by Sharon O | Jul 3, 2013 | Uncategorized
Soon we are going on our much needed canoe trip.
My heart is heavy today for assorted reasons and I do feel we need some time away.
Life has been busy and very hard at times in the last few months.
It has been both financially and emotionally draining.
I sometimes just want to take a long relaxing nap but when sleep comes it doesn’t seem to come easy.
The temperature outside has been in the high 90’s and for our area that is hot.
We do have air conditioning but it is still warm and sometimes uncomfortable for us and the animals.
When we get away and on the water there is really nothing to worry about.
No concerns other than to not dump over as I don’t know how to swim.
The landscape around us and the views are so relaxing and beautiful.
Often times we can see birds hovering in the sky or deer along the sides of the bank walking near the water.
A few times we have even seen eagles nests and even eagles sitting high above our heads.
You cannot believe the quiet.
It is so peaceful and calming to the soul and spirit.
We follow the waters current and the other canoes in our team and
we watch the clouds and feel the wind in our face.
It is refreshing.
Healing and calm.
We prepare for good weather and also the not so good.
Last year we found ourselves in the middle of a torrential rain.
It down poured on us for at least a half hour or longer.
It was warm and also a bit scary when the clouds got darker and darker and the wind increased in strength.
The water had a current that didn’t flow easy and it made us work.
We all had hats on and soon rain gear.
The adventure continued for another four hours till we could get off the river and back into camp.
Fortunately we had clothes that dried fast and also the air wasn’t cold it was just wet and dark.
The day on the river brought a lot of surprises for us.
Kind of like the lessons of life.
Storms happen and feel dark and overwhelming and then in just a short time
life is better and things begin to look hopeful.
The lessons of life are always good for us to think about.
When dark days come just remember the sun will return and it will be good again.
At that point we just have to remember to look up and say
“thank you” for being with us.
by Sharon O | Jun 30, 2013 | Uncategorized
Just wanted to remind my readers who ever you may be as of tomorrow Google reader will not be working.
SO if you read this blog through Google reader you might want to subscribe to it through your email service using the email subscription box on the side bar of the blog.
I did sign up for feedly but I have not figured out a code for it yet.
So my suggestion would be if you want to remain a reader.
To sign up for email posts only.
It is a big change for a lot of bloggers but it is necessary to tell all who participate to be proactive in their reader box or miss out on these posts.
Thank you for being both supportive and encouraging.
by Sharon O | Jun 27, 2013 | Uncategorized
The other day while putting away the extra leaf in our dining room table I received a major sliver.
It hurt right away.
It ached yet I could not see it although I knew what had happened.
The tiny edge was visible but not removable.
I waited.
It has been over a week and it is sore but still not visible.
Not ready to show me it’s ugly self.
As I was driving to the store the idea or thought came to me.
Emotional healing is very similar to a nasty sliver.
It hurts really bad when it first happens.
Then it dies down until it is time for it to rise to the surface again and then we are faced with abundance of feelings as to how and what is this and why am I feeling this way and where is this coming from?
When my own healing happened it was slow.
It had to be.
I could not look at or tolerate what was rising to the surface.
It was hard waiting for the ‘pain’.
You can’t talk about something when you don’t see it or even feel it.
I knew the heaviness was there.
I knew the hurt was deep.
I couldn’t see or find the source.
Emotional healing is like that.
It is slow. It is painfully slow.
Very similar to a nasty sliver that can take weeks or months to come to the surface before it’s ready to be removed.
IF one tries to move it too soon the pain is more intense.
Emotional healing is the very same thing.
You cannot heal too early as it won’t be effective or powerful.
The sliver will come out soon I hope.
Just like the emotional pain that kept me waiting for so long.
When one is used to hiding, it is not safe or good to say what you are really feeling.
The sliver is hiding right now.
I know it is there but is not ready to be exposed.
When it is removed it will feel healed and restored to normal.
I just have to wait and be patient.
by Sharon O | Jun 23, 2013 | Uncategorized
When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile.
Joining Diedra on jumping tandem and the Sunday community
by Sharon O | Jun 20, 2013 | Uncategorized
When I look at my stats, which is ‘how many look at or read’ my blog I could get depressed.
I am not.
The stats are just figures and it doesn’t bother me if 10 read it or 250 the goal is in sharing from my heart when I can and if I can’t …well it doesn’t happen that week.
When this blog began life was more quiet.
I had time to think, to process, to study, to process more and then to write.
The writing in 2010 was good, and it was deep and it was matters from my heart that were challenging and also encouraging.
In 2013 life is different.
I am more busy.
I am more tired.
The brain cells it takes to write a good writing are hiding somewhere.
The energy it takes to write a good writing is also in hibernation.
Most blog writers do not allow the numbers to throw them a depressing spin.
We write because we love it.
We write because we have something to say sometimes.
We write because we choose to share things with others with the hope that we can inspire or encourage or even challenge the reader.
When I look at my stats I will not let them bring me down or remove my hope.
It is perfectly fine to have 30 readers one day and 2 the next.
I am not allowing it to run my life or even affect my blog.
Whoever you are right now I thank you.
I thank you for even looking at this amateur blog writers words.
It is right and normal to climb up the scale of being a writer in a slow moving way.
