Magical Obama

Every time I read about Obama's victory I am brought to tears.

Happy tears, that is (learned courtesy of Bea, a champion happy crier).

Others in my family (some of my favorite relatives are Republicans) may be crying sad tears.

Regardless, this is a monumental and historic moment.

J loves to listen to sports radio.

(Stick with me here, there is a connection)

Now the problem, well at least one of the problems, with sports radio is that when they are not talking sports they are typically ranting on and on . . .

. . . and on . . .

. . . and on . . .

. . . about some extremely conservative point of view.

Today I borrowed J's car and as the radio came on I heard an announcer talking about a young, African American girl and how moving it was for him to see her elation, pride and overall joy at seeing the first black man elected President. While Obama didn't receive his vote, he saw a silver lining in the results.

Today I read the paper and there was a quote from Clark Howard who said he, too, was brought to tears when hearing of the election results. He attributed it to growing up at the tail end of the most bitter time of the Civil Right Movement. While he disagrees with Obama on many fiscal matters, he is proud right now.

Today I dropped my son off at school and saw children still proudly wearing Obama t-shirts and pins. They won't ever vote in a Presidential election without this moment as a back-drop.

I can't put into words how incredible this is for the healing and shifting of racial issues in America.

While not the end, it is a tremendous step forward.

It feels like magic.

Happy Birthday To Me

Today is my birthday.

I have to admit I've been feeling a little down lately. I kind of wished my birthday would wait until this blue cloud passed away so I could enjoy it more.

Yet, here it came.

Yet I'm feeling remarkably better at the close of the day then I was at the start.

My kids picked out gifts for me that couldn't be sweeter.

My husband got me a beautiful piece of jewelery.

Well wishes poured in from friends far and near.

A silence was broken that had been there for too long.

The day was filled with magic.

May this year be filled with magic as well.

Earth, Wind and Fire

Ten years ago, in addition to the relationship described here, I also started meeting with a group of women every week. Brought together through common and painful past experiences, we each sought out the group to heal, to find solace, to stop the madness. . .

Since that time I have bared my soul to these women who know me in a way that no one else in my life does. They joined me at the height of happiness and the depth of sadness, through the incessant rat-tat-tat of anxiety and the power of anger. These days we call ourselves the Journey Women as we somehow moved beyond the here and now and have begun to craft our future, our magical realities.

On our ten year anniversary, I wanted to thank the Journey Women for all they they do and have done. I want to thank them for who they are.

Earth is the rock of the group.

While oftentimes silent she stands firm and strong as bedrock.

Wind flows around the group,

connecting us together and remembering where we came from,

while giving us inspiration and a fresh perspective.

Fire burns both deep and strong.

She warms with her compassion and understanding

and inspires with her passion.

This one's for you. Happy Ten Year Anniversary!

Thanks Mom

My mom and I have had many ups and downs over the years (perhaps, as any good roller coaster, more downs than ups). While things are pretty stable now, she often reminds me that there was a time that she thought we would never be able to speak again. I must admit I've spent a LOT of time trying to understand our relationship and imagining what it was like for her as a mother and wife when I was young.

The other day Peanut One was rifling through my things, as usual. He came upon an old journal of mine and quickly raced through the house with it shedding bits and pieces of paper I had stuffed in there at one time or another. I thought I caught it all and put everything back to rest.

I must have missed something, because the next day I found a card J had put on my dressing table. It wasn't dated, but was clearly written to me when I was in college - about 20 years ago. I opened it up and found it was from my mom. Apparently she and I had a big blow-out before I went back to school and she wrote me a letter lamenting our relationship and wondering what had gone wrong. That, in itself, was surprising enough - even my mom would admit she's not the most open person with her emotions.

What followed was a gift that I probably never appreciated when I read it as an angry girl-woman unable to yet see her mother as a human with a path of her own created and driven by people and events I hardly knew of.

What followed was the most open and emotional expression of her past and her path that I have ever received from my mom. I have read it over and over during the last few days and imagine responding to her letter now.

Dear Mom,

I know it took me a while to respond, but thank you so much for your letter. It means the world to me to hear you express yourself this way and I only wish that I had more letters like these to look back upon. Please write back.

Love,

Me

Symbols in the Sky

I have to admit that this blog has already veered a bit away from what I wanted it to be. Yes, I wanted a place to tell great stories about my kids, to make readers laugh, to bring to light the joy, silliness and sorrow of everyday reality.

I also wanted this blog to be a place to explore and share the magic I've been slowly feeling in my life. Synchronicity, kismet, internal evolution through a connection with a higher spirit. . .

The past week, while quite a nice week, has brought me away from my magical journey and I've been wondering what is next. This morning I was exercising on our treadmill, in our basement, and all of a sudden a dragonfly began fluttering around me. For the entire workout, it flew around and around me!

If you don't know, dragonflies are a symbol of going past self-created illusions that limit change or growth and are considered a divine prompting to use creative imagination as a force within your life. Read here or here for more where that came from.

Thanks for the message. The magic is back.

Magic in the Moment

Peanut Two has started packing a bag before we go out. She carefully puts her necklaces, cars, toys du jour and, of course, Bunny into her little pig back-pack. She tenaciously zips the bag, only allowing for help at the very end, and then she's "ready to go, Mommy".

With J away for four days last week, I found myself a little stressed about getting the Peanuts out the door the other morning. In a quest to keep the assembly-line efficiency barely controlled chaos moving, I didn't fully zip the bag and left Bunny's head sticking out. My ever evolved reasoning was that when we got to the car I could easily grab Bunny as I knew Peanut Two would want to hold it.

Bad idea.

Peanut Two threw a fit as Peanut One watched with glee.

I tried to reason with her through my gritted teeth gently that the car was 20 feet away, bunny would be getting out soon, bunny needed some fresh air. . .

I got sucked in.

It was one of those parenting moments where the magic of Peanut Two's reality was a good lesson for me.

Stop.

Slow down.

It doesn't matter what is next.

Peanut Two lives in the moment.

It's magic.

Summer Solstice

Yesterday was the Summer Solstice for us up here in the Northern Hemisphere.



I heard that the magic of nature is strongest on this day.



Did you feel it?

Moan Into Moon

I am absolutely, 100%, no fun when I am woken up in the middle of the night. Just ask J, who has been said to walk with the grace of an elephant, what the wrath of Magic Woman feels like at midnight!

Suffice it to say I am very unhappy that a few of our neighbors have gotten new dogs that seem to bark the loudest and longest at night . . .

. . . late at night . . .

. . . seemingly right outside our window.

It has been hard to tell which house the rowdy pups live in, so last night after being awoken with their shrill yapping I stumbled outside to get a sense of direction. My plan was to locate the offending dogs and (during the day) politely let their owners know that it would be oh so neighborly if they kept the dog rumpus inside when most of the neighborhood is sleeping.

I stepped onto the patio and looked around and was transfixed. It was beautiful outside. The moon was almost full, the air a cool relief from the heat of the day and the weight of full bloom summer foliage shimmering magically around me.

Suddenly I understood the barking. The dogs felt the magic too.