Category: One for the Journal

Gathering is an ideology I used to subscribe to so this new stay-in-place order seems like such a foreign concept. We have now begun the month of April which typically is the month Sister Golden Hair arrives with her brood and we begin our ‘flock together’ family time which goes on for the entire month. We cook meals and eat like the old-world Italians, gathering around a long table and feasting on the sumptuous food that comes out of the cucina. Times have changed dramatically as you all know. I do not have my family to warm me this April and the old-world Italians we emulate are deep in crisis too, many losing their battle to this deadly destructive virus.

I long for a rendezvous of any dimension, but for my own good and for the protection of the Professor’s good health, I will soothe that yearning with meals prepared for just the two of us. Party of two, if you please! And, I will continue the play of the continuous Scrabble game we’ve got going even though I am most always the loser (he is a Professor after all!) It’s the new rhythm – an uncharted cadence.

I believe in the certainty that we will get back to the pattern of living that was our normal. I believe that in these dim quiet days we will find a beautiful voice that speaks to each of us. Perhaps a ‘life blueprint’ of which we may have we had lost sight. Regardless, optimism is most certainly promised after the scourge of this disease has passed.

So, gather your families and dear friends in your heart instead of your tables. Remember, thoughts are prayers. Act on your thoughts – give love and receive love at this curious and strange time – that’s the best we can do.

And, remember – Only Count The Happy Hours!

There is a pall hanging around my house from the sports moratorium caused by the corona virus pandemic. The Professor is in mourning. His beloved Washington Nationals, the 2019 World Series Champions, are furloughed along with the rest of the world. These unconventional times have called for much rearranging; it’s the new world order.

Since the 2020 baseball season opener was to occur today, to help circumvent the misery, I surprised the Professor with a fun evening last night. After a fine meal of favorites and a living room game of watching Jeopardy, I pulled a rabbit out of my hat! I put on a DVD that recounted the games leading up to the Nationals victory win in Game 7 of last year’s World Series. (I am told the term Game 7 is the sweetest expression in sports).

The DVD, a gift from the one and only Son, was placed in the player and queued up. The Professor was snug in ‘his chair’ as the sights and sounds of baseball filled the room. It was like watching a kid in a candy store. Wide-eyed and smiling ear-to-ear, the Professor was transfixed.

The story began with clips of the 2019 season leading up to the Series. There were interviews with the veteran players as well as the rookies giving an interesting perspective on how the team got in the fight for the title! The story continued, starting with clips of Game 1 where the Nats won with a marginal lead over their opponent in Minute Maid Park, the homefield of the Houston Astros. In Game 2, the Nationals racked up another win with crushing score of 12 to 3. Wow, the excitement was building in the room and the Professor was in the groove. Game 3 took the team back to their home field, Nationals Park, where the Astros retaliated with a multi-run win which they then repeated in Game 4 and 5.

Game 6 was a do or die for both teams – for the Nationals it was the last chance to even up the series; for the Astros it could of meant taking the championship. I tell you, I was on the edge of my seat watching as the Nats took the field back down in Houston. The game was an exciting win for the Nationals, the victory evening up the series 3 to 3.

Through the Game 7 rap, I was beginning to understand what ‘sweetness’ of that term meant. As history shows, the Nats came out swinging to win Game 7 and take the series winning the coveted World Championship title. The air in the living room was electric.

I learned a lot about the game of baseball last night. I learned about determination and grit. In the Game 5 recap I discovered that even when you are down don’t ever count yourself out – pull it together and try for just one more. And, of course, the victory of Game 7 brilliantly demonstrated the ‘sweetness’ of a fight well-played and well-won.

Where last night’s review of the Professor’s beloved Washington Nationals 2019 season and series win certainly could not replace the energy and excitement of the postponed 2020 Season Opener, it came damn close!

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Stay home, stay safe, give love and receive love – we will all get through this together!

I am a forward thinking person, I keep my eye on the future and try never to dwell or revisit what is past. Simply put, reverse is not an option for me, yet given the news delivered each morning now a days, I want to backpedal as fast as I can.

During this crisis, I am learning; learning to find calm within myself, learning how to be more thoughtful and giving of my time, and realizing the need to be more empathetic to all instead of a selected few. I have always loved and treasured my solitude, I am drawn that way. Out of necessity, however, I am learning to trend outward rather than inward – for the betterment of my neighbor – for the betterment of humanity.

There is sweetness in finding and visiting with these attributes. I have spent many hours of each sequestered day in playing music, both in writing new songs, and in listening to inspiring songs during my quiet time. I have come to realize how much better the world is when music plays.

