SOAR NOT ROAR

The smiles on our faces were as if we were donning masks of illusion for only moments prior she was banned to the upstairs as Cinderella to scurry and make her surroundings as pleasing as she had found them. The unpleasant tones were soon transcended with the laughter that erupted it was deep, farther than that of a mere belly laugh we long for, this was from our souls, just the overwhelming sensation of contentment that permeated our beings all the way to our deepest core; it filled the room as if in a place of enchantment as we read of as little children. I closed my eyes and savored this sense of fulfillment, inhaling as if taking a long awaited breath from coming up from the waters anxious to exhale as if exploding and breathing in the air that my body was urging to inhale craving as if my lungs would surely burst. I allowed myself to become in my mind and senses the character my daughter and I were reading about in her summer reading book. Hers was purchased, mine I checked out from the library, she has had zero inclination to the importance of reading and her Father and I came up with the plan of her and I reading together and by George I think we got it. Hair wet and sprawling over both our pillows overlapping; uncertain of where one started and the other stopped. The fragrance of our perfumes bewitched our senses as in the sweetest lullaby ever sung, nestled in her freshly made bed smelling of the finest linens and dressed in our coziest of pajama's I was entranced by the flickers of the candles she chose for us to light and we read and we laughed and we shared from our deepest emotion we were feeling. Only earlier I was Cruella De Vil  and now we are intertwined like the sweetest fairy tale. 

This first book we are reading is titled, "Out of my mind", it has a fishbowl and a goldfish jumping out of the bowl as if escaping. The character is handicapped, very brilliant, has a photographic mind as if a computer or robot but cannot express herself or share all that she knows. Horrific when you think about it, my mind couldn't shake this character. My Daughter now in my bed on laptop educating us both on life hacks, us sipping on sleepy time tea and my mind buzzing with wonderment of this story. Realizing how so many people I have met over the years are as this Melody we are reading of. No one is aware of her abilities or gifts only her. Not those closest to her; her parents, nor doctors for she cannot communicate it at all. It was instilled into me as a young girl and I have poured the same into my Daughter you have read me write of this, but we can be anything we want to be, and we can do anything we want to do. Man or Woman this is true. How many of us are trapped and restricted as Melody by limitations that in essence are not real and true? The person in whom we truly are is our inner selves and the older I become the more I realize this to be true. The thing that has my mind reeling is that so many of us are being the supporting actors and actresses instead of the leading lady or best actor  in our very own stories of our lives. I love the beloved stories of those who were overlooked seemingly unlovely then transformed, mesmerizing all around them with their unveiling of all that was merely already there just not revealed. 

The picture posted at the top of this post has set my soul on fire. It is a college young woman who used to be apart of my Non Profit girls organization she's an Alumni if you will, and  to see her spread her wings and start to reveal all that is within her is mind-blowing. It moved me beyond words yesterday when her Mom and then her posted the video of her jump they posted this, "Emily literally took a leap of faith today when she bungee jumped off the worlds highest commercial bungee jumping bridge in South Africa. 750 feet, which is basically like jumping off a 75 story building!" I was telling my best friend who started this program about how this has just engulfed me with wonderment and excitement and she said Emily was more reserved and to see her really come out and be all she truly consists of is more than amazing. She has inspired me and moved me to jump as well. Although not physically at this time, but within myself, as Tom Petty sings Freefalling I am going to the depths of my being to unleash that force that drives me and although I'm generally pretty outward with all that is within me, I feel passionate I have yet to scratch the surface. To find contentment amidst life's circumstances is a Wonderment of Life we should all relish in. As in Melody that my Daughter and I am reading about, I have the hunch she will prevail in communicating all that consumes her releasing her truest self, and as Emily so beautifully demonstrated her boldness by her bungy jump, both are the star of their very own show. 

