personal parenting revolution by way of Tehran via twitter

i admit that i don't pay nearly as much attention as i should or as much as i want to. today i was nearly swept away by a hormonal, stressed out, pressurized day. then i saw tweet after tweet and shades of green emerging from cracks in the graphics and damn if it didn't hit me like a brick- what do you really have to cry about?

• missing somebody you knew you would be forced to miss? a circumstance you signed on for? at least you know you are loved- get over it. move on through please.
• wanting space and your house to be perfect and clean and organized? at least you have a space and people who love you to occupy it. move on through please.
• stressed about bills? about credit card debt? this falls under super duh. everybody is, you signed up for it and well at least you can change it over time. the resources are available. move on through please.
• feeling pressure about creative projects? this may be the biggest duh of all. beware what you ask for. so many have worked so hard and can't get their work read or even recognized. be grateful. know this is when you prevail. move on through please.

and i see so much this that and the other about the revolution in Iran. stuff like this...

are parent you know how hard it is to be away from a injured child

but her life is more important than my life and putting her in dange is not what i want if you
she is very scared now i am sure she hates gunfire and darkness
i just want to hold her again to kiss her forehead ..to be free with her...to see her run free in the park
we students do not chant death to america we want american constitution
ok so i know my daughters safe..

i read these and it brings tears to my eyes. to imagine not only is the stability of the world around you disintegrating in a tangible way, but your ability to protect and care for your children is diluted if not removed. but what choice do you have, do we all have when presented with the opportunity, as human beings, parents and citizens of integrity-- but to participate in the process that demands the world progress. this is the very key to being a pro-active, loving and strong parent. you must march in the streets if that is what the day calls for- or at least go out and vote. this is why i vote in person and always take Xoxa with me. i let her hold the purple marker and feel like she is helping me to make the informed choice about our future. people are dying for this today. it is a sin or crime if you will of the highest order to take this for granted.

your children do as you do. go green and god bless the people on the ground.

get outta your mind

this is something that has plagued me for going on forever. to get out of my head. well i'm a writer- does writing count as being in your head? i'm also feeling hormonal and nervous about a big deadline- the nervousness only creeps up when i am forced to sit alone with it, when i am  on the verge of the big things i dream about day and day out. i think that this is one of a million things that makes me one of those writers who would definitely pick another vocation were it feasible. 

but instead of writing and hunkering down with the ideas and letting the creative juices flow i get caught up in personal drama. certain to keep myself asking questions and not trying to make giant life changes or anything...stuff like maybe i could take a trip abroad to...or am i really getting what i want and need out of this relationship- is it even a relationship? why do i feel so lonesome i could cry and neglected? will i grow old alone? am i unloveable? am i going to be able to live here for another year and half or so? how soon can i get out of the Bay Area where there is so much pain to be tolerated and forgiven? 

i think a nap is in order. i spent 2 delicious days in Disneyland with Xoxa and my dad, i also got to see Erykah Badu last night with one of my oldest best friends ever. i love seeing her - so many of the lyrics are really or at least seem to be directed right at me. crazy scary cool. but right now i don't want to be free so i hang on, my heart flapping nervous and deflated inside my chest. the only thing to keep me going is knowing it won't always be like this.

doing the same things

as a writer i am always keen for clever wordplay and phrasing. social network tools bring me any number of inspirational passages on a daily basis. 

Rev. Run from RUN-DMC today tweeted "you cannot change what you do not confront" or some such. 

there is also a recent fave, source unknown- if you keep doing the same things, that's what you get. 

i want to confront the choices i make. i want to not only make better choices but determine why i am making the choices i am so i can keep improving. 

one of the potential pitfalls of living in the town you grew up in and reuniting with folks from lives past is that i risk repeating and then potentially maintaining unhealthy patterns- like drinking too much. a lot of the people i used to drink too much with are still doing the same things, or things that simply do not interest me. for me these are folks who are washed up on an urban or worse suburban shore like the bottles they emptied to get there. i have already done all of this and it didn't serve me or help me to grow and progress the first time- i am not interested in hangover, wash, and repeat. 

so what do you do with your time as an adult who craves to have their ego stroked? well i also have to actively refuse this spiritual masturbation and dig deeper into my self- i have to get to the emotional blackhole and fill it up. figure out what i am missing. inevitably i am missing something to fill that little coin pocket of myself up with- liquor and attention are good bandages but in the end superficial and no better than Cinderella's night at the ball. 

rather i am choosing to explore the questions and be creative. to mandate time to create and get that stuff out rather than squelch it with artificial substances that merely prolong the agony of the process of growth. 

i am feeling the fear and doing it anyway. going to enjoy music - and not drinking- seeing what is really out there by taking my girl-scout-cookie-goggles off, what do these folks really look like? what am i really missing? aren't my late 30's for doing something else with my time? digging in instead of going out? 

