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Reflections from an RV

May 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Getting out on the road again isn’t for sissies.  We’ve been deliberating for weeks about what to take and what stays behind. This is an opportunity for discussion with one’s spouse. We did really well – no arguments and best of all, several offers to help!  You should see the carpet – Dave cleaned them and the place looks brand new! Well, it’s not that old but its funny how you don’t notice how dirty a carpet really is until you empty the water out of the machine.

You’ve no idea what things weigh until you start toting them from your home to your home on wheels. My back is sore this morning and I still have lots to carry out there today. Maybe I can get a massage on Tuesday. Boy, wouldn’t that be nice?

While Dave shampooed rugs, I cleaned on the inside, and found where the mice had taken up residence, in a small wicker dresser in our foyer. They ruined an expensive pair of bike-riding gloves. I put on a pair of rubber gloves and pitched everything in the drawers, scrubbed them down and left Mighty Mouse and friends a nice snack of poison pellets.Bon A Petit!  The only evidence of their visits last night was a ‘present’ on one of the sticky traps the pest control guy installed. Such smart rodents. But he who laughs last, laughs best, and I intend that to be ME!

Pooh Bear & Snickerdoodle

The dogs are a little freaked out, especially Snickerdoodle. She always get nervous when the suitcases come out, but now to see us toting baskets of clothes and stuff out the door, she’s as insecure as she could be. So the dogs need lots of extra TLC too.  Too bad that they can’t at least carry their own stuff out there – guess that’s too much to ask. They love to sit in the windows and watch life go by when we’re on the road, their favorite place being the dashboard while we’re driving.

When I finally sat down last night, I kept thinking of things I’ve not packed yet, like my bathing suit and some pajamas. Guess I better make a list today. Dave’s organized all the exterior compartments and informs me that we have lots of room for anything I want to take along.

Today I’ve got to stop over and visit with Julia and Chuck who will be our house-tenders. I’m glad that we have someone reliable who will keep an eye on the place while we’re gone. Our kids may pop in over the summer. Won’t they be disappointed to discover that we’ve disconnected the internet and are taking the satellite dish receiver. They might have to do something very old fashioned, like read! LOL. Jason will also be returning from his overseas assignment with the Navy and may stay here for a bit also, while he figures out what to do with his life.

It’s getting down to the wire – we’ll be heading out on Wednesday. That’s five more days. We saw one of our neighbors yesterday and said good-bye, just in case we don’t see them before lift-off! I’m going to start a list just as soon as I finish here, for the sniglets that keep popping into my mind of some other thing I just have to do before we leave.

“I just can’t wait to get on the road again.” It truly is a spiritual experience …

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Trick or Treat?

October 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Halloween is next week. Soon, little goblins and witches will knock on doors, announcing themselves. “Trick or Treat!” They want candy!

Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. We grew up in a moderate income family, but had no idea that we were ‘poor’. Our costumes were originals. One year I made dice out of cardboard boxes for my brother and me. Creating our get ups was part of the fun of Halloween. But the best part was the candy. I lived in anticipation for weeks before the holiday arrived.

We lived in a high density neighborhood, where we could go door-to-door in a short period of time, and fill our bags with every sweet concoction our hearts desired. And on the following school day, someone who’d eaten too much of that candy would get sick on the bus; it never failed!

My heart’s desire was not just for my bag, but also that of my brother’s.

At some point in my life, my treats turned into a trick. No matter how much candy I ate, it was not enough. I’d inevitably get into my sibling’s bags, sneaking more and more chocolate, attempting to satisfy a craving that could not be satisfied. I had become a sugar-addict! As soon as I’d eat one, I’d want more. That led to other foods too; mostly high carb, processed foods. That led to morbid obesity and a life of depression, obsession and emotional flat-line.

My first Halloween with David was a hoot! I’d been sugar-free for over six years. Feeling confident, I greeted the children, commenting on the great costumes and throwing handfuls of bite-sized tootsie rolls into their bags. After they’d gone, Dave took one of the tootsie rolls (about the size of the end of my pinkie finger), popped half of it into his mouth and wrapped the other half up. I asked what he was doing, since the concept of half a tootsie roll was totally lost on me. He said he just wanted the ‘taste’. Whoa boy, that would have set up a craving in me, leaving an empty bag in the morning, and I don’t even like tootsie rolls!

