All life is so bittersweet.  Funny how bittersweet the plant is one of my favorite.  When I lived in Chicago I would go climb trees in October to cut it.  It makes fantastic swags and wreaths.  People pay a fortune for it down here in hot Texas.  I got it free up in Illinois.  It’s poisonous though.  The berries are.  So like bittersweet.  You can look at it, but you can’t taste it.  But I think that the bittersweetness of real life you taste.  You can’t experience an experience without tasting an experience.  And then you get poisoned by it.  The bitter part.  Time happens.  More time.  Maybe even more time.  Then the sweet.  Sometimes the sweet is right along with the bitter but sometimes you don’t taste it for years.  But there is always some sweet in the bitter.  And the sweet is after the bitter.  It never comes first.  So the sweet lingers longer.  Savor the sweet.  Grow from the bitter.  Life is richer because it is filled with both.

I’m training for a triathlon.  It’s in a week and it’s my first one.  It’s a 1K swim, 23 mile bike and 4.4 run.  I am really excited and a little nervous.  Today I went swimming first and then  running.  It was like a mini practice triathlon by myself.  I think a lot when I exercise.  It cleans my brain out too.  It’s really great.  So today I was thinking about getting older.  It happened because I’ve noticed that there are a lot of really fit women in this town that are over 40.  And a lot of them race.  Then I was thinking about how we are created.  How when we are young our bodies are sharp.  This girl who must have been no more then 16 raced by me this morning on the trail with her extra fit boyfriend.  They must have been running a 6:00 minute/mile pace.  It got me thinking more about how much our young bodies are capable of.  That girl hadn’t endured the stress of years yet.  The babies.  The aging bones and slowing down of body.  I envied her.  Then I thought back to a woman I saw at the pool earlier after my swim.  Toned back and avid swimmer.  She was 40 at least.  And it all got me thinking.  As we age, we lose in body, but we gain in mind.  The women that are fast at the races are normally not the girls in their 20’s.  It’s the 30’s and 40’s who are fast.  And it’s not because of their bodies.  It is because of their minds.  They race fast because they believe they can.  They are older and wiser and have learned that they can hurt, and run and be in pain and keep on and finish strong.  (I’m not saying that girls in their 20’s aren’t fast, they are amazingly fast, and if they put their mind to it they can run faster because of a young body and strong mind)  But what I am saying is that anyone has an edge on life if their mind is strong.  If you believe you can, you can.  There is  only  so much we can do to keep our bodies strong.  (And I recommend doing whatever you can for as long as you can)   But just as important is the exercise of the mind.  Keep it sharp.  You are capable of doing so much more than you know.  If your mind believes it, you can do it.  Aging is a trade off.   As you age, you lose in body but you gain in mind.  Work hard to tone your body but be grateful for the years that you have been given, and remember that they are a gift to you from the Universe.

So the story goes, we all got in my truck and drove downtown.  We  literally parked 2 miles away from Auditorium Shores and walked to find “our spot.”   Me, Josiah, Anna, Noah, Autumn, Isaac, and Jedd.  We got all set up on our blanket(s). Snacks, cameras, snow-cones.  We were prepared.   I was having such a nice time.  Just being able to sit and listen and not worry about anything.  Relaxation.  Ahhhhhh……Time to think about how the year had flown by, about the memories of the passing year, and wondering how it had come and gone so quickly.   The fireworks began.  It was so beautiful and so fun.  How great it was…..until…  it happened. This voice from behind me… “Um mam.  Mam.  Mam!!!!   the lady behind me yelled.  I turned around and stared in horror as Jedd was literally on top of this lady, this complete stranger, his entire body in her chair on her lap, shaking uncontrollably.    I was so embarrassed!  Omgosh I said I am so sorry!  It took Me Autumn and Noah using all our strength and energy to hold Jedd down during the rest of the  fireworks display. I am not kidding.  It was hard.  He was like a crazy animal!  It was not my idea of a good time.  I wasn’t relaxed.  I wasn’t having fun.  And I didn’t get to count all the fun memories of the past year and think about how it had gone by so quickly.  So this year, as the fourth of July approaches, as we get ready to face the fireworks again, the symphony, the crowd, as we pack our blankets and snacks, as we remember to bring water,  let us remember to forget one thing.  The dog.

It’s a think outside the box day.  When you are stuck in a situation where you don’t know what to do, think differently.  Think of options that are not normal.  Be open-minded.  And of course call out to the Universe for answers.  There is always an answer out looming in the unknown.  Most of the time, we just don’t think about what it could be because we are too caught up in the regularness of what other people do.

There are so many ways of solving problems.  Sometimes you just need to sit and wait awhile until the right answer surfaces. The Universe has all the answers.  You just need to be open and ready when your answer comes.  Be strong.  Be courageous. You have more strength within you then you know.

What if you could go back to being a kid.  What would you do?  Who would you be?  Think about that for 5 minutes. Then think about yourself 30 years from now.  And think about yourself then, thinking about yourself now.   What would you do?  Who would you be?   When you are 70 or 80 looking back at yourself at 30 or 40, you see how the world is still before you.  Still waiting for you to make your imprint on it.  Open your eyes and see how young you still really are.   You still can achieve magnificent things!  There is time.  You have your whole life before you.  It takes the first half of our lives to figure out that we are the only ones responsible for ourselves.  It is us that must kick our own butts and do what at 80 we wished that we would have done at 40.  What are the magnificent things on your list?  Only you know.  Look deep  within your soul and you will find the things meant for you to be and do.  Sometimes it is hard, but be like Robin Hood.  Never give up.

