HIGH TRAILS of COURAGE: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SON

Sometimes in life, it is necessary to test our limits…sometimes vital, in order to understand exactly who we are in this strange and awesome journey we each take on planet Earth.

Sometimes this re-definition comes for ordinary reasons, or maybe after bumps in our journey that threaten our abilities.  Or maybe to regain the recognition of who we STILL are, STILL want to be...CAN be; to re-establish our spiritual footprint; to understand the difference between our yesterday-footprint and our tomorrow one.  Or to mark a turn in our road, a new direction in our journey.

Sometimes pushing our limits gives us the freedom to stretch that skin in which we are physically confined, towards the direction we perceive to be our own spiritual being, our existentially unique shadow of light on this plane.

That said, I dedicate this post, this Birthday wish, to my Son Tony; to his courage, his bravery, his unique existential shadow I am blessed to have helped present to this plane… 41 years ago.

Tony began his Love of the bicycle as a youngster with a Centurion road bike.  He wanted a mountain bike, Mom wasn’t listening.  In my defense – he’s had a ‘few’ of them since then.  And that oh-so-long-ago present still hangs in our barn, is still a mark in time – a tribute to his youth, the Love I hold for him.

Along that road, Tony has traveled many different bicycle-journeys, some exciting, some painful, some breath-taking, some relaxing.  And some proudly-earned ones that more than tested his physical and athletic abilities.  He has bought many different types of bicycles, most of which were high-end models for which he sacrificed MANY of normal life amenities in order to afford; such is his love-affair with the bicycle.

And then, there was the event that almost took his ‘bicycle’ away. It is that event, that 2-year path he traversed and suffered through, to which I dedicate this Birthday Wish.  To HIS courage; HIS determination; HIS perseverance to be the person he WANTED to be – NEEDED to be – was DETERMINED beyond all else…to be - and was!  He achieved that,  and so much more, attested to by this birthday that is filled with HIS normal energy level and challenges.  The life he enjoys today might have NEVER BEEN, had he not met his life-challenging event with not only the efforts NORMALLY expected of him, but with much more drive and perseverance and bravery that IS the Tony I know, and respect and Love.  He fought back as only Tony can.  And he won!

This IS to the Tony I know, I Love, to whom I dedicate this 41st Birthday wish.  A wish that states my pride, my forever Love for him.  A wish inspired by the video below. Though my Tony is not the rider on that ridge in the video, while watching it, I saw my Son’s spirit…and smiled.

It is a testimony to his particular, unique version of bravery in the face of all the adversities in his life - but particularly the one that almost took his life a few years ago.  It is a testament to the unique form of Tony-bravery and determination that brought him to his TODAY, his 41st year, in the physical, emotional and spiritual plane he enjoys TODAY!  He not only rebounded, but has excelled - past what he was.  That life-event did not stop him; maybe slowed him down enough to allow him time to re-challenge himself; re-boot as it were. As his MOM, I cringed and wiggled as I watched him get back on his bike, get back into situations that - as a MOM (it's my job to worry!) I thought less of, wanted him to go away from, choose something LESS dangerous than...  NOW, I recognize HIS unique need to 'get back on his horse' - as HE needed to do; and I see HIS results. And I hope that he continues to challenge his realities, his person-ness...in his own unique Tony-way, not mine.

It is a dedication to his awesome and Loving spirit that I hold in my heart…for eternity.
Happy Birthday Son.

With all my heart,

Mom



As always, NATURE prevails...especially 41 years ago.

TRAILS of OLD: Baby in the BATH

Yes, I am getting old-ER, vintage, senior, aged, elderly, mature, decrepit (no, let’s NOT use that one!), the list goes on.  But what does that really mean?  Doubt I can cram that into a post, but here goes an old college try. Wonder who remembers that cliché?!  Per usual, I digress – most likely a dis-ease part and parcel of all those cute little terms aforementioned... 

There's a cliche that comes to my mind of late; Don't throw out the Baby and the Bathwater".  Though my writing teacher might entertain immediate eye-twitching at the hint of the word cliché, they can sometimes gather-in a melange of ideas that give their own, unique idea, thus expressing more depth and power to a thought with less verbiage. (Now THERE is a class I need to take).  They can then, actually present a more succinct expression of an idea, though this may seemingly appear to be a contradiction in terms.  Or not.  Now, for the old college try…

www.merriam-webster.com/ defines vintage as; “A period in which something was made or was begun.”  Okay; I am then – vintage, but so is everyone, correct?

www.dictionary.reference.com / defines mature as; “Fully developed in body or mind, as a person.”  Well, again, a definition generally applicable to most people.

www.wiktionary.org/  says aged means; “Undergone the effects of time, improving as a result.”  Wow, my new favorite website!  But seriously, again a word that is not so different from the masses – of general (my emphasis) adults in society.

www.thefreedictionary.com/  defines elderly as; “Being past middle age and approaching old age; rather old.” Well, okay, not my favorite website.  But still, not quite herding ALL grey-hairs into a far-off nursing home with stinky feet and Pablum for lunch.  AHA!  How many of you “adults” remember Pablum?  See – digression-be-good!

www.google.com/  says decrepit means “Worn out or ruined because of age or neglect.”  What does Google know – it’s VERY young!