I am not worried or affected by what the stats show me.
Thank you for standing by me and encouraging my dream.
by Sharon O | Jun 17, 2013 | Uncategorized
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| My gate |
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| and rocking horse |
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| from dad |
Today is Father’s day.
A traditional day to pay our respects and honor to our ‘earthly’ dad’s and to say Thanks.
These are a few things my dad has made me.
A gate that separates our court yard and our back yard.
He came over to my house and attached it for me with my husband helping him.
The rocking horse actually arrived a year or two earlier.
It rocks with a clip clop sound and I believe he drew it out and then made it.
The lower picture of the gate is my ‘reminder’ that HE is my dad.
Given to me in love as a gesture of thanks for taking care of my sister when she was on hospice.
I will always treasure it.
He also made me a welcome sign for my door with his ’emblem’ the hat.
A symbol of dad and his years as a cowboy.
Happy Fathers day dad.
I am glad we have been able to see you through one more year.
At 86 we know that time is passing by and some day this day will just be a memory.
My husband is having his first ‘fathers day’ without his dad.
It is hard.
He died March 24 six months before his 92nd birthday.
We say happy Fathers day today to all the dad’s who do a good job and who walk alongside the children no matter how old they are.
I also thank God for my husband who has been a wonderful dad and grandpa.
God has blessed us with memories of love, compassion and challenges to help us grow stronger.
Happy Fathers day Dad’s.
Joining Diedra on Jumping tandem and the Sunday Community.
by Sharon O | Jun 14, 2013 | Uncategorized
The Friday challenge is to write for five minutes on one word with no editing and no corrections.
The word for the day is: Listen
When I thought of the word of the year as with other years I waited to see what the Lord was going to reveal to me.
After prayer and waiting the word that came was Quiet.
Now the first things that come to mind are the beach, alone or almost alone, waves crashing and wind blowing softly.
A time of reflection and meditation and just enjoying the silence of the word Quiet.
This last month another ‘type’ of meaning for the word has come to my attention.
Sometimes the best thing one can do is LISTEN.
BE still.
Do not give an opinion.
Listen… listen to words shared by others and also to behavior through what is not shared.
With our grand children living here with us it has proven to be wonderful and challenging.
The reason they are here was not easy, peaceful or safe.
I have needed to be quiet and LISTEN.
To matters of the heart and matters of the soul.
When some one hurts another through insensitive behavior or words.
Matters of the heart become necessary to open up and heal.
The words sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never harm me.
Are wrong.
Words cut to the core and wound on many levels.
The key to sharing and loving another in crisis is Listening.
Without hearing the words of the wounded one there is no solid change or chance of healing.
Listen.
The hardest six letter word we can ever challenge ourselves to do.
Do not give opinions. Do not instruct.
Just listen.
by Sharon O | Jun 10, 2013 | Uncategorized
The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.
Maya Angelou
Joining Deidra on jumping tandem and the Sunday Community.
by Sharon O | Jun 7, 2013 | Uncategorized
The writing prompt this week is the word : Fall
(you write for five minutes with no editing then publish without looking back)
So many I have read are writing about the normal thought of falling… like as in holding on and being safe.
But I immediately think of the season of fall.
I love it.
The coolness. The colors. The beautiful pictures that God paints throughout the land with leaves of many colors and cloud formations of deep grays and blacks and it so reminds of hunkering down and slowing our pace and having tea and warm fires in the fireplace.
Yes it is summer now and in most places the temperature is in the eighties.
But this is not my favorite time of year.
I love warm sweaters and flannel shirts or soft Henley’s that pull over ones head with warm fuzzy slippers and socks to match.
I love fall.
The preparation of dying outside and moving into the winter quiet.
I also love the fact that it is our anniversary.
This year our fortieth.
Yes for forty years we have spent many fall months celebrating our beginning days.
Fall…
It is a new time of life.
For school children it is the challenge of new classes, new friends and new teachers.
For adults it is a centering back into a routine that we can live with and also the small beginnings of changes for everyone.
We wait with anticipation.
And we learn to be thankful while we wait in this new time.
by Sharon O | Jun 4, 2013 | Uncategorized
Life has been a bit crazy lately.
Our daughter and her three daughters are living with us for a season and it has been both wonderful and challenging.
The biggest challenge has been driving the girls to school every day.
It is a 35 mile drive each way from our home.
That equals 140 miles per day.
Driving… driving… driving which also includes munching on snacks,
waiting…for school to get out and driving more.
When it is my turn to drive I leave at 6:45 am dropping the 3rd graders off before 8 am then I drive the 8th grader to her school and we wait till 8:20 and then I head back home arriving at 9:20 on a good driving day.
Then I have to leave near 1:10 to pick the little girls up at 2:30 and then we drive back to the middle school for a 3:30 pick up (which means we wait) then we head home and arrive near 4:30. Last week there were auditions for the talent show and I got home around 6:00 pm.
We only have to do this till June 12th at that point we will celebrate.
If you wondered where my blogging has gone this grandma is a tad busy and will return after the 12th.
(Oh I will return before that but it won’t be intense writing my brain is not ready for that yet)
We are happy to have them here with us.
We are even more happy they are safe and protected.
We are learning to adjust and be flexible.
What are you learning these days?
