. The Dessert Years .

They say its your birthday! Happy Birthday to ya’!

On this day in 1991, I was preparing to go to the hospital (after not sleeping most of the night before … and waddlin’ like a duck!). My beloved and ever-joyful son had been sending me “signals” of his arrival for about 36 hours. However, nothing could prepare me for the very first time I held him in my arms!

The night he was born was the most incredible experience I have ever had! Honestly, I do not even have words to express the joy I felt when I saw him and held him and watched the medical staff as they examined him and bathed him for the first time. I stayed up most of the night just holding him and taking photographs. Due to the late hour of his birth, everyone else decided sleep was more important. I could have cared less about sleep, as I had waited my entire life for this child!

Off to bake cake …

All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible. ~ Orison Swett Marden

Through. That process of facing fears, watching them subside — and celebrating their loss of power to control (or even effect) our behavior and our decisions. More …

Energy and persistence conquer all things. ~Benjamin Franklin

It is Autumn — also known as the sweet season of candy corn!

I was in labor on All Hallow’s Eve in 1991, so we have extra celebrations going on when it comes to this time of year. My son and I declare Autumn’s beginning when we purchase our first bag of candy corn! (Which was in August this year … And Brach’s candy corn is the only “corn” to pass our careful inspection during the last 16 years.)

Dear reader, I am sharing some cyber candy corn with you today and sincerely hope you are enjoying the moments and traditions of your life. What’s that? You need something to smile about? Well, then go to the store; purchase your own personal bag of candy corn and indulge yourself by eating each piece — one tiny section — at a time!

Happy Candy Corn!

Life always has something to smile about — regardless how the daily sheets read. It becomes a matter of living in the Now and taking baby steps (and crawling and/or holding in the fetal position when necessary). It is about holding on until the next wave of grace and inspiration arrives (even — and especially! — when you cannot remember the last one …)

One such recent wave for me was obtaining this photograph of pumpkins! I have always enjoyed the view from my camera lens … It allows me to focus on something tangible and inspiring, beautiful and living as I collect images from my days.

Framing moments and recording them via print and disc files nourishes my ability to maintain perspective. It protects me with the power of choice. Because I can choose to focus on the blessing of each day, even in the midst of the snares of the intangible and energy-draining, ugly and lifeless.

Which brings me to why I choose to post this particular image today. Autumn is my very favorite season for its color and bounty (such as pumpkins!); and it immediately precedes the celebration of life for my beloved son (who I tagged ‘pumpkin’ in his toddler days).

In my great state, the autumn equinox typically arrives to stay after dropping by a few days at a time — in between tenacious days clinging to 80-plus degree temperatures. (This year included some particularly tenacious days!) And this is much the same way my son made his entrance!

This October is especially celebrated for several very specific reasons. But namely, my life has “settled” (Luke 6:37-39); a simple way (and actually somewhat of an inadequate way) of stating that the outrageous turmoil and confusion which once seemed to consume me has burned away the chaff (Matthew 3:8;12) and now fuels a passion I have only dreamed of until this moment. And it is glorious!

Like Autumn in my great state, this season has “dropped by” a few days (and months) at a time before it arrived to stay. But I can tell you, for sure. It was so-o worth the wait and all the (insert slang word for dung) that preceded it!

Sometimes we only choose to see life close-up …

Other times, we allow Perspective to be our view of what we are experiencing.

Regardless of our viewpoints, we all carry around what we live through. We can modify our thinking — and even some of our actions — with intention and time.

However, in order to accomplish change we have to “see” something we want to change and put it into perspective. Said action is the result of self-reflection meeting with commitment and the knowledge of how to change. (Said action does not result from another person convincing us of the need to change.)

Our relationships actually reveal more about who we are, even more than they do about other people. And each outrageously joyful, excruciatingly painful and downright insulting situation presents the gifts of Opportunity and Blessing. These gifts usually require the additional “ingredient” of Work in order to be sweet — or at least something we elect to receive. Otherwise, the gifts of Opportunity and Blessing are merely rejected — or reduced to suffering and trial.

I am writing this from the heart of a woman — a daughter, a niece, a granddaughter, a wife and a mother and of a friend — who has danced with both Joy and Accomplishment, but also Unwanted-Change, Rejection and Suffering; I hope you will consider my words and receive them as a gift … And I hope you dance with Perspective as you accept what you cannot change about The Immediate … And what you can change about the Opportunities and Blessings of Tomorrow!

Life’s a dance you learn as you go
Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow
Don’t worry about what you don’t know
Life’s a dance you learn as you go
~John Michael Montgomery

Perhaps it is because there is a new teenage driver in my home, perhaps it is simple because I tend to think about life in terms of driving (and gardening!) … Who knows? For whatever reason, when I drive I seem to enjoy a heightened awareness of road and traffic signs. This one seem to direct me this morning as I drove home from an early morning errand.

And having offered driving directions to my home (which include, “The roads form a “T” and you will have to go north or south …”) countless times over my years of residence, this sign — representing these words — offered me the answer to a matter I have been mulling over. Actually, it could be applicable to several aspects of my life right now!

Mind working … Decisions being made … More later …

Photo Credit

These are words we should all have to “write 100 times” … like in school when we would be corrected by our teacher. The proverbial vibration of chalk on board, the repetition of the words being written, letter-by-letter; over and over, being read and imprinted upon the mind. This would serve to loosen the grip of fear upon the hinges of swinging doors of personal liberty.

We all say what we mean. However, we speak in a voice of encrypted methodology. We “mean what we say” because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). The mouth speaks but the the pragmatic mind is not always willing to release the body into action yet.

Many times we want desperately to act upon what we say: I am going to clean out my closet; I will rest more; I will lose 20 pounds; I will eat healthy foods and exercise will be a part of my daily routine; I will go back to college; I will change careers; I will be a better friend … etc., etc.

In these statements we are saying what we mean: I want to live a full and vibrant and uncluttered life; I want to be healthy; I love my friends. However, what happens between the saying and the meaning is the mind wrapping itself around what the heart is crying for … Gripping the very life from the words spoken with doubts and practicalities.

Liberty and living abundantly actually does begin in the mind. Our hopes, our dreams, our aspirations and deepest desires are overflowing from the rooms of our heart. But the fears and shoulda, woulda, coulda’s are holding the heart hostage.

However, when “the hostage” determines that being alive without dreams being pursued, fulfilled and enjoyed is even worse than death, she finds the key and she escapes — no matter how perilous, no matter what the costs and no matter what!

And … It is never too late!

To make our way, we must have firm resolve, persistence, tenacity. We must gear ourselves to work hard all the way. We can never let up. ~Ralph Bunche