The point here is...“Throwing the baby out with the bathwater.” If ‘we’ older folks are so much like all the other ‘folks’ (definitively, that is), why is it our/my world is more an alien one lately, than a familiar one where we are all in the same boat; (my writing teacher is now leaving the cliché-room red-eyed and screaming)?  But – a valid question, nonetheless.

I think the simple answer may allude to the simple premise of ‘volume’.  There is not room for newspapers on every corner and the addition of all electronic stores that put out computers and other communicative devices that now fill the edges of city roads and malls of all sizes. 

There may not be room for the large areas needed for corrals that maintain horses and mules next to the much larger acres needed for John Deere tractor companies to display their monsters-on-wheels (that cost LOTS MORE to ‘feed’) and the dozens of immense ‘dealer lots’ displaying dizzying amounts of vehicle designs and types (again – the hay versus gas discussion for another post).

Selling everyday ladies clothes that cover up most female body parts along side current everyday clothes that generally appear more erotic than warm or ‘ready-to-wear’ (remember the first batch of polyester fashions coined ‘ready-to-wear?), might overwhelm store space at Macys and Target.

Baby AND bathwater.  Why not keep some of the old AND some of the new/current everything. Then, we might feel less ‘alien’; the newer ‘demographics’’ would be used to our saggy bodies perusing the isles at Macy’s and WalMart, buying what would no longer be ‘weird’ clothes, due to familiarity!  And, the more ‘alien’ available products might please our ‘group’.  Gee, our group might actually be a part of the ‘now’.  So just maybe – this chasm between the aged and the newbie’s…may be corporately generated; a deep thought. 

To my ageing logic, our current world would seem less alien - not only to the group ‘belonging’ to these weird clothes/phones/furniture/animals, etc. but also to the newer generations who sometimes (maybe moretimes) tend to view the largest age group of Americans existing as…something less than an errant variety of predator from some Jurassic Park redo…gone astray.

Instead, the small come-back of the now ‘alien’ things of our generation, are labeled “retro” and set aside as a style, a throwback design, something unconnected to the present reality of – I dare repeat, the largest demographic group in the nation.

Let it be known here and forever…we are real; we are intelligent; we are experienced;  we are buyers and would like to be able to buy some of the ‘things’ we know as ‘real’.

But – if tossing the baby AND bathwater works for the now, the new age, the cell phone citizens of now-land, then who am I to question…..  I am - my ‘group’ is; WE are - after all, just the babies…

One of my favorite - oldies-but-goodies, comes to mind. But I wonder if the now-adults remember the form of communication used here.....




As always, NATURE prevails.

TRAILS of LOVIN': Supersize a Hug

We’ve all heard the phrase…”There’s no free lunch”.  Not so today…at McDonald's #15874 in Springfield, Missouri at 2115 E. Independence, just off the James River Freeway.

When we first ordered and the friendly cashier said…”Your meal’s free…for Lovin", I’m sure my look mirrored the three heads she instantly grew!  Once she repeated her request with a big smile and a slower speed, explaining that a hug, a joke, a handshake to a stranger…would pay our tab…well, you get the picture. Any excuse to hug my DH and soul-mate extraordinaire does not get past me too quickly, and the hugs/smiles/loads of good “Lovin” began.

The people ahead of me had a similar…”is this for real” expression; then the same big smiles.  The exchange between them - and us, a few minutes later was neat as well.

The point being, for a few minutes in that restaurant yesterday, “Some Lovin” took hold and spread amongst a few people in this world.  We all experienced a few perfect moments, as this blogger has written about before.

Life is all about ‘perfect moments’.  This is a dangerous world including much unhappiness; death, disaster, poverty, wars, diseases, the possibility of space objects stopping by to spend a few memorable moments creating havoc on our little piece of rock.  It’s the “roses” along the path; the “perfect moments” that make it all more than worthwhile.   The new-born foal, the first cry your child shares with your air, a life-time kiss at the Alter, the ethereal song of a Cetacean as they breach the shimmering waters of our precious oceans. 

