Richmond, VA

Merry Meet Friends!
Michelle here, bringing lots of love and light!

"...your life is not a puzzle to be solved but rather a journey to be lived.  You can rise above your mundane concerns and greet the profound with awe and admiration.  You can rest in the benevolence of the great unknown.  There are no mistakes, only lessons; whatever road you choose will eventually lead you home."
~Victor La Cerva, Worldwords


Funny How Time Slips Away...
Willie Nelson

"Well, hello there
My it's been a long, long time
How am I doin'?
Oh, I guess that I'm doin' fine
It's been so long now but it seems now
That it was only yesterday
Gee, ain't it funny how time slips away"

These are the words I heard when I knew I was going to start my blog posts again.  I didn't realize my last post was August.  Life has a way of getting in the way of your life sometimes.  Between working and moving, I've felt too tired to think about writing; but writing is a love of mine and I intend to do what I love.  So let's see, what has been happening?

Well, for starters, I fell again...this time on the treadmill.  I was jogging and I placed my hands at the top to steady myself and the next thing I knew, the speed was on 10.  It didn't occur to me to jump off.  It did occur to me to hit the stop button but I didn't want to lose the time and calorie count, sooo I just tried to lower the speed.  I forgot to mention that I didn't have lights on which meant I couldn't see.  As I'm jogging "faster than a speeding bullet", my hands slipped and I fell to one knee.  Then somehow, I was flat on my stomach with my feet extended past the edge.  I had a horrible bruise on my thigh and I tore the skin from the front of my ankle. It took several weeks for the sore to heal and I have a scar to remind me to: jog in light. not to place my hands at the top, and to not be concerned about losing time.  We can start over; lesson learned.

A few weeks ago I was going to the grocery store traveling down Leigh Street.  I had to pass an elementary school and school was being dismissed.  The school bus had the stop sign out to load the children.  There were two cars in front of me.  At first I had the usual reaction we humans have when a wrench is thrown in our plans but there was nothing I could do but wait.  While waiting the car in front of me backed up and made a left turn.  Before he was fully in the turn, the bus pulled off.  Had he waited he would have been down Leigh Street sooner than his turn around.  That incident caused me to think about life.  I thought about the way people give up right before the breakthrough.  No, we don't know when it's going to happen, but patience and perseverance wins.  We give up before we see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We stop our blessings.

Sometimes on this inward journey I get discouraged.  I'm not sure where I'm being led or I know the end result but I don't know how to get there.  I question myself and the decisions that I make or don't make.  I am on a quest for myself and I have been for some time.  I feel as if I don't know anything.  But according to the quote above, that's okay.  ...there are no mistakes, only lessons.  I will get there.  I just don't want to miss what's in front of me.  Sometimes we aren't aware that there is a lesson.  We are blind.  Lord, help me to see, really see!  

The Southeast Wise Woman Fall Conference was in October.  I attended last year as one of the workers.  I was doing the same thing this year but with an added bonus.  I was asked to do a workshop and was identified on the brochure as one of the teachers. I was excited and nervous at the same time.  My topic was: Embracing Our Natural Beauty.  This is a subject that's dear to me. The conference took place on the same weekend as that terrible storm.  I was nervous about driving in the mountains and I kept going back and forth as to whether or not to attend.  When a state of emergency was declared in NC, I chose not to attend.  I really do wish that I had braved the weather and gone anyway.  It was wet, muddy, damp and cold but those who were there, felt the energy that I experienced last year.  

Speaking at the conference would have jump started, what I believe is my purpose: empowering women.  I feel this was a missed opportunity but there's nothing stopping me from doing a workshop here in Richmond.  "Bloom where you're planted".  As I empower myself, I am able to use what I have learned and experienced to aid others.  Kifu Faruq, whom I met at the conference last year, is the woman who asked me to speak this year.  When I asked her why, she said it was because she heard my passion in May when we were together in NC and she also heard me say how I stop myself from going forward.  Once I committed, she felt I couldn't/wouldn't back out.  If not for the weather, I would not have; at least that's what I tell myself.

As I approach the Winter Solstice and my 65th birthday, my desire is to "be all that I can be".  If not now, when?  I wish to be the expression of God/Goddess/All That Is that I was created to be. Hopefully, this is the year that I will.

Until next Sunday,
Merry part and merry meet again, 
Blessed be,
Gypsi Mama Michelle