I’m wondering if you ever saw the play “Our Town”.  I did, about 12 years ago.  But something happened yesterday that made me remember it.  A boy I know of 17 years old died of Leukemia.  Since my boy is 17, it is a reminder to me that life is precious.

“Our Town” is about a normal everyday town in the early 1900’s.  A town named Grover’s Corner.  There is a girl named Emily who falls in love with a boy named George.  The story goes that she marries him, but  she dies in childbirth.   The play shows the living and the dead and so Emily is still on stage as a spirit when she is dead.  She is granted one day to come back to earth and to relive it.  She picks her 12th birthday.

Immediately,  she sees things differently.  She sees the simplicity in life and how beautiful it is.  She rejoices in the small things, a smile, a touch, the outdoor breeze in her hair, the smell of a chocolate cake that her mother is baking for her birthday.  Emily is amazed at how the living people miss all of these things.  They do not see the simple things in life that make it great.  They don’t understand everything that they have and everything worth being thankful for.  The living don’t see how great their life is, until it’s too late.  They want so much more, yet they have everything they already need to be happy.

Today don’t miss the simplicity in your life.  Realize that today is a great day for anything.  For love, for writing a poem, for hugging your child, for playing ball with your dog, for learning a new piece on the piano, for listening to a friend, for raking leaves, or just for having a great thought or making a simple dinner.  Be grateful to be alive.  Be grateful for your loved ones.  Hug them. Remind them that they are fantastic.  Smile.  Live and love.  Look for butterflies and listen to birds.  Celebrate today in your own way.  Embrace the simplicity of today.

“There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart.”  -Celia Thaxter

O Yeah for the signs of Summer!!!  Anticipation for school to be out.  Birds singing.  A certain smell in the air of clean-ness and fresh-ness, crisp-ness, where you want to hang your clothes outside, and forget the dryer.   Planning for the beach and a family trip.  Preparing for the air-conditioning bills.  Doors and windows wide open.  This summer-anticipation is in the eyes of almost everyone you meet.    My dog even.  He can lay on the front door step while I leave the front door open and feel like he is inside and outside both at the same time.  Children counting down the days.  A remembrance that homework still has to be done, if just for bit longer.  Exercise increases, we have to get in to less clothes.  Guilt-free slushies and sno-cones.  It is the time every year that we long for.

I don’t know why I feel this way about summer, I just do.  I think it’s because it means rest.  Play.  Fun.  Trips to the beach.  Time with my children that won’t last forever.  Precious time.  Rest from the cold. I probably will never get out of my bones that I grew up in Minnesota, so summer is always welcome in my mind.  Summer.  It’s my middle name.

What does summer mean to you.  Think of it as a chunk of time.  Allow yourself some rest this summer.  Plan out what you will do.  Maybe you have a lot of work ahead of you, and summer just means more work, if so, then reward yourself at the end of the summer with something awesome.  But if summer is your off time, your play time, your kid time, then relish in that.  These days are not here long.   Love and laugh in summer.  Play in it.  Journal in it.  Plan now what you will do.  Paint this summer. Outside.  Ride your bike.  Walk to the grocery store.  Take pictures.  Play baseball and tennis with your kids.  Turn off the television. Sleep outside under the stars.  Welcome summer today.  Open your heart  to it.

“All the arts we practice are apprenticeship.  The big art is our life.”  -M. C. Richards

I was at the park yesterday running with my dog.  We stopped at the lakeside so he could jump in the water to cool off and get a drink.  A man in a kayak was paddling up to the shore and a kid about 22 or so was helping him get out of the kayak.  The kid asked the man if he had had a good ride, if he had paddled up west and looked at the hillside.  I think the kid was working for a kayak rental company or something.  Then it hit me.  The thought of a day.   I don’t know why it decided to hit me then, but it did.  I understood.  A day is a day is a day.  This man was out kayaking for “his day”.  He didn’t know what tomorrow would be, but he was enjoying the 80-degree-April-sunshine-not-a-cloud-in-the-sky-perfect day.  I wondered about the kid.  I wondered if he was enjoying his day, or was he rather just counting down the hours til he was off work, and could go hang out with his buddies.  How many times have I been there.  Passing through the day and not realizing what I was passing up.    I thought about my “day”.  I was “running with my dog”  that day.  I was “outside” that day.  I was “in the moment” that day.  I don’t know how I got it “that day”, but I did.

Today is a gift.  It will never return again.  Use it for something worthwhile in your life.  Don’t try to do everything today because everything can’t be done in “a day”.  But one thing can.  Do one thing well and great and magnificent.  Maybe it’s just a great working day.  Or maybe it’s a picnic day.  Maybe it’s a check out the new organic farm stand day, or maybe a make a homemade blueberry pie day.  But whatever it is, be happy about the “day”.  And what you choose to use your time doing during it.  Tomorrow is another day, to be used for something else.  Plan accordingly.  One day for work, one day for enjoyment.  One day for art or exercise or adventure. Be grateful for another day.  Be grateful for the moments you have in it.