You Matter -- Yes, YOU!

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday.  We all matter.  Each and everyone of us.  We even matter to people we have not, nor ever will, physically meet.  We matter.  You matter.  No 'matter' what you may think, you influence people.  People watch you.  People learn from you.  People are inspired by you.  You matter.

What Is Your Favorite Holiday Memory?

The prompt for NaBloPoMo for today was:  "What is your favorite holiday memory? (And yes, you can pick any holiday, including your birthday)"  Well, TODAY is my birthday.  Another trip around the sun.  Another year to reflect on.  Another..... year. 

There are many memories each of us have of favorite birthdays.  My brother is twenty years older than me and has lived most of his adult life in South Africa.  When I was a little girl, I rarely saw him.  He and his family would come home to the U. S. every five to six years.  I missed him terribly and counted the days, weeks, months and years until I would see him again. When he was home for my birthday, it was a special day indeed. 

One Very Special Day

My absolute favorite memory of those special birthdays was when I turned ten.  My mother was gravely ill throughout my childhood which meant we did not do a lot of celebrating.  I was thrilled when she would be well enough to bake a cake for my birthday.  This was going to be one very special day.  She had made her famous German Chocolate Cake with the pecan and coconut icing.  It was a time-consuming, difficult cake to make and reserved for special occasions. 

There Are Men Too Gentle To Live Among Wolves

Last month I shared a poem by James Kavanaugh entitled The Post Office.  It is a humorous look at what we think about while waiting in line at the post office.   Many readers commented how much they liked his style of poetry.  I would like to acknowledge Mr. Kavanaugh by posting some of my favorites.  I hope you will enjoy them as well.

This one is the title of one of his books by the same name There Are Men Too Gentle To Live Among Wolves.  

Did You Ever Have A Day That Changed Your Life Forever?

When you get up in the morning, do you ever expect that particular day to change your life forever? Not normally.  Is there any way to prepare for a day like that?  I doubt it.  Do we ever get a reset button to start the day over?  Unfortunately, no!

I had one of those days.  One was definitely ENOUGH!  

The silence was deafening. The only sounds I heard were coming from inside my head. I could hear the blood rushing through my veins from the palpitations of my heart. My sweater was moving to the uneven rhythm. I had to keep telling myself to remain calm. I must not appear flustered or guilty. I tried taking deep breaths to slow down the pace of my heart which took every ounce of my strength and fortitude. I grabbed my knees with both hands in an effort to stop them from shaking. But that didn’t seem to help, and fear prevented me from thinking rationally.

I was in a police station, alone, and scared. The holding room was like a phone booth with no windows. I was sweltering under a choking fog of body odor and stale cigarette smoke. Nausea swept over me and I had to force myself to take a breath.

"You wait here,” a man said gruffly. Then the door was slammed shut and locked. That sound resonated through me and I felt as though my life was ending. It sent shivers up my spine and made me shudder. I could not explain my emotions or why I was so scared because I wasn’t even sure what was going on. My mind raced. It was an emotional whiplash between “why” and “what if.” What was going to happen? Why were they holding me? The questions wouldn’t stop and I could not think clearly. I felt sick to my stomach completely oblivious to the fact that deep within my belly, new life was growing.

Let Me Drop Everything and Work On Your Problem

I reached for the nearest coffee mug this morning and then opened my email inbox.  Going through the list, I deleted the obvious ones and then began screening the ones that were left.

Today CAN'T be the first of November.  Yup.  It is.  Today is the first day of NaBloPoMo blogging challenge.  Am I going to be able to keep up?  My plate is already overflowing.

Set Yourself Free - Break From Reality

Spa Day.  A Day At The Spa.  Don't you love the way that sounds?  A few months ago I house, dog, cat and sheep sat (try to say that fast) for my daughter Rochelle and her family.  As a thank you, she gifted me with a day at the spa.  In that post, Can a Day at the Spa Remove the Smell of Sheep?   I shared this out-of-the-ordinary spa.  It is the Grotto Spa at Tigh-Na-Mara, 25,000 square feet of insane bliss.

Here I am again -- but this time GOATS have been added to the list.  Rochelle does not treat these animals as livestock -- to her, they are family!  They have names and she is teaching them tricks.  I don't know if that is what she expects me to do when she is gone -- but I feed 'em and scoop up the poop.  End of story.  Yet, she scheduled a day at the spa for me.  A little bit of heaven.

Walking in, you feel like royalty and any memories of your real world start to fade.  The way the floor plan is laid out you see very few other guests.  There are twenty-five treatment rooms for massage alone!  The mineral pool is a place where you can literally drown your sorrows.  

Image Over Substance - It's A Matter of Roots

I'm not much of a gardener.  In fact, I know very little about gardening but I do know that it is wonderful therapy for many people.  I don't understand gardening, yet I have learned a valuable lesson from a tree. Years ago, we lived on a large acreage and over the course of any summer, trees seemed to spring up out of nowhere.  It was as if they had some special magic like the seeds in the story, Jack and the Beanstalk.  In a matter of weeks, these trees would grow tall and if we didn't get rid of them, they would easily take over the road.

It was not difficult to get rid of them as they had a little root system.  The tree would be several feet high with roots that were only a few inches deep.  You could lean on them and they would uproot.

What I did not understand was why some trees took so long to grow and these grew so quickly.  I asked an avid gardener friend and her response was, "Real trees know better than to go up until their roots have gone down.  Trees that last," he said, "have as many roots underground as they have branches above."

BAM!  That hit me hard.  It rang true when thinking about life and what matters.

Do You Welcome The Bumpy Roads And What They Teach You?

BUMPY ROADS.  All of us have times in our lives when we travel roads that are not smooth.  Often, it is a very unpleasant experience but we become stronger and wiser for going down those paths.  Brian Wilson has written a compilation of short stories about people whose journey may have  been bumpy, but they have faced the challenges and are better people for it. 

I connected with Brian Wilson on Linkedin and had the opportunity to interview him here. His website is Hidden Treasure Books, Where you find great books.   He has authored two books, Moments in Time and Bumpy Roads. Both of these are collections of short stories to entertain you and provoke thought.









Brian, what made you want to become a writer?

I have always been interested in short story writing and saw an opportunity on February 22, 2011 when Christchurch City, New Zealand was leveled by a 6.3 earthquake.  Across the road from where I worked, a six story building collapsed entombing all 113 occupants and 185 died that day.  This was considered one of the worst earthquakes to hit a modern city.  Based on these events, I wrote a number of short stories and told them in my first book, Moments in Time, along with other stories of my experiences in other countries.