Hope

For the first time since November 2016 I woke up feeling hope. How can that be after this weekend? Yes there was so much sickness and ugliness, but there also were tremendous moments of beauty and coming together.

Let me tell you about my mother and hope. In early fall 2015 my mom realized she was not going to make it until Christmas. At 88 years old her body was failing. But her mind was still sharp. She had some forgetfulness but really not much more than I do. 

The last photograph I took of my Mom and grand nephew Vaugh.

Mom was well informed. Every night she watched the news, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell. A couple of months before her death she started pulling my sister and me aside asking us to promise that we would not lose hope.

Mom - “Things are going to get really bad I want you both to promise me you will not lose hope because things will change for the better.”

My Sister and Me - "But Mom, what are you talking about? We have an African American president and we are soon going to have the first woman president. Things are getting better.”

Mom - No. Things are going to get really bad. Promise me.

My Sister and I looked at each other, thinking "What is Mom talking about?" But it was important to Mom so we promised. 

Mom died soon after and my sister died suddenly shortly after the 2016 election. There have been so many times I have thought...I am trying not to lose hope Mom, but it’s really hard. I have not had a morning since trump took office where I did not wake up sad.

And yet, this morning, after so very much loss I woke up feeling hope. It has been a hellish weekend, a hellish week, a hellish few years. Yet something feels like it shifted. Maybe it was the pictures of the black men protecting the single policeman. Maybe it was the white policemen kneeling with protestors. Maybe it was those who came together to clean up the streets after the previous nights looting.

Or maybe it was Mom funneling hope to me as I dreamed. Who knows. But this morning I can honestly say to her. Mom I have not lost hope.

Be sure to listen to the beautiful young voices in the video below this post. They will lift you up. To my mom and the Aeolians Oakwood University Alumni Choir - Thank you.
Cynthia

We Shall Overcome

I do think this is the most gorgeous version of We Shall Overcome that I have ever heard. These beautiful voices brought tears to my eyes. 

Go Outside and Play! by Bill Sheehan

Well apparently it’s true. As I’ve been told repeatedly throughout most of my life by many people beginning with my father, but have steadfastly refused to believe, I am not in fact the center of the universe. I was informed of this fact once again.

A serendipitous encounter in the high desert just outside Cle Elum, WA during a brief period of clearing on an otherwise rain soaked weekend in early August; the Perseid Meteor Showers is one of the most astonishing spectacles I’ve ever witnessed. Shooting stars streaking across the sky and disappearing so fast you’re not really sure that you saw them, and other stars falling in long, graceful arcs as if something imagined or remembered from a childhood dream. So many stars falling from the heavens that after an hour you’d think the skies should be empty, completely void. And as the clouds rolled in again, and the rains again began to fall, the sky did appear dark and the earth appeared to sparkle and glisten as if covered with… well, stars.

There are a few simple and unexpected encounters in life that stand out from the rest and seem to illuminate what an extraordinary and wondrous world we live in; night-blooming jasmine, fire flies, banyan trees... this is one.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars came out only once every thousand years.

“If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how 

would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations 

the remembrance of the city of God which has been shown! But 

every night come out these envoys of beauty and light the universe 

with their admonishing smile...” 

And we watch television. Should we instead be building cathedrals, writing poetry, symphonies, hymns and prayers to the greater glory of God? Perhaps. We do seem to have lost our collective sense of wonderment, or perhaps the world just moves too fast now. Or perhaps we don’t even bother to look anymore, after all it is kind of an awful distraction from Tweeting and Twittering.

I remember Mom’s admonition clearly: “Get out of the house! Go outside and play!” I guess she was right after all.

More from Bill Sheehan

Today's Playlist for Dancing Around the House

There is no better way to lift your mood than to get up and dance around your house for 10 minutes. Ten minutes. That's all it takes. I have kept charts for over 25 years. It works... EVERY TIME! Are you sad from staying at home. Ten minutes and you will feel better. Just push play! Here are 3 songs to get you started.

Go Crazy by Leslie Odom

On YouTube

Can't Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake

On YouTube

Build Me Up Buttercup by the Foundations

On YouTube

Sheltering In Place Haiku

Are you noticing the small, ordinary things in your life more, now that you are quarantined at home? I know I am. Plus it's so quiet. I am hearing more as well. I decided this was a good time to try writing haiku again. I haven't done it in years.

waking to bird songs

and the silent cobblestones

no one passes by

Cynthia

Thinking I could use a bit of a refresher course,  I pulled out the three haiku books I brought with me to Mexico. I planned on writing a lot of haiku. Three and a half years here and the above is my first. Now maybe it's I'm quiet enough to bring haiku back into my life.

What about you? Do you haiku?

Click to read more.

Twenty Movies To Lift You Up

Movies often have a way about them that can lift our moods right up. Here are twenty that will do that for you. Some of them you have seen, some might be new to you. But all have lifted my spirit.

Cynthia

Click here to see my top 20.

Supporting Each Other

Recently several friends and I were emailing each other, sequestered in different countries. My friend Judy mentioned that someone had sent her the following about Margaret Mead...

"Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.

But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.

A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said."

My friend Christine responded with some beautiful words...

"Lovely. So instead of telling everyone to take care of themselves through this we should be saying, I’m trying to take care of you….I am staying home to protect you and me, I am connecting with you remotely so you are not lonely, I am buying food from your restaurant so you come out of this with a job, I am giving the delivery people an extra large tip to acknowledge that they are keeping us fed and safe, I am sending money to the food bank and other organizations to ensure you are fed, I am making masks for the neighbors and front line workers, I am posting funny jokes to keep your spirits up, I am checking on my neighbors who live alone to make sure they have what they need."

Take care of yourselves and each other,
Cynthia

Kiss The Joy As It Flies ... Gratitude

During this time with the global spread of the Covid-19 virus, our lives are disrupted in so many ways. You may be "Sheltered at Home" alone or with your family. You might be working on the front lines as a First Responder or in a hospital.

Your children are likely home from school. You may be laid off or furloughed from your job. The daily news might worry you. If so, it may be helpful to remember a quote from Mr. Fred Roger’s mother:

Click here to read more

Cooking While Sheltering In Place

I admit I am not much of a cook. So I depend on my friends to share their recipes. This week I asked them what they were cooking while sequestered at home. They so inspired me that I might have to do something besides throw together a salad or open a can of soup for dinner.  Cynthia

Here is what they are making...

A Day Sheltered At Home

Today I cut some lilacs from the bush near the front porch. I brought them inside and put them in a small cobalt blue glass vase. I set them on the dining room table so that I might drink in their scent and admire their blooms. Read more...

Needing A Mystery Series While Staying At Home?

You can watch the television series or read the books.

This is a good one. Click here for more.