everybody else seems to enjoy time with me- i need to learn to do the same thing. 

worn down- wanna get it up & get it on

days keep coming. i am happy about that. life itself though, with me at the wheel, has just been feeling so, well, i want to simplify and downsize and slow things down but it just keeps coming at me.
in watching my darling magic daughter Xoxai see how i am. i am a slow poke. i am intense and not so easy going. i am specifically the way i am for no good reason.
the fact is that i have been not only caring for a sick 4 year old since Xmas but i have been sick myself. it's a life period when I just cannot seem to get my mojo up. i am a driven, determined indominable person who will win. i'm just so bloody worn down, spread thin and pulled in opposing directions that i am finding it difficult to get it up and get it on. i like to pull not this keep on pushing. exhausted. constantly toxified. just not healthy. is something in my house making me sick?
i just want out. i just want to change things. i am craving a reinvention. the plans are in place but somehow i can't find the keys to start myself. am i not centered? are there too many things in waiting for my attention? how much of the global downer vibe is contributing? how to get back to myself, take care of business and own this life of mine. until the keys come out of hiding, i'm going to keep on pushing...

back in the game

wow. i just don't know how the rockstar bloggers do it. especially those who are keeping up with so much technology, trends and the lot. touting myself as a strategist, the biz cards do say words and strategy-- perhaps keeping my mouth shut is a bit of advice here but well...here goes nothing.

keeping busy not getting much done. consistently allowing my brain to pulled thread bare and drift off to wherever my hear takes me. then using all of might like a child straining to pick up an adult, to wrangle it all in-- i know all of the answers- that is to the things that plague me- but i consistently allow myself to be scared by the bogey man! as if admitting that there is no Cupid will ruin the rest of the days i have on earth. what's this all about? Alfie?

if only i could remember that there are perfectly good reasons, explanations for inconsistencies and that i need not blow on everybody else's food all the time. rather take care of my own plate and enjoy the moments i share with everyone else at my table. yes ma'am, that's me- always all ways way too thin. not just spread but sprinkled. like glitter- seemingly impossible to gather up all of the pieces. when it is so spread out you can't see or appreciate and marvel at the shine. not to mention it's a giveaway and folks don't find value in something that is free.

so here i am trying desperately to get my shit together in so many ways. to bring it all home, take care of me and mine first : by eating well- walking my talk. i have managed to motivate and inspire those closest to me to not only look at themselves but to effect change- here i sit getting over another cold and not sitting on the yoga bum that i want. to be creative- i keep talking about being a writer of so many things but how much do i really dedicate to it? i am simply not applying enough bum glue (it really is about getting my ass in gear isn't it?) instead of taking care of my own task sheets i flit around like Tinkerbell making sure that everybody i care about has a huge smile becasuse of me- not to impress them so much but because it makes me feel good- why not make myself feel good too? or rather first-- this includes re-programming myself and learning from updated / new training media-- but hey, what doesn't? i predict another duh- it feels good, and even better i can shoot my pixie dust gun without any remorse or repressing those things that go undone, pile up and cost me extra time, money and braindings in the end.

for me it's always been incorporating exercise, striking an effective financial plan and being creative on a regular basis. something about these- engaging with myself on a meaningful level in these areas-- is terrifying. i give it all away so there isn't much left to address these- not even minimum daily requirements-- no wonder i am sick so much. here it comes, i can't even duck to avoid it- it's another big fat DUH.

long story short- i don't take care of myself or my shit and i pay for it and don't feel centered, grounded or as strong as i need to let alone want to. i have all of the tools- they are just scattered around, hidden behind so many things that need to get caught up, taken care of and maintained. organization would help too, a real luxury considering some of the 'controlled chaos' that i am operating under now and for a while.

i do take heart in the fact that i am not alone, aspects of this are symptomatic of our culture and i am a single mom living some real big dreams. well, too bad. it must be done and there ain't no stoppin' us now- we're on the move!
signing off- I win and will be back soon.

resolve

Midnight has struck- the first day of the year hs expired, passed into the yesterday file. Rather than post 'resolutions' i am promising to approach each day with the requisite resolve to make dreams realities and raise my daughter to be a full human being and a being full of humanity.

throughout time i have kept journals. i have shelves of them. to paraphrase RILKE, i am a writer because i would die were i not to do it. i have always found solace in words, a place where explanations for the consistently denied reality i existed in would at least offer up an alterior option, if not an escape.

