Counting Down

I just realized that it is T-7 days from our Lake Worth departure. La Le Lu will be heading down to Lake Worth without me this weekend to get to a better jump off point for our crossing. La Le Lu is packed to her gills. The long lists are largely crossed off - and the remaining items are screaming at me from the pages they are scrawled upon - capable of rousing me from sound sleep. It's not likely that I will have time to paint another mermaid before I go, so this one here I will declare as my crossing angel and protector. My mind is awash in emotions ranging from excited to anxious, and from confident to doubtful, but most of all, I am determined.

Happy Birthday to Me

I received the following in an email this morning, the day of my 47th birthday. You know what? It is true for you too! Each of us is a special ingredient in the soup of life. Embrace your own unique contribution!

A few years back, not so long ago, heaven and earth erupted into a major celebration with the news of your impending adventure into this very time and space. You see, someone like you doesn't come along all that often. In fact, there's never been a single one like you, nor is there ever ANY possibility that another will come again. You're an Angel among us. Someone, whose eyes see what no others will EVER see, whose ears hear what no others will EVER hear, and whose perspective and feelings will NEVER, ever be duplicated. Without YOU, the Universe, and ALL THAT IS, would be sadly less than it is.

Quite simply:

You're the kind of person,
Who's hard to forget,
A one-in-a-million
To the people you've met.
Your friends are as varied
As the places you go,
And they all want to tell you
In case you don't know:
That you make a big difference
In the lives that you touch,
By taking so little
And giving so much!

You are so AWESOME! For your birthday, friends and angels from every corner of the Universe, including buddies you didn't know you had, will be with you to wish you the HAPPIEST of days and an exciting new year in time and space. You won't be alone!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUSAN!

Illusions

The illusion, is that completion lies just a new toy, friend, job, or idea away.

The reality is that no one will ever be more complete than they already are.

Game On!

Today it is hot – wicked hot - been that way going on a week now. Strangely absent are the normal Florida afternoon thunderstorms. As I pondered this weather anomaly, I overheard someone utter those dreaded words “Have you heard about the disturbance?” No need to clue this girl in on the meaning of “disturbance” – this time of year it could only be said in reference to one thing: weather...bad weather.

So, now it begins - two weeks shy of my impending Gulf Stream crossing. I know, as well as any whether guru, that it’s anyone’s guess as to what the weather gods will send my way two weeks from now. Doesn’t matter – common sense is no longer my companion and I begin my transformation into the OCD weather girl. Every weather blog becomes akin to a biblical passage, and I find myself trying to read between the lines of every forecast...like a fortune teller pouring over tea leaves. Seems that there is an El Nino on the way in and a La Nina on the way out – or is it the other way around?

Whoever said that “there is nothing to fear except fear itself” has never had to rely solely on his chart plotter to navigate his way under the MacArthur Causeway in zero visibility while blowing into port on a tropical storm. In addition to fear itself, I was really fricken’ worried about running my boat into a very big metal structure. I tell myself, as I have prior to every crossing in the past, that I can’t control the weather, and that worrying about it will accomplish nothing. Good advice...futile, but it sounds real nice on paper. I have never listened to such sage advice in the past, so why would I now? I guess that can mean only one thing: Game On - weather roulette is now officially in play.

http://barometerbob.com/

http://aviationweather.gov/

http://www.wunderground.com/

http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/AM/650.html

http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/buoy/LKWF1.html

http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/buoy/SPGF1.html

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/

http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/

When Opportunity Knocks

My wise friend recently confessed, “The older I get, the more I realize I don’t know very much.” If you have done much living it should be no secret to you that the path to human growth is not a flat and straight road. It is a long, winding road - full of peaks and valleys, and often, just as you think you are about to reach the summit, down, down, down you slide – just like a child’s game of shoots and ladders. Oh sure you can choose to take the safe path, to ride the donkey to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, but in doing so you rob yourself of the “I did it moment.” You reap what you sow – those words are gospel.

Failure is such a powerful complexity of life. The reality is that an infallible human does not exist, yet just the mere possibility of failure can be paralyzing. I am much more impressed by someone who has failed then by someone who has never tried. The really hard part is to own your failures and learn from them. Resist the urge to punish yourself. It takes great strength and character to do so. As painful as it might feel today, I am convinced that every failure’s silver lining is the opportunity for growth - opportunities that should not be wasted.

Breathe In, Breathe Out

I confess, these days I find myself taking a lot of deep breaths,

and am plagued with frequent bouts of an inability to focus.

Normally Susan is such a self-reliant, independent girl,

why now do I catch myself checking and double checking every step?
Alternating between exhilaration and anxiety over my upcoming Bahamas trip,
while simultaneously trying to sidestep life’s landmines.
It feels like I am riding a roller coaster of emotions,
with a stomach full of both bees and butterflies.
The past tells me that by putting one foot in front of the other, I’ll stay the course,
that and a whole lot of deep breaths.

Go Me!

Insecurity is the greatest social piranha in the pool of human existence.

No matter what anyone else thinks, I am free to choose my own thoughts, manifest my own actions, and live happily ever after.

Only through my own self-doubt can that be taken from me.

Rock on! Go Me.

Beautiful Words

Tell me beautiful words;

whisper them into my ear like a guarded secret.

Touch me softly,

as if I were a cherished and fragile work of art.

Dance close to me,

so close that our bodies find a rhythm that is neither yours nor mine alone.

Kiss me passionately;

I want to taste you on my lips.

Look deeply into my blue eyes,

until you see through to my bare soul.

Eternity

A new moon has just emerged,

drifting through a sea of stars.

Bring your beauty, bring your glow,

illuminate this land of ours!

Guide the owl, as it flies above,

searching for its evening meal.

Comfort the dreamer as he rests below,

kiss him gently, your love's surreal.

Protect the dolphin, beneath the sea,

her dance a tribute to your allure.

Encase our world in your shielding bloom,

your whispers make us feel secure.

When you leave, our hearts sink low,

we wish you would not flee.

But in my mind it's all just fine,

because this night lives for eternity.

Written by Brandon Ochs (a chip off my block)

Considering the Alternatives

When a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it really make any sound?

If you are carrying all the feathers that you can possibly carry, could you carry just one more?

How do I know that you see the colors of the rainbow in the very same hue and tone that I do?

If you think it – no stronger than think - if you truly believe, does that make it so?

I am not the center of the universe, so why do I presume the world revolves around me?

Submit to the possibility of an alternative reality.

Perspective

Looking at life through a looking glass gives the impression that all objects in it are round. Expand your perspective - put down your looking glass so that you can find the corners.