"So go ahead. Fall down. The world looks different from the ground." - Oprah Winfrey How many of us out there can say without a doubt that they embrace failure? To be honest, I think our first instinct is a no. Who wants to fail? I hope that answer is a big no. However, do we fail a little, sometimes, or a lot? Absolutely. It all depends on our knowledge of what we are trying to do and how big the likelihood it will. In the end it's how we handle those failures that matter. Do we kick … [Read more...]
Wordless Wednesday: Autumn in Images
Photo credit: click from morguefile.com Photo credit: earl53 from morguefile.com Photo credit: Jusben from morguefile.com Photo credit: macieklew from morguefile.com Photo credit: macieklew from morguefile.com Photo credit: slowfoot from morguefile.com Photo credit: doctor_bob from morguefile.com Photo credit: taliesin from morguefile.com Photo credit: sparkette28 from morguefile.com Photo credit: gracey from morguefile.com … [Read more...]
Day 28: In the Company of Animals
Our pets are more than just animals. They are our family. We treat them as one of our kids. We worry for them if they become sick. We grieve for them if they die. For someone who might live by themselves, a dog or a cat or even both for that matter, can give them the peace of mind and comfort they seek. Looking back to the time right after Mari died, I knew I couldn't go and live back in the same house we had been living in. Keith didn't understand it. We'd only lived there for six months since … [Read more...]
Day 21: Finding the Spotlight
Own your story. Whether it's fictional, a memoir, or even your own life, just own it. My story, or my life, makes me who I am today. I was abused as a child in all the ways I think there are, to include abandonment (talk about leaving yourself exposed) from my dad, my mom, and even my grandparents through the emotional side. Please don't. Get me wrong. I loved both my grandparents, both of which are now in heaven, and my mom and dad. My mom raised us on her own and she did the best she … [Read more...]
Day 17: Love Thy Reader
This put a smile on my face. For anyone who has taken the time to read something I've written, it's almost like they are a friend who I'm opening my heart and thoughts to. Both the lighthearted and funny kind to the heart-wrenching and agonizing kind. This website has become a part of me, just like Mari was while on this earth and continues to be while in heaven. For some people things they may read may just be words to them. But they are so much more to me. They are a part of my soul. No, … [Read more...]
Day 10: Working Out
When I first glanced at the topic I thought about how I've been trying to work out on a daily basis by walking anywhere from a half hour to as long as 2 1/2 to 3 hours each day. It seems like most people who haven't worked out in a while dread starting a new exercise routine. When you first start out the body tends to become sore from the new way it's being used. But once you've gone a few times the body becomes accustomed to this and you actually begin to love how you feel after a … [Read more...]
Day 2: Sacred Space
When I think of "Sacred Space" I think of it more in the abstract. I can be sitting in my living room in my comfy cozy chair or, like I am right now, writing this on my Kindle as I walk on my treadmill. I think for me my space becomes sacred when I need to write something. I don't like to be interrupted as I can lose my train of thought just like the snap of my fingers. Sometimes I'm so engrossed in what I'm doing that others my try to talk to me but I don't heat them as my mind has been … [Read more...]
Day 1: Switchbacks up the Mountain
Switchbacks up the mountain can mean so many things. I think life in general is a continue road we travel up and down mountain. Sometimes the mountain is more of an easy hill that we climb and where life seems to move forward at a nice pace. But then there are those times where the road going up the mountain is so narrow and steep we feel we might fall off the edge plummeting to the ground below. I know that first year after Mari died my life felt more like the later. It felt like at any time … [Read more...]
The “Softening”
In a month, Mari will have been gone for four years. I have talked several times over the last four years in how the day she died is not an anniversary as this signifies happiness to me. My eighteen year wedding anniversary was this past February. That is a happy time. Mari’s death, anything but. However, I have come to call it the mark. When Mari died I became wrapped up in the utter sorrow and sadness of it all. My heart felt like it had been ripped open and a gaping would left in its … [Read more...]
Happiness
I’m sometimes amazed at the power of God. He put writing into my life and has blessed me as a result. Something that started out as a way to deal with my grief and share those feelings with my friends and family so they knew where I was at has turned into so much more. I look at Mari’s death in a whole new light. It’ll be four years on July 16 (Really, four years already!). Through my grief journey I’ve been able to find something that brings me pure happiness. I’ve been able to meet new and … [Read more...]