I am now longing for a future time when this plague is far behind us; a time when our energy will shift back into ‘doing’ rather than ‘asking’. I want to go back to my mindset of surging into what is in front of me, not what is behind. I long for the time when I never have to see that weird ‘pincushion’ looking pathogen every time I turn on the TV screen. I guess I am just a dreamer, but as Sister Golden Hair says, ‘desperate times call for desperate measures’.

Wise words if I ever heard ’em.

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The power of music is undeniable. I think it can change the world.

Graham Nash

As I slept last night I was delivered a dream of fancy. Because everything in my wide-awake world has slowed, my psyche has tempered to meet the rhythm. This dream carried me to a wonderful discovery…

“I was walking down a road that went on forever. There were fields of green on each side of the lane with workers tending to the crops. There was a distance between me and the workers in the field, yet I could see that they were happy. These workers, they smiled and waved but kept their distance.

My pace on the path was slow and deliberate, I surged forward and came upon a beautiful spring which fed the fields and made them fertile. I knelt at the water’s edge and asked for grace – the rays of sunshine fell down from the sky in ribbons of silvery light, and I knew God was listening. I collected all the grace that was delivered and stowed it in the hobo bag slung over my shoulder. There was a hole in the bottom of my satchel, and as I continued down the road, the grace I had collected sifted out and fell to the pavement as I walked. That was when I came upon a man dressed in a white suit. He addressed me as “babe” and in a low almost-inaudible voice he spoke the words, “…thank you for the grace you gave freely and unknowingly, I will pass it along.” And, then he walked away in the opposite direction.

I was tired from my trek thus far, so I rested on the side of the road under the shade of a mighty oak tree I found. As I day dreamed, the silence was lovely. No airplanes droning above, no vehicles racing the roads, no people chattering. I meditated and asked for wisdom in this unusual time. When I finished my mantra, I reached up to a low hanging branch and pulled myself up. As I rose, I felt immensely grateful and in that appreciative mindset, I knew it was time to say goodbye to the past; to let every hurt go and begin anew from that precise moment on.

The next stop on my journey was a lovely wishing well with lavish flowers at its base. I approached it and read the message written on a old and weathered board. It said, “Come drop your attitude down the shaft of this reservoir, you will not need it going forward.” And so, I striped off my ego and deposited it knowing my pilgrimage thus far was just made lighter. Here in a place where wishes reside, my heart heard the epistle. And, I felt enlightenment as I woke from the dream.”

We are in a new world now, we are all together, and we are all the same — every man, woman, son or daughter. We are conjoined in a new normal. Time to lay down any raised swords, or bring a halt to any precipitated silence between any one of us. Instead, the time is here to extend acceptance to the family and friends we love, and to the ones we haven’t loved as much as we could. (By the way, I did not say ‘should’ I said ‘could’ because should is a dangerous word.)

If you or any one you know is in dispute or struggling over anything — whether it big or small — now is the time. Let it go and encourage others to do the same. Let this new uncertain path that we are all on be graced with love instead of discord.

I wish you all peace and a dream of a new and better world.

I believe in angels, I believe in decency, I believe in the healing powers of love and I, too, believe in the destruction that comes from neglect. We are in a world crisis that has been unprecedented. No one seems to know what precisely to do.

From what I have been reading, most people are trying diligently to comply with the government recommendations. That is love in action. For to do so, is to desire to love and protect your family, but moreover, it is an action heeded to help humanity. We are all in this together. When I come across an accounting of a younger person helping a senior, or a child calling on his aging parents to check on them, or a teacher putting out an innovated idea in keeping the minds of our children engaged while being sequestered – I feel strongly uplifted by these accounts. After all, as I said, I believe in decency, and these are decent acts performed by people of virtue. I call on every one of you to look to do more — look to perform more acts of kindness during this uncertain time.

I have longed maintained that angels walk among us. I do, so, believe this to be true. I have met a few of angels in my lifetime and have listened intently to the messages I have received in prayer. I feel angels around me most all times, but most especially, in times where courage is needed. Whether that brave determination is needed in facing a crisis or just needed in dealing with loneliness and heartbreak, an angel will deliver what you require just by merely hearing you ask. They are always around you.

We have long swept worldwide catastrophes under the carpet; set them aside, and through political gridlock kicked the can down the road for the next generation to solve. We must, for the sake of humanity, take a stand now and ‘right’ our neglected responsibilities. Whether it be a world health calamity, such as we are in now while fighting the super bug Covid-19, or global warming and the monster destruction that comes from the super storms – we can no longer ignore the responsibilities of our generation. We must band together to be credible decent people who act in the betterment of humanity. Every action, no matter how small, is a step to healing this broken world. We all must become much more selfless.

