YAY!!! Because birthdays shouldn’t be limited to ONE measly day a year now, should they? That special feeling, that feeling like THIS IS YOUR Day, should happen EVERY day. Spread ’em out over the whole year. Every year.
I do. Because I like being my own center of attention.
I call ’em my re-birth days. And it doesn’t matter if anyone else knows. It’s a matter of waking up knowing that no matter what happens...this is my day.
I discussed this with my friend Jana this morning. That’s her up above. Well, it’s her hands and her yummy ‘lucious latte made with steamed almond milk. Which was quite tasty, by the way.
Jana and I live in the sticks. In the forest that surrounds our funky old gold mining town. The streets are steep and narrow and as we walked from the car to the cafe we talked about life.
And death.
We both lost our mothers recently. Mine in April, Jana’s only a couple of weeks past. Mothers. Daughters. The decision to be there for a loved one when the outcome is understood. To take care of them when things are ugly. To let them go, let them die. With dignity, compassion and love.
Walking down the steep narrow sidewalk, the kind that’s uneven from tree roots and settling, I saw a couple of street people sitting on a concrete retaining wall. Smoking. Personally, I would’ve been more comfortable on the other side of the street where we could pass one another with enough space between us we could just walk on by. As it was, we had to walk single file to get past them. And since this is California we had to say hello. Because that is what we do here, say hello to strangers.
Even if they’re out of our comfort zone.
But Jana, who was behind me, said it like she meant it. Like the brief exchange was an honor and a privilege and these were not strangers, they were individuals worthy of her attention. And they responded in kind.
When we got to the cafe Jana picked a table by the window. We hadn’t seen each other in a long time and had some catching up to do. We don’t see each other very often but every time we do we marvel at the connection. We are so alike. And yet so different.
I feel like there’s a soul connection.
So we drank our coffee and talked. I mean talked. And watched the world go by outside. There was a man on a bench. Homeless by the look of him. I noticed one of the cafe workers approach him with a small bag.
I’d ordered a quesadilla. Which was huge. Way too much food. But it was SO good. As the conversation wound down and we were getting ready to leave there was still half of it on my plate. I thought about the street people we’d passed. Wondered if they were still there. Wondered if they might want what I hadn’t finished. But I didn’t share those thoughts with Jana.
The man from the bench came into the cafe. He sat at a nearby table, drinking from a paper cup. That’s when Jana told me she did volunteer work with the homeless. She recognized him from the shelter.
And then she asked if she could give him the rest of the quesadilla.
Oh man, she made his day. He ate it like it was the best thing ever. Which it was. And then he told us, quite loudly and way more than once, thank you!
We got up to go. I’d been eying some windows across the street. Old windows. Heavy shutters. Nice contrast of colors. Of light and shadow. I stepped outside with my camera and took a few pictures. When I was finished I realized Jana hadn’t followed me out. She was still in the cafe. Talking with the man. Laughing with him. Looking him in the eye. Clasping his hand.
Actions way beyond my comfort zone.
Whack upside the head. Spiritual AHA! moment. And best damn re-birthday present ever. The gift of seeing love and faith in action. And realizing I still have a long way to go.
Oh, what a lovely list of bliss this week. It was my birthday, you see, as trillions GAZILLIONS of my not-so-nearest but definitely DEAREST best friends EVER posted greetings on my Facebook wall. Ah, I am still basking in the luuuuuuuuv, my sweetums. Positively glowing. In fact I’m glowing so much we don’t even need the lights on tonight.
Now that’s bliss.
And so is this. Portebella ‘burger’ with roasted red pepper, melted cheese. Brie? Brie? I do not recall but IT WAS DELICIOUS. Beyond delicious. It was BLISS ON A BUN. And the salad dressing was some sort of garlic attack in the most goodly of ways.
And of course there was puppy love. There is always puppy love on my list. Count on it. This week the puppy really is a puppy. Just a baby.
Awwwww…Look at that fat little belly. Soft little puppy hair. PUPPY BREATH! Don’t you just want to pick him up and kiss him! And kiss him! And kiss him!!! And snuggle him against your shoulder and KISS his little head and make silly little sing song noises like a completely besotted fool.
Don’t you?
There is NOTHING that brings your blood pressure down better than a puppy. Especially a sleepy puppy. Nothing.