What has been percolating within you to be poured out as the finest cup of coffee savored? Today, on Friday get this weekend started and take that leap of Faith as Emily did and abandon all restraints, break the mold as Melody is bound to do and allow the real you inside to step up as the Protagonist and blow that box office away for This is The Wonderment of Life. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8O-XzhtKGs

HALF WAY THERE

Sipping on my routine afternoon cup of coffee or hot tea that I have taken on the road; trying new spots and hole in the wall joints just savoring the hypnotic potions as if it had been ladled out of the witches brew, entranced by the charming decor and all the delightful things for my eyes to behold as well in these quaint coffee houses. This summer I have rolled out a mission plan if you will of the things I desire to do and become, kind of like I do at New Years with my Resolutions; this is a follow up if you will as it is half way through this year. Check and balance; I liken this to a sales meeting with my boss and going over my sales calls reports; reviewing accounts and taking note of any changes keeping myself aware and familiar with these accounts and discussing strategy for the future. Often times when I am talking to people about my views on Life and my enthrallment with chasing our Dreams I liken life to our jobs. We are organized and as one of my gal pals said she is OCD at work and the opposite outside of the office; not that she is going through the motions but it made me realize that so many of the people I talk with will attest that with all the demands on them with mere life itself, family, relationships, home and work they struggle with prioritizing it all and to pursue dreams just simply falls to the wayside. Life has a funny way of choking out the passion and the wonderment at times if we aren't careful we find ourselves just going through the motions in all we do and with those we are with. I say that overused line again because the synonyms for that phrase are staggering, you might want to sit down for this, they are the following: sketchy, superficial, apathetic, careless, disinterested, impersonal, inattentive, negligent, indifferent, unaware, unconcerned, uninterested. Allow those words to penetrate your mind, your senses and your soul.  How could we possibly desire and long much less tolerate, for any of these words to describe any area of our lives? 

Some of my friends giggle at me this year even more so, because this is a big year for me in many ways, I turned fifty and I have some pretty huge things on my list to achieve; so when the New Year came I was counting it like Day 2 of 365, now as we are well into this year it is as this is the sixth chapter (month) of 2017. It has made all the difference in the world for me to simplify it this way. I am feeling lofty that I hit this milestone age exactly the way I intended to feel and the empowerment and liberation I feel is the light to my flame to the rest of my detailed list. As a runner in a race passing by the people holding out the water or garden hose to refresh you or the cheers of the crowd to keep going is liken to me with measuring my moments and this journey of this year. At some moments I am looking at those who know me best as I did even this week and asked them, I am going to make it right? Their assurance springboards my stamina to scale as a pole vaulter over the raised standard. As I started describing at the beginning me taking my love of my afternoon bolt of caffeine to new and different places and people has overwhelmed my senses in every way. It has fed my soul awakening me from the normalcy and made it something extraordinary. I am enthralled with getting lost in somewhere unknown or new, just drinking it all in, inhaling the newness, the difference and find that it charges my inner battery with such a voltage that I am certain it must be smoldering. I am refreshed with renewed perspective and clarity that I am effectively executing that which my heart beats and is driven to accomplish. 

As a very wise and dear friend told me just today, life isn't about the external, it is all inside but covered with "stuff" and how Michelangelo was asked how he created all these amazing sculptures and his response wowed everyone. He said, he does not create anything, he takes a piece of rock and eliminates all of the extras and the beauty inside appears on it's own. My friend went on to say we all have it. Everyone; but some put filters in between that it becomes invisible then forgotten. I believe that is when we find ourselves merely going through motions in areas of our lives when we have allowed filters of all kinds to block out that zest; when we were created to supersede all of our notions and do and be something extraordinary as in my cup of afternoon caffeine. I believe The Wonderment of Life here is to allow ourselves to be placed in the hands of our Creator and to be transparent and bare to not only those around us but mostly to ourselves so that all that needs to be eliminated or brought out is able so that we might accomplish that which our souls long for. I have told most everyone I have had any conversation with that I hit the fifties in such a way that if just this past month alone is any indication of how they will be then the next eleven months and nine years my mind cannot fathom. I believe this can be said of all of us in all areas of our lives but it has to come from roots far deeper than our own abilities. We have to be militant and effectively driven as we are in our job performance to have our lives flourishing in all other areas. 

I leave with you the most personal of songs I have ever shared those closest know it to be my "song". Not only does this move me as the others have but this is my Anthem and the standard by which I breathe. Whenever I feel overwhelmed or intimidated by my limitations of reaching that which my soul craves and yearns I allow this song to permeate my being and alas it is not possible to execute without the soulful passion that drives my being in every facet of my life in every area. Perhaps that is the truest Wonderment of Life....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NhHzTq5wQQ