If it takes a crisis to bringing about change — let that change start in every single one of us, and in that, we will change and heal the world.

Starting from scratch? Starting from nothing? Starting again? There is no ‘end’ meaning to those words, just new beginnings.

Have you ever just known it was time to start something new? To trust in the magic of beginning with a new script? Perhaps, in beginning again you have to experience a difficult ending, and in that thought, you hold yourself back. Maya Angelou said it best, “Stepping onto a brand new path may be difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation which is not nurturing to your whole being.”

Every single morning you can make a choice; choosing to be a beginner helps you let go of what doesn’t work and creates room for you to embrace and engage in a more passionate inspiring manner.

None of us know what the future holds, so warmly receive each moment for those moments are the only ones we know we will have for sure.

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“Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, any one can start from now and make a brand new ending.”

Carl Bard

This poem is an excerpt from a new book I am working on. I hope you enjoy it.

Today is a Day set aside to celebrate Women on an International scale,

I think of the strides we, as a gender, have conquered.

Once we were given the power to decide what to do with our own money,

Once we gained a genuine equality in wages, in stature, in a voice,

Once we reached the apex and held onto the pinnacle,

We vested our fortitude in a world becoming less hostile.

We, the authentic gender, have birthed the next generation,

And suckled their minds with encouragement and graces.

We have opened the doors and let them soar; trailblazing a path to tomorrow.

We have changed the ‘changing’ world, by nurturing the idea that fair play, fair treatment, and no favor can and will bring about true parity.

We were meant to walk in accord with each other,

To listen to the hearts of those silent souls,

And in exploring the silence of those humanities, flock together in victory.

• d.j. posner

My home was filled with the sweetest feelings this past week. We had the pleasure of an eight day visit with the newlyweds in our family, the Professor’s daughter and her beau. It was so refreshing to be immersed in an atmosphere of young love. I felt so lucky to experience the feeling of their being spellbound with each other.

When a soul is fortunate enough to witness love with no boundaries, it is in that experience that the greatest gifts are often bestowed. I watched, like voyeur, not meaning to intrude in any way but wanting to learn from the tenderness I was observing.

And, wherein there were many melodious moments, there was a favorite to which I beared eyewitness. I had been knee-deep in the office assisting the Professor with a complicated transaction when a text message buzzed on the phone in the other room. I quietly rounded the corner to retrieve the message only to witness the two young lovers tightly wound together on the sofa with the television on providing a low hum. Their bodies were so closely coiled that through that posture it was if they were one body, one soul. I audibly sighed at the sight and was instantly flooded with emotion. Caught up in the moment, I forgot the phone and returned back to the office and promptly planted an unexpected kiss on the Professor.

There was a lot of gratefulness in that one long and lingering kiss; gratitude for giving me a family to love as my own, gratefulness for the soft tender-hearted moment that filled my home with grace, and thankful to be alive, wanted and needed in my aging years.

Billy Joel said it best… ‘leave a tender moment alone.’ Yes, I think I will.

How is it that Pearl Bailey refuses to acknowledge the importance I place on her keeping clean? I mean, exactly 144 hours ago I picked up a spectacular looking dog with silky white hair and an aroma of lavender and lilies!

I guess I am just fascinated with the idea of her maintaining a gleaming pelt. That idea is not the reality I have been dealt unfortunately as Pearl Bailey clearly hold a different viewpoint. She is happy to perpetuate this unrelenting behavior at any cost which in turn is making me crazy.

When I think about what God did in 144 hours in delivering a perfect world in those six days, I guess I could muster up some more tolerance in myself in that same time frame. Frankly speaking though, I would prefer to change the behavior than acquiesce to it!

I guess my vision of a dainty femme fatale is just not meant to be. Pearl Bailey is an unreformable tom boy and that is just the way it is!

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“Better warm and dirty than cold and clean.”

Pearl Bailey, the dog not the Jazz singer

The strings of my heart sing when the temperatures outside get warmer. Spring comes earlier when you live on a Florida island. And, when they arrive my happiness factor increases exponentially!

There is magic in new beginnings; like a field of flowers and how it can brighten any mood. Or when a shoulder is warmed by the sunshine, it is certain to relax any taut or tired muscle.

I find a smile creeps onto my face whenever I place a spring flower in my hair. It ritualistic, sure, but it is more than that it symbolizes love, gratitude, and admiration for a season where fresh ideas and new joys are being born. It is a youthful symbol of vim and vigor.

So, when Spring arrives in your latitude this year remember…when the wind of change blows in let it carry you because in that wind’s movement that is where you will find your true direction.

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“A flower blossoms for its own joy.”

Oscar Wilde