And yes, a hug at McDonald's…on a stressful day of house-hunting, on a bright, late winter day in stunning southwest Missouri…USA, was just such a “perfect moment”.  Kudos to the manager at this McDonald's who implemented this promo.

My Son thinks we spend way too much time at McDonald's, and maybe we do. But at 67 and 71, their many salads we consume, help ease the tiredness of our late days and nourish us.   Their delicious coffee brightens many a morning for me when life…could be a bit easier. I’ve heard many renditions of the movie “Supersize Me”; and I’m sure it has its value.  And yes, I’ve seen people feed their 14 month old child in a high-chair a bunch of French fries while they consumed a huge cheeseburger.

But today, the perfect moment we experienced at this McDonald's, warranted a small note to let the world know that “perfect moments” in life, can happen anywhere, anytime, anyplace.  Keep your eyes open and your heart ready to receive one; they are worth the trip down this lovely road we call…life, here on planet Earth. 

'Thank you, McDonald's’, on Independence Road, for giving us a ‘perfect moment’ in our day, yesterday.

NATURE prevails….even at McDonald's!

TODAY: THE TRAIL between yesterday and tomorrow

14 January 2015

It’s settled!  The votes are in, the totals tallied, the facts are indisputable. TODAY – that tenuous, ethereal, so often philosophized subject of time and space as it relates to our Earthly realities, is finally understood. It is real!  It is here. It is occurring, to each of us – to every living atom in the Universe...every day.

Or is it?

Physically:  TODAY is finitely defined as the timeline between 12:01 AM – that absolute moment after midnight, till it ends – abruptly, at midnight/12:00 PM; exactly 23 hours and 59 minutes of relative time and space (as observed on Planet Earth that is), through which every atom known must exist.  It is known as a day, 1/365th of a year, 1/30^th (or so) of a month.   It is a time when we celebrate birthdays, any myriad of anniversaries, holidays; we spend this time in imaginable and even unimaginable manners of living.

Sometimes, these 24 or so of our measured hours seem to last forever.  How many daydreaming schoolchildren contemplate their entire lives during those few hours; how many decade-long wars are stopped and also started within that time-frame?!  Lives are joined in marriage, ended in divorce, graduations come deeply honored as do epitaphs of lives fully lived…or lives rued for their horrific endings.

Life happens…during TODAY.

Philosophically:  TODAY can be defined, comparatively, as a moment, as in today is the beginning of the rest of my life. Philosophers expend reams of paper discussing the reality of TODAY; is it a brief moment in the infinite time line of forever?  Some Buddhist and other Eastern spiritual circles discuss today as if it might actually be forever, depending on your state of stillness, connectedness to your inner divinity which can be defined as having no time/space, thus maybe allowing our beings to momentarily, have a foot (so to speak) in both events of reality, if that can be stretched as a possible actuality.

Authors have also spent reams of paper trying to stop time; “The Day the Earth Stood Still’, for example. We are fascinated with time travel, as if that was not a contradiction in terms.  Time and space are inextricably tied together, aren’t they?!  Or maybe…not?

I say that TODAY…is non existent.  It is a fallacy, an attempt we humans have construed to try to stop time/space so we can further our egos in any multiple manner of ways.  It allows us to gather in, gives us a space to be still, when in essence, time is truly never still.  It would not be time then, would it?

I suggest that TODAY, at least philosophically, exists only in the absence of YESTERDAY and TOMORROW, which as we know time, is impossible, correct?  If it did not, then how could my birthday exist…in all three time frames?  It is only one event, correct?  Last I checked, I was not related to The Trinity.  Think about that.

As I write this on January 14^th, 2015, I am writing this in TODAY, correct?  Then how does that etched-in-time document become something in YESTERDAY’S place…TOMORROW?  It is a conundrum.  But if we’re standing in naked truth here (at least for a split second of TODAY), how do we truly…define TODAY?  Is it…definable?

That question may go on with the forever of TOMORROWS, as it has with the forever of YESTERDAYS.  It will continue to be discussed to death by we humans who could not even answer intelligently, any question about forever, since it is incomprehensible in a time/space based human brain. In mine, anyway.  I’ve tried; it is a tune for naked insanity!  Makes me think of the cartoons where they think so hard the head begins to smolder and then quickly explodes into flames. Yes; great description of that thought process. 

So the next time you sit down with your blank paper, ready to dump all those chores and bucket-list items onto a piece of lowly paper, try not to think about WHEN those things will come to fruition.  It…may ruin your DAY.

 NATURE Prevails.