bottle

Last night I drifted off to sleep streaming YouTube videos made by Kirsten Lepore (instead of watching the debates). These videos have made the rounds back when they came out, but they are new to me. Just amazing. This is my favorite. Comical, mesmerizing whimsy, thought-provoking and deep. Enjoy "Bottle".

secret #5

Brian Andreas 2015 - StoryPeople.com

Today I am doing the minimum of things I usually do on a Saturday because I am tired and don't feel 100%. There are a lot of things going on and I am just trying to surf high on the stress wave and find the joy.

what needs doing

Storypeople always seems to get it right. Thanks, Brian Andreas!

Sorry I have been absent from this space. I have been standing up and doing the things I see that need doing. I have been working several evenings per week doing student training sessions. I enjoy doing them, but the evenings are racking up.

Last weekend we were preoccupied with a fundraising event to raise money for a gay rights organization in Belize. Tom played host to a New York Times magazine writer who wrote this article, (here), last May. Hosting usually means picking someone up from a bus station or airport, taking them to dinner, touring them around some local area, and getting them back to the airport - in addition to going to whatever events are planned. I did some "spouse"accompanying, but also had to do my own things - so it was a good, interesting, fun, and busy weekend. We are lucky that one of our colleagues has a huge Victorian and she regularly opens up her home to have campus guests like this stay there, so we didn't have all the responsibility.

Sunday night was the incredible super moon, the blood moon, and total lunar eclipse. We got very lucky and had clear skies. I stayed up (yes, past 10:30 p.m.) to watch and it was really incredible. I did capture a few photos, but nothing like what I saw online taken with cameras much better than mine. Still, I won't forget the sight for a long time. It was SO cool.

This week is flying by already. I went to my last school open house this evening for the senior in high school. Having just one child, these things have so much weight. I cried on the drive home. I didn't expect to, but I did. Everything ends. I know this. Still, sometimes I get surprised by it.  Some people close to me are going through some very difficult times, and I find I am doing more evening texting, recommending Pema Chodron's, The Places That Scare You, and Barbara Brown Taylor's An Alter in the World, books. I want to help comfort people when they are in pain. These books helped me during some trying times.

So that is it. Just hopped on tonight to in essence say a quick hello. I long to have some free time to search out some new things to post here. I'll be back soon, I hope.

light

Brian Andreas - storypeople.com 

second thoughts

Second Thoughts - Brian Andreas - storypeople.com

being bold. because.

Thank you, storypeople.com.

It was an absolutely delightful weekend. The weather was my kind of perfect: sunny, low 70s, breezy, dry. It was way too  nice to go anywhere near my computer. I realize now why so many turn to Facebook or Instagram or Tumblr -- those quick takes one can easily access or post by cell phone. Blogging by cell phone is really tricky and not pleasant. So I chose to just live instead. I finished a good book called The Art of Hearing Heartbeats. I gave it three stars out of five - which still means good, but not among my favorites. I started a new book yesterday called Missoula. This one will be a difficult one to get through. I may have to re-read The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry to get the images out of my mind and get back to a book I truly enjoyed reading.

Yoga thought: was amazing Saturday morning. At the end of each class, after coming "to" from meditation, our teacher reads us a short phrase and repeats it once as we lie there before getting up for final yoga mudra - to send us off with a good message. The message was for us to try to go through the entire day without uttering one single complaint. She added, "you might find you don't have a lot to say." I giggled. Silently, but visibly. It wasn't her usual type parting phrase. I thought to myself that it would be easy for me to do. I am not really that much of a complainer. I tend to be relatively optimistic or at least calm. So imagine my surprise that I caught myself not once but twice later that day in complaining mode - once verbally and the other internally as thoughts. I am going to try to be more conscious of not complaining. Wise words, those.

We received some extremely difficult and heart-breaking news recently. I now have two people dear to me who have cancer that is metastatic. That means cancer that was once thought "gone" and in remission is back and is spread. And there is no cure. There is only finding the best path to a good, but finite amount of time left as living - and hopefully living with pain in check. Today's StoryPeople.com piece seems to reflect the natural reaction to dealing with this kind of challenge. Any matter of the heart presents a choice, really, in how we react. I want to be bold and courageous. I want to jump in loving the last that we have with people - however long it is - and yet it is so emotionally difficult at times, we want to jump in with just one foot in order to have the other ready for a quick get away in case our hearts get into something we are not ready for yet. (Fear, sadness, avoidance...)

