Updates for Friends and Family

Im working on a book as I had mentoned prevously, however it is NOT about me or my life. That may come later. I am working on a thriller and am Very excited about it! Wish me luck!

Beauty in the Details

So it’s been awhile since I have posted, I had a bit of a mishap and managed to aggrieve my lesser appendage. Sadly it is a story not worth telling, It ends with a cast and my inability to use left am for eight weeks. Alas, I do, miss the inferior limb when I am writing because, as we all know, two cooperating hands are far more agreeable than one. In my diminutive state I have been forced to entertain myself with the humble company of a most visually repugnant trestle table I unearthed in the backyard of my Seattle home. I discovered the atrocity a few days after I moved in. It sat under a pile of brush in the furthest corner of the yard, forgotten and alone. I felt the need to rescue the piteous compilation of rotting wood, rusted nails and innumerable coats of paint. So I brought the table in, inwardly beaming at the thought that I was going to breathe life back into the wretched artifact and all would sing my praises for saving it from an untimely demise. The relationship had, thus far, been clearly defined. I, being the one who had chosen to bestow the grace of refurbishing the offending item, made it clear to the table that it would sit quietly in the corner of my kitchen until I, the rescuer, deemed it time to begin the arduous task. Well, as life would dictate, I became embedded in other tasks and eventually my passion to restore the piece took a backseat. Somehow as weeks flew by, I could feel the table attempting to gain my attention, first by finding my exposed shin as I walked through the kitchen, then by staring defiantly at me as I walked by each day, and adding insult to injury, began dropping layers of peeling paint as if to punctuate the fact that I was in neglecting my duty and fore promised desire to reanimate the dilapidated piece. One overcast day, feeling somewhat melancholy and under stimulated, I hefted my burden into the living room and began my quest for restoration glory. After 6 laborious hours of sanding and prying tetanus infested nails, I had seen enough. It looked no better than it had when I began my journey. No sublime glow radiated from the piece, the neighbors did not gather around to magnify me for my heroic transformation. No, most assuredly, the table stood, just as it had when I had first embarked on my mission. Dejected, exhausted and caffeine deprived, I began to have inhumane thoughts about the table, I began to look longingly at the fireplace that stood a mere three feet away. I could reduce the Bain of my existence to fodder for my hearth and no one would know. I took a moment, maybe ten, and thought about ending this project that had been such a thorn in my side. After a moment, I looked at the table and saw something unexpected; it no longer stood in stalwart defiance, but in humble submission open and exposed. I saw in that moment all of its flaws and in those details, which I had tried to quell just hours before, I saw infinite beauty. I painted the table and placed in my kitchen, and I absolutely adore it. You see, every dent, every scratch is character; it was life that the table had lived, profoundly and with grace. Who was I to change that journey that it had taken to get to where it was? I realized how our flaws make us who we are and our beauty comes from the details, those places and experiences in our life that make us individual and special. Our flaws should be celebrated and not hidden, not covered up or changed. They are who we are, and that, is amazing.

Got Money ?

I am always curious and fascinated by people with money. I am not talking about people with simple gainful employment in which they earn a modest salary with a somewhat copious amount of vacation pay and some undistinguishable formulation of a 401k, picturesque yet humble abode that houses 2.5 children and a chocolate lab. I am talking Money. Serious, “move out of the way of my completely gratuitous, leather clad, gasoline-swilling Escalade, I am so late for my Mani -Pedi, Money”. Oh, you know exactly what I am referring to. You can hear them coming and inwardly recoil as you get behind them in line at Starbucks because there will most assuredly be some sort of verbal assault on the completely unsuspecting barista smiling gleefully behind the counter. What makes people different? Does it matter how much you have? I mean really. Happiness, as it turns out, cannot be measured in dollars, I have tried. I bet you have too. Money as it seems, is something that seems to be grossly misconstrued as having the ability to satiate the internal voracity of the heart. So often, we place money and things before the people that we leverage unimaginable strength from. We plunge headlong into the quest for attainability and wealth when the peace that we long so desperately for is only precluded by our indifference and disregard for those closest to us. So what is one to do? Are we all destined to be money-grubbing nickel pinchers without conscience or direction? I think that life is solely what you make it. Money or no money, we can sustain peace and love in a society of buy now pay later. Start a coin collection. You know that impossible assemblage of copper and silver coin that gravitates toward any unoccupied spot in the bottom of a purse or vehicle floorboard. Gather if you will, that small change and save it. You are certainly not using it. Once you see it collecting rather meekly in the jar on the counter you may, with some serendipity, see that not only do you not need it, but perhaps it would be better served helping someone else. And who cares if you never get that Escalade, I bet you have the most placid, undisturbed sleep that you absolutely cannot obtain with a few more dinero in your wallet. Live now, today, do not waste these precious moments chasing things, because your peace and your wallet are mutually exclusive.

Holiday Cheer

I always laugh when I walk into a store or shop of any consequence and see immediately after Halloween, Christmas decorations. What happened to Thanksgiving? Do we completely ignore our beloved day of thanks? Can we just skip the blissful traditional overindulgence in food and snooze? I think not. Bring on the Pie and cranberry sauce and if you are so inclined to partake in the cerimonial turkey, be ware of the tryptophan-induced coma that will most assuredly follow. So we overeat and sleep and overeat some more, herein lies our most decidedly "I'm starting my diet next week" Holiday. Even with the vast array of treats and sundries guaranteed to leave you groggy and longing for my favorite sweats, ultimately, I am left with the feeling that besides being awestruck at the sheer devastation that was once a heavily ladden buffet table, carefully adorned in festive, albiet somewhat kitchy decor, a simple unfettered gratitude for all things family. My eyes wander to my loved ones and I am once again reminded of how blessed I am for the incredible people that surround me and the wonderful life I have been given. I watch my family gather around eating and laughing with reckless abandon, and in that moment, all seems right in the world..

What's in a Name?

What's in a name? We put so much weight on names in our society. what to name our kids or what brand name of laundry detergent to use. Everything we do is somehow tied to a name. Does our name define us? Are we more gifted or priveledged because of our name? Hardly. I can tell you that names are tied to memories. I have met people and thought oh I once knew someone with that name and every memory, good, bad or indifferent came along with it. We attach some sort of predisposition to the names of the people around us. What if we did not have names and referred to ourselves and each other simply as "child" or "loved one" or "friend" I wonder what possibilities would await if there were no classification or distinction and we could just be who we are.