Month: June 2019

Water Spiritual

Having seen many incredibly majestic waterfalls this past week, I have decided to post this beautiful poem by Anne Wilson Schaef. I hope that it moves you, the way that it touched me.

Water Spiritual

A waterfall’s

A lovely place

To sit awhile

And know God’s grace

Plunging home

To the sea

Oblivious to you

Unseeing of me

The water knows which way to go

Returning to the sea

It must be so

It’s not too complex

This water song

It just keeps moving

Right along

No care for this

For that, no thought

Life is so simple

We’d almost forgot

I sometimes wonder

What point did we

Forget to notice

Life could be free

To move like water

T’ward our home

Is an easy task

Not done alone

The Creator’s grace

Accompanies us

We’re not forgotten

This, we can trust

To worry is only

As we all know

A lack of faith

In what is so

To move like water

Powerful yet weak

Will bring us to

The peace we seek

Head On Home

It is the “pack it up and head on home” day of vacation. These types of days are always reflection and digestion days, for me. It is the time to really think about what I have experienced and how that experience has affected me. Have I changed in any way because of my experience? Did I learn anything new? How did this experience impact the relationship I have with my family members? Will anything that I have experienced impact or change my daily life at home? How did this experience influence how I view Life?

This trip is no longer the eagerly anticipated adventure in the future, but is now part of our family’s memory scrapbook. It is no longer a question of what awaits us, but now a story of what happened, in an adventurous week, in the life of our family. That story will be kept alive by shared memories, laughs, and some pictures to prove that it is part of our shared experiences. Yet, we all will digest it, in our own personal way, born out of our own perspectives and feelings and preferences. In that sense, the story of this year’s epic family vacation, will be the same story, yet a collection of individual stories, all at the same time. But, isn’t that true of all stories? Isn’t that true of Life?

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Friday Blues

Happy Friday, readers and friends!!! Happy Friday all!!! Honestly, this particular Friday is the first Friday, in a LONG while, that I wish it weren’t Friday. This Friday marks the almost end of a wonderful, memorable family vacation. It marks the end of something that we all have been looking forward to and anticipating for a long, long time. As my family grows up and out, I realize that each of these vacations are even more precious than ever, as our six schedules are becoming more and more complex to allow these long, interrupted periods of time with each other, to even be a possibility. Since I am experiencing my ultimate favorite thing – uninterrupted adventures with my family, I am going to stop posting and start adventuring and I won’t be listing my three favorite things. Please don’t let that stop you from sharing some favorites in my comments section and new readers, please check out previous Friday postings where I usually list three favorite products, tips, websites, songs, etc. that have wowed my world.

Happy Friday Friends!! Enjoy your day and have a wonderful weekend!!!

The Long Hike

I’ve decided that hiking brings the best out of people. Hikers are incredibly kind to one another. They always make way for people to pass through narrow pathways. They happily take pictures for other hikers. People come from all over the country, actually, people come from all over the world, to hike certain awe-inspiring trails, and the experience is always one of unified peace and pleasure, taking in the pure natural beauty of untouched nature.

Hikers never cut each other off, or jockey for positions on the resting rocks. The overall, unifying sense is one of unity, kindness, excitement, and care. There are all ages of people on hiking trails. I have seen babies in contraptions that didn’t exist when my kids were babies. The baby hikers are in containers that look like little Coleman tents strapped to their father’s or mother’s backs, and they all contain babbling or sleeping, precious, happy babies. Some people run the trails and some meander very slowly, their walking sticks poking at all the beautiful wildflowers and exposing what might be hidden underneath the blooms. Some hikers stop to take pictures at every bend, others hurry along, eager to make it to the highly anticipated destination in record time. And it is all okay. There is no one right way to hike a trail. The only thing every hiker seems to have in common, is an intellectual curiosity and an overwhelming joy to be beholding such unbelievable, marvelous sights. And then to look over at their fellow hikers and see that same joyous, anstonished awe-struck expression on their faces, reflecting their own feelings back to them.

I wish that we could live our lives like we were on an amazing, long, fascinating, sometimes harrowing, surprising, but always worthy adventure. If we hiked our lives with the same respect for other hikers, the same gratefulness for our natural world, and a genuine joy for the experience that one experiences when hiking one of many, many trails, life would be simple, but also grand.

Flocal

I bought this sign in an adorable little antique/curio shop yesterday. I’ll probably put it right above my desk. At the same shop, I also bought handmade earrings that I liked so well, I went to the etsy shop and bought a necklace made by the same local artist. The artist emailed me and we had a really fun exchange. In Florida, we call shopping the local little shops and farm markets, shopping Flocal. It is my favorite kind of shopping.

Your Soul is Alive

We are doing a lot of outdoorsy stuff this week, together as a family. It’s a good way to be together and yet be on our own, all at the same time. My second son asked us why people are in such awe of nature. We all had different answers. I said that nothing man has made can compare to the beauty and magnificence of nature. My eldest son disagreed. (He has always loved cities. On his fifth birthday, I had his birthday cake designed to be a tall building.) My son said that we are animals, too. So when we were all oohing and awing over a beaver dam, that is why we also marvel over the Hoover dam. I thought that it was a good point he made.

