Saturday, May 31, 2008

Fabulous 5 Meme

I picked up this Fabulous 5 Meme from the Swandive...

What were you doing five years ago?

1) I was working part-time at Michael's as a scrapbooking instructor
2) I had just moved into a Victorian duplex a few months before
3) I didn't know yet (consciously) that I was gay
4) I had been working as a healer for about a year but hardly had any clients
5) Except for occasional visits to my mom's church, I wasn't really going to church
6) I was addicted to Dawson's Creek & Ally McBeal

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?

1) Start a blog for people trying to create or build a work-from-home business
2) Talk to Shelly
3) Read the chapter of Spiritual Direction to prepare for tomorrow's Sunday School class
4) Read part or all of the Cottage Style magazine I brought home from the store
5) Work on renovating the website for my healing practice ~~ gotta add the LofA group I want to start

What are five snacks you enjoy?

1) Cookies
2) Grapes
3) Fruit Cups
4) Chips
5) Popcorn

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire(not in any particular order)?

1) Buy some stuff: a log cabin on a lake, a new car, some clothes & jewelry
2) Renovate my mom's house
3) Create a nonprofit healing ministry so I could offer healing free or on a sliding scale
4) Create an intentional community
5) Invest

What are five of your bad habits?

1) Eating comfort food
2) Drinking sweet tea (cups of caffeine, basically)
3) Staying up too late
4) Not getting enough exercise
5) Swearing

What are five places where you have lived?

1) Jefferson City, Missouri
2) Lookout Mtn., TN
3) Virginia Beach, VA
4) Chesapeake, VA
5) Georgia

What are five jobs you've had?

1) 2nd Assistant Manager at Yankee Candle
2) Scrapbooking Instructor at Michael's
3) Family Counselor for an inpatient chemical dependency unit
4) Addictions Counselor for an outpatient substance abuse treatment center
5) Healing Coach-Practitioner

If you can read this, you are officially tagged.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Bedtime Moment to Remember

Just had a sweet moment with my son and wanted to be sure not to forget it!

We were saying goodnight and I said, "I love you!" and he said, "love you more!". I argued that that was not true, and he said, "the one who hugs first, wins!"

We both practically fell on each other trying to hug first and we laughed and laughed and laughed.

It was very cute!!

One of those moments of joy, an unexpected gift.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Friday Five at the Garage Sale

From Songbird & Will smama at RevGalBlogPals...

1) Are you a garage saler? Not at all

2) If so, are you an immediate buyer or a risk taker who comes back later when prices are lower?

In general, I am not an immediate buyer. I wait, I mull it over, I reconsider. But it's like every so often, I just go crazy and buy on impulse.

3) Seriously, if you're not a garage saler, you are probably not going to want to play this one.(That wasn't really #3.)3) This is the real #3: What's the best treasure you've found at a yard or garage sale?

A friend found both a TV and a vacuum cleaner for me once. Does that count?

4)If you've done one yourself, at church or at home, was it worth the effort?

I should make my son do one--geez, he has a lot of stuff for a 7-year-old!!

5) Can you bring yourself to haggle?

I have on other occasions--and have gotten good deals, too! Only seems to work when I really don't care, though.

My own bonus question: if you're not a garage saler, what would make you convert?

If I actually knew ahead of time what kinds of things might be there. Like, right now, I need a washer/dryer set and a vacuum cleaner. If I saw a garage sale sign with those items listed, I'd turn my car around to go find it.


Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Medicine Woman

I was watching the Waltons this morning. The episode where Mary Ellen decides she wants to become a doctor so that she can help the hill people better than she had been able to as a nurse. I felt really connected to that, to the way she felt about it.

Then there was the episode where John-Boy was helping a pregnant woman in a deserted mountain cabin and when she got sick, he went to see the local African-American healer, who directed him to her shelf full of herbal blends. There, he found exactly the one she'd prescribed and it worked.

Last night, I listened to a teleclass designed to sell a weekend training in August that I won't be able to attend.

But the woman who was speaking last night was talking about finding one's authentic voice. She mentioned themes and threads that follow us, in her opinion, through many lifetimes, that will help us figure out what our message is, what our voice is. If I believed in multiple lifetimes, based on the attraction I have always had for healing, medicine people, curanderas, etc, I would be sure that I had been one of them in a previous life.

What I do believe, instead, is that we carry generational memories, some that need to be healed, some that will guide us as to who we really are. We inherit traits and maybe even life or soul missions, right alongside the blue eyes or brown skin and the tendency toward high cholesterol.

Well, my family is said to have some native American ancestry.

I never have been very interested in genealogy before now, but it suddenly occurs to me that maybe I take after some native American ancestor. If you can heal in every generational direction, can you also inherit that way, as well?

Perhaps it's a flight of fancy (I am quite the romantic sort), but I feel somehow connected to some wise woman/medicine woman/village healer/storyteller. If true, it would certainly tie a lot of things together: my interest in healing, my intuition, my connection to nature, my desire to be part of a small town/intentional community/etc. Maybe even my attraction to log cabins and country decor :)

These are all things that seem odd in comparison to the family members I know.

Another thought I had is that if this is true, I have some layers of false self that still need to be healed. For example, I have allergies!

I'm working on that, though.

And I called my mother to ask her about it. She thinks the connection is through her grandfather, but she's going to ask around and try to find out more.

But even if that turns out to be a dead end, I know I'm onto something in tying these things together. And now I know that last night's teleclass wasn't a total waste of time!

Monday, May 26, 2008

Happy Memorial Day!



What a great day for families!

I slept in -didn't really feel like getting up, actually- and then, had a quiet, leisurely day with Jonathan before heading to my mom's house for an early dinner. Hamburgers, baked beans, rice, sweet tea and apple pie. Wonderful!

With running, screaming children and I Love the 70s as a backdrop.

My sister was very, very tired and not inclined toward conversation.

But other than that, it was a normal family gathering, complete with leftovers.

Jonathan and I had heard on the radio that there was to be a moment of silence at 3pm this afternoon in honor of our military and we observed it.

This song came to mind and I sang a little of it. He joined in. I am not sure I'm always proud to be an American, especially when I remember things like racism, slavery and gay bashing. But one thing I know for sure, as Oprah likes to say, is that I am very proud of the people who are giving their lives and have given their lives to serve our country...

If tomorrow all the things were gone,I’d worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,with just my children and my wife.
I’d thank my lucky stars,to be livin here today.
‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom,and they can’t take that away.

And I’m proud to be an American,where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up,next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,God bless the USA....


Lee Greenwood