I have had experience "living with" the dying before. The more I reflect on it, it doesn't take courage so much as love. Simply love. And so - I am going to be bold and hope that it rubs off on others too. Let us all be bold together.

dress-up box

Credit: Storypeople.com

I'm coming off 36 hours of pomp and circumstance having worked three undergraduate Commencement ceremonies this weekend (one Friday night and two yesterday). I had hung up my robe and hood, etc. for three years during the "job change years," but it all came back to me like second nature as I took my place among the other marshals. I really enjoy being in and around all the energy and emotion of the graduates and their families, proud faculty, staff, and alumni. Even though I work at a college that I didn't attend, I have spent many more years there than at my own alma mater, so it feels special to me to enjoy the joy of the place. The events are complex and well-done, and get pulled off with a lot of team work. It is fun to be a part of it.

The speeches were all quite good. One went on a little bit too long, and it was pretty funny to see the students try to end it early with well-timed applause not once but twice. Unfortunately the speaker thought that they were cheering her on, so she kept going. One of my good friends was honored with a Chancellor's Award, so that was fun to watch.

Meanwhile, this Story People story says quite simply what several of the speakers tried to articulate. What do we need to live a life of consequence? Courage, love, and play are behind nearly all the important things in life.

life wants

Here's a bit of whimsy... and a wish of truth, thanks to StoryPeople.com.

. 

yes

Good one, Jessica. 

what are you afraid of?

Storypeople.com

on the other hand...

www.stsorypeople.com

trick-or-treat time. . .

I grew up in a wonderful neighborhood for trick-or-treating. Good memories of full pillowcases, for sure. The neighborhood we live in now is a large cul-de-sac network and we get 80 to 100 little darlins a year (including the teens, who I happen to like also). We are waiting until the last minute to purchase candy so that I don't eat it all. I will be out of town for work for a couple of days and getting back hopefully in time to hand out some of that candy on Friday evening. Cheers.

the truth about money

www.storypeople.com

I saw this StoryPeople post today, and it reminded me of a song. (And who doesn't love the lyric, "Why does anyone do anything? I don't know. I was really drunk at the time." ?)

We know truth when we see it (or hear it), but it is so hard to remember sometimes. The times we are happiest are when we don't even try.  (Which reminds me of a lyric from a great Joni Mitchell song....)

The sun is shining and it is crisp here in CNY. I look forward to fully heading out into this Sunday - full of fun options and just a modicum of work. But first, maybe just one poem....

a lot you can't control...

Oh, StoryPeople. Sometimes, you make me cry. Sometimes you make me think. And sometimes you just make me laugh. Sorry I have been AWOL. I had to travel for work every day last week Monday through yesterday, and I am off to travel again today. I at least got to sleep in my own bed for part of that time, but was gone all weekend. Tonight I get home late. I have a few things to share, and will be back here soon.

"Clean Underwear" - StoryPeople Story of the Day 7.19.14

pay attention: now

Thanks for this, Story People.

Little Matters, by StoryPeople.com

Today, while driving on a mundane work trip just an hour out of town, on a day when the car thermometer registered 99 Fahrenheit degrees and my mind was pulled in about eight directions, I suddenly noticed the most beautiful green hills on my drive -- full of many shades of green -- coniferous and deciduous. The hills, trees, and grasses are always there on this familiar drive -- sometimes green, and sometimes brown and gold and red, and sometimes bare, and sometimes frozen white. Sometimes I don't see them. Today I did. 

that kinda week

Storypeople.com - Quiet Little Films

ordinary things

Thank you for this, storypeople.com.

EB, you're the best.

Dear Easter Bunny,

I used to be terrified of you when I was a small child. Then I figured you out when I was 5 (and all the rest of the lot too). Now, I love you forever, because you bring me things like dried apricots and a Lindt Dark Chocolate and Hazelnut bar . . . one of the best chocolate bars on the planet. Oh yeah! The Easter Bunny is me. 

Best Wishes,

Nan

PS Chocolate made me feel better just now. Maybe I have turned a corner. . . or all these days with a fever have made me turn silly.

illusion of control

One of my favorite stories is today's Storypeople.com Story of the Day:

how to write something true

From Storypeople.com... another great one.