My husband said that we are in awe of untouched, wild nature because it is not something most of us see and experience in our every day lives. We all wondered if the park rangers are still in awe of the natural wonders they experience as part of their daily lives, work and experience. I hope so. I hope that the park rangers can view their work environment every day, the same way the rest of us are taking it in – with wonder, with amazement, with the breath-taking awe of an ecology living in synchronicity and teeming with a mass diversity of beautiful versions of Life.

“If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive. ” – Eleonora Duse

Their Roots Entwined

Last night I watched my four kids laughing, and joking, and teasing and talking and even squabbling a little bit, and I felt my heart soaked in gratefulness, awe and love for these most precious people, whom I have been privileged to raise. When they were little, I must have taken it for granted that they would always be this little band of four – the oldest, curly-headed ginger leading the pack, not far behind him, his brother, the adventurer and the instigator, followed by the youngest blue-eyed boy, (yet the biggest pup of the litter) and finally, keeping up and keeping them all in line, their brave and beautiful little sister. And then the growing up and the “growing beyond” happened, and it happened so fast.

Last night I got a glimpse. I got a glimpse of the roots that they all share which keep my children’s feet firmly planted on the Earth, even as their individual blossoms are spreading far and away. Those roots are strong. They have a base of roots entwined with a shared history, camaraderie, memories, and shared DNA. They all have had the shared experience of my husband and I, forging our perspectives and hopes and ideas, of what lives lived well, look like, and they will be able to nourish their own perspectives, hopes and ideas from the nutrients they share, from down deep under the surface of our family soil.

Here She Goes Again

I have a very busy day ahead, so I am taking the lazy way out. A couple of months ago, I answered a question on Quora, that has gotten a fair amount of positive attention. It relates to aging. So now people ask me all sorts of questions on Quora, all related to being old. It’s a little depressing, at the YOUTHFUL age of 48, to be considered old. I read this quote in Mister Roger’s book, The World According to Mr. Rogers. I liked this take on aging:

“All life events are formative. All contribute to what we become, year by year, as we go on growing. As my friend the poet Kenneth Koch once said, ‘You aren’t the age you are. You are all the ages you have ever been!’ “

Please forgive my redundancy if you have already read this answer on Quora. Here it is:

What screams “I’m getting older”?

When I was younger, I swore to myself that I would never be one of those “old fogies” who made cracks about the strangeness and ridiculousness of the younger generations. I have always prided myself on being open minded and I want to remain that way.

Still, as I age, I have found myself having to bite my tongue, more and more, on situations, attitudes, and proclivities of the younger generations. I have to remind myself more and more that the older generations felt the very same way about me and my generation, and I think my generation is just dandy. I guess it is that arrogant, condescending demeanor that I think can sometimes be a dead giveaway that screams, “I’m getting older.” It also screams of fear of change and a need for control.

That being said, trying to be part of the younger generations, just to prove that you are still “with it” and “hip” (those words probably age me right now, I know), like for instance, getting a bunch of tattoos, not because you want the tattoos, but you want people to think you are young at heart, also screams “I’m getting older”. These rash actions also scream, “And I’m Desperate to Stop Getting Older!”

The people who I like best, no matter what their age, are those people who are very comfortable in their own skin. They don’t need everyone to agree with their choices, and their likes and dislikes. They have a “live and let live attitude” and they wear their attitude with a lot of zest. These people age best, in my opinion.

Life Gets Better

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Happy Friday!!! Happy First Day of Summer Friday!!! Can it get any better than that?!? New readers, we keep it light and surface-y on Fridays, here at Adulting Second-Half. On Fridays, I discuss three favorite products, websites, songs, TV shows, foods, etc. that make my material life just a little more “Life gets better.” I strongly encourage you to add your favorites to share with us, in the Comments section. Please see previous Friday posts for more fun ideas. Here are today’s favorites:

Buxom Wanderlust Primer-Infused Blush – If you want blush with staying power, this will become your new holy grail. As I age, I now understand why older women’s make-up gets brighter. We get paler and ashier, as we age. This blush brings us back to our youthful glow and it stays on (even through summer perspiration)! I get mine at Ulta and Ibiza is my shade.

Red Clay Gourmet Pimiento Cheese – One of my guiltiest pleasures is pimiento cheese. I got addicted to it when I lived in North Carolina. (Shout out, Charlotte!) This brand is particularly tasty. My daughter mixed some up in her macaroni and cheese the other day and I have never seen her eat so fast and happily, in my life. I get it at Earth Fare, so it is free of all artificial anything. So yum!!

Medium – If you like reading my blog, and articles like my blog, you will love Medium. It is a writer’s/reader’s heaven, chock full of short, interesting articles tailored to your interests. When I go to Medium, it never fails, I start reading and then I look at the clock and at least, two hours have passed . . . .

Have an amazing weekend, guys!!! I get to spend the upcoming week with my awesome family! As I age, I understand that these are rare opportunities that I can no longer take for granted. I plan to savor every moment of just being in my family’s presence. If I end up being short and spotty with my blog, please forgive me and don’t worry about me. Know that I am in my bliss. Love to you all!! Happy Summer!!!