IT'S A GREAT LIFE (if you don't read forwards lol)

 There are days when I wonder why I am (not if I am lol) so neurotic...

The news did its part till I simply stopped watching it. No weather alert app either!

I'm decluttering (well, sort of - for me anyway). Love love LOVE my things, but
I'm far more discerning in regard to what stays and what's allowed in (well, mostly) :-)

Then the other day I discovered another culprit of anxiety - the 'warning' emails.
I know in my heart, mind and soul they are sent with the best of intentions - but
as I was weeding thru my emails I was amazed to see all the beware in my in-box! (I think I could hear Robbi the robot chanting 'danger Will Robinson, DANGER')***

Here are a few of my favorites as I was deleting my way thru them:
1) No lemon slices in my water/tea - worry over bacteria on the lemons
2) No sitting on any hotel bedspreads - when were they (ever) washed????
3) No handshaking with drivers - seems some pick nose when driving.
4) No touching the bottom of any purse! Could've sat on a public toilet floor.
5) No licking envelopes, and wipe all food cans! Rat poo in the glue & on cans.
6) No deodorants? (not going without, but now I worry, lol) possible carcinogen.
7) No longer do I chug a cold Coca Cola without thinking it removes toilet stains.
8) No more cling wrap in the microwave-causes seven kinds of cancer.
9) No using a public toilet - a big snake could be under the seat and bite my butt.
10) My favorite? If I don't tell at least 500,000 people all these things (via email forward) in 46.2 minutes a pigeon with diarrhea will hover over me at noon tomorrow afternoon and not only poo on me but also deposit the fleas from 120 alpachas on my body giving me Lyme disease.

Sigh......

THIS JUST IN! 

Keep your toothbrush in the kitchen because email says

that toilet water splashes six feet from the toilet.

 

~~~~

To be honest, some of what comes via email
in fact some of these above :-) are worth considering.
But for sure too much 'careful' can kill ya (from worry)
just as surely as not being careful will, lol

 

So tell me, what's you're favorite 'email-forwarded-be-careful' alert?

 

 

Monday Muse-Day

It's been ages since the last Monday Muse-Day!

So it's time :-)
Those who've joined in before, jump in!
Those who haven't? Read on below the image for the story...
PS I know I cheated a bit by adding a caption to the images
but I just couldn't resist, lol...

 

    Six random pictures

from the homestead, picked today

Do they whisper something to you?

Will you share here what they say?!

~~~

Monday Muse-Day is really just
a bit of wool gathering, a bit of fun :-)

If you'd like to join in, share a single word

(the first that comes to mind or otherwise)

that you think of when you see this picture montage....

Just One word.
(or more if you prefer)!!!

Perhaps a single word from a book or poem title?

Or one word snipped from a memory, or an impression, or emotion.

Easy Peasy - Just One Single Word.

I hope you'll join in and leave your "word" in the comments

on this, the next Monday Muse-day !

(PS Subscribe to comments to see everyones word, including mine

which I leave later in the week so as not to influence anyones first impression)



When I Am No Longer Young

I wish I could credit the exact origin of this story.  I wish I could tell you if it's true (I hope it is).  Sadly, both are unknown to me. It arrived at my inbox via an email forward (something I  pay little if any attention to and are most allways immediately deleted)  A rare few gain a quick glance at best. This is one of those rare few.  It is meaningful. It speaks of and about a part of our society I think is terribly ignored, and undervalued. People of 'age'.  In this country the 'no longer young' are often treated as invisible at best and valueless at worst. I have seen them treated so by strangers, by family, by merchants, by service providers. By anyone who cares not to consider that, one day, they too will be 'of age' seeking and hoping for the gifts of consideration, patience, and kindness... 
Issy      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From a New York Taxi Driver:

I arrived at the address and honked the horn. After waiting a few minutes I honked again. Since this was going to be my last ride of my shift I thought about just driving away, but instead I put the car in park and walked up to the door and knocked.. ‘Just a minute’, answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.
After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90′s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940′s movie.  By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.  There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard  box filled with photos and glassware.

