe when we send our hopes and dreams out into the world, either spoken or in thought.  That energy or motivation, ignites some other energy, and "signs" (for lack of a better word) begin to appear... It's like a seed that is planted.  If the soil is fertile, it will grow.  If we lose interest, it disintegrates and never germinates.

The weather is miserable now, so gathering and outlining are crucial in laying the ground work, and giving the seed time to germinate...the up and down of uncertainty, self doubt, isolation, home sickness, and missing one on one contact, makes the days seem like a thick forest with dense, sharp branches. No path to follow and I must blaze my own trail...

We're in triple digits now. June, July and August are the hottest months all year.  July through September is the monsoon season.  I HATE THE HEAT, so it is another reason to stay in doors. More isolation. Some days, I strip down and return to bed, cooled by the AC and the ceiling fan swirling the cold air around me.  I can go anywhere and do anything in my dreams...

Yesterday, while surfing and visiting the blogs of my blog friends, I happened to read a comment by a woman named DJan, that really touched me.  I went to her blog and was moved to tears. Her honesty and courage in her writing, touched me at my core.  I felt a connection and could relate to so much of what she wrote about...http://eyeontheedge.blogspot.com/  Do yourself a favor and visit her blog.

After reading both her blogs, I began to write in my journal. I cannot dance around the truth. Time is not on my side. Reading about her sky diving, hiking, and being older than I. She puts her life out there, raw and uncensored, because she wants the answers. I really admire her.

I am growing older and realize I am in the process of figuring out what my life stands for... when ever I write on my blog, and hold myself back, afraid to write what I really want to write, I feel I cheated myself. The disappointment prevents me from moving forward to where I wish to be.

The times I have risked putting out my raw feelings, as I do some times in my poetry, I have gotten feed back from some who get it, and understand. (This is one example of many, why blogging is so important to be.  Meeting people I would never have the opportunity to meet and be invited into their lives.) For some reason, my poetry is not as threatening, as writing is; as I am now...completely exposing myself.  It does set me free though...it feels so good to let it go and let it be.... How else can I be myself?

So many questions flood my mind:

What purpose did I or or will I serve by my presence? 
What difference does my life make?
What have I learned from where I came from?
How can I make my life better?
What will happen when I die?
What is this time and place where I find myself now?
How do I make sense of what filters through me?
How do I make myself better?
Am I destined to live so far from my family?
Is the reason I am here, now, to write this book?
Dare I dream to publish a book?

All these questions are why I started this blog.  My query out to the world. An invitation to gather information, share, learn from others, and from the perspective of the location around us. We learn lessons every day. The strangers, the friends, the family, who reflect who we are as individuals.  Maybe, through our interactions with others, do we really see and understand who we are....

An Inspiring Conversation With a Published Author...

This past weekend, we attended family events at two,  out of my husbands five sons, homes. The party on Saturday, has become an annual summer party, actually, a reunion of sorts, with many of his sons friends from their old neighborhood in Thousand Oaks, California. They all went to high school together. One of their friends is the author, Kyle Fitsharris, who wrote THE EIGHTH PLAGUE. He has the sequel coming out soon, entitled, THE NEW AMERICANS. He has even been approached to do movies on both of them.

He seems like a very nice man and is raising his young daughter, who lives with him. It was not the first time I had met him, but the first time we had the time to talk at length. We had a very interesting conversation. I told him how incredibly satisfying it must be, to get a book published. He agreed and told me what a huge difference Royalties make in one's life...he wouldn't know what to do if he had to get a "regular" job again... If you would like to check him out, here is his website: http://web.me.com/rtrsblc/SITE/HOME.html.

I told him I am contemplating writing a book on my Dad.  He advised me to do an outline first.  I told Kyle about my Dad having Alzheimer's and my other blog, Mystical Journeys about our family's experience with Dad's journey. He told me how popular journal type books are now.  He offered to take a look at it, so I gave him the address...

I was able to read the introduction to his book, from the copy my husband's son's wife was lending to one of their friends.  It grabbed me.  I got Kyle's address and ordered my autographed copy today.  I am very anxious for it to arrive and begin reading.

Interesting how life/God/the Universe presents opportunities in our lives.  I hope this is one of those life experiences, where years ahead, I can look back upon and see it as a stepping stone of motivation to getting my book published...

