Do what the monkey says!!

These are my slippers. They are monkeys. They make me laugh. They make me laugh because they are monkeys.

But they also have magical powers. Whenever I don't get my way, I lift one foot in the air, scream "Do what the monkey says!" and I win. I win because they make other people laugh. While they are laughing, I get my way.

I love my slippers.

Take Time to Smell the Sheets

I'm just so excited right now about the opportunities in my life. I'm reconnecting with friends and filling my calendar with activities. For example, Friday night I watched The Princess Bride at the Nasher Sculpture Center. It is one of my FAVORITE movies! You have to have an "inconceivable!" sense of humor to enjoy The Princess Bride. (FYI- Nasher plays movies outdoors in the garden during the summer for free. All you do is grab a blanket and/or pillow, a light meal, and enjoy cinema al fresco. Look into it. Cheap date tip #9! Works well for 1 or a party...) I'd been looking forward to it all week. It was such a lovely evening- shoes off, feeling the grass on my toes, laying on the blanket, gentle breeze, a few stars fighting through the downtown lights and treetops... What peace! I have not stopped smiling!

It's so great getting plugged back into the things that bring me joy. Even doing the laundry today had a sense of oneness (Say what!? Now, that's just crazy talk!). Truly, it grounded me in the moment. A kind of "slow down and smell the sheets" thing. And I did. They're warm and soft and smell like teddy bears bouncing on clouds from some reason... But anyway, it meant there's plenty of time for life, success, failures, and the laundry.

With tuppence for paper and strings...

This pic is of the butterfly kite I just ordered and I'm absolutely giddy over going to fly it somewhere soon. Mostly because of all the promise flying a kite brings. Mr. Banks, Bert and the Londoners put it aptly:

With tuppence for paper and strings
You can have your own set of wings
With your feet on the ground
You're a bird in a flight
With your fist holding tight
To the string of your kite

Oh, oh, oh!
Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height!
Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
Oh, let's go fly a kite!

When you send it flyin' up there
All at once you're lighter than air
You can dance on the breeze
Over 'ouses and trees
With your first 'olding tight
To the string of your kite

Oh, oh, oh!
Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height!
Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
Let's go fly a kite!

That first verse just does something in your gut. It makes you feel like you can do anything...with your fist holding tight...! I never thought about the therapeutic benefits of kite-flying before, but I'm willing to bet that a lot of today's ills can be solved by it. I mean really, there's just something about running like mad (without watching where you're going no less) hoping, praying, wishing for the wind to catch your kite just so. And then the peace that washes over you when you look back and see your kite dancing in the sky. Because what it's really saying is with perseverance, a little child-like wonderment, and God smiling on you, you can accomplish something fantastic.

But oh, just remember to stay away from kite-eating trees!

Coming Out of Blog Hiding

My late Pastor once said that change doesn't happen until the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of changing. Recently that scale tipped for me.

And so, I've been hiding from my blog. I've been hiding because I made a major life-changing decision that was profoundly difficult and very painful. It impacted people I care about and respect. And although I am still working through that bitter reality for myself, at this point all I can do is face those who may be hurt, disappointed, angry or confused and say I'm sorry.

I tried very hard to keep the scale balanced. But eventually it reached the point of "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic"-status. So rather than continuing to hide from the seemingly judgmental eyes of my former posts, the goal of this post is to provide resolution, not understanding. The goal of this post is to face this, mark this, but keep it moving. The goal of this post, like David in 2 Samuel 12, is to get up from the ground, wash, put on lotions, and change my clothes.

And I will continue to Revive...