Feelin' Hot HoT HOT!!

It's only June, but the temps here are regularly in the 108 range. I don't care who y'are...that's HOT. And it's only June. Apparently I'm in for a rude awakening come July!!

I'm trying really hard to adjust to the weather here. People just 'hibernate' in the summer here instead of in the winter. Makes perfect sense, it's just weird to look outside and see this beautiful, bright sunny day and realize you can't go outside or you might pass out. I literally have to hold my breath on my way to the car.

What on earth will I do when it's 117??


Best Wishes,

Breath of Life

I'm watching Prince Caspian with the fam tonight. And blogging, of course. It's only the fourth time I've seen it... Although I'm quite sure the metaphors in this series have been blogged to death, I have to say every time I watch it something new seems to impact me...

At the end of the movie, Aslan asks for volunteers to go through from Narnia to earth. When the first three volunteer, Aslan tells them that because they spoke first, their lives in the new world would be good. Then he simply breathed on them.

The gesture wasn't lost on me. That merely the breath of God could affect the destiny of a human life. I love that.

Just.
One.
Breath.

And not only that life, but by extension, the lives of generations to come. Grace. Favor. Mercy. Breath of God.

Amazing...

Best Wishes,

The Chicken or the Egg?

A couple of years ago I read a book that really impressed me: "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. He is a Brazilian author who has a heavy presence on the internet and on social networking sites. I subscribe to an e-newsletter he sends out periodically called "Warrior of Light". I liked the name. He was raised Catholic I believe, and has a definite message of faith in his books, but also isn't afraid to explore and leave open ended questions about other religions and belief systems. In other words, he doesn't force his opinions on the reader, but rather forces the reader to explore their own opinions. I like that.

At any rate, the latest 'issue' of Warrior of Light' arrived in my inbox this morning and I was taken back by the title: Animal Promiscuity. In true Coelho fashion, he doesn't create an argument, but merely presents something and then leaves it open ended for the reader to think about. So it went for me. Here is the text of his newsletter:

Animal promiscuity Recently I read an interesting polemic article in the American newspaper New York Times (25/03/2008). Written by Natalie Angier, the text is based on the research of prominent biologists and psychologists concerning monogamy. The conclusion that they reach is impressive: conjugal infidelity is present throughout the animal kingdom.

And that’s not all: studies have shown that certain species “pay” for sex, while others reward their “lovers” with presents and affection. To complete the picture, jealousy and machismo are also to be found there: females are violently attacked if they copulate with another partner. Of course we are not animals, but the similarities mentioned above are very revealing.

Some of the more interesting parts of the article are worth transcribing.

1] Many species are raised from a very tender age to marry someone chosen by the family. They fly and play together, they sing and dance together. In other words, they are raised to impress the community with proof that they were born for one another.

2] Nevertheless, social monogamy is rarely accompanied by sexual monogamy. DNA tests carried out on monkeys, birds and wild animals, when their descendency is examined in the light of modern science, show that between 10% and 70% of the offspring was fathered by someone other than the resident male.

3] Professor David Barash of the University of Washington in Seattle states that: “in the infantile world, infancy. In the adult world, adultery”. For a long time, swans were believed to be a model of fidelity. Through such DNA tests, it has been concluded that not even swans are immune to temptation.

4] The only completely monogamous species is an amoeba - Diplozoon Paradoxum – which is found in organisms of certain fish. Barash explains: “male and female meet while still young, and their bodies literally merge as one. From then on, they are faithful until death do them part”. In this case, death coincides with that of the fish that shelters them.

5] The “oldest profession in the world”, as prostitution is known, is also present in the animal kingdom. It is common to find males that shower their females with presents: rodents, caterpillars and insects. But when the same male decides to have, shall we say, an extracurricular affair, the lover receives better presents than the companion.

6] The law of competition also applies to the animal world: if supply is great, the price comes down. However, if there is a shortage of females, they become objects of desire that deserve the best and most sophisticated rewards.

Please understand that I have transcribed in this column the result of research conducted by scientists and psychologists specialized in studying animals. All of us can – and should – have our own opinion with respect to monogamy. We can all say that we are a highly evolved species, which is absolutely true. The only thing that we can’t do is to blame science for showing results that often contradict our way of thinking!

Now, here's the beauty of a well-written article: It allows each reader to take from it that which they will, without regard to a specific agenda. For me, I thought about Adam and Eve and the fall. It made me wonder if "the fall" caused repercussion in the animal kingdom as well, or if the animal kingdom always functioned like that and humans were always designed to be a higher order.

That's all. I just wonder. And we'll never know the truth this side of heaven, but it made me wonder something I'd never wondered before. Without guilt. Without judgment. Without prejudice.

This is the mark of a great author.

If you haven't read The Alchemist yet, it's a quick and easy read, yet it's jampacked with metaphor and deep themes and beautiful writing. Let me know! And tell me - what do you think? All omlet jokes aside, was it the chicken or the egg??


