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Anne Lamott is my fave!

I  love Anne Lamott.  I just finished reading her book, Grace (Eventually), Thoughts on Faith.  Had read Plan B, Traveling Mercies, Operating Instructions, and Bird by Bird.  She is such a gifted writer and sardonic muse.  

I love finding someone who I can relate to.  Well.  Really well.  Of course, I have different circumstances -- a different growing-up, family-of-origin, etc., but I can relate to her non-mainstream view of religion and her attention to the details of living that usually go unnoticed.  And her wonderful and abundant compassion.  For herself as well as others (which is sometimes hard -- we all have been taught to love they neighbor, but the part about loving the self often gets lost or obscured or else we try to love ourselves with food, alcohol, shopping,etc.)   Now, I can't really write about her charms as well as others (who do that for a living), but I can say that I find her funny, cogent , enlightening, uplifting, and confirming.   

To me, she represents the power of the human spirit (I know this is a hack-neyed concept) to take stock, to report with dignity all the infirmities one endures and is aware of, and to trace a path back to the Center -- a place of love and Grace -- where the Spirit directs and guides and we rest in a state of bliss.

green plants and growing things

This is my house now. seems like it's all about green and plants and cats and warm air.... though that's not a bad thing.... i'm just reveling in it......

It's time to start planting those roses...and daffydills... and anything else you can get your hands on.... I say this metaphorically. Plant those seeds. You never know when they'll grow to something beautiful and enriching for your life.... be it friends, acquaintances, hobbies and interests... anything you always wanted to do -- including the hard stuff like cleaning out closets, going through paperwork, calling for a financial planner to help you with your scattered lifestyle (talking to myself here).

And I mean "scattered" in the most forgiving way. Because all that energy that goes out to here, there, and everywhere comes back to me, if not in tangible ways, then in increased satisfaction in life, feelings of connection with life, being on the pulse of life.

But sometimes you gotta rein in that energy and take stock of what you want to leave to this world after you're gone. What you want to be remembered for (if that's not too schmaltzy). Definitely what you want to stake a claim to in your life -- especially if you've felt - as I have at times -- like you've been drifting. I know what Mae West said: I used to be Snow White, but then I drifted. Well I don't mean it like that, ha, ha. I mean pick your constellation of things, your constellation of people, places, and activities and bless them. Labor for them, give yourself to them, stand up for them. Then you'll be known. And not just as the volunteer for one time last year or the year before, someone whose name we can't remember or the employee that seems nice, but what ever happened to her, etc. I'm talking about deciding who and what you want to be "for" and then going after it. Staking your claim, not matter what you think "they" will say or "they" will think, or even what you might think in your self-doubting times...

There are bright lights that are sometimes hidden in the darkest night and you can't see them with a searchlight, but you can with a perceptive nature and loving heart. You learn where they are by how you feel when they're not there. And you come to trust them and remember them and look toward them to lead your way.

the beginning of a new chapter.....

This is about the beginning of a new chapter ... in my life.... Now, before you go, "oh, yeah, right!" Let me tell you more .... there are seeds ... and there are patterns in raindrops. Not just random, you see, but small tell-tale signs that you can see you're heading for the waterfall and if you're lucky or very, very attentive, you can high-tail it out of the boat before the rapids come.... or so they tell me. The old ones, you know, the ones who traveled the earth before the rains came and melted the crops with acid that etched our trees and houses with the fine dust of a million acid rains. Those old ones. The last ones to see the automobile, the train, the commuter copter -- all those motors based on oil and gas and burnin' up a dirt road.... Haven't had 'em for a long time - about 50 years or more. Since we dug up the last of the oil reserves in Antarctica and the Ice Melts flooded London and New York and about all the coastal areas there are. There was such a rage and panic that the safest thing to do was to deliver your vehicle to the city center and abandon it there. For you weren't going to get any gas to keep it up. Not with all them folks drowned and cities submerged under water and people everywhere rioting.

Not that I minded, though. I was living in Austin at the time and it was fairly peaceful still. We didn't get hit directly by the Melts. Just the hordes of people coming up north from Galveston who crowded into our city's hotels, motels, and homeless shelters. People started getting riled, though. They couldn't tell which way was up with all the directives coming from the government, which was supposed to make things clearer, but instead muddled it up. What with the feds arguing with the state and the local bosses even having their own ideas about things, and no one wanting to repeat the mistakes of New Orleans ... you couldn't get one definite agreement on what was happening without hearing new accounts which confirmed or contradicted what you already knew. And everyone was depending on the news, but since all the reporters had been assigned to the Russian Gulag and the networks broken up in anti-trust legislation, there was no centralized source of news anymore. With every citizen having their own internet connector, there was no need for it. Everyone was free to seek out their own news and post their own views. So different from the broadcast days of old when the Voice of Truth came in two or three varieties, though they all told the same story only in different makeup. Now you couldn't tell how many stories there were. But still the biggest ones were known to all. Like how .....
(to be continued)
[photo from PhotoDisc at i.abcnews.com]

Happy, happy, happy....

I am happy. I just ran my usual couple of miles at the park by the lake and before that, got my wireless internet connection set up and going. Only took 3 hours, talking to 3 tech guys (made a couple of dates... just kidding), and now the internet world has opened up for me.
Well, actually the thing that precipitated this post is getting email from two unexpected sources - a new friend, who is multi-talented (I'll tell you more about her later), and a viewer who left a comment on my blog (YAY!) Such a thrill! Either it's been way too long since I had some positive feedback on the blog or else I am easily satisfied with the simple pleasures of life, but either way, I am happy, happy, happy.

Puts me in mind of the saying from Abraham: Happy, Healthy, Dead. This means that there's not a lot of time to put it off - Life is too precious. Whatever you want to do, start it now. And before I start thinking of all the quotations that might be appropos here, let me end this for now.... more to follow.... thanks.....

am moving

I am moving from my office to a new office in the main area of the
department. It's not a happy move. New job responsiblities, new
co-workers, new office, new work arrangement, etc. But I am
determined to make it work - for me. I am determined to prosper from
what I learn and do ... as a stepping stone to what's next for me.
And there is something next -- and new -- for me on the horizon.

I haven't taken the time to write during the holidays but want to
start up again now. My blog may change intention a little - we'll
see. Meanwhile, I hope you are yours are gazing up at the stars at
night -- at least metaphorically - so you don't lose sight of what's
up there. Of what's all around us.....

Laura
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Laura D. Havlick
Administrative Assistant
Curriculum Studies/Social Studies
Curriculum & Instruction Dept.
University of Texas at Austin