This will be my nineteenth Halloween with no sugar. Isn’t that amazing? I’m no longer obese, maintaining a healthy body weight now for eighteen years. I can look forward to the colorful costumes without worrying about gaining a whole bunch of weight. You see, if I don’t eat one bite of a candy bar, I cannot eat a whole bag of it, and your bag, and everyone else’s I could pilfer.

Happy Halloween to everyone who celebrates! I’ll spend a quiet evening with my 90 year old parents. That’s about as good a treat as I could hope for.

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I’m Nobody! Who Are You?

January 19, 2011 By 2 Comments

I woke up this morning with a poem by Emily Dickenson on my mind …

I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell!
They’d banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

This is so out-of-context with my goals of a few short years ago. When Trust God and Buy Broccoli came out in 2006, I envisioned huge book signings; throngs of people streaming out the door to meet me and purchase a signed copy. Oprah would be calling for an interview; after all, I’d not only lost over one hundred pounds, but was also maintaining a healthy body size since 1993! I’d be on the spiritual speaker’s circuit, like Joyce Meyer and Dr. Wayne Dyer. My profound words would be quoted all over the world!

None of that happened.

Instead, the economy tanked out. I wondered where the money would come to pay my cell phone bill.  Clients were opting to buy groceries or hang onto their savings, rather than invest in coaching with me. Sobbing, I finally confessed to my husband. He assured me that I was neither a failure, nor would we be living under a bridge if my business did not contribute to our household budget. He told me that my job was to help people and paid my phone bill.

Something inside of me shifted that day. I saw my work in a different light, not necessarily creating a six figure income. That was the first and last time that I needed to depend on Dave to keep my coaching practice afloat. When my focus shifted to helping others, my business financial needs were also met, surely a God-thing.

This year’s vision board has no focus on public-spotlight grandeur – no pictures of Oprah, Joyce Meyer or Dr. Dyer. My goals now are strictly to help others to find the spirituality in their lives. The rewards are greater than I ever could have imagined. I’m happy and know that I’ve made a difference in the lives of others. As a nobody, I can make a difference. Maybe not on such a grand scale as the people I admire, but one person at a time, I am making a difference.

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November – the Gratitude Month

November 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Gratitude

I am someone who looks at the positive things in my life more often than dwelling on the negative. I once heard that if my cup is always just half empty (or half full), get a smaller cup! With an attitude like this, my life is always overflowing with wonder.

Many recognize November as a gratitude month, and that suits me! For a long time, I’ve kept a gratitude list, recording at least five things each day for which I am grateful.

On Friday, a friend of mine lost her husband. I called to extend my condolences and thought about how much I love my husband Dave, even though he can get on my nerves at times. Suddenly, his corny jokes were funny again. I guess that Wayne Dyer was on point when he wrote, “When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.”

For many years, my parents, five siblings and their families converged on the home of my youngest sister in North Carolina to celebrate Thanksgiving. At last count, there were twenty-seven of us. Now there are many more, as our children raise families of their own,

Our Thanksgiving celebration always started with the entire brood attending Mass at Sandy’s church. Later, the brothers became gourmet chefs for the day, and the meals were always sumptuous! The women, children and any non-cooking brothers raked leaves on their rather large country front lawn. What fun, making big piles of leaves, jumping into them and acting like children! We probably made a bigger mess than actually helping my brother-in-law!

Sandy rented a big tent so we could all be together for the meal. One year Sandy’s husband Craig, asked that we all take a turn to say one thing for which we were grateful. Most of us shared how wonderful it was to have such a great, loving family. Yumi, their foreign exchange student from Japan attempted to speak but was so overcome with emotion that she just started crying and buried herself on Craig’s chest.

Now our families have grown and we no longer make the pilgrimage to Sandy’s place. It’s a fond memory though!

November seems to be a perfect month for gratitude, so I decided to record one thing every day on my facebook page. I am also making at least one phone call a day to thank the people in my life. It seems like such gestures when I really look at, and acknowledge the abundance in my life.

I’d like to challenge you for the rest of November, to find one thing a day that makes you happy. So, what are you grateful for? I bet you don’t stop at one!

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