Sunday, October 31, 2010

Sunday's Moment ...


Brought to you by Girl Scouts. This is how we started our day ... helping the MS Society and their guests. Post Oak Lodge outside of Tulsa is a beautiful place!!!
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Saturday, October 30, 2010

Saturday's Moment ...


Brought to you courtesy of TSF Dance Competition. We didn't come away with an award, but Miss M's mentor did - 1st place!
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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Rocker Girl and Fairy


So I am NOT big on the Halloween holiday, personally, but I do remember the joy of dressing up as a child and getting to experience something fun or wacky or just plain different for one day.  That hasn't changed in all these years!
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Saturday, October 23, 2010

Sounds of children ...


Playing, laughing, swinging ... it was all part of the adventure of being on set for the first time!  The independent film, "Pippin's Day Out" brought us to the park, thanks to the fortunate conversations of a coworker which led to an invitation to be an extra in the playground scene.

As usual, these things get me thinking.  Capturing those moments in time is precious.  As much as I love the visual element, I have to admit that sound is amazingly powerful.  I'm daydreaming about the value of hearing loved ones' voices back through a family tree, reminiscing to the sound of a child's laughter, and it makes me want to grab a recorder along with my cameras!  Suddenly I feel like Imogen Heap (how do I explain ... she collects sounds like I collect images and can create amazing things with them).

A cassette tape exists somewhere of my grandfather telling the story about how he tracked a moose (I believe).  If I recall, he didn't know someone had turned on a tape recorder, and those of us who weren't at the storytelling still heard it straight from his lips.  Hearing that again today - probably some 30 years or so later - would be priceless.  And plugging it in to a family tree these days is certainly a possibility!  I think I've given myself a project.
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Friday, October 22, 2010

Resentments

I think I have blinders on ... I probably live like I do.  There is a mountain of necessary life that I feel like I must burrow myself into just to make it through by some sort of acceptible margin (though it never feels acceptible).  Then I run into something from my past.  WHAM!  Suddenly the resentment surges.  It's not without reason.  The opposite is true.  It is very much with reason!

But it might be that very thing that holds me back from taking a moment-by-moment appreciative stroll through life. 

I guess when deep, deep hurt comes at the hands of another person it's hard not to feel like they need to feel deep, deep hurt, too.  And not just for a moment ... but for at least as long as they were the ones doing the hurting. 

So if a specific person has been racking up the "hurt miles" big time for over 20 years, and I still feel like I'm scraping through the leftover muck and will be for the rest of my life, I'm sure it's understandable that I feel like any happiness that comes that person's way is completely undeserved.  But that doesn't make it right, either.

Early on, I thought I could forgive - and even understand.  As the years go by, it actually gets more difficult.  I guess it's because the hurt continues.  Resolution would be good.  Change would be even better.  But I secretly wish revenge was an option.  I'd have leverage like you wouldn't believe!

Daddy, where are you?


Most days seem to hold everything but peace ... instead the days are a blur as I race through trying (and failing) to do everything that is crying out for attention.

I am reminded of a day when my son was racing around in circles on his Big Wheel in the basement.  Those things are notoriously LOUD, and he was doing a good job of stirring up the noise.  But above the clatter of the wheels, I could hear him yelling over and over, "DADDY! WHERE ARE YOU?"  His father was answering him every time, but there was no way he could hear him over the noise he was creating. 

The picture seems a lot like me when life is so busy that I feel like I'm going around and around in circles.  I am!  And I'm probably making so much "noise" in my life that I can't hear the answer to my heart's cry ... whether it is to know where "my daddy" is, know my purpose, feel connected, or simply taste the sweet relief of peace.

How simple would it be to stop for a moment and ask those questions in silence?  Maybe more simple than I realize. 
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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Happy 11th Birthday, Miss M!


OK ... so I'm VERY late posting anything about Miss M's birthday ... but it was a WHIRLWIND! So, I'll back date this post so she can have a proper post on her birthday. Actually, she wanted a whole birthday page like her brother, but I don't know if I have it in me to do another one until she's 18!

Instead, we exhausted ourselves with another kind of surprise: a room makeover! As her schoolbus pulled away, Grandma and Grandpa pulled in. And away we went. I was furiously packing. And while I ran to work for a meeting, they continued the mad dash to move furniture, pack up extra stuff, find supplies to make a ballet barre, and get cranking on the project.

When she arrived home, when she looked down the hall to her room, instead of seeing her bed and night stand, she saw this (minus her, of course)! "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY ROOM?!?!" Madame R.E. and myself were responsible for creating the hot pink reading corner with chocolate and gold curtains, and the grandparents took Miss M shopping for a cool lamp the next day.

But the birthday surprises didn't end there ... dinner with the family who could come was quite a treat, a new FAVE CD and help relocating the pink chandelier from Uncle J, and the mad dash to get an iPod the next night courtesy of her dad and grandfather's checks topped it all off.

And there you have it ... birthday #11!
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Sunday, October 10, 2010

Anxiety and Gifted Children

I promised I'd share my findings from a seminar last week ... and I have to admit, I feel like I'm scratching the surface of a REALLY BIG deal. But more on that later.



And an additional link for gifted adults: http://giftedservices.com.au/adults.html
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Saturday, October 02, 2010

Here's to next time ...


The part in the movie didn't come her way (insert frown) but it was a great first experience and I'm sure there will be more! This is one of those "I never did that" things, so as a mom I'm still proud and excited.
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How slow do you want the fire to burn?

  Just a little over a year ago, I had an urge to set up my special writing place. One person I wanted to tell was my aunt because I had bee...