moments

Last summer or was it the summer before. I don't recall the day. I do recall the 45 to 60 min. Nancy, John and I stayed transfixed at the window, watching mommy raccoon with little Rocky and ReAnna Racoon. I figure Rocky was the boy, he was tumbling around falling off the rocks in to the water while, ReAnna was going after raccoon kisses. Well whatever, maybe that is too totally unpolitically correct and stereotypical...don't care. I am sure that when I think back on my life this one afternoon of friends enjoying natures playful moment will be remembered. Actually, I have no recollection of that day...just the magic of watching this raccoon family enjoy our little pond. Nancy has passed over to the other side and I miss her, so it is great to remember having this moment with her. She loved God's creatures and she had no problem taking time out to just be. She knew what was important and she showed me that, in her songs, in her poems and in her life. I wish I could be more like Nancy. Maybe I can.

Football

I love Football. I always have. So this is about my favorite time of year right before the season starts. I've asked myself why I love football and is the love of the sport somehow passed thru the DNA? This is my grandson Dominick at the Lucas Oil Stadium. He also loves football especially the Colts and Payton Manning. I grew up as a kid watching grade school, highschool, college ( go Notre Dame) and professional ball games. I don't even really understand the game all that much, I just love to watch. I guess we all just carry our childhood with us and the best part of mine was a cool November day on the sidelines with a hot chocolate in one hand and my dads hand in the other. It is amazing as I recall this memory a tear runs down my cheek. I sure wish dad could have seen more games but he died of a heart attack when he was only 42. I guess I am rooting for him Go Bears. Hope you don't mind dad I'd like to see the Colts and the Cowboys go to the Super Bowl this year. As the world gets crazier and crazier, some things kind of stay the same. A Sunday afternoon game is one of those things. Football Forever!!

special places

John and I have done a lot of traveling...we have been to the sacred places...the cities...the opera houses and concert halls. Then there are special places like the hundreds of places we saw between sacred spaces in Ireland. These are the places that feel warm and cozy, like a soft hug. These are the places we photograph so we can remember the feeling. They do not take our breath away but give us a soothing sense of fresh air. Life is made up mostly of these. Small joys, small pains. We really wake up to the big owies and big wowies, but if we are already awake we will be aware of the myriad of special moments that fill our lives. I don't understand boredom, I don't understand depression. Not that I am not sympathetic to that disease, but I just don't get it. When there is so much to do and so much to give and so much to experience, how can anyone ever be bored? There is joy all around us and it starts by us giving joy to others (not looking for it ourselves). Once we start the circle of giving it just comes back around. It is pretty simple... feel left out? Ask yourself how much am I leaving others out? Feel unloved? Ask yourself how much am I loving others? Feel empty? Ask yourself how much am I filling others up? It seems simple to me. There is a whole world of opportunity to give and to experience the small, special moments and places outside our door, but you must get outside yourself to find them. You may think, "that's easy for you to say". No, it is not easy, it is a choice. Life is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Sharing is a choice. Life is not all that easy and it is not meant to be. You choose!

balance

My life is a gift! A marvelous mystery! I am grateful for every moment that I have had to spend here in this beauty garden, so full of thorns and storms. I am grateful for the people who represent to me a gallery of perfect creations that I am so blessed to visit and touch and learn from. The cool morning is here in the midst of the hottest summer any one remembers. I am blessed with a wonderfully long to do list, a warm cup of coffee and possibilities that stand at my door way and wait for me to notice them. Sadness is a breath away as well as joy. They both come to nourish me like the rain and the sun. I have had plenty of both in my life and so I stand aware that even standing is a gift. Fear is my only enemy, self doubt is my own created weapon I pull against myself. Today I shall face my fear and put my weapon away and accept the mystery of this day and wait for the promise which is love!

cool thoughts

ok...I know we are all hot...so I send some cool thoughts. Snowball fights after school has been called off because of too much snow.
Penguins dancing.
Icy freeze when your throat is parched.
First fall high school football game, waiting in line for a hot chocolate to take the chill off.
Scrapping ice off car windows.
Thanksgiving at Grandmas house in Michigan.
Sledding. Snuggling up in front of a warm fire, watching big white snowflakes fall outside your window.
Sprinklers and Lake Michigan waves. Ireland in May by an open hearth fire. A brisk walk on a San Diego pier in Jan. Christmas cards from Ohio. Eating snowflakes and trying to warm up your nose with your mittens.... just a little medicine to balance the 105 degree days in Arkansas

nothing better

When I was a little girl and people would ask me what do you want to be when you grow up, my first thought was always a mom! At one time I considered being a nun, but that would negate my first dream....so, and actually can you who know me picture me as a nun? Rules are not my forte.
To plagiarize a four year old I know; "I am too tired to keep the rule." Anyway, a mom I became. Tony, Angela and Jonathan...beautiful, wonderful, smart, funny, loving (do I need to say more or will I make you sick?) kids. Being a mom is not for the faint hearted (right Ang?). To do it right you have to have a ton of humor and courage. Not that I would know anything about doing it right. But through all the joys and sorrows I am forever grateful to be a mom and I couldn't have wanted for any more than my three burdens of joy. I heard some wisdom once from a seasoned mom. She said don't take responsibility for your children's successes or failures.
Just love, laugh and live with them. I couldn't be a prouder mom, there is nothing better!

Great Plains

We are on the road again. This time in Michigan. Camped across from a lake on one side and a corn field on the other. We have a few days to just chill and that is what we are doing. These are precious moments for me. Spending time with my grandsons . John loves the Great Plains. He tries to get to South Dakota once a year... but that is not always possible. I know he carries the power of the Black Hills and the Badlands with him. It is in his soul and in his DNA and so he is never really separated from those open skies he loves. The earth is so diverse and beautiful that no matter where we find ourselves we can feel gratitude just from connecting to the Earth and Sky. When I was in Ireland I said to myself " their can be no more beautiful place on earth than this"..three weeks later driving through the Ozarks on 44... I thought...wow this is awesome, totally beautiful. So the beauty we see travels with us and in us..walk in beauty today