Tag: beach

Child Stars

I heard an interesting advertisement for a podcast on the radio yesterday. The people on the podcast were talking about the fact that Generation Z are the first generation to have had all of their growing up “moments” plastered all over the internet on social media platforms like Facebook, and Instagram, and now TikTok, and how upsetting and embarrassing this can be for some kids, especially those that had their “cute/silly/funny/outrageous” posts go viral, and now having people curious to see them as “grown-ups.” The woman heading the podcast was questioning how many of us in the older generations would have wanted “those moments” (i.e., bathtub pictures, temper tantrums, crazy falls, etc.) that a few of our family members had on VHS tape, to be visible for anyone in the world who wanted to view it.

There are a lot of ramifications to how quickly our technology is advancing. And it is interesting that in some areas, we are only now starting to see and to discuss the effects of earlier technological advancements. I was strolling along a beautiful beach last weekend and I was noticing many, many young people sitting on the beach, posing themselves in all different contortions and taking photo after photo of themselves with their phones. (It seems like all kids these days, have their portfolio of “poses” down pat.) All of the while we were on a gorgeous white sand beach, on an extraordinarily beautiful day, with the water being at it’s-just-refreshingly-right-before-it-gets-to-be-lukewarm temperature. Have we conditioned all of our kids to be “child stars”? How often have actual “child stars” ended up with disastrous adult lives? How many of us would have chosen to shield our children from becoming actual Hollywood child actors?

It is interesting that at a time that technology is moving at seemingly the speed of light, there has also been a big movement towards conscious, be-in-the-NOW living, versus conditioned living. There is something inside of all of us, that seems to be screaming, “Let’s slow down. Let’s consider what is happening. Let’s notice what this feels like, and consider its ramifications. Let’s make conscious, deliberate, thought-out choices. We don’t have to move at the speed of discovery just because we can.”

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Pot of Gold

I’m sorry to be delayed with today’s post. I had a “slumber party” at the beach with one of my best friends from college and I just got home. We have known each other since we were 18 years old. There is something very special and unique to lifelong friendships. We have shared a lifetime of getting to know each and every version of each other, as we have moved through the different stages of adulthood. So we delight in the growth in each other stemming from our lifetime experiences, and yet we also hold sacred the foundation of love and connection that we first felt when we were young ladies, meeting each other, and sensing that spark of kindred spirits.

We both are going through some major changes with our families growing up and having to make decisions about our next moves in our lives. We both have different stresses happening in our lives, yet we are hopeful and excited about the future and the unknowns which lie ahead before us. We were fortunate to wake up to a giant rainbow, glistening and shining over the water. A man at the pool remarked loudly about going out to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I looked over at my loyal lifetime friend, and I thought about how we first met each other at our wonderful university, and we had so many fun, shared experiences there. I thought about the lovely, lively evening which we had just spent together, getting caught up on each other’s lives. And I thought about both of our incredible husbands (whom we both also met in a college) and our beautiful children and families, and our amazing, mutually shared group of lifelong friends, and I thought to myself, “We already have our huge, gleaming pots of gold. How lucky we are! How truly lucky!”

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Friday Props

Happy Friday, friends!!! Happy Best Day of the week!! My daughter starts college in a week, as she opted to start her university experience, during a summer session. (I keep telling her, and myself, that she’s really just going away to summer camp. 😉 ) I drive a teeny convertible and we went shopping for dorm stuff yesterday. If I showed you all of the stuff that we were able to cram into said convertible (with the top up, mind up – it’s been crazy hot here the last few days), you would believe that clown cars are real, and not a trick. Seriously. I now believe in clown cars.

On Fridays, here at the blog, I don’t delve deep. I don’t want to think deeply on Fridays. Do you? On Fridays, I stick to the superfluous stuff in life. I list a favorite thing, or place, or book, or website, or movie, or beauty product. Please check out previous Friday posts for more favorites and please share your favorites with us in the Comments section. Sharing is caring.

Today’s favorite of mine is for the beach. I am one who likes to lie on my towel versus always being propped up in a beach chair. I like to feel the firmness and the heat of the sand underneath my towel, contouring to my body. That being said, I’ve often thought it would be nice to sit supported, while still being able to feel the firmness of the sand underneath the towel. So I was delighted the other day to find a beach pad that folds up for easy carrying ability, but has a rod so that you can sit up, or lie flat on the sand. This product at Kohl’s is similar to what I purchased:

https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-640029/picnic-time-beachcomber-beach-mat.jsp?skuid=90987225&CID=shopping15&utm_campaign=SUMMER%20FURNITURE&utm_medium=CSE&utm_source=google&utm_product=90987225&utm_campaignid=9733267174&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzLCVBhD3ARIsAPKYTcRGzc5MqUwwEixfiudqckKSaY8jepvspVfV3qBScW7YpiDyADfePAIaAtisEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

That’s what I love about new inventions. They don’t have to be high tech and they always make you think, “Duh, now why didn’t I think of that?”

