altared spaces

the hello in death’s goodbye

February 6, 2012
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I traced the metal rivets in the leather chair in which I sat. They were as evenly spaced as the hanging bags and monitors that were keeping my step-father comfortable as he journeyed toward death. The cold of the linoleum floor in the ICU crept through my socks each time I stood to apply chapstick [...]

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how do you (break the) measure up?

January 17, 2012
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I measure myself constantly. Do I measure up? Was the dinner I made tasty enough? Nutritious enough? Did I get enough exercise? Am I working hard enough to move my business forward? Cutting myself enough slack to remember that’s the formula to be kind to my family? There is always an invisible bar against which [...]

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get clean = get peaceful

January 10, 2012
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The simplest days are often my favorites. Sometimes I forget this. That’s why almond butter and rice cakes are my altared space today. I’m using January to clean out and let go. My friends Demi, Sarah and Debra are leading a community cleanse. Cleansing my body is about a whole lot more than food. As [...]

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3 ways to clean your way out of a bad mood plus bonus

January 6, 2012
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  I have the post holiday blues. I had so much fun decorating cookies and skiing with Santa that the return to work this Monday was a bit of a let down even if I do adore my job. I also had mouth surgery and I find the hole in my mouth leaves a deeper [...]

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“i don’t know” prayers

December 29, 2011
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Welcome guest poet Rosemerry Trommer! No Hurry To Find Out Joan asks me what happens after we die, and I don’t know, but I do know how to stand beside the river and see a shrine in every rock I find, which is how I spent the day yesterday. And I know that walking today [...]

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darkness and light

December 19, 2011
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Welcome guest author Lindsey of A Design So Vast! In the last few years I have grown more aware of, and more intimate with, the powerful relationship I have with both light and dark, but the truth is it’s a theme that has run through my whole life. There’s no better example of this than [...]

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what do you tell your kids about santa?

December 8, 2011
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I have never had the talk with my children about Santa. This is because I never wanted to let myself overhear that bit of news. I grew up in a home where I wasn’t allowed to believe. Jesus was the reason for the season and Santa was merely a distraction. But then we had huge [...]

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counting down to connect at christmas time

December 1, 2011
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I smelled my mother 3 years after she died while I was standing in the grocery store. Heaven’s Scent walked right past me while I was deciding between Cheerios and Kix. I abandoned the cereal and stalked followed that aroma for 3 aisles, inhaling all the while. I pretended to look at ketchup and coffee. When [...]

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altaring my mother and daughter

September 26, 2011
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            Today is my mother’s birthday. She died more than a dozen years ago. But I can clearly hear her gasp over this stone which looks to me like petrified wood. Isn’t that fascinating? In my imagination she is ever present.             My mother loved petrified wood. I don’t even know why, I just remember [...]

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hanging procrastination

September 21, 2011
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          This bag has been hanging here for 3 months easily. It is full of things that want to be given away. There’s a couple books that want to go to my kids’ school library, a print that I know will be appreciated by Hospice and a few other odds and ends. But the deal [...]

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diamonds, dirt and empty spaces

September 4, 2011
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           My husband and I were in the airport, listening to the boarding blather, “We’d like to welcome our gold guests to cross our red carpet.” We continued to stand where we were and snickered. Our turn to board the plane would come after the beautiful people.            “The diamond customers may now board the plane.” [...]

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