Sprinkled with Sunshine - Even in Rain

The last few days have been just crazy.  

Universally from what I hear.  

My heart strings are being pulled in a thousand different directions trying to do what I can for my friends and my family that are in need of support.  

I have two different sets of friends who lost loved ones the same day.  Both really hard loses - not that any loss isn't hard because they all are.  I'm just witnessing it first hand.  I'm walking around trying to figure out how to best support them as they are both families that are so dear to us.   

It's also been a hard work week.  Almost every machine at work has had a problem of some form or another with 3 of them quitting all together.  And oh, the chaos that causes... I've been so distracted I haven't been able to give it a lot of attention, but I am aware that it's there and that it is my job to make sure it all gets fixed and paid for.

Then, this morning my dad was in an accident.  He's just fine, but his truck is not - he thinks it will probably be totaled, but they haven't heard one way or another.  It wasn't a bad accident, just a fender bender. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt and it wasn't his fault. His truck is replaceable.  He is not.

So, there's a lot on my mind today.

I was thinking to myself driving the kids to their destinations today..."come on... can I get a breath? Please?" 

My heart is just so heavy for the world.  Not just my dearest friends who are hurting and my family, but for all that is going on everywhere.  I've been spending a lot of time praying for all the people in the world who are struggling with whatever they are struggling with that it will somehow become easier for them.  In my heart, the world is a heavy place right now.

This is where I am at.

Once we reached the last stop before work, I had this moment of sunshine.  

I was dropping Kalib off at his friend Braxton and my friend, Tommy Ty's home.  Tommy is a mentor in the Wild Intelligence Program Kalib participated in. 

I had not planned on staying and talking with Tommy today.  I was running late for work and I had planned to run past the quilt shop on the way home to get the backing fabric for Yab Yum.  

Instead, I spent an hour talking with Tommy about things that inspire me and things that inspire him to BE who he is and WHY he has the dreams he does.  And WHAT we want out of our lives.  It was a wonderful hour well spent and I didn't have to work too late to catch up.

I needed a reminder of why we live the way we live.  And why we chose the things we chose to have value in our lives. Why when my friends are hurting I want to be there for them. I mean I could leave them on their own and turn away to get on with my life, but to see them suffering or to know they are so sad makes me sad because that is how I love.  Through the good and the bad.

If you were a fly on the wall you may think the conversation was the same old stuff everyone talks about.  Bills, Money, Gas, Weather, Travel, Sickness, Allergies... but for me it was this glimmer of hope that tells me that even though life is a struggle people are truly wonderful to know and love. I am lucky to know so many people that I love and because I love them I also hurt with them.  They would do the same for me because together we have built a community.  

A tribe. 

A family.

So tonight, as I write this I'm still hurting for my friends and they are constantly in my thoughts, I'm still praying for the world, but I am also fully aware of how lucky I am to be in such a community full of love.  A community that is changing us, those whom it touches, and the world.

LOVE.  

This is the greatest gift we have to give.

The Maypole

Whew!  Last week was a busy week and there was no extra time for writing.  We were in our preparations for our big party of the year.  Our Maypole party where we invite many many friends over to celebrate Spring by eating, drinking, playing music, joy, time around the fire, and dancing around the maypole. 

We started this tradition in 2004. I couldn't find the 2004 photos, but here is one from 2005.

Someone ask me on Saturday why we do the maypole.  And my response is that we celebrate with the Maypole to honor the seasons inside and out.  

Spring is my favorite season because we HAVE to pay attention to Earth waking up.  Winter months are hard.  We dive in emotionally - even if we aren't aware we are doing it.  We stay close to home in winter and the days are short and nights are long and time outside is minimal because it is cold and dark.  We spend a lot of time in our heads in the winter and we discover if only through accident what we need to focus on in the coming year in our lives.  

When Spring arrives in all her beauty we have to pay attention.  As Earth begins to warm and the green of fresh growth starts the days become longer and warmer and we begin to come out of our caves ready to shed that hard work of winter and celebrate new life and new wisdom gained.  

The maypole is my celebration of that.  

It's the celebration of the end of winter and the welcoming of all that is new and being born in the physical world as well as the mental and emotional worlds.  It is a time of new beginnings.  

The Maypole was celebrated for this reason for many years and then as traditions die away the maypole has lost its value in our society and we don't pay as close attention to what is happening outside and in.  We do the Maypole to help us stay focused and see clearly and to celebrate our friends, family, and our lives and to stay connected to the traditions those before us have honored.  

This year's maypole was full of excitement and fun.  We had nearly 80 bodies here between adults and children.  There was a lot of great food, yummy wine, beer, and joy.  The kids played hard in both the field out front and the woods in back.  You could hear their laughter coming from every direction.  

I was reminded how fortunate I am to live in such a lovely place and how perfect our little spot of woods are for us.  Our place is beautiful this time of year - all times of the year, but sometimes I need the extra reminder of what a great home we have and how inviting it is for our friends and family.  

We also did an egg hunt for the "littles." (That's what I call everyone under the age of 8.)  Our children are now officially big kids who wanted to hide eggs for everyone who wanted to hunt.  We did that up in the big field and it was great! 

We ate and were merry then we gathered around the maypole and tied the ribbons on and did the maypole dance.

There was music played on the front porch and a fire built in the back to gather around and sing and take a moment in our busy world to simply sit with friends in song and talk.

We could ask for no more than the perfect day we were given.  We are thankful for all of our friends, those who were here with us to celebrate as well as those we weren't able to come.  All year long we honor the Maypole and the joy it reminds us to have in our hearts for the blessing of an amazing and always growing community.  

As more pictures pour in this week, I will share more with you.  I know there are some great ones coming my way.

