Too funny! I was going through my blog drafts and ran across this one dated January 31, 2023... all ready to go except for the book. Hated to let it go to waste so, I just found a book and am posting now, revisiting a slice of my life from 8 months ago. A virtual time capsule! So many things have changed since then. That's Life, right?... 🤷
"Have you ever wished for an endless night?
Lassoed the moon and the stars and pulled that rope tight
Have you ever held your breath and asked yourself will it ever get better than tonight?"
Can't even remember what show or movie I was watching a few weeks ago when this song popped up... so I filed it away for later. Later is now... 😍
Despite my pain issues (dissipating but still here), I am feeling very lucky these days with my overly-full yet beyond-joy-filled life:
~ The True North Project Pam invited me to be on the board of is really taking off; we are now officially a non-profit, we have a fiscal sponsor and a bank account. Waiting on website construction as well as a logo for branding, and then we should be able to go live with what's on the books and what's in the works. Did I tell you I'm flying up to Maryland the last weekend of March for our inaugural concert? Pam has also asked me to collaborate with her on booking, and one of my goals is to invite/confirm Dar for the fall/winter season. I will make this happen!
~ ~ This week is the SFFF (actually now called the South Florida Folk and Acoustic Music Festival). I've been very busy with the festival prep, not as a board or staff member but, as Dar would call it, a Conscious Bridger in many behind-the-scenes ways. It feels good to help.
~ Went to Bryan's (the horticulturist/plant provider for the festival stages, one of the connections I made) today to trade a book (Late Migrations, my discovery toward the end of 2022) for a plant (he's been telling me about Lady of the Night, which blooms every full moon; next one is February 5!). He played me a John Prine song on guitar (I of course cried), toured me around his nursery, and gave me a witch ball, which I hung on my balcony when I got home.
~ Our A/C went down last night but, after a phone call this a.m., they showed up at 2 p.m. to fix it (just needed unclogging, which happens once or twice a year in South Florida).
~ Had a great two-hour phone chat with Michele when I got home from Bryan's (also the library to pick up Bitch); we haven't talked (texted and e-mailed, yes) since the week after Christmas, and we were long overdue.
~ Sarah called to check in (busy weekend for her), Eric has had quite a few Zoom job interviews in anticipation of his move to Atlanta, and Rob's talking about posting on his blog again.
~ Robert and I feel more in balance and at peace lately; even when things are rocky between us, he almost always gives me a back massage when I come to bed, and he's been even more attentive these last few days with my pulled/strained muscle(s). Touch is definitely one of my Love Languages, both giving as well as receiving.
~ I abandoned a book after Fadiman, and last night I started Lessons in Chemistry, which I love so far. Please let it continue!
BOOK: JOMO: Celebrate the Joy of Missing Out! by Jessica Misener
POEM(S): BYOF by Maya Stein
QUOTE: “And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been...” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke
POEM(S): BYOF by Maya Stein
It’s a new day. Bring your own fork. Bring your own footwear. Bring your own
fragrance, your own faith, your flamboyance, your fetishes, your fashionable lateness.
Become your own fantasy. Be your one friend. Believe yesterday was only a fragment.
Make a betrothal of yeses on fortune. Brush last year’s offenses free. Banish
your outdated fury. Breathe. Yearn. Opine. Flex. Or bleat. Or yodel. Or remember
how to be frivolous. Break yourself out of what no longer fits. Bloom. Occupy your body
as it were flowering perennially. Write your blessings down, or yell them, opulently,
into the span of a quiet forest. Brave the yeti of an old fear. Bulldoze the yoke
of what’s keeping you fixed. Burn the yardstick, the odometer, the flagrant shames.
Build your radiance from the flames.
i am running into a new year by Lucille Clifton
i am running into a new year
and the old years blow back
like a wind
that i catch in my hair
like strong fingers like
all my old promises and
it will be hard to let go
of what i said to myself
about myself
when i was sixteen and
twenty-six and thirty-six
even thirty-six but
i am running into a new year
and i beg what i love and
i leave to forgive me
Storage by Mary Oliver
When I moved from
one house to another,
there were many things
I had no room for.
What does one do?
I rented a storage space
and filled it.
Years passed.
Occasionally,
I went there
and looked in,
but nothing happened,
not a single twinge
of the heart.
As I grew older
the things I cared about
grew fewer but were
more important,
so one day I undid the lock
and called the trash man.
He took everything.
I felt like the little donkey
when his burden is finally
lifted.
Things! Burn them, burn them!
Make a beautiful fire!
More room in your heart
for Love, for the trees.
For the birds who own
nothing;
✨
the reason they
can fly."
QUOTE: “And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been...” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke
Bring Love
wherever you go.
Shine Light
wherever it's dark.
Leave Blessings
wherever you've been.
Be Kind
wherever you are.
~ Mary Davis