‘Would you carry my bag out to the car?’ she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.  She kept thanking me for my kindness. ‘It’s nothing’, I told her.. ‘I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother to be treated.’  ‘Oh, you’re such a good boy, she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address and then asked, ‘Could you drive  through downtown?’
‘It’s not the shortest way,’ I answered quickly.. ‘Oh, I don’t mind,’ she said. ‘I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to a hospice.  I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. ‘I don’t have any family left,’ she continued in a soft voice..’The doctor says I don’t have very long.’ I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. 

‘What route would you like me to take?’ I asked. For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds  she had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl. Sometimes she’d ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said I’m tired. Let’s go now.
 
We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home with a driveway that passed under a portico. Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move.
They must have been expecting her.  I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

‘How much do I owe you?’ She asked, reaching into her purse.
‘Nothing,’ I said
‘You have to make a living,’ she answered.
‘There are other passengers,’ I responded.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug.She held onto me tightly. ‘You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’ I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light.. Behind me, a door shut.It was the sound of the closing of a life..

I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day,I could hardly talk.What if that woman had gotten an angry driver,or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?

On a quick review, I don’t think that I have done anything more important in my life.
We’re conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.
                                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~When you can, when you think of it ~ be patient.  Think about the other person (young or old but especially older). Offer  kindness, a smile. Give someone the gift of a bit of time to speak with them, or to listen to what they have to say. For just a few moments, share their life in some small way. It may be the greatest thing you could do for them or yourself or for both of you.  You may never know what (if any difference) you make, but trust me, you'll be a better person for the effort. And (trust me twice?) you'll very likely make a difference in the life of the person you were kind to.       

Thanks for reading.  Issy

 

B-My-Valentine?

All thru gradeschool, I dreaded
this day

This day of carefully cut and pasted

Valentine pouches

which decorated and then hung

 on the front of our pint sized desk

or the back of our

tiny chair.....

 

Every year it was an agony for me
in those days of timid quiet

and no friends

as even then I was awkward

with others, preferring my

own company

 

"A loner" as I was 'oft described

in the comments section
of my report cards by my teachers

 

Happily content as that loner
with my imagination, my dreams, my plans

all the school year thru

except for this day of the year

 

Even now, decades later

I can still palpate the discomfort

of seeing every val-n-tine pouch

in each row fill with pink and yellow and white

envelopes

 

Every pouch except mine

 

Mine always had just two

One from my mother (sent in my lunch box)
to put in my val-n-pouch
and one from my teachers

(who made sure they had extras)

 

I never knew
(nor even thought to wonder)

if I was the only one

with only two grown up val-n-tines

in my thin and silly sad decorated grade school pouch

 

I'm not sure it would have mattered
if I had known I wasn't the only one

 

I'm still dancing on the fringe, doing things my own way

and every year I think (now) I'm glad my val-n-tine pouch
was mostly empty

because it taught me you can survive heartache

it showed me that the love/kindness of just a few
matters

(thank you mom)
(thank you teachers with emergency val-n-tines)

 

I've no thesis to prove, no facts of correlation

but I suspect we become strong or weak

early on in our life

I suspect we devise and develop ways
to stand tall in the face of disappointment

or lack of rousing peer approval

when we are more small than tall

 

Perhaps that's why each February 14th
I think back on those little construction paper pouches

knowing it foreshadowed
the worst

and the best

of life

of me

 

I hope your val-n-tine

day

(pouch full or thin)

was happy  :-)

 

 



Dreams Are Dangerous

Dreams Are Dangerous
(image by Issy aka woman seeking center)

~~

 Hopes
Desires
Needs
And Dreams
Are Dangerous

Because I'm here to tell (or to remind) you
That What You Want, REALLY Want
Or Hope To Achieve
Or Whatever Chews On Your Soul
Repeatedly
Will (most likely) Require Change.

