There is one thing that my mom does with me almost every time I get on the phone with me….She asks me “how’s the weather down there? Did ya’ll get any rain there today?”  It drives me CRAZY!!!! If I am not worryied about my house flooding and needing to evacuate, the weather is NOT something I care to chat about.

Years ago I read The Work by Byron Katie.  She talked about 3 types of business.  There’s your business, the other person’s business, and God’s business.  And she encourages you to manage y
our own.  The weather falls under God’s business.  So worrying or bitching about it is just going to
stress you out because you can’t do anything about it.  Just like trying to manage someone else’s business and trying to change who they are is just going to stress you out.

So when my mom asks me about the weather, it even stresses me out to chat about it.  It seems like such wasted conversation, right?  Or is it?

I recently visited my great aunt over the Labor Day weekend.  She’s in her late 80’s.  We talked about a few things and then a conversation about tv shows came up.  She said “I really don’t watch tv, but I like to watch the news so I can see what the weather is doing.”  It made me wonder what is the deal with the freaking weather?  I have no time to worry about it and they are so focused on it?  So, the next time I was in the car alone I started to think about the weather…..

I mean it’s so variable….It can change at the drop of a hat.  You can be really screwed for forgetting your rain boots, but ya live!  There is so much variance in my life on a daily basis….take the kids here, meeting after work here, call to get the oven repaired, schedule a dentist appointment….so, the fluctuations of the weather has little significance to me….

….But to my great aunt, there is not much diversity in her days.  She sits at home.  She may work a little in the yard.  No one really comes to visit.  She may clean her house, but she lives alone with no pets so it’s usually quite clean. It made me realize that the weather gives her a little variety.  It may brighten up her day with lots of sunshine or make her feel gloomy because it’s going to pour, but it’s a variance in her day.  And she feels prepared for it! It’s what old people need to focus on so they can break away from the mundanes of the golden years.

So, the next time your loved one asks you about the weather, remember it’s what is giving them some excitement… and you will weather the conversation well! (say that 3 times fast Ha!)

Often times I think we are unhappy because we live our lives like someone gave us an “Employment Manual” to abide by.  We think there are all these rules and regulations that must occur to be accepted by others and to succeed.  Sometimes these rules we are abiding by are not our soul’s intention. We did not write them or have any input.   So, it does not feel right or comfortable.  Over time, I have realized if something is not feeling “right,” it’s because it’s not my authentic self.  I am not meant to act or proceed in this manner.  It could be something as simple as losing sleep or that yucky feeling in the solar plexus.  Whatever it may be, I called it a “friction rub”.  It is how my soul brings something to my attention. So I go in an write an addendum to the manual. Maybe I am breaking someone else’s rules, but as I get older, I realize it does not really matter.   I am thankful for the wisdom and know one manual does not for for everyone! I encourage you to think about your friction rubs and get those addendums written!

Oh! How I am a creature of routine.  I think as humans we all like it.  And we can get in such routine, we function on autopilot.  Have you ever driven home and not remembered the drive? Been there!

So, being a routine kind of girl, it makes me frustrated when there is road construction and I can’t take my normal route.  The guys shuffle all us cars down a new street and we have to weave through neighborhoods or wrong way streets.  Just not my ideal situation.  But maybe with that detour I see a new little shop I had not heard of?  or a cute house with the greatest curb appeal? Or what about that awesome tree-what kind is it anyway?  So many new things.  All in all the detour is blessing me with all this newness.  It’s like getting glasses if I had bad vision?

As I walk through this earth school, I need to realize the detours of life are growing and expanding my awareness as a human just as the driving ones.  If we want to evolve, we have to welcome the detours and break free from the autopilot. There is so much newness out there to continue to awaken us!  Think about what detour you took this week?

ARE SO BEAUTIFUL!

If you have been in the office recently, you probably know my beloved golden retriever, Chewy, passed at the end of July unexpectedly.  She was the half sister of Leia, whom we had to euthanize 2 1/2 years ago. Leia is the beloved teacher I speak of in my “About Page”.

Leia was buried in our backyard in February of 2103.  Chewy passed during all that torrential rainfall at the last week of July that created so much flooding in south Tampa.  Needless to say, we could not dig a burial site in our yard because the ground was so saturated.  So, we elected to do a private cremation.

Monday was the day for me to go pick her up.  I exited my car to enter the emergency vet and past and sweet four-legged friend.  Luckily, this friend was not a golden, so I could maintain my composure until I was able to converse with the office staff.  I spoke with the receptionist and she handed the bag over to me.  As I turned to leave the counter and head to the car, I could feel the tears beginning to swell in my eyes.  As I got to the car, everything was just blurry because all the tears coming down.  In the car with the bag, I sat and just felt weird.  I felt as if the world had stopped.  Was I breathing? Was there still oxygen to breathe in? I felt as if I could not move.  Nothing seemed to matter at this moment.  All that mattered was my sweet puppy was sitting next to me…in a box! I was a little weirded out that this was her body in this tiny little box.  I felt guilty I could not open it at this time.  But, this was my first experience with ashes; I did not know what to expect.  After I sat and cried for about 20 minutes and listened to Tracy Chapman’s The Promise, I felt like I could finally move again.

I drove home and placed the bag on the formal dining room table until Tuesday night.  I felt I had enough heartache for the evening.  Tuesday evening, I gathered up the courage to open the bag. First there was a grieving book.  I read over that.  Then I read over the medical records to help me try to put closure on the emergency.  As I completed the last page, it concluded with her going into cardiac arrest and “the owner” electing to euthanize prior to onset of agonal respiration.  I layed the papers on the table and subconsciously, I said to myself, “and that’s how it ended.  I felt like I closed a book. It was the last page of that book.  And, I needed to start a new book. She would want this.

I then unwrapped up the mahogany box.  Tucked inside was a Burgundy velvet bag.  As I was not ready to look at the ashes, I mashed on the bag.  I was taken by the density and mass inside that bag.  As I sat there for a few more minutes, I knew I needed to look inside.  I picked up the velvet bag and again was amazed with the weight… I finally was brave enough and I peeked inside….

Such Beauty radiated from it! While there was no extreme colors, beige and sand and gray were all mixed up.  Such subtleness creating beauty.   It reminded me of the recent gem mining trip we took in North Carolina with the boys.  I felt like I was looking at small gems.  And if anyone had ever met Chewy, you would agree that if we put all this back together, she made a marvelous gem!

I miss her terribly, but I look forward to the next book….until we meet again!