Hope you are enjoying a great summer, friends!! Stay hydrated!!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Soul Sunday

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Good morning friends. It is a gorgeous morning here. My husband is biking, my daughter is doing a beach clean-up for one of her high school clubs (tough work – ha!) and I have the quiet, sensuous morning all to myself, here at the house. Even our three dogs are lazily lounging in their own spots in the sun. I am basking in this moment, because everything feels right in my world, and it reverberates throughout my entire being. I wish the same for you.

I’ve been in a particularly sentimental mood this weekend, for reasons unknown. Our moods come in and out with the tides sometimes. My regular readers know that I devote the blog to poetry on Sunday. I wrote this poem, about this precious plant of ours, which I only starting pondering about yesterday, because a plant enthusiast friend of mine, and myself, were sharing pictures of our various plants with each other. Sometimes the most meaningful, reliable, steadfast things in our lives, are so easy to take for granted. This green beauty fully deserves her own poem.

“Our Philodendron”

You’ve been so easy to keep,

So hardy and resilient and adaptable,

Quietly going along for the ride,

Always just a trinket in the background,

Living in three states and at least a half a dozen houses.

You came to us in a beautiful celebration basket,

One we could scarcely afford.

We were embarking on a new, unknown adventure,

Another one we could scarcely afford.

You marked the start of our family,

Almost twenty-six years ago.

You adorned our baby’s nursery,

In the same elephant embellished pot,

That still firmly holds you in place right now.

You are vibrant, colorful and full of growth and life.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Beautiful, steadfast, Green Goddess that you are,

Let my tears of grateful joy, nourish your robust roots,

So that you may continue to thrive and to be a living symbol,

Of what truly is the heartfelt center of my very soul.

Just. This.

We went to the beach yesterday.  We are fortunate enough to live near to the beach and it was the perfect beach day.  It was the kind of day where there was enough cloud cover to keep the sun from pelting down on you and enough wind to keep you cool but not enough to stir up any storms.

We didn’t always live near to the beach.  We moved here seven years ago and when we first moved here, we truly understood how lucky we were to live near to the beach and we took advantage of it every chance that we got.  Then after a couple of years in, living near to the beach lost its novelty and it became familiar.  It was something that was always there for us in the background, like an aged dog or like that shiny, new basketball headboard or swimming pool or fancy jungle gym in the backyard that loses its luster as the kids get older.  Of course, on occasion I would panic that we had lost our appreciation for living near to the beach and I would spout out guilt-wrenching edicts at the dinner table.  “We used to spend thousands of dollars to go to beaches like the ones we have practically in our own backyard!  We are going to the beach tomorrow and we are going to like it and we are going to appreciate it!”  There is nothing like “forced fun” to bring a family closer.  Ha!

I am particularly sensitive about taking things for granted right now, with my son freshly out of the nest.  So when my husband suggested a long stroll on the beach, I jumped on it.  We went to our local beach which is actually a beautiful island.  It is a state park so there are no condos, surf shops or blow-up water slides.  We took a 2.5 mile hike out to the secluded top tip of the island and we rounded the corner to the little cove where people anchor their boats and everyone just floats.

There is a big movement right now about staying in the “now”, in the present moment.  When I can do it, when I can stay in the “now”, it makes so much sense.  The now is peaceful, it is a gift, it is the only thing that we truly have, but of course, staying in the now takes practice and concentration and more often than not I am haranguing myself for past mistakes or worrying about future ones.  So when we first arrived at the beach and started our walk, I was beating myself up for not coming to the beach more often, especially with summer more than half over.  But then something magical started happening and I think the beach is a particularly good setting for magic.  Walking on the warm, giving sand, listening to the gulls and the tide coming in and out, watching a kite in the distance stay happily floating in the air, like the people in the water, floating easily on the top of the buoyant salt water, I fell into a meditation taught to me many years ago.  It’s a simple meditation.  Breathe in deeply.  Just.  Breathe out all worries and concerns and grief.  This.  Breathe in. Just.  Breathe out. This.  Just. This.  Just this.

I try to put so much thought and meaning and purpose into everything that I think I often miss the whole point.  It is becoming more and more obvious, the older that I get that the point is probably just to experience it all,  experience all the magic, beauty and perfection, even when it doesn’t feel like perfection.  Just this. It’s a beautiful, simple meditation and it may be all that we need.