Wiggle Room

At times I find myself browsing through online,

Readily seeing what I would have, should more money be mine.

Even though I forget that the whole wide world is Thine.

 

You give me more than enough to face my longest days

Or gently take my hand in yours when I don’t know Your ways.

Until I walk beside You in peace and nevermore will I strays.

 

Just keep in mind as the days go by that there’s more to life to see

Even though there’s more I want, I have all that I need.

Life is not about gaining all and letting more go to seed.

Life is about who you surround yourself not only in times of need.

Yet there is more that I would say because this is not quite all I see.

 

I didn’t used to understand why jealous was shortened to ‘jelly’ other than it took less articulation to say. Now that I’ve had time to think about it, jelly wiggles all over the place even when it hasn’t been broken up and stirred whenever there’s a big movement (or not so big movement.) When we see something we want that someone else has, we wiggle around in discomfort (even if only in our minds) because we want it too.

When jealous, we are just like jelly except the emotion isn’t quite as good when we swallow it as the food is.

This little poem and thought was inspired by the quote from this week’s Light and Shade Challenge.

Jealousy is all the fun you think they had.

–Erica Jong

Balance

Take a moment and think

When was the last time you just let go?

Didn’t run

Didn’t push

Didn’t worry, worry, worry

Just ran about

Laughed out loud

Swung your arms like a child?

There are times when you need to be serious

Keep control of your thoughts and emotions

There are times when you need the opposite

Speak what’s on your mind

Let your heart run wild

Both sides need their turn and time.

There’s no point in being grown up if you can’t be childish sometimes.

–Dr. Who

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Written for this last Friday’s Light and Shade Challenge.

Take the Path

To choose to walk a path is more than you think.

Always there is a choice, even if there is only path.

Keep to the trail? Or choose to wander away?

Eventually there will be a fork.

 

The fork may be at the beginning or the middle,

How will you decide to choose?

Even forward or backward is a fork in the road.

 

Please remember that choosing to stay in one place

Also is a choice that you must make.

There is more to life than just the road you walk.

How far along is not the important.

 

It is which direction you are facing.

image: freeimages.co.uk

This was inspired by the Monday prompt from Light and Shade Challenge.

Just Breathe

Take a moment to stop and breathe.

Did it work?

Were you able to take a full moment where nothing was happening within you save for the breath entering and leaving through your body and mind?

I didn’t think so.

It is a tall order to try, much less succeed. It is possible, there are countless people throughout time and all over the world who have been able to accomplish it. But is it something that everyone can accomplish the same exact way?

I think not.

Breathing, meditating, taking a moment to really calm down and let yourself just flow within your own mind, is something that is done differently and means something different to each and every person. The countless combinations that are the human mind and soul make it so. There are those that have similar enough personalities and wants and needs and desires that have to accomplish this differently enough and then there are those who couldn’t be more different who find the same comfort and balance from the same exercise or practice.

For myself, I think that the moment where I can ‘go with the flow’ of my own mind, my own heart, is when I am most content with who I am. When I have accepted my life and have decided to work with it and through it rather than needing to ignore something within it. When I am with my family, whether it is all of them or just one or any combination of the above that I am most at peace.

Listening to my eldest nephews play in the backyard, carefree and innocent with the world. Knowing that each has already been touched by something that I would never wish to happen to even my greatest enemy and yet knowing that they are still there, trying to live their lives and find their own joy, even if it is only for the moment.

Watching my eldest niece curl up with a good book, cat in her lap purring in contentment as she slowly turns page after page of whatever had caught her fancy. Or even leaning back against the dying tree in our backyard with a notebook and pencil in hand, drawing out the pictures and scenes in her mind using the knowledge she has gained from the various classes and practices as well as incorporating and using her own style of drawing.

Attending the birthday party of the current youngest of my extended family and watching him enjoy ripping into the wrapping paper of the presents around him while the other children lean forward in anticipation of what their newly turned two-year-old cousin has received. The big smile on his face as I hold him up to blow out the candles of the basketball-shaped gingerbread cake his mother has made from scratch.

Having to run outside to stop the younger nieces and nephews from digging up the stakes holding the fence on the hill in place and pulling on the hibernating branches of the blueberry bush. Finding out that a small amount of hand-sanitizer can make more mud than you’d think possible even on a dry and clear day.

Watching as my mother gathers her granddaughters around for various sewing projects and lessons as each of them and any friends they have brought soak up the attention and the joy on their faces as they present their mothers with the first sampling of their labors. The pride on their faces when they see their mothers using the gifts every day.

There are too many moments where I find myself at peace with my life, being able to ‘move with the flow’ of my own spirit to write down, but knowing that they are there, waiting inside of me to be brought forth, helps to soothe me during times of grief and moments where what little control I have is lost for uncountable minutes.

Taking a moment to just breathe and be.

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Written for this week’s DungeonPrompts: http://theseekersdungeon.com/2014/05/01/dungeon-prompts-season-2-week-17-writing-in-the-flow/

Their Lives For Mine

My family has a long history of people in the armed forces. My sister, my uncles, my cousins, my father, my grandfathers, my great-grandfathers.

My paternal grandfather once crossed a river twice in one night into and out of enemy territory by himself in order to rescue his unit. He was the youngest officer and one of the younger soldiers in that unit. They got everyone out.

My father flew in Vietnam and provided air support. He still doesn’t like to talk about it.

My mother’s brother is a former marine and at least two of my father’s brothers have served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

My sister was stationed in Germany with her husband and two children. After she left the army and had her third child, she was in the National Guard and went to drill every first weekend of the month. Her children were still learning how to walk unaided.

I read the news as often as I can and I know that many have suffered greatly not only in recent wars and attacks and bombings, but in natural disasters as well. Armed forces are sent to aid people caught up in this as well. They don’t just fight for us to be free, they rescue those that are in need of help against the forces of our very planet.

These people are not faceless and they continue to change our lives with everything they have.

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Written a little over a week late for FreeWriteFriday.

http://kellieelmore.com/2013/11/01/fwf-free-write-friday-life-changers-with-guest-host-kelley-rose/

Bridal Shower

Well, we’re in countdown people. The wedding will take place in exactly nine days.

That’s less than one and a half weeks.

She’s going to be married to someone she used to chase around with a stick, but he chased right back once he found a bigger stick. They’d go back and forth like that for a while.

Her best friend since 2nd grade threw the bridal shower. It was Halloween themed and was probably the coolest bridal shower I’ve ever attended. Keep in mind that the last bridal shower I attended I was something like 14 years old and still thought that they were boring. I think the best part of the shower was seeing how happy my sister was.

Life hasn’t always been kind to her, but I think it finally took a good long hard look at her and decided that she deserved better as long as she was willing to take the chance on him. It’s pretty much the same for him. They both took a risk on one another and I don’t think I’ve ever seen them happier.

I think that old saying is right.

You should marry someone who you love, but also someone who can become your best friend.