For someone as big a tech-head as me, I am absolutely stunned sometimes by new developments in technology. A week ago, I sat for twelve hours working on my new website with my uber talented son-in-law. At the end of that marathon, he asked me if I write my posts on Word first then transfer them. I shook my head. He said, with a questioning look on his face…“You write them directly on Facebook? On your laptop?” I shook my head again…and held up my cellphone. My iPhone 6 Plus, to be exact. His jaw dropped. “You write 1,000 word essays…on a cellphone?!?!” I laughed. In my defense, after writing an essay every single day for the last four years, I’ve gotten really fast with that right index finger and I hunt and peck my way through a 1x2 inch touchscreen “keyboard”. Still…he shook his head and said…“Stay right here. This is going to blow your mind!” Then he went downstairs.
In Japan, when a beautiful piece of pottery is broken, it is often mended with gold, thereby creating something even more beautiful. It is called kintsukuroi. The same can be done with the fractures of life. We often find ourselves broken to the point we feel we are beyond all repair. We’ve all been broken in one way or another…sometimes many times in many ways. When I was a very young children, I experienced a break when I was sexually abused. And then again when I was a teen. Later came two broken marriages and a bout of severe depression. And then…the loss of Mr. Virgo. How can you mend so many breaks and still hold fast the contents of the vessel?
Every New Year’s Eve I come up with a new word to focus on for the coming year. I have been mulling words over for the last several days. At first I was going to choose “adventure” but that didn’t seem to encompass all that it could. It seemed limited to travel and that’s not all I do.
This is going to be a really big year. Yes…I’ll be traveling a good bit. And yes, much of it will be with TOW-Wanda. But there are other things happening. BIG things!
Well, here it is…the last day of 2016. I didn’t think this year would ever end. It’s been a real mixed bag as far as current events. We lost a number of celebrities we were most familiar with…most all too soon. We went through one of the ugliest political seasons in memory. Weather was unpredictable and natural disasters occurred with far greater frequency than in some years past. Worse than all that, we continue to lose our military and service workers as well as world citizens whose only crime is that they live and breathe in the “wrong” place and time. All this and more brings us down and it has been extremely difficult for many to get through.
I’ve suffered from Palmar Plantar Psoriasis for the last three years. Only 1-3% of psoriasis suffered have this particular variety. I’ve literally tried everything. I’ve had expensive allergy testing. I’ve used countless tubes of steroid creams. Then, three weeks ago, a friend prayed over my hands. While I was in Colorado, I was driving by a marijuana dispensary and felt compelled to go in when I “heard” the message “They can help you.” I showed them my ands and they handed me a jar of ointment saying, this will fix it." I thought that was that till I drove by an apothecary and got the same nudge…“Go in…they can help you.” Ok, I’m a listener. And I’m practicing obeying. I found a parking space and went in. “I have this on my hands and feet.” I told them. “You need this.” they said…and handed me a proprietary blend of essential oils and various emollients. I started for home and for the third time, I felt that now familiar nudge and stopped at the hot springs pool. I soaked for three hours then applied my purchases and put on a pair of clean, dry socks and went home. While I was only able to visit the hot springs one more time during my visit, I continued to use the cannabis ointment twice a day, the eczema cream as often as possible, and dropped the steroid cream to about twice a week. As you can see by the picture, after less than two weeks on the regimen, my skin is quite noticeably improved.
When I was a very little girl, my mother flew to Chicago to do two things…visit her sister, and try to win a washer/dryer on “Queen for a Day”. The TV show was less impressive to me than the fact my mother was swallowed by this big, silver contraption that swept her away from me into the blue skies of summer. I had my first experience being airborne when I was about nine years old and my neighbor took me up in his Piper Cub. I loved the sensation…and the glamour…of flying.
Where is “home” for you? Even when I lived in Colorado for forty years, when people asked me where home was, I’d say West Virginia. Yet, home is where my heart is. When I am in the loving embrace of my family, I am home. When I was with Mr. Virgo, I was home. Now my heart is in West Virginia so I’m heading home today. Home to the farm and the barn cats and my WV family and friends.
There have been many times in my life when I felt lost. I spoke the words into the universe and it became so. I believed it. And…there have been times when I was truly lost. I had no sense of direction. I was depressed, hurt, angry, grief stricken. Like the first year after losing Mr. Virgo. “Lost” doesn’t begin to describe what I was going through. I was the walking dead. The second year was worse but only because I was awake and aware I was walking through fire. The third year has brought many awakenings and amazing discoveries.
It was 8:00 Christmas morning. Long gone are the days when a little one tugs on my sleeve with a breathless "Wake up, mom!!! Santa was here!" Instead, my phone vibrated. I felt around till I found the little sucker.
“Hello?” I muffled into the speaker.
“Nana!!!!! I got a new phone!!!!”
“Little” was beside herself. She rattled on and on about the uber cool features and I mustered up as much enthusiasm as I could BC (before coffee). I told her now we can FaceTime whenever we want. Now…THAT is exciting ‘cause I miss these rug rats when I’m in WV. It takes two weeks to re-bond when I come out here and I want that connection to stay.
