Desert Diva

On a cool day near Venice Beach on the advent of spring I discovered this woman near the back parking lot when I dashed in to get my morning coffee fix before attending a conference. The disenfranchised and poor will always be among us, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t react.

Sometimes, I wonder about my accumulation of “earthly goods.” I like “stuff.” I consider myself to be somewhat frugal, but in reality I know that I surround myself with creature comforts. What is appalling to me is the lengths that people go to acquire material goods.

Don’t get me wrong - I love a bargain. However, I’m not about to get up and stand in line at a store at 5:00 a.m. in a crowd to get one. Are people so blindsided by “stuff” that they ignore fellow humans and trample them to get “stuff?”

Just another reason why I loathe the holidays and wonder about the survival of the human race…

Happy Holidays?

It’s Thanksgiving in sunny Southern New Mexico.  It’s been a difficult year for me with the complications of my broken wrist in April, but I realize that life basically is good and there are many “little miracles” in my day-to-day life.

In order to reinforce that fact, I’ve decided to take a photo a day and express my “thanks” for “30 Days of Gratitude.”

Thanksgiving Day - November 27, 2008:  My twelve year old nephew J. who was diagnosed with lymphoma in September is getting better.  Although he’s having a problem tolerating the side effects of the chemotherapy, all the sites where he had the tumors have come back “clean.”  What a wonderful Thanksgiving gift…

is hosted by Fleur-de-Lisa

Do you ever talk to yourself out loud? What do you talk about?

• Usually in my car when I’m berating myself for doing something that I deem “stupid.”

What stresses you out?

• Life in general, but I think it’s part of the package…

What are your secret talents?

• I’m actually a good cook, but no one would know it since I’m the “microwave queen!”

I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own Being.

~ Hafiz

It seems that we’re rapidly coming upon the holiday season - or the “Season of Magic.” I was going to travel to Borrego Springs for Thanksgiving, but when I found that one of my buddies wasn’t going to be there and another was going to be there with her boyfriend it didn’t seem like driving was worth the effort. (It’s 640 miles one way.)

Every holiday I think I’m finally going to spend it with “the love of my life” and in reality that ends up being Cali. Regardless, I decided to stay home, cook my own dinner and see if my neighbors want to come over. If not, I still have a Butterball turkey breast thawing in my refrigerator and I’m cooking it on Thanksgiving.

The bright spot is that I’m joining two Ottmar Liebert “fanmencos” for his holiday concert in Rio Rancho on December 18th and then going to Santa Fe for a couple of days. Afterwards, I’m driving to Yuma to join the WIN’s for the holiday festivities.

It seems that the fabric of our lives are intertwined with moments of great joy and sorrow. However, I can’t imagine experiencing one and then being plummeted almost immediately into the other - especially involving children. One of employees in the SPED department was in Las Vegas over the past weekend. Her daughter was married on Saturday. On Sunday, her son in his early twenties who had a long battle with Muscular Dystrophy passed away. How do you even begin to process your emotions on that kind of virtual roller coaster? I remember K. from his high school years when I worked with him in Assistive Technology - specifically computer access. He was incredibly bright and talented, and an excellent student.

There was another student I worked with yesterday using speech recognition software who has a rare genetic condition. L. is now in high school and has gone from walking to a wheelchair, with reduced motor function in his arms as well as his legs. It was painful how polite he was, and his willingness to adapt to something new. More striking was his comment that he “hoped my wrist gets better” after seeing the support brace I was wearing. His condition will only degenerate…

As for K., I can only mourn for the loss of a brilliant individual and hope that he rests in peace. In the “here and now,” I thank L. for the unknown lesson he taught me yesterday in gratefulness and perseverance.