And
CHANGE
IS
MESSY

Things will be different for you
As you act on your dreams, hopes, needs
Expectations and actions
(your outgoing and those incoming)
Will alter. Be different.
For the people you love
For the people you don't love
(and they'll all push your buttons while you make changes)

Choosing something different
Large and scary or smaller and less scary
Still rock the world
Because YOU DECIDED to do something
For
YOU
(there, you said it. This is about YOU)
Let the button pushing begin, lol

You will piss some people off, no doubt - be ready
You will hear some people cheer - probably not the ones you thought - be ready
You will wake up in the morning and be glad you did
because some part (large or small, matters not) of your life
is being driven by
YOU
Damn! What an amazing thing, after so, so, so long

No, you don't need to (necessarily):
Quit your job
Divorce
Be a lousy mom
Be a crappy friend
Have a disasterously messy house
Ignore the cat/dog/horse/hamster
Never cook again

You DO need to decide that, amid it all, you matter too.
As much as anyone or anything else that needs you, cries for you, depends on you
Because, hey, you depend on 'you' too - remember?
You have (still) a hope or dream or want or two (or a hundred)
of your own
And there's nothing (not a stinking thing) wrong with that!

Dream of owning a farm (that was my big messy desire)
Or dream of taking a half an hour EVERY DAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
To do something that matters to ONLY you
Something that fills your soul, makes you smile, makes sunrise a good thing, another day a gift.

Cause (may I mention) the days count off, slip away, are gone
if they are good days you like
or bad days you hate
they go

Don't end up at the last of all of your days
with cold hard nothingness in your mind, your heart
Sadness that you delivered to yourself

Dream, be messy, have hopes and needs and (possibly) piss people off
While reaching for some/all/any of your wishes
You'll be happier, and oddly they'll (eventually) be happier too anf for you
(and if they aren't happy for you, they should be pissing YOU off)
Just sayin.....

Grand or grunge
Wipe the blackboard clean or pinstripe the frame around it
Stop discounting your life, waiting for the (never arriving) time
For yourself

There is nothing
Wrong
With
Having
A
Hope or Desire
A Need Or  A Dream

There IS something wrong
with pretending you don't matter
and walking away from your
soul

Change is messy

Now....
Go find some (metaphorical) mud or finger paints
And decorate the whole (or a corner) of your life
For yourself

The End?  No, darlin' -  This is THE beginning
(text copyright Issy aka Woman Seeking Center 2013)



 



If I Had To Choose

 

 

If I named a daughter

If I got a word tattooed
If I had a wish, a cherished thing
That I would want for you

If I could count the value
Of only just one thing
One alone that mattered
Far more than other things

Where there a time
When only one
Emotion could I feel
If I had to winnow down
To one in my souls' kreel

 

A name, a tatoo, wish or gift
A value point ascribed
A sole and lone emotion
To be my only guide?

It'd take me just one heartbeat
To choose (If you asked me)
The answer to each one's the same.
HOPE

Is what it'd be .... 

(text copyright Issy aka woman seeking center 1/2013)

What Wars Are Raging....

Have compassion for everyone you meet even when they don’t want it.

 

What seems conceit or bad manners or cynicism

is often a sign of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen.

 

You do not know what wars are going on 

where the spirit meets the bone.
 

Miller Williams

Kindness Finds It's Way To Where It's Needed




 And sometimes it's needed in very unlikely places.... Click here for the story

So few words, such great truth



Never mistake

a wish

for a certainty...

Some Of My Goals For 2013 ~ Beautifully Captured by Arundhati Roy

To love.

To be loved.

To never forget your own insignificance.

To never get used to the unspeakable violence and
the vulgar disparity of life around you.
To seek joy in the saddest places.

To pursue beauty to its lair.

To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple.

To respect strength, never power.

Above all, to watch.

To try and understand.

To never look away.

And never, never, to forget. 

 

 Arundhati Roy