Obsessions

Obsessions - doesn't everybody have at least one?  Chocolate, reality TV, shoes - pick your poison. Some of them are quite benign (looking at you, SMF, and thinking of all the cooking network shows you have somehow managed to sneak onto my DVR to watch when you visit), but some of them ... well, you know you have latched onto one of those not-so-healthy ones when you find yourself longing for something that you don't really feel you can talk about with anybody else.  And of course, the worst of the WORST is that unrequited passion for something you just can't (or shouldn't, or absolutely must not) have.  The desire that teeters on the precipice of being an addiction, and which takes up time and attention that could be far better spent.  Yeah, that one...

I am trying to make healthier life choices as I grow older and wiser, yet I still find myself occasionally running full tilt into obstacles sitting squarely in the middle of this oh-so-noble life path.  When does it start getting easier to say no??

tempus fugit

I recently had (yet another damn) birthday, which of course prompted a whole host of ponderings about how quickly my meager time here on earth seems to be flying past.  Of course, having my son stride off confidently into the beginning of his second grade year at school (no longer clinging - and in fact, not even looking backwards ONE TIME) only served to pound the point home. 

Is there really such a thing as aging gracefully, with loving acceptance of the inevitable?  The bazillion potions, lotions, creams, exercises, surgeries, injectables and other similar devices available these days to help us cheat time would point to a definite trend toward "NO".  I used to scoff at the ads in women's magazines, thinking that people who fall for that sort of snake oil deserved to have their money go up in a puff of Botox.  Lately, though, I've found myself wondering, wondering, wondering if there possibly IS a way to steal back a little of what nature has so ungraciously taken.  Could I perhaps purchase a couple more years of no crow's feet?  Would the fantastic new "shake weight" (available only on TV!) really help to erase that crazy old lady flap jiggling around under my arms?   Could I have prevented the egregious error of writing "tempest fugit" instead of "tempus fugit" on my latest art journal page if only I had been taking nuclear-strength brain boosting vitamins?

Fantastically unclear about whether to surrender to the inevitable or go out swinging (and seriously peeved that I am old enough to have to ask myself that question). 

An attitude of gratitude

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine posted a movie clip from Joe vs. the Volcano on her Facebook page.  It featured Tom Hanks as Joe, adrift on a raft in the middle of the ocean, watching the moon come up and having a moment of awe and gratitude for his life.  It really got me thinking...  and it inspired the above little altar, which I just listed for sale in my Etsy shop.

It's so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day routine of life, entirely forgetting to stop once in a while and look at the big picture.  It's also easy to take the whole thing for granted. 

So this is me, stopping for a moment and being grateful for both the many blessings in my life and the many challenges (which have, more often than not, led me to an even richer and deeper understanding of myself and my purpose).