on the road again

"I remember driving home one weekend during college when our car broke down on the highway, while the friend I was driving with stood on the side of the road swearing and kicking the car, I picked wildflowers on the hill."

These photos and that one sentence have been in draft mode for a couple of weeks now.  I wanted to tell you about how life threw me a curve ball in the best kind of way, but when I sat down to write about it I couldn't find the words.  Writer's block derailed me and ironically had me feeling like I was stuck on the side of the road.  Even worse, I was so frustrated that I found myself swearing a lot and kicking my debilitated, metaphorical car.  How can you impart inner wisdom if it's the very thing that has you pinned to the ground?  You can't.  You just have to stop fighting and wait for the wildflowers to show up.  Duh.

So, I'm back on the road again, a little bit worn and a little bit wiser, but somehow that feels just right.  It's the very reason I love a good curve ball...and a bad curve ball, too.

“Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom. ”

- James Wright

a comfortable silence

I always forget how good this time of year can be for thinking.  How the cool breezes and the graceful drift of falling leaves can be hypnotic, wrapping you in a warm blanket of your own thoughts.  Shifting into neutral used to frustrate the hell out of me.  I didn't know how to be idle or find comfort in a comfortable silence, but I'm better at it now.  I've learned how to let silence take over without feeling the guilt that it needs to be anything more.

I can't say how I came to this conclusion, whether it was a survival technique or maturity or whatever, but finding peace with my thoughts was more of an aduh moment than an aha moment, like looking frantically for your cell phone while your talking on it.

Be here.  Be present.  Wherever you are, be there.  - Willie Nelson

My word to focus on this year was "here".  So, I just wanted to let you know...if I'm not here, I'm allowing myself to be "here" somewhere...wherever that is.

things that are awesome

Scarecrows with personality.

A stretch of autumn days that are sunny and warm. 

Hearing this song on the radio on the above mentioned kind of day.

Learning that Zach Braff has another movie in the works.  I'm so excited about this.  I loved Garden State...the movie and the soundtrack.  I often crave the scream scene.

Colorful zinnias still going strong.

This book and this book by Steven Pressfield.  They changed the way I think about and live my life.

This story by Robert Brault.  It helps me to appreciate the depth of our connection.

My son waving to me from the bus window two mornings in a row.  I've been waving and blowing kisses at the bus window for three years now to either just a look, a look past me, or no look at all.  It was a little surreal and it busted my heart wide open. 

What are some of the awesome thing going on in your life?