the backstory includes something to the effect of i have always had 3 areas i just couldn't seem to really embrace and evolve and progress: fiscal health, physical health and consistent creativity. so this year i feel like i am in a place where it's really finally up to me. it's up to me to tackle my big 3- only maybe the answer lies in the fact there are really 4... i keep leaving out my spirit. and this to say that i am not in such shambles, i just want to grow a bigger better brain and life so i need to put the house in order so that i might accomodate my vision's spurt into reality...

it helps or is likely related to feeling like i have a real partner in crime- somebody who also speaks "YAY" as a first language. somebody who knows that there is work to be done... this somebody floats up in the clouds with me and then holds my hand and gently reminds me that if we are going to live the dream, there is work to be done.. that he is here to be with to do the work with and if we play our cards right it won't be work anymore at all, but all the dreams will fill up the time we are awake.

in light of this, it's like i was told today, all of the things i was afraid of just don't make sense anymore. the key is me getting or at this point staying out of my own way. deciding to change my mind and shift from who i have been to who i want to be. i am connecting with someone who believes in me and for whatever reason i am ready to accept it. at least i am trying to be.

maybe that's another problem- i need to quit trying and just move through the line to just get on and live it. this is the 4th component- if the finances are funding the project, the health and fitness are the production component- the creativity is the writing and well, my spirit (not my brain- the piece that is totally overworked and almost haggard or well, tired?) is the director that i just don't pay enough attention to- i let it have it's process in order to be able to give a full and activated contribution.

meanwhile this year is dedicated to changin my mind about who i am. it's about catching up to experiencing me the way that the people who love me most do-- in the best way. it's about loving living as my favorite self- for the enjoyment of all involved. the Sally Field YOU REALLY LIKE ME thing was cute for a minute but now it's time to be there. here. get from nowhere to now here... nice to be here with you. you know who you are...

A Real Man Will Warm You Through the Harshest Winter

Funny how things look one way in the moment and are not as close as they appear from the rear view mirror. I say this with a fever that continues to rise like the boat in Willy Wonka-



Round the world and home again
That's the sailor's way
Faster faster, faster faster
There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There's no knowing where we're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing
Is it raining, is it snowing
Is a hurricane a-blowing
Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of Hell a-glowing
Is the grisly reaper mowing
Yes, the danger must be growing
For the rowers keep on rowing
And they're certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing



alas I digress... but really- how hard is it to get hot in the middle of a heatwave? frankly non-potable water will seem to quench your thirst coming out of a desert draught like the one i experienced after having my darling daughter. To the contrary, thawing the frozen walls of a heart tenderized by years of stone cold neglect- that is the sign of a real man arriving on the scene.

This notion of a Real Man, an adult male, versus say Peter Pan or the perpetual boy, has been a big theme not only for me as a single mom / serial monogomist but for my girlfriends too. Staring down the barrel of 40 years old (please note, I am EXCITED to be 40...wouldn't do or change anything about 20's or early 30's again!) you wonder if you being single is a terminal condition.

By now you would think that a MAN would not be something new. You would think that I could count at least ONE man among my exes whose ages range from 22 to 50...BUT NOOOOOOO... not a man among them, and this i know because yes friends and neighbors, i have recently identified and even connected with the GENUINE ARTICLE. A tremendous blend of who, what, where, why, when and how he is provides all the evidence. He is brave (emotionally, socially, physically...), aware of himself in the world, responsible, thoughtful, conscientious, professional, ambitious, creative, emotionally available, willing to look at himself and be open to myriad possibilities for life and living. He is NOT totally self-absorbed, unable or unwilling to walk and chew gum; he is not afraid to interact on a variety of levels, think about other people, be a source of support as well as an open, honest friend with a GIANT capacity to accept you/me for who/how you /I am as a mother, professional, friend, woman on and on and on past the break of dawn with consistent regularity. This is like breathing fresh, clear mountain air for the first time. it's crazy i tell you!

This iteration is a logisitical nightmare if you require conventional arrangements. For me it is not only be careful what you ask for- the specifics anyway- but a great method of relationship titration- or avoiding a long standing pattern of jumping in the deep end and holding my breath for as long as possible before i figure out i am forced to admit i don't want to swim or something like that. There are distance, timing and obligations issues. That said, the chemistry is INCREDIBLE and i feel like i am acting and interacting with a grown up for the first time ever. If this is the only way i can make myself move forward one day at a time, well the universe knows best.

Who knows where this will lead. Despite my checkered past i find myself trusting and living the questions, making room for the answers to reveal themselves. Like a puppy who has grown to be a shy and scary middle aged rough around the edges dog I am being coaxed out of the corner where i have been secretly trembling and snapping at passerby in order to defend myself against being hurt again. Maybe i'm a fool, but if all i get is the sensation of now, i will take it. the only way to win is if you play and there is nothing wrong with building positive evidence and taking a chance by being loved, right?