Desert Magnolia

The English language continues to morph over time. Cultural attitudes, technology, political events - they all play into a constantly evolving lexicon from which we draw. One of my big concerns revolves around the truncation of words and the deliberate absence of punctuation in texts, a phenom that I've also seen leaking into personal emails..and that makes me shiver. Using appropriate style for different venues makes sense, I just wonder where the line will be drawn, if it will be drawn at all or if our more formal missives will eventually resemble stream of consciousness flows of words sans commas and parens and periods and such. Will it all become like a bad homage to e e cummings with the added twist of no instructions for how to weight or pace, and therefore truly understand written thoughts? Will we end up masters of poetic interpretation in spite of our notable avoidance of iambic pentameter or haiku structure? I am a language lover, and spent far too many hours studying...

This week marks one of two between terms. I plan to work as much as possible, relax a bit, regroup a lot, and generally catch my breath after the maelstrom of the last semester. I am coming off the emotional high of having my daughter home for a few days - she decided to surprise us and spent Easter weekend here. It was a birthday gift to her dad and me, and we are both absolutely delighted she decided to make the trek.  We watched movies, we hung out and said a lot and sometimes absolutely nothing, we ate wonderful meals and basically basked in being together again. She left very early this morning, and is almost home. She is, by now, on a train between Boston and Providence, and will be back in her apartment before the sun sets. She faces the final weeks of her college career, interviews with potential employers, final exams, and of course the nonstop celebration that Seniors enjoy as they face a very scary future - the unknown - and leave the relative safety of college life...

Whenever I get into a weird emotional space I step back and count my blessings, of which there are a multitude. My daughter is about to graduate from a really good college, and it appears her prospects are growing. My son is gainfully employed by the university from which he graduated, in an international location, and besides being busier than he'd like most days, he's thriving, gaining valuable skills and is afforded opportunities most people twice his age haven't enjoyed. I know this, because I am twice his age. :) My husband is healthy and sassy and appears to adore me even after 26 years in the trenches with me. For this I am eternally grateful. I am on a path of my own creation, one on which I am immersed in the study of a 5000 year old medicine and am stretching my intellectual self to, and beyond, limits most days. My marketing consulting work is going well, though I would like to have a few more clients so that when the ebbs happen, which they do, they w...

Yes, I know I don't smoke, but if I did it would be clove cigarettes because I love the way they smell. And, truth be told, in my earlier days, like waaaay back when I lived in San Diego and hung out with the yachting set, I enjoyed an occasional clove cig. I know, I'm not proud of this but there it is. And the dirty martini? Love those no matter what, and feel like the end of another set of midterms warrants enjoying one of those very chilly, very satisfying adult beverages. I would enjoy both of these while wearing a daringly cut gown that showed off my assets and made me feel like a 40's film starlet. I'd be in a dark bar, jazz music playing, purple velvet cushions on lounge chairs, quiet conversation happening, and a sense of sophistication and romance flavoring the entire scene. That is where my head goes after stress. That is where it's always gone after stress. Does that mean I'm one of those people who's living in an era outside of where...

The only thing we never get enough of is love; and the only thing we never give enough of is love. Henry Miller On this day dedicated to the celebration of love, I find myself pondering the meaning of that ethereal, sometimes surreal phenomenon that sustains and enriches and forces us to delve deeper into ourselves than we'd ever thought possible. What is love, exactly? It is what allows us to connect, to resonate with another, to find respite from the universe's seemingly endless onslaught. It is what makes us want to be better, to be stronger, more present, more available for another. It is what grows within us and blossoms when we least expect it, what evolves from fresh green sprout-like origins and matures into strong, supple, deep-rooted vines. The aging like fine wine analogy works well here, too. The people I love, and who love me, make me believe in the absolute connection that exists between all of us and everything in our universe. Love engenders hope, ...

2013 brought great personal change, and with it the angst that accompanies big movement for me. At the time of said change, I was focused upon navigating the details of the moment, and didn't have a bird's eye view of the situation yet, but now I do. What I see now is the culmination of one set of dreams and aspirations. In many ways an identity I'd worn for decades was shifting, and though it's not completely gone, the morph continues. The ballsy, outspoken, highly effusive, strategic minded marketing exec of old is waning, much like a sun sets into an endless ocean. She's still there, but she's no longer front and center, she's more the supporting cast in a play about personal evolution and releasing passions long dormant and facing fears deep and cold and, to be honest, occasionally paralyzing. Marketing and PR Me is becoming Healer Me. My confidence and bluster are still there, in the marketing arena, but rising is the humble, grateful, awestruck ...

Our kitty hunt netted many super cute little snuggly bugs from which to choose, but in the end we chose a brother and sister from the same litter. They are nuts. They are kitty crazy. They melt my heart and made me realize just how much I missed having a feline companion around. Liza and Jarvis taking a nap Jarvis loving the butterfly toy..and Liza watching... Sunny window sills..gotta love them for a morning romp Silliness in the form of kitties is its own brand of hilarity, and we're spending quite a lot of time just relaxing and getting to know our new family members. Jarvis is funny and sweet and outgoing. He even lets us pet him, and if we insist, snuggle him up. Liza is skittish and tries to avoid contact with us, but follows us around so we know she loves us and will warm up eventually. We're using some tricks to socialize her, so hopefully we can help her relax and enjoy her devoted humans. It's good to have goofy energy in our house ...