Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Our Deepest Fear...

Our Deepest Fear...



Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.



Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.



It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.



We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,

talented and fabulous?



Actually, who are you not to be?



You are a child of God.



Your playing small doesn't serve the world.



There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other

people won't feel insecure around you.



We were all born to manifest the glory of God within us.



It's not just some of us; it's in everyone.



And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give

other people permission to do the same.



As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically

liberates others. -Marianne Williamson

Monday, September 11, 2006

Back In The Saddle....or, getting there....

Random thoughts....

Probably like alot of us, 911 is a forefront thought in my mind. It really is such a sad day, no matter what you believe or what your thoughts are...it's hard not to feel the emotion of that event. The media rhetoric this year is like, unbelievable. I don't even know what to think about it, we watched some of "The Path to 911" on ABC tonight. It was so horrible, we had to turn it off. I'm not sure what we were thinking, I knew it would enrage Chance....(um DUH)...but I didn't realize how much it would upset me until I started watching some of it. We are not idiots, that program...was insulting. Literally, like I thought to myself....does the media corporation really think that people aren't going to see through this? Some of it is blatant propaganda, not to mention the poor quality of how the movie was presented. It's like a cheesy soap opera, or some twisted version thereof. Preying on the emotional toll of massive loss of life. I'm not sure what else to say, except I know one thing for sure and that is when my son is a grown man he probably won't remember much about what life was like here before 911. Before our government turned into what it has become. And I will have to explain it to him some how, how things like mass murder and war change a culture, and how it ever got to this point? I don't know the answer to that.

I know it's a hard day for a lot of us for different reasons, so it's not something I need to speak on elaborately or in much more detail. Because it means something different to all of us.

Onward....I received a lovely email from my Aunty MB that sparked in me much warmth. It's really amazing how that works, some people are pretty pschyically intuned and know exactly the right words to say or information to send at exactly the right time. It's generally from my girls that I get these little messages of love and comfort from afar, perhaps our feminine intuition in all it's lovely glory!?!?!?

So for me, today...even though I'm somber about the historical meaning of this day...I am quite happy about my desktop at home. I'm going to get the link for the specs in case any of my nerd friends (Dane!) want to take a gander, but I'm pretty dang happy with the outcome. Financed this puppy for as cheap as I never ever THOUGHT computers would be back in the day, and here it is all these years later and a brand new shiny shiny desktop w/ all the RAM, SDRAM, Memory, hard disk space, dvd/cd burners, fire wires and USB ports OH MY. The list is long and I was able to customize this puppy for development work, so I'm set up! Now, I just need some contract work? Helllooooooo, clients...I just need one of you, you know like a 50 - 75 hour project with a nice long development time frame? Here clients, heeeeeeeere clients!

Ok, and finally....since I didn't want to blow it I didn't post it on my blogg, but we had a surprise party for Mj for his 14th bday this past weekend (September 9th 2006 was the party, Mj's bday on the 10th) and it was a hit. The look on his face when we opened that door and he realized what was going on....like priceless. I should get a damn credit card for it (terrible tv joke in case you dont know) it's so good.

Will post more detail on this little tidbit soon, but it's damn good fodder for his next few teen years.....I mean there were sombrero's and moraca's! Good times:)

Friday, September 08, 2006

Already?

Max is turning the big 14 on Sunday. It's really too much sometimes, to think of how quickly this life we've created is passing us both by. When he was a baby, I used to daydream about what he'd look like as a young man. I would wonder if that beautiful platinum blonde hair would stay with him through his life and what his laugh would sound like when he grew up. I would do the math to determine our respective ages and milestones. The realization that he would be 14 the year I turned 30 was astonishing, but I really never lingered on this detail because then, it seemed so far away. 30 seemed like an eternity and 14 was almost unimaginable when here he was, just learning to climb at the park and had more then 10 words in his vocabulary.

And now, here it is. It's real. He's closer to being a man than a child and it shows.

Wednesday night we were cooking dinner together and talking (Note: This is usually when we really get into the meat of life together, especially if we are alone because when we are alone he becomes Max again and the bravado subsides) about his day. The way he stood next to me, came up and kissed my cheek and stood beside me, chattering on and munching carrots while I cooked dinner....it was a startling glimpse of him as a man and me as an older woman. It seemed the sort of scenario you'd see any child and Mom in, but this was like...well, I saw him as a man and me still as his Mom when he becomes a man. It was almost physic in nature and while those who know me may think I'd normally be overwhelmed by this, it was extremely soothing and warm and some how affirming that maybe, just maybe this kid is going to be ok.

Then I say to myself....Of course he's going to be "OK"....right?

