August 31--The End of Friendship (Just Kidding)

How we need another soul to cling to.  --Sylvia Plath

    I met a relatively-new friend at my favorite coffee shop yesterday morning for breakfast and a gab session. We had both been away from home over a several week stretch, and it was great to be together again. We are both in our 60s, and we have friends. We don't need more friends. But who is going to turn down someone with whom one "clicks"? We really enjoy each other both on and off the pickleball court. 

    If you've read this blog for any length of time, you know that napping is my favorite hobby. I saw this random post somewhere amongst my scrolling on the internet: 

I’m staying in my pajamas today because I'm dressing for the job I want, and I want to be a Princess who sleeps for a hundred years.

Could there be a better reason to stay in one's pajamas?!!?! Does it logically follow that if one does not want a job, one should run around naked?!?!

    Life can appear messy and ugly. Let's laugh more, especially with friends!

        Leta

August 30--The Mystery of Friendship

We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over. 
--Ray Bradbury

    Whatever it is that attracts one person to another is one of the great mysteries of life. You can rattle off such things as shared interests or common beliefs, but it is more than that. I've met a lot of folks via pickleball play, and there's just one wherein we seemed to "hit it off" right away, so we have chosen to hang out and get to know each other off the court. 

    Mary Davis, author of "Every Day Spirit," invites us to be a friend of all, because we are all made of the same stuff:

Delight. Happiness. Shining. Rays.

Compassion. Wisdom. Radiance. Grace.

Joy. Hope. Strength. Love.

These are the things we are made of.

Songs. Harmony. Peace. One.

Silence. Power. Will. Sun.

Joy. Hope. Strength. Love. 

These are the things we are made of.

Eagle wings. Angel flight.

Soaring. Dancing. Dark. Light.

Joy. Hope. God. Love.

These are the things we are made of.

Light. Stars. Skies. Moons. 

Galaxies. Planets. Earth. Ruins.

Joy. Hope. Infinite love. 

These are the things we are made of.

Water. Dust. Fire. Flame. 

Wind. Rock. Clouds. Rain.

Joy. Hope. Faith. Love.

These are the things we are made of.

Roots. Branches. Blooms. Blades.

Mountains. Rivers. Forests. Lakes. 

Joy. Hope. God. Love. 

These are the things we are made of.

We are all one. Yep. 

        Leta

August 29--Lovable!

If you would be loved, be lovable.  --Ovid 

    The photo accompanying the quote is of a panda bear cub relaxing in the crook of a tree. Awwww, so lovable!

    Today, pie is lovable. A dear friend and I are going on a day trip. I'm quite excited, because we used to do this often and the pandemic interrupted everything. It's a time for us to have dedicated time to catch up and enjoy the love we have shared for many years. But back to pie... every one of our day trips must include pie. Our plan today is to have the famous sliders at the Cozy Inn in Salina, then mosey on over to Hutch for pie at the Dutch Kitchen Restaurant. After all that, naps will be necessary! 😉😉

    Going along with Ovid's quote, I offer these words from Mary Davis:

"Every time we send positive light to someone, through prayer, visualization or a loving thought, we co-create with the divine. Today, change the world with the power of your positive thoughts."

    Go for it!

        Leta

August 28--Friends and Loneliness

There is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, however dear and beloved, but an expansion, an interpretation, of one's self, the very meaning of one's soul.  --Edith Wharton

    There are several folks in my life who fit this quote, and therefore, I am extremely blessed. I feel as though we have been associated somehow in previous lifetimes and synchronicity brought us together again, so that we connect instantly with a significant comfort level. 

    The topic of our 12-Step meeting on Monday night was loneliness, and not using our substance of choice to cope with that. I shared that loneliness has been a difficult emotion for me to identify. I think I have continually told myself that because I live with someone, I can't be lonely. But that is not true. I'm grateful that I have the ability to handle loneliness without eating over it. 

    Life is a continual learning process,

        Leta

August 27--New Worlds

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.  --Anais Nin

    This leads me first to the practice of sponsorship in the 12-Step programs. Consistent program work with a sponsor is most definitely a life-changing experience that births a new world of recovery. Some of my dearest friends in this lifetime came to me via my addiction. 

    I think next of the friend who invited me to stay at her home while I attended yoga teacher training over a decade ago. That offer made it easy logistically to attend the training. A new world was certainly born for me through that experience, though I will say that the labor was VERY long and difficult. 😉😉

    I remember in my first "real" job the friend who invited me to play on the company golf team. I said I had never played, and she said, "You're athletic, you'll be fine." (I remember that because, trust me, that was the first time in my life that anyone called me athletic!) I rented clubs to try it, played a dreadful first round, loved it, and bought clubs the next day. Golfing has turned out to be a huge bonding activity with my sons and me. It has birthed new worlds for them, too. 

    I appreciate the person who so kindly took me under her wing when I walked onto a pickleball court for the first time, a complete newbie with a paddle in hand and the willingness to learn. A fun new world opened for me as I now play several times a week. 

    Lastly, a giant new world, literally the whole planet, opened up for me when my traveling bud, Lanie, said "Yes, let's go!" to the first trip proposal many years ago. We've covered a lot of territory on Mother Earth, and there's plenty more to see. 

    Opening one's heart and mind can be quite rewarding!

        Leta

More orchid beauty from
Longwood Gardens

August 26--Express Yourself!

A good laugh heals a lot of hurts.  --Madeleine L'Engle

    I saw a woman wearing a t-shirt with a bear pictured on it along with these words of wisdom, "A human in a sleeping bag is like a soft taco." 😉😉 Here are a few funny bumper stickers I found online:

• I dream of a world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned. 
• Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it.
• I was hoping for a battle of wits, but you appear to be unarmed. 
• No. Please. Don't treat me any differently than you would the Queen.

    Several years ago, I proposed to a couple of writer friends that we get together via Zoom and share our writings. One lives in Florida, the other has recently moved from Kansas City to Wichita. We get together on a sporadic basis, all with busy lives and families, but dedicated to writing. Yesterday one of them sent me this Henri Nouwen meditation describing why one writes:

Writing is a process in which we discover what lives in us. The writing itself reveals to us what is alive in us. The deepest satisfaction of writing is precisely that it opens up new spaces within us of which we were not aware before we started to write. To write is to embark on a journey whose final destination we do not know. Thus, writing requires a real act of trust. We have to say to ourselves: “I do not yet know what I carry in my heart, but I trust that it will emerge as I write.” Writing is like giving away the few loaves and fishes one has, trusting that they will multiply in the giving. Once we dare to “give away” on paper the few thoughts that come to us, we start discovering how much is hidden underneath these thoughts and gradually come in touch with our own riches.

    There are plenty of days when I don't feel like writing. Something in me compels me to do it. I would say that at least half the time, I have no idea what to write about when I open my Chromebook in the morning. Yet something comes through, as Mr. Nouwen so nicely articulates. I would also say that, for me, his description applies to painting. I have started another painting project--stay tuned. 

    Have a good laugh today!

        Leta

😀😉😏

August 25--We CAN Do Better

Love and friendship. They are what make us who we are, and what can change us, if we let them.  --Emily Giffin

    Are y'all not tired of the fear-mongering, threats and revenge? Of lies? Of making fun of those with disabilities? Of violence, greed and corruption? All these are being used to supposedly "make America great again." It was never any of these things that ever made America great. 

    Let us lean into love and friendship with all humans and creatures on our magnificent Mother Earth. It is only via a higher consciousness that we can create a saner world for future generations. 

        Leta