Category: Wisdom

The Present

A constant companion and benevolent provider, the Angel of Death walked side by side with the Toltec warrior.

The warrior knew the day would come when the Angel of Death would take back what was rightfully His. The warrior knew that everything in his life, even life itself, belonged to the Angel, and was being offered to him in temporary loan. The Angel provided all he needed, so in this sense the Angel of Death was also the Angel of Life. The Angel had provided parents, and then taken them back. The warrior was grateful for the gifts of his parents. Food, clothing, shelter, teachers, friends and relatives had been provided, and the warrior was grateful. They also had been taken back by the Angel of Death. That was the normal way of the world. The warrior knew he did not own possessions; they belonged to the Angel of Death.

The warrior was also aware of the parasite living inside him. The parasite wanted to own the Angel’s possessions, to consume them, and to consume the warrior himself. The warrior was aware of the life long battle with the parasite.

So the warrior walked on, grateful for what he was given that day, grateful for his constant companion and provider, grateful for another sunrise and sunset, even as he knew they had already been taken back by the Angel of Life and Death.

Yesterday’s history.

Tomorrow’s a mystery.

Unwrap each day like the present that it is.

The Trail Not Taken

This post was inspired by my friend Dawn, who artfully matches her beautiful photos with her touching poetry. I thought I’d give it a try.

The Trail Not Taken

Two trails diverged in a yellow wood,

and being unable to take them both

and have one butt, long I stood

considering my rear for as long as I could

until I felt bad for its overgrowth.

…

Two trails diverged in a yellow wood.

And me, I chose the one cut wider-ly.

My butt made all the difference.

🙂

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Apologies:

Dear Mr. Frost,

Sorry about that. But don’t spaz out. I’m pretty sure your poem was better. Please, do not turn over in your grave! Thank you very much.

Ferd


Diane Birch and The Gift

diane-birch-cd

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves

This song, “Mirror Mirror” by new artist Diane Birch strongly reminds me of something. When I was 42 years old I received a gift. A really great one. The Universe must have decided I was ready to receive the gift of Introspection. It had prepared me properly for it by giving me free rein to use my thoughts, words and actions to thoroughly mess up my life, over and over again! So at age 42 I did my first 4th step.

I remember taking it very seriously. I was actually looking forward to it, as opposed to the many people I know who dread it. I sat down with pen, journal, and the time to do it justice. It became one of those experiences that are forever etched in memory. I started writing down my first character flaw, then the second. I started writing faster because I had a long list of “issues” in my head and didn’t want to forget them as I was writing them down. When I got to about twenty, and actually saw the mess that was me, the tears started to flow. I got to thirty… then forty… I stopped somewhere around 50. By then, the tears were mixed with smiles and outright laughter. You see, the tears were only a little about the pain. They were mainly tears of joy! In those moments, I saw the problem, and the solution! I saw that I alone was responsible for the mess I was in, and not everyone else. I truly realized what an imperfect person I really am, jumped off my pedestal for good, and joined the human race.

I have a mountain of flaws and defects. I am a “project.” I’m okay with that. I don’t mind working long and hard at difficult projects, especially when they are me! What I’m grateful for is the awareness of exactly what the problems are. When I know the problems, the solutions are close behind. The gift of 4th step introspection gave that to me. The key. And I value it because I know that not everyone gets to have this gift. For whatever reason, many people are unable to really look inside.

So, thank you Diane, for this nice reminder. And thank you for your lovely youthful spirit that shines brightly in “Bible Belt.”

Boyfriend School – The correct way to answer the question, “Does this make my butt look big?”

butt This is the second lesson in the Boyfriend School series. Husbands, of course, are welcome. Women, you already know this information, so you can skip this post.

This subject is not that difficult, but I see young men mess it up time after time. The question, “Does this make my butt look big?” has become a cliché. A popular book is entiltled, “Does this clutter make my butt look big?”  A famous humor blog writer, who happens to be my friend Kathy at The Junk Dawer, just wrote a post entitled, “Does This Car Make Me Look Fat?” But at its core, this subject is no laughing matter. When a guy is presented with this question by the object, I mean woman, of his desire, he better get the answer right, or he’ll have to quench his desire with a cold shower!

After years of careful observation, I have learned that the correct way to answer this question politely is based entirely on ethnicity. And I know I must be correct because this is very simple, and simple is usually right.

If your woman is either black or hispanic, and she asks, “Does this make my butt look big?”, the polite response is, “Yeah, baby! Bring it to me!!”

If your lover is anything else, you should grace her with, “Big??? No way!!! You look curvalicious!!!” Of course, you must be perfectly sincere.

How difficult is that? It always pays to use good manners.

You’re welcome.

 

Thanks to Jen at Sprite’s Keeper for yet another excellent Spin Cycle prompt.