14 was an extremely traumatic year for me, that summer is when it all happened and my life was changed forever. Again. After that summer, I went into a tail spin downward that I never recovered from. I'm not sure anyone could "recover" from what happened that year. You may overcome, you may heal, but you never forget. The next summer, when I was 15...I met Max's Dad and the rest is history. Those years may have been a pivotal turning point in forming the spirit within me and I never question their validity as I believe those experiences are ultimately what brought Max and I together. But when the memories bubble up, especially of the 2 years or so between my 14th birthday and when Max was born, I feel frozen inside. I become emotionally paralyzed and something that ranges from painful vulnerability to pure rage spews forth. But it's getting better with time, I think.

How this is relevant now? To this topic of this once toddling little powerhouse of energy and big huge lovely blue eyes and a hug that would melt the heart of any ice queen? It's relevant for the following reasons....

Max's life is wide open, he could go in any direction and has a great deal of potential. Like all children (excuse me, young adults), he is but in the first lines of his own book.

14 was a year that markedly changed my entire life. I have some pretty tense fears for Max because of this I think. I KNOW how bad things can get. Of course I don't want that for him. No mother does.

However, it has come to my attention that because my teen years were so extreme, that I am hypersensitive to a potentially similar outcome for Max and I am constantly evaluating our situation in the hopes of helping him to avoid the potential pitfalls of youth that can effect ones entire life.

I cannot punish, judge or crucify him for something he hasn't even done simply because I am terrified that he might end up on the wrong road. Granted, he's made some dumbass maneuvers already...but he's got a fighting chance to have a stellar life, and I must nurture and support that rather than worrying about the "could be's" because my worrying doesn't do anything except plant the seed of negativity and leave it out in the Universe to fester and grow into a potential reality. Think positive right?

Not to mention the fact that Max doesn't need to inherit my dysfunction. It's not his fault I had such a rough time as a kid and he doesn't need to be parented like in some tyrannical fashion to avoid it the same pitfalls that I made.

This isn't about me, this is about him. This is his time to shine, to play football and kiss girls and go to dances and get a drivers license. And hopefully, build some memories along the way that warm his heart as an adult.

And in the mean time, it's my job to consider my own experiences, continue to heal and grow and give this kid every fair shot he's got at life. And that includes sharing what I've learned with him, not living in fear that he'll repeat this cycle. Life will throw him enough challenges, right now he doesn't need to carry the burden of mine. If nothing else, I can teach him how to cope and grow through those challenges.

And really, the best part of all of this is that Max makes it all so easy. In those moments where he does plant a kiss on my cheek for some random reason I'm not aware of, or still does the whole "Mom watch me!" thing, or works hard to study for a test because he just knows he has too....and even when he's being an uber shit and makes me want to pull my hair out, I am so proud of the Man-Child he has quickly become, I'm proud of his heart, his love, his kindness and his boyness. I love that he loves to make people laugh. I love that I get to be part of all of this.

Happy Birthday Max. May 14 bring you muddy days at the bike jumps, crushes on girls, many a soccer goal made, school dances, music that moves you, 8th grade that doesn't suck for you and hopefully, you'll learn a few things about yourself in the midst of all the chaos that is being a teenager.

I love you and some day, you'll know that more than you can right now.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Daughters

I'm having one of those days in my life where I'm really missing my Dad. I have these days sometimes, I'm not sure what sparks the emotion but on these days I find my eyes filled with tears and my heart heavy with grief. I think there are those who can't understand this, because I was so young when he passed....I didn't really know him. These same people still hold a great deal of resentment toward him, resentment I no longer choose to allow into my own spirit and heart. But there are still others who I know can understand and can allow me to grieve and feel the loss, without questioning it or having judgment of me for it.

It's tricky stuff, the loving someone who is gone from your life....someone maybe you don't how to feel about, but someone you WANT to love. Someone you wish could still love you back, someone you wish you could know or understand.

I think alot of this is imaginary for me, it's very easy for me to create this fantasy character in my mind of who and what my father was, or what might have become. But regardless of any potential conceptual idea's I have of this man, I do know that he loved me. I can hear it and see it in the eyes of my Grandmother, and so I except that as the truth of his legacy for me.

This song, written by John Mayer, "Daughters"...I've posted it here before. But I think it's a very powerful song and it certainly speaks to my heart when I'm allowing myself to feel the pain of this loss and acknowledge it, instead of pushing it into a place that does not surface. I think for me, this song represents the beauty of the daughter/father bond and the relevance.

Enjoy.