My co-workers and I are lining up to love on the newest perk at work…BUBBA. Not to be confused with the late, great Bubba mine. Who was the best dog ever, RIP. May baby Bub grow into the next best dog ever.
Speaking of work…ta ta…a collaborative painting by two of my favorite students. Two of my absolute favorite people who just happen to have Down Syndrome. This photograph doesn’t begin to do the painting justice. Layers and layers of jewel tone glazes make the underpainting POP. And it’s for sale. The artists get 60% of the profits. The rest goes towards purchasing new supplies for the Neighborhood Center of the Arts. You can read all about this place here. And if you’re interested let me know.
And if you could see these guys paint…oh man, it’s even better than puppy breath. And how do you top that??? They LOVE to paint. They LIVE to paint. Totally focused, totally into it. No inner critic on their shoulders. They just PAINT. And smile and laugh and sing and dance.
And what would a week be without chocolate? This week’s yummiest bliss is the. most. DECADENT. brownie. EVER!!! It’s baked in the local co-op, in their own little bakery. And oh my, I cannot eat more than a smidgen at a time. It’s that rich. I had about a quarter of it over two days and gave the rest away to three other people. And it’s only maybe three inches square, total.
It’s. That. Rich. Which bears repeating…so I did.
Those are all good things. Happy feeling making things. But the thing that came beyond all that, beyond even puppy breath and chocolate, the thing that sent the Bliss-O-Meter over the top—
ahhh… the absolute KNOWING that this space, this studio-in-the-making, is the right place at the right time of my life.
I’d love to hear from you. What rocked your world this week? What made you smile? Share it in the comments section below. We all want to know.
Attention You. Yes, YOU. Put your hands in the air and step away from the computer.
Do it! Do it NOW. SHAKE. IT. OUT. Because (drumroll, ta ta!!!) IT’S DANCE BREAK TIME!!!
Got the blood flowing now. Feels better, doesn’t it?
I know. Because lately the Universe has been coming to me saying, “Susan…your butt’s stuck. Susan, you’ve got to MOVE. Because you are turning into a sack of CE-MENT. You’re retaining water like a pretzel eater riding in the cheap seats on a trans-Pacific flight.”
Really, the Universe said that to me. Because I’ve been sitting too much lately. Logging in all kinds of hours on the computer.
And then a friend posted a link on Facebook. A link about the dire consequences of sitting at the desk, on the sofa, just sitting too long. Is that serendipity or what? All these messages bombarding me about getting off my butt.
So I started paying attention. I googled ‘health risks sitting’. Oh. My….it’s bad folks, real bad. We’re ALL going to die!!! But some of us are going to die sooner of cancer, heart disease, fat bottoms and BOREDOM…ALL FROM SITTING TOO LONG!!!
Get up again. Take another dance break.
Back? Good. Because all is not doom and gloom. I stopped the google search after 50 pages, mostly because I figured the point was made by then. I even read a couple of the articles. Like this one from NPR. I linked it because it has both video and an animated stick man. And I am easily amused by special effects. After scaring the bejeesus out of you with dire statistics the good folks at NPR offer a reassuring antidote…GET UP AND MOVE. Even a few minutes every hour will make a difference.
So I decided to write this post standing up. I stand while I paint. I stand while I teach. Why not stand while I write?
Actually, I dance while I paint. Dance while I teach. But I don’t think I can dance while I write…laptops just haven’t come that far. So I’m doing the next best thing. I’m writing this while balancing on a core stability disk. Which has been stashed under a chair since the day I bought it years ago, stabilizing spiders and dust bunnies.
Now it’s giving me a core workout while I blog. Because if I don’t engage my core I will fall flat on my ass. And I turned it upside down so my feet are getting all kinds of happy with those nobs digging into every reflexology point they’ve got. Ahhhhh… I think I may be falling in luuuuuv with this thing. Umm-hmm. Liking it just a little too much…
You can sit on it too. Matter of fact, I’m sitting on it as I do a next day edit on this post. Definitely got the wigglies going on as I keep the corte engaged. It’s a little distracting as I see how far I can take it. I just did a minute or so of seeing if I could hold a modified V while sitting at the kitchen table.
Got a way to go before the Circ de Soleil comes a calling.
I’ll keep you posted as to my progress. And don’t worry, the Arty Life is open to acrobatics.
