Stumbling Toward Enlightenment

"Put love where there is no love and you will find love." I came across this quote recently from St. John of the Cross. It so captures all that I have learned over the past year and hope to put into practice moreso in this coming year. There are a few people in my life who have made it so hard for me to love them. And yet. And yet I've seen miracles happen in my relationships with them that I have prayed for over the years. This year seemed to be my year of answered prayers. And if I learned one thing, it is this: Sometimes you just have to love someone where they are . They may not be where you want them to be. They may be selfish, or narcissistic, or just plain mean. But sometimes, even when someone is incapable of appreciating unconditional love, you can still love them. And this doesn't mean that you should go back for more abuse, or go out of your way to please them, or include them in your inner circle of Important People. This doesn't mean letting those bo...

Okay, I'm tired of hearing all of the economists and TV pundits bemoaning what has become of our economy. I'm tired of reading all of the headlines that speculate about when exactly our nation's shopping obsession is going to start up again and when we can all take a collective sigh of relief and go back to being the spenders that got us here in the first place. Seriously, people. Here's the deal. It was great that we had an economy and all, and I would love to see people employed again. I think it sucks that there aren't enough jobs and that people are struggling to get by. However. I've never known a time in my thirty-four years on this earth when people have been so thrifty, so fiscally responsible, so cool with the fact that they're not going on a shopping spree this Christmas season. According to some random news reports I've read lately, there are more handmade craft gifts this year than ever before. More families opting out of the gift-giving rat...

About a Book Drive. Like, putting one together. I'm not sure how I'm going to go about it, but a few things happened last week to put this in my head. 1--I saw a KRON news report about a rich dude from the South Bay who donated dozens of dictionaries to high school students recently. He just said that he felt it was important and he realized that not enough students had dictionaries. So cool. 2--There is a woman in my area named Anna, who goes by the nickname "the Lemon Lady." She has single-handedly collected 13,000 pounds of fruit from people's yards (with permission) that were otherwise going to waste, and donated them to our local food pantries and shelters. Also so cool. 3--I was sitting there the other day reading to my two year old. He was enjoying it so much, and bringing me book after book to read to him, and I thought to myself about all the kids out there who have no books and no one to read to them. That really saddened me, and I realized that books ar...

I can't believe how long it's been since last I wrote. Six months, a new baby, and a multitude of computer issues later, here I am! The holidays are upon us and I find myself burrowing into a new season, my favorite. What I'm realizing much more than in years past is how much my mom passed on to me. I never really saw it before, but I really sense her spirit when I bake for my loved ones, put out the holiday decorations that my son so enjoys, even just doing the laundry--it is all an act of love. I see that now. Realizing that fact is what got me through those early days of grief, and instead of dreading and avoiding the holidays, I chose to embrace them and throw myself totally into them. Call it sublimation, or redirecting of energy or whatever, it works. As a mother, I'm seeing now for the first time how much of my mother is in me, especially when noticing how differently people "mother." I've been blessed with a multitude of awesome moms around me (aun...

Okay, I'm done ranting. Promise. I'm hot tempered as it is, and these hormones are not helping. In other news: One of my favorite people is coming home today! My husband's cousin (actually more like a sister) is returning after two months overseas. I've always been grateful to have her in my life, but I didn't realize how much I depended on those daily emails, phone calls, texts and general feeling that she was close by. She's like the sister I never had, and boy will it be great to have some tea and catch up! And what a relief that she'll be there for the birth of our second son just like she was for the first. Welcome home, duggy duggy! Other than that, t.i.r.e.d. I can make it until about 3:00 before my dogs are barkin'. I was so glad that I was able to make it to a birthday party yesterday that started in the late morning...anything later than that and I would have had to stay home and nap. Although the birthday-hosts are good peeps and would have to...

Allow me to vent a little about the medical community. Here are the stats: I'm 38 weeks pregnant, no complications. At my check up today, the nurse practitioner suggested that I start considering induction--because, you know, it would be easier to schedule labor around my 2 year old's routine. I call bullshit. Inductions are almost standard practice these days, not because the baby is in distress or because the mama is at risk or anything like that, but because the doctor needs to keep her appointment schedule running on time. This is also why most inductions are scheduled in the early evening--so that the doctor can deliver the babies in the off-hours, thus freeing up her daytime hours to attend to her overbooked office patient load. Going into natural labor just isn't time-efficient. Secondly, inductions require pitocin, which leads to very painful contractions, and very often, higher C-section rates. It's a vicious cycle, and one that I want nothing to do with. I to...

Alright, I've been in nesting overdrive lately. And I'm exhausted, which is not a good combination at all. So I decided that I could be productive and crafty all while sitting at my sewing machine. You can't beat that. So here are a few things that I've made over the last several days, mostly for the baby. (Some cool Dia de los Muertos oven mitts will be posted once I finish those.) I've been feeling way too guilty for not making anything personal for Kiran before he was born, but hey--I had a lot going on. Plus, I'm sick of all the baseballs and trucks that the baby stores offer. I cruised the baby aisle at TJ Maxx yesterday and realized that one side of the aisle was completely pink, while the other side was totally blue. *big sigh* Really, people? So I guess since I can't afford the hip Rockridge boutiques with all their cool gender-neutral stuff, I'm making my own. Who says boy things can't be pretty? Craft on. ...