Protection From Cat Guardian Angels...

Art: Ryan Conners of Ryan Conners' Original Cat Folk Art

Cat Guardian Angels Protect you from:

  Cat and mouse games

 Hissy Fits

  Cat-astrophes

 Pussy footing around

  Catty people

Cat burglars

~author unknown~ **

** In the 1990's, a good friend gave me a tiny cat pin made from clay with gold wings.  It came on a card with the above poem. It could have been handmade. I have made a conscientious search on the Internet and could not find the author.**

More Pics of Tlaquepaque...

Welcome to Tlaquepaque...

Center of the courtyard...

Part of the courtyard....

Lots of beautiful sculpture...

A group of musicians were seating up beside the moose...

Stop in here for some deep fried pickles...

Loved the two bears on the way out...

Opportunity...

Photograph taken by me in Tlaquepaque

(pronounced: Tia - key - pah - key )

which means "best of everything"

It's a small Arts and Crafts village in Sedona, Arizona

near Oak Creek

"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."

 ~ Milton Berle ~

I Want To Go To The Beach Again...

I want to go to the beach again

To smell the warm salty air

To feel sand between my toes

And the wind blowing in my hair

I want to hear the crashing waves

Slide sea foam across my feet

I want to watch the sun set

Drinking wine with a bite to eat

~dkb~

Photo from Thundafunda.com

free online photos

Finding The Connection....

"Discipline is the bridge

between

goals and accomplishment"

~Jim Rohn~

Jim Rohn's book,

Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle,

was published in 1991,

It was built around what he considered the five components of success:

Philosophy - how you think

Attitude - how you feel

Action - what you do

Results - measure often

to see if you are making progress

Lifestyle - the kind of life

you can make

for yourself out of the first four pieces

 

Source: Wikipedia.org

Where It All Began...July 4, 1776... Happy Birthday America!

Declaration of Independence

Here is the complete text of the Declaration of Independence.

The original spelling and capitalization have been retained.

(Adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776)

***copied from earlyamerica.com ***

The Unanimous Declaration

of the Thirteen United States of America

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton


Source: The Pennsylvania Packet, July 8, 1776

Go Placidly Amid the Noise and Haste...

In the late 60's, I found this poem on a poster. 
I absolutely loved it and for much of my life

have attempted to follow it's credo. 
At the time, it was said to have been found
 in old St. Paul's Church in Baltimore around 1692

In fact, it was written by Max Ehrmann,
who was a poet and lawyer.

He lived from 1872 to 1945

Interesting side note:
 Desiderata in Latin, means
"Things To Be Desired"

Max once wrote in his diary:

"I should like, if I could, to leave a humble gift -

a bit of chaste prose that had caught

up some noble moods."

-- written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s --

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,

and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,

be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;

and listen to others,

even to the dull and the ignorant;

they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;

they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,

you may become vain or bitter,

for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;

it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,

for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

many persons strive for high ideals,

and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love,

for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,

it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,

be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe

no less than the trees and the stars;

you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,

whatever you conceive Him to be.

And whatever your labors and aspirations,

in the noisy confusion of life,

keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,

it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

She...

She sat staring off into nothing in particular...

The warm breeze of night,

danced about her,

whispering, beckoning.

She sighs...

and tears well in her eyes

cascading down her cheek.

She shakes her head.

Hoping the thoughts go as well...

But they don't.

She looks up to the blackish blue sky,

lit up with thousands of stars.

Closing her eyes,

She hears a distant howl..

The faint strain of a car engine climbing a hill.

All the rest is silence.

She criss crosses her arms

across her chest,

breathing in her self hug.

Catching her face in  cupped hands,

her body racks in sobs...

It doesn't last long.

It rarely does.

It is not the release she seeks.

A deep inhale and exhale..

A cleansing breath...

Right.

She glances about the harmony

She created outdoors;

Still the desired comfort evades.

She yawns, slicing the quiet.

Not from longing sleep.

The weariness is familiar,

slowly eroding her usual positivity...

She used to feel so aware.

She used to take pride

in her ability to perceive...

to sense her needs.

Now,  the numbness begins to creep,

stealing the recognition starting to bud...

Like a wild, stormy ocean of waves,

She stills to a calm, still pond...

She blinks.

She swallows.

She sat staring off into nothing in particular...

~ dkb ~