Journey Of A Thousand Miles

While she does not want to delve into details as of yet, Herself has just taken a step towards making a significant change.  Hopefully, a very good change.  She is terrified.  And determined.  With a bit of luck, all shall work out for the better.  Eternally optimistic, we are.  We shall see. 

You must do the thing you think you cannot do. -Eleanor Roosevelt

Picture copyright 2013, Mediocria Firma. Used with gratitude.

Peacemaker

Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against your passion and your appetite.
Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody.
But how shall I, unless you yourselves be also the peacemakers, nay, the lovers of all your elements?

Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.
For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.
Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing;
And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes.

- Kahlil Gibran, from "On Reason and Passion," The Prophet

Where Did We Go?

It's been a week since we last posted - a previously unheard-of gap.  What transpired?

In a word:  NASCAR.

Herself and Beloved Husband traveled 450 miles and spent several days enjoying an abundance of relaxation and fun that was the Phoenix International Raceway and its environs.  They brought no Offspring and no pets.  There were none but grownups:  the two of them, plus Cherished Friend and three other easy-going and entertaining adults.  Herself had virtually no obligations during the trip, since all meal preparation, from organizing to shopping to cooking, was in the capable hands of another.  It had been a very long time since Herself had no need to pack anything except her own possessions for a vacation. She quite enjoyed it.

We'll write more in due course; right now, there is a small mountain of laundry and some significant tidying of the house to be done.  We have missed you, gentle reader, and hope to return to our regular posting soon.

Cavy Maintenance

Herself enlisted the aid of Beloved Husband to trim the cavy's toenails. (A pair of people is a prerequisite for portly piggy pedicures.)

I do love the scent of the guinea pig, and his wheek and hiss noises.  He chews his vegetables animatedly, and waddles around his habitat jovially. Such a humble, serene, soothing creature.

Polar Opposites

Thankfulness month continues.

Today, I am thankful for the Offspring. 

I have sometimes joked that if one could have three polar opposites, that would describe the Offspring, for they have such divergent temperaments. Their likes and dislikes; their needs and wants; their reactions to difficulties and to joys -- all so very different. 

Nevertheless, they each have an abundance of kindness and tender-heartedness.  They care for their friends.  They are helpful. They are clever, and their respective unique wits are marvelous to behold. 

One of my favorite set of photographs of them is contained in a three-window frame with a different word underneath each window:  SPIRIT  -- WISDOM -- LIGHT.  Each child could easily be shown above any of the three words.  The way it is arranged at the moment, though, it shows: 

• Offspring the Third as a toddler, with four pacifiers jokingly and gleefully stuck in his mouth at the same time, over the word SPIRIT; 
• Offspring the Second as a youngster, full of millions of facts that he delightedly shares, with his quiet smile and thinking eyes, over WISDOM; and 
• Offspring the First as a grade-schooler, with her kind and abundantly cheerful smile that radiates throughout the room and warms the hearts of all she meets, over LIGHT.  

They are truly lovely people. They have motivated me to become a better person, and I'm grateful every day for them.

Warmth To Love

Sometimes the tiniest of things -- a simple scent -- remind us of those we love.  We are grateful for our loved ones, because they allow us to love them, and they warm our inner hearth.  

The heart is the inner face of your life. The human journey strives to make this inner face beautiful. It is here that love gathers within you. Love is absolutely vital for a human life. For love alone can awaken what is divine within you. In love, you grow and come home to your self. When you learn to love and let yourself be loved, you come home to the hearth of your own spirit. You are warm and sheltered. ― John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Picture copyright 2012, 2013, Mediocria Firma. Used with gratitude.

Body Thanks

In the land of Facebook, many of Herself's friends have a particular tradition for November status updates:  each day, they describe something for which they are thankful. It can be silly, or serious; sweeping, or tiny.  We like this idea.  Sometimes, in the slog of every day life, we forget to take a moment to appreciate that for which we are grateful. It helps to remember.

I thus turn the blog over to Herself, for her ruminations on thankfulness for today.

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Halloween is always a tricky day.  Though I love to dress up, I struggle with appropriate fit and appearance of my costume, much as I do with ordinary clothing on other days of the year.  It's a challenge for an ample, middle-aged woman to achieve the desired Halloween goal of fun/flirty/witty/attractive without looking foolish.  'Mutton dressed as lamb.' No.  

It was a tad chilly yesterday, so I went with Trinity from The Matrix. I've dressed as her before.  It's an enjoyable costume, and surprisingly comfortable despite the pleather and the corset.  I even managed to lace myself into the corset, a challenge to be sure.  I will admit, I feel good wearing the costume. Happy. A tad more outgoing.  Perhaps even a tiny bit sexy. That doesn't happen terribly often, so I do enjoy the feeling. 

After the trick-or-treaters had descended and all of the candy had been given away, we retreated inside.  Beloved Husband took a few pictures of me in the costume while I had a brief Facebook 'conversation' with one of my ladyfriends on my telephone.  

Oh, dear. The pictures. 

He likes them, and for that I am glad.  I dislike many -- most -- of them.  I see so many flaws. Deficiencies, shortcomings.  Scars. Wrinkles. Chipmunk teeth.  More weight than I need, curves that are far more ample than alluring. I feel frustrated. Sad. Embarrassed. I say: the me that lives inside my head is so much cuter than the me in the pictures.  And then I laugh. 

The laugh does not hide the fact that this is the truth, for me.

But I realize that, all things considered, this body serves me well.  I do not feed it as well as I should, nor exercise it as often as I should.  It has given me trouble periodically and I have had to part with a recalcitrant (and mercifully unnecessary) organ or two. I have sprained and injured it, and I've visited the emergency room on more than one occasion when it has had difficulty. It's a little clumsy. It is prone to migraine, to food cravings, to pain in the hip and the lower back. It is an imperfect machine.

Despite all that, this body trudges on.  It forgives me my failings. It does its best to heal itself.  It allows me to do the things I like to do - I can walk and hike for hours; I can cook and type and play the piano and read.  I can touch the people I love.  Really, that's a lot.  And today, it is enough. And I am thankful for it. 

So tempted am I to put a caption:

"It's the angle that makes my behind look so big!"

Today, though, whether it is the angle or not - 

Thank you, behind, for providing me a comfortable seat.