*************************************************
John Mayer - "Daughters"

I know a girl
She puts the color inside of my world
but she's just like a maze
Where all of the walls all continually change

And I've done all I can
To stand on her steps with my heart in my hands
Now I'm starting to see
Maybe it’s got nothing to do with me

Fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too

Ooh, you see that skin?
It's the same she's been standing in
Since the day she saw him walking away
Now she's left
cleaning up the mess he made

So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too

Boys, you can break
You find out how much they can take
Boys will be strong
And boys soldier on
But boys would be gone without warmth from
A woman's good, good heart

On behalf of every man
looking out for every girl
You are the god and the weight of her world

So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
So mothers be good to your daughters, too.

Friday, September 01, 2006

>>>*MY VALUES? FREE SPEECH. EQUALITY. LIBERTY. EDUCATION. TOLERANCE

>>>These bumper stickers were compiled by Jerry Paull, a former
>>>Methodist minister in Lakeside, Ohio, who writes:
>>>"The following actual bumper stickers are now on cars.
>>>I didn't write any of them. I'm only the messenger.
>>>If they make you laugh, good. If they make you cry, good."
>>>
>>>
>>>*AT LEAST IN VIETNAM, BUSH HAD AN EXIT STRATEGY
>>>
>>>*BLIND FAITH IN BAD LEADERSHIP IS NOT PATRIOTISM
>>>
>>>*IF YOU'RE NOT OUTRAGED, YOU'RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION
>>>
>>>*IF YOU SUPPORTED BUSH, A YELLOW RIBBON WON'T MAKE UP FOR IT
>>>
>>>*POVERTY, HEALTHCARE & HOMELESSNESS ARE MORAL ISSUES
>>>
>>>*OF COURSE IT HURTS. YOU'RE GETTING SCREWED BY AN ELEPHANT
>>>
>>>*BUSH LIED, AND YOU KNOW IT
>>>
>>>*RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM: A THREAT ABROAD, A THREAT AT HOME
>>>
>>>*GOD BLESS EVERYONE (No exceptions)
>>>
>>>*BUSH SPENT YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY ON HIS WAR
>>>
>>>*PRO AMERICA, ANTI BUSH
>>>
>>>*WHO WOULD JESUS BOMB?
>>>
>>>*IF YOU SUPPORT BUSH'S WAR, WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE? SHUT UP AND SHIP OUT
>>>
>>>*FEEL SAFER NOW?
>>>
>>>*I'D RATHER HAVE A PRESIDENT WHO SCREWED HIS INTERN THAN ONE WHO SCREWED
>>>HIS COUNTRY
>>>
>>>*JESUS WAS A SOCIAL ACTIVIST - THAT IS A LIBERAL
>>>
>>>*MY VALUES? FREE SPEECH. EQUALITY. LIBERTY. EDUCATION. TOLERANCE
>>>
>>>*IS IT 2008 YET?
>>>
>>>*DISSENT IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF PATRIOTISM -- Thomas Jefferson
>>>
>>>*DON'T BLAME ME. I VOTED AGAINST BUSH -- TWICE!
>>>
>>>*ANNOY A CONSERVATIVE; THINK FOR YOURSELF
>>>
>>>*VISUALIZE IMPEACHMENT
>>>
>>>*HEY BUSH! WHERE'S BIN LADEN?
>>>
>>>*CORPORATE MEDIA = MASS MIND CONTROL
>>>
>>>*STOP MAD COWBOY DISEASE
>>>
>>>*GEORGE W. BUSH: MAKING TERRORISTS FASTER THAN HE CAN KILL THEM
>>>
>>>*KEEP YOUR THEOCRACY OFF MY DEMOCRACY
>>>
>>>*DEMOCRATS ARE SEXY. WHOEVER HEARD OF A GOOD PIECE OF ELEPHANT?
>>>
>>>*ASPIRING CANADIAN
>>>
>>>*CORPORATE MEDIA: WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION
>>>
>>>*DON'T CONFUSE DYING FOR OIL WITH FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM
>>>
>>>*STEM CELL RESEARCH IS PRO LIFE
>>>
>>>*HATE, GREED, IGNORANCE: WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
>>>
>>>*HONOR OUR TROOPS - DEMAND THE TRUTH
>>>
>>>*REBUILD IRAQ? WHY NOT SPEND 87 BILLION ON AMERICA?
>>>
>>>*FACT: BUSH OIL
>>>1999 - $19 BARREL
>>>2006 - $70 BARREL
>>>
>>>*THE LAST TIME RELIGION CONTROLLED POLITICS, PEOPLE GOT BURNED AT THE
>>>STAKE
>>>
>>>*I'LL GIVE UP MY CHOICE WHEN JOHN ROBERTS GETS PREGNANT
>>>
>>>*SUPPORT OUR TROOPS - IMPEACH BUSH
>>>
>>>*HOW ON EARTH CAN 59,411,287 PEOPLE BE SO DUMB?
>>>