Best Wishes,

Step by Step...

The last couple of months have been an adventure in active living. Most recently my husband and I (thanks to good friend Keith) learned about something called Podrunner Intervals at Podrunner.com.

They offer free music mixes you can download onto your mp3 play (or iPod) that take you from "First Day to 5K" in ten weeks (used to be called "Couch to 5K"). It's a mixture of beats that can get ANYONE into running, S-L-O-W-L-Y progressing you from walking to jogging. The program is three times a week, and you alternate walking and jogging. As the program moves along your "jogging" sections get longer until at the end of the ten weeks you can run a continuous 5K (3.2 miles) without stopping!

So, we decided to try it! The music is a little techno / dance house, but eventually the music fades into the background of my mind and I am just concentrating on walking or jogging to the main beat. The first week the jogging sections are only 60 seconds long. A person can do just about anything for 1 minute. Then you get to walk. It's very do-able.

A long long time ago I decided that I wanted to run a marathon before I die. I gave up on that dream because of life, injuries, etc. Now I might just resurrect it! Wish me luck!

Best Wishes,

Foreverism?

Every month or so I get an update from a site called TrendWatching.com. It follows the consumer trends in an effort to help companies to market their products better. Don't ask me why I subscribe to this. I just get a kick out of reading the little blurbs about what idol America is currently following.

Anyway, I often don't even have time to read them. I send them directly to the trash. But yesterday's stopped me. It said:

"FOREVERISM: Consumers are embracing the "never done". Are you?"

"Never done." Sounded a lot like how I view my life. So, as with all good marketing techniques, this got my attention. The article is about social networking and following people with things that are perpetual, like Facebook status updates, Twitter, Google Latitude and more. You can constantly connect with, follow and stay in touch with multiple people in your life. It's crazy.

As always, there are pros as well as cons to this, and self-discipline is paramount. The danger, of course, is getting sucked so far into other people's lives that you stop living your own. Let's face it, anything and everything can be a distraction if we let it. Distractions can become escapes and escapes can become addictions.

This phenomenon, however, is not new. It's always been there, it's just that over the years we've trended differently. Soap operas, smutty novels, sports on tv, movies, video games, exercise, sex, drugs, rock and roll... they're all there - waiting to lure us away from our problems into a world where those problems take a back seat. When money is tight, escapism becomes even more of a draw, and when you have unlimited internet access, escape is just a one-price-per-month-whether-you-use-it-or-not click away. That's cheap entertainment, people.

So it doesn't surprise me that "foreverism" is the new trend. I personally like being able to take a peek into my friends' everyday lives via Facebook updates or Twitter bites. It's kind of comforting, being able to connect at least in some small way, with friends and family in a "we're in this crazy life together" kind of way. I don't know, call me crazy but life before Facebook felt a lot more fragmented than it does now. It puts all my favorite people and activities together in one place so I can check one site and get it all done. It streamlines my life, in a way.

But I do have to be careful. We all do. I have four amazing kids and a great husband and a dog and my mom who all need me to be 'present' for them. I can't put other people's lives above my own. So this is all just a little shout out for balance, people! A little goes a long way.

Now go update your Facebook status. Just don't do it while you're out to lunch with a friend. That's just poor form!!

Best Wishes,

A Tale of Two Cities

I don't want to jinx anything, because the papers aren't actually signed, but it seems as if we have a deal to sell our previous home. It's surreal, feeling strangled between two cities like this. Not really being able to let go of the old, and neither feeling like you can move on fully with the new. I always thought that it would be glamorous, owning homes in two different places at the same time, but what we learned while we owned our cabin was that the second property is always there, looming over your head. It's twice the maintenance, twice the upkeep, twice the worry about the market, the neighbors, the yard and the time split between them.

We've been on a quest to simplify and streamline our lives since we sold that cabin last year, at the time having no idea we'd be moving halfway across the country. When we sold it there was this enormous weight that lifted, one that we weren't even aware existed until it left. Closure can be a very good thing. So, with any luck, by the end of the summer we'll have closure once again, and be able to move fully forward with this next chapter in our lives. I love the place we left, but I need to learn to love this place that we have come to. In order to do that I have to be able to fully immerse, to not have a divided heart. So here I go. I'm diving in...


Best Wishes,

Out on a Limb

I went out on a limb today. I posted a bit over at The Master's Artist that I wrote in a new voice. The voice of a character named Truly. She appeared out of nowhere yesterday morning and before I knew it, I had written six pages in this new voice.

I wasn't trying to come up with a new character. I was trying to write real. I was trying to ask myself hard questions about what's at the core of our writing, and this voice started making herself heard. At first I thought it was me. But the more I wrote, the more I realized it was someone completely different. A writer. With a story to tell.

Her name is Truly. You can meet her here.

Best Wishes,