Happy Spring Everyone!

community

We live in amazing times. We know more than humans have ever known. We see more than humans have ever seen. We experience more than most humans have ever experienced. We love differently than humans in the past and I think we love more passionately. We have to carve out our own families in our communities and we are almost always seeking that perfect place where we fit into a tribe because many of us (not me) leave our families behind and have to create them around us. Thankfully, for us, we get the best of both worlds.

Yesterday, I was witness to one of the most powerful community gatherings I have ever been a part of. It was a deeply sad funeral rite to bless a dear father and husband who passed away on New Year's Eve and send him to the ethers with the love he so experienced while walking here in this life. I didn't know him well, though I wish now that I had. His wife is my sister in dance. Once a Shakti, always a Shakti. And she and I have walked together among many circles here in this small town. I feel honored to have been among the love she received from the community yesterday. The service was beautiful with poems and thoughts read by some of their closest friends, and music sung and played by some of their closest friends. It was a service that expressed the joy of having known Thomas and what he brought to this world. After the service was over and the people began to clear, many of the women came together and sang to Melissa and held her and stood witness for her as she cried. It was raw. It was gut wrenching. There was no one in the room without tears also in their eyes for the pain she was feeling and knowing that the future is uncertain and the fear that comes with that. I sat there as we sang words of love to her and I thought to myself, what a joy to know that in times of great sorrow this community/tribe jumps in without fear to lift and love and care for those we love and how grateful I am for being a part of that. My family extends far past my immediate family and I look forward to helping to lend a hand as my sister in dance needs it and I look forward to walking the red road with these people whom I have chosen as my tribe because I know through the good times and the bad, they will always be there to catch me, just like we are here to catch Melissa, when she needs it most. What a blessing to know love like that exists in my small town.

Christmas parading

We now have a yearly obligation to the Christmas parade. This year to India's great pleasure we managed to meet up with all her friends to watch the parade. It was cold, but the parade was fun. The girls heckled every float and had a great time entertaining themselves as well as the adults.

This is Gwenny - she's never been to a Christmas parade before. She was SUPER excited.

The girls


Some of the friend family...


I had an internal debate as to whether to put this one of J up or not, but he looks so funny... and thankfully, he doesn't embarrass all that easily and he was making the face on purpose AND he knew I was taking a picture... he knew I would put it up.


oh yes... our Christmas parade has storm troopers... that's right... us Athens folks are not only stupid football fans, but we embrace the nerdom also. I LOVE STAR WARS!!! This was the treat of the night for me. Wish I had have gotten my picture taken with one.


And a post about the parade without a few floats would be incomplete.




me and my little guy. (Ashley says I looked like a homeless person all wrapped up in my shawl, but I was warm... was she? No, she had to borrow Kalib's gloves - so there)


Kalib

India won a contest

Our library is so awesome! All summer long they had the teen program going - almost everyday. Tuesday they had bellydance (Hopefully, India will let me put up the video - she's not here for me to check in about it - if you see her tell her you want to see it), Wednesday and Thursday were art and music days. At the end of it all there was an art contest and show and a movie premier and bellydance performance. India put up three great photos. I'm so proud of her for seeing the project through all the way to frames and for entering them. I didn't really care if she won and I don't think she did either, but she did!

This is the photo that won! She calls it "Death From Above"


We entered it into the CU part of Mother Earth News. Maybe they will publish it as this months CU was looking for unusual farming photos and I think what is more unusual than a chicken storming a lego castle? Anyhow, we'll see about that.

Here are the other two photos she entered.




The night of the awards was fun! Our friend Sarah Cook's daughter brought home and award for best drawing and India won best Photograph. These pictures are from that night! YEAH FOR INDIA!!!!


(she looks weird cause she didn't want me to take a picture of her, but she ended up at least agreeing.)

silk veils

I haven't totally fallen off the face of the planet in posting to my blog. I just have been so busy with life and not taking many pictures and truthfully, wouldn't you rather see pictures than read what I have to say? We have been really busy. We spent the fourth of July weekend cleaning and purging the house and moving furniture around trying to make our home feel more comfortable and functional.

Anyhow, on to this post... yesterday, I invited the kids who are participating in the bellydance class that meets on Tuesday over to make silk veils for their upcoming performance. It was really fun and all the kids did such a great job and the mamas too!

Here are the teens running around the maypole


megan


hazel


stella


india


casey


beatrice


daisy


and of course the mama's made them too!!!

Sarah


Erin


jennifer


The whole crew!


What a fun day! And what a treat for me to get to offer this to the girls!

Broad River

Saturday was so much fun! We celebrated our friends Shannon and Jennifer's birthdays in STYLE! MAMA STYLE that is with a mix of Shannon Foley flare! She planted the seed of let's Kayak down the Broad and we all jumped on board, so we coordinated on the ever popular FB and made calls for baby sitters and who's riding with who and how can we best carpool to save on gas and made it happen. 10 of us were able to go to the broad without the kids! The menfolk stayed home since we were celebrating Shannon and Jennifer's birthday! It was a blast! Alexa did the math and with all of us there were 27 children! We showed up at the Broad River Outpost a little after 10 and were in the water by 11 and floating down the river! It takes about 4 hours to make it the full 6.5 miles. I love that my friends are so adventurous and fun! I can't wait to see what these ladies get us into next year! (Last year we had sushi and went to the country rock dancing!)I really found myself appreciating the wonderful women in my life as we floated and meandered down the river, both those who were there and those that were not. My life is filled with remarkable role models and inspiration in the ladies in my life. Thank you all!

AND a big big thanks to my sweet Hubby for watching Aaron so that Holly could go too! I know Kalib had fun with him, but I want to give him an extra special thank you from me.

Kalib wants to go for his birthday, so we are going to take him on his big 10th birthday in August. I can't wait to go again!