Love at First Sight

Do you believe in love at first sight?  I'd like to believe, but its more like lust at first sight.  When you're meeting a new person, are you instantly attracted to something in partucular?  I tend to notice eyes and hands.

There would probably be all kinds of opinions on Google or in magazines. But does their opinion mean more than our own?  

My first real crush at first sight was when I was 8. Mikey lived next door.  We became fast friends and he was my first kiss behind the pine tree in our backyard! 

After that, I had a few crushes along the way, but I was a chubby nerd who loved reading and being alone.  I married three times, each time I was convinced it was love, sometimes love at first sight. But looking back, I'm not sure I knew what real love looked like. And I'm still not sure.

Love and lust are sometimes mistaken. I have learned over time that it isn't about looks, and it isn't easy to truly love someone. That usually comes from time spent exchanging ideas through conversation and having similar goals for a good life. 

Not including marriages, I fell in love two other times.  Both were built on many conversations, and wanting the same things in life.  

One happened a few months before I was first married. He was older than me, but that didn't matter.  Our history .... well let's just say that I hoped he would be the knight in shining armor who would rescue me.  I realized later in life that we each need to rescue ourselves.

The second was instant friendship and nearly love at first sight. We had so much in common, but our life paths seemed impossible to change at the time and we drifted apart.

Love is a many splendored thing.  That was a catch phrase in the late 60s, but love is definitely hard to define. It is different for each of us. 

I hope you find yours!

Unexpected Joys

 It's Wednesday and my usual routine is to go grocery shopping for the week.  Today, as I was finishing my circuitous route through the grocery store, I came around the apples display in produce and ran into Kim!  She used to work in my store and was a joy to run into her!  She left our store to follow her heart (and her calling!) to work with the homeless community. 

She noticed me and gave me a huge hug then prayed over me.   There's nothing like a friendly hug and a prayer to make me smile, give me joy for the rest of the day!   Thanks Kim! 

The Joy of Writing

hahahah

I like to write. 

It could be a work of fiction, relating details of things going on in life, sharing a joke or story I heard ... it doesn't seem to matter what it is, but I enjoy it.  I've called it many things over the years:  keeping a diary, writing a journal, then with social media all the rage, blogging. 

Every now and then, I look back at some of the things I've written, and I guess when it comes to a "style" of my writing, what I write comes from the heart.  Sometimes with humor, sometimes satire, and other times, good old fashioned ranting!! 

I don't want to try to be a specific somebody.  And maybe that's well and good for professionals who earn their living at writing; me, I'm just plain ol' me.  Take it as it comes.

But I find it quite therapeutic.

I don't write because I am all about the followers or any kind of "like" or comment.  I have a few friends on FaceBook who can be that way,
but that's never been my thing at all.

I write for me, for the joy it brings me,
and sometimes, when I've ranted a good piece,
it's almost as good as punching something.
Or someone.

Bright Blessings, my friend.

Weird Things

Have you ever been cleaning out a closet or a drawer, only to realize that you collect weird things?? I was cleaning out a cupboard today - and realized that I have a penchant for collecting notebooks.  Pretty notebooks for writing in.  I have quite the pile of them, and yes, I do love to write.  However.  With the digital age, I do most of my writing on the computer -- so what's with the pretty little notebooks???? 

Maybe its like when I was a kid -- there was nothing more fun than a fresh box of crayons and a new coloring book!  or maybe its the whole brand new, starting over feel reminiscent of September mornings at the start of a new school year. 

Sitting down with an empty notebook, I feel obliged to fill it with thoughts, words, quotes, or even doodles and shopping lists.  I sometimes wonder if years from now, my kids or grandkids will find a notebook of mine and sit down to read some sliver of time in my life and think about who I was as a person, and not just a mom or grandmother.  Maybe they'll read about my dreams, or my wishes for the future, or regrets about my past.  

Either way, I'm a huge fan of these things --
I really should start using them :)
Happy Writing!

Adios Lounge

There's a song by Tom Waits called Adios Lounge.  Like most of his music, its more than just words and a melody.  There's a raw honesty in the songs he chooses to sing.  And in his edgy whiskey soaked voice, a trademark growl, he belts out the following chorus:

• Don't let nobody go there for you
• Don't be satisfied with a second-hand life
• Don't let nobody stifle or bore you
• Handle your troubles or take on your strife
• Don't let nobody live your life for you
• Not your friends, not your kids, no not even your wife
• If you want to know where the rainbow ends
• It's you who´ve got to go there and find it my friend

We each need to live our own lives, to find our own joys.  This song popped up on my mp3 player yesterday, and I've been addicted to it for the past two days now.  Because sometimes we all get into ruts, situations, habits and we forget that we're important too. 

You can listen to the tune here.

Just a reminder, my friend, that time passes much more quickly than we realize. 
What are you waiting for?
Its time to live for yourself.