I will be wearing pearls tomorrow in honor of Michelle Obama, the first African American woman to be First Lady. Well not so much in honor of her but as a symbol all the other African American women I know who are out there and quietly enduring what society so unkindly dishes out. The first on my list is Dorothy. Dorothy put aside any reticence she might have had gathered from her 70 years of experience in this world and made me feel like a niece. She encouraged me during the difficult days and laughed with me whenever we could.
I could list them all one by one but that would sell them all short. I saw their anger and their hurt as they saw their children suffered the ignorance of other adults. As their children suffered they sought to find the best path to a better day and explained that the words and actions belonged not to them but to the speakers and doers and then heaped words of love into the air to fall like a balm into their children's hearts.
Obama embodies the future for me, black and white, all sides of the coin like a beautiful marble rolling into the ring. and hopefully everyone will aspire to take him home at the end of the day. Who knows if he will solve the problems facing the nation, so much will depend on factors outside his control but if he can inspire us all to want less and give more maybe tomorrow will be better than yesterday.
Later....
I have listened the inauguration ceremony and wished that the prayers could have been more inclusive but I am glad we listened, maybe the pray-ers will listen to us in return. I listened to the speech and felt glad that I had heard the first non white President accept the job. I heard him ask me to complain less and give more and I thought, "I can do that". As this traveller is having to stay put for a while I will see first hand if the new President will put a stop to the insider pilfering and the disregard for proper financial conduct. All I ask is for him to govern from the top down and keep an eye on his henchmen.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Out of the slump
It is difficult when the world just isn't working like it should. I hit a brick wall and collapsed into bed around New Year. It was coming ever since the gun incident. That gun became a beacon which lit up the potholes in this part of the road. I have to get on the roundabout and find an exit.
The more you change the more you remain the same. I went for long walk the other day ostensibly to bank the first Phoenix paycheck but mostly to try and end the funk. I passed a sign that said "Metamorphosis" and it got me thinking. We are born not so much a blank slate to be written on by life but more like a pencil sketch upon which life fills in details. As the years roll by and the events and experiences pile on smudges and lines we either become a filled out portrait of ourselves or we become masked by the times we have endured. No matter the result the sketch is still there and it is our choice to celebrate the change or to peel back the mask. I have been peering beneath the surface and I think it is time to get some input from the sisters.
I am happy to know that since this was taken I have lost 20 lbs. It is amazing how lost one can become languishing in an unhappy marriage. The most productive part of the journey so far has been the discovery of two books, one about deliberate happiness and the other about the connecton between stress and being overweight.
Deliberate happiness is not about walking around with a meaningless grin on your face and doing the Pollyanna dance, it is deliberately focusing on the people, places and things that one associates with happy, contented, satisfied times. In so doing you can beef up the positive effects of one's life. In essence, turn on the light to end the darkness instead of poking around in the dark. The other day a wonderful friend asked me what did I like about Australia. For the next three days I found endless opportunities to think and talk about gum trees, cockatoos and galahs. Sorry Tan but nothing beats a gum tree.
This is one of the first gum trees I fell in love with in 2007.
And this is the one I stood under waiting for the bus at the end of the work day. I miss riding the bus and meeting people.
The more you change the more you remain the same. I went for long walk the other day ostensibly to bank the first Phoenix paycheck but mostly to try and end the funk. I passed a sign that said "Metamorphosis" and it got me thinking. We are born not so much a blank slate to be written on by life but more like a pencil sketch upon which life fills in details. As the years roll by and the events and experiences pile on smudges and lines we either become a filled out portrait of ourselves or we become masked by the times we have endured. No matter the result the sketch is still there and it is our choice to celebrate the change or to peel back the mask. I have been peering beneath the surface and I think it is time to get some input from the sisters.
I am happy to know that since this was taken I have lost 20 lbs. It is amazing how lost one can become languishing in an unhappy marriage. The most productive part of the journey so far has been the discovery of two books, one about deliberate happiness and the other about the connecton between stress and being overweight.
Deliberate happiness is not about walking around with a meaningless grin on your face and doing the Pollyanna dance, it is deliberately focusing on the people, places and things that one associates with happy, contented, satisfied times. In so doing you can beef up the positive effects of one's life. In essence, turn on the light to end the darkness instead of poking around in the dark. The other day a wonderful friend asked me what did I like about Australia. For the next three days I found endless opportunities to think and talk about gum trees, cockatoos and galahs. Sorry Tan but nothing beats a gum tree.
This is one of the first gum trees I fell in love with in 2007.
And this is the one I stood under waiting for the bus at the end of the work day. I miss riding the bus and meeting people.
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