I can't believe that it has been 4 months since I have posted. Seems like life got really busy....Father's Day is always a hard day for me, as my father and I are way too much alike for our own good. The hard part is that it is also my grandmothers birthday and it is always hard after a loved one passes on and leaves you to fulfill your dreams without them.
I have never known a world without my grandmother. Needless to say we are really close. Her death has definately been a journey of faith for me. She was always my sanity, my sanctuary, my friend, my mentor, my voice of reason and most of all she was my grandmother. She was the head of the family. I am getting closer to the chair of matriarch and I do not want it yet. I am not ready to become someone people look up to... I still make too many mistakes!
I bet that is what she thought when her mother died. I love her so much and I miss her terribly. It has been almost six years since her death. Life hasn't been the same without her. Somehow I manage to find away to keep waking up and find a reason to get out of bed simply because she always did. She like structure and self-discipline.
She taught me so many things. I discover something about myself everyday I try to attempt to live life as if it were my last moment (-something my great gradmother taught me-) and I begin to understand what she meant when she said I would understand in time. Not when I grew up, but when it was the right time I would understand and learn. My grandmother was a great advocate for women and education. She always told me that it was never a waste of time to learn new things. That an education may put me indebt financially but it could not be taken away. That my education was a way to independence and freedom.
She was a very cool person and I am honored to have known her for the blessed 24 years that we had the opportunity to become friends. A cherish moment I will always be blessed for living. Her mother, my great grandmother, thought two very different people were pretty amazing women. Strong, loving, kind, outspoken and passionate women.

When I was a child I used to have pen pals all over the world. I just realized that I haven't written to anyone in a very long time. True, I stay in contact with my friends via email and the phone, which have their benefits especially part of the current technological age we live in.
There is something about seeing a letter in a familiar hand addressed to you. There is a joy that wells in ones heart when you realize someone took the time out of their very busy lives to take a few moments to tell you about their life, share an experience, ask advice, reach out to you, tell you a funny story, share a photograph of a child, friend, boyfriend, something significant in their lives written in their handwriting and took the time to mail it.
It is true that email is quicker, faster, more convenient but somehow less personal it is easier to put it off, it is easier to do that important research, there is always another way to spend you time. Yet there is no personal touch. It is amazing how much of ones personality disappears without handwriting versus typed information. There seems a lack of personal touch in our sophisticated lives where we sacrifice little things with other things and somehow we lose a great deal more than we bargained for. A compromise without realization about what makes us happy.
I remember that when I was a child the excitement of finding out all the news when I received a letter from my pen pal Tonya in Alaska. I remember tearing open letters from my cousin while she was in college. I remember the joy it brought me to see someone took a moment of time to write something important about their lives to me.
I think the thing that saddens me is the fact that I have no idea where these precious individuals are now in their busy lives. It is a strange thing that happens when we grow up we forget the very important things. The magical things that make our lives happy and bright. It is a strange thing that happens when we grow up we lose a great deal of innocence. We lose the power to BELIEVE! Why would we give up such a precious gift. The power to believe in fairies, never land, unicorns, that someone could fly... I don't honestly think we would choose to give it up. I think it is those little compromises we make to become adults. But what does it really mean to be an adult? Did we buy into an illusion and give up our real power to create? Did we give up our divine right to be a part of creation?
As an artist I am always searching, asking questions, researching, questing, creating, solving problems, creating solutions... what is more magical than creating a solution out of complete chaos? Human beings have an amazing opportunity to be part of a larger part of life, just with the ability and the use of that ability to believe.
Our society loves to be entertained. We love stories. We love to surrounded in a good story, even if it make you cry. Someone once told me that without stories in our lives we would find it hard to live life. There is a connection with innocence, belief and the soul food of a good story. What is it that makes you happy? What little things reach into your heart and make it sing?

I have been sick for 8 weeks officially today. It is viral. I can not believe how a little thing like staying hydrated can make the difference to some-what-normal functioning versus complete shut down into rip van winkle mode. All the important preventative measures: vitamin c, pushing the fluids (water especially), a multi-vitamin, trying to eat solid foods that react well with ones intestines, getting 8 hours of sleep, taking naps when tired, and taking all the medication the doctor gives me.
This makes me tired of most things and most of all other people's psycho dramas. I am glad I am slowly developing a social life again, but most people don't really care that you feel like shit and it isn't going away no matter how good you are.
One friend is in love with a man who is recovering from a divorce and he is doing the best he can to heal because he really wants to be with her. She is sitting on her laurels partly pining away and when the insecurity mounts she sabotages the relationship that they have worked so hard to repair. She is using the sexuality sword. Currently they have both agreed do to several thousand miles to have another sexual partner. Yet their fragile emotions don't seem to be doing well with this emotional, what if - about the other person they don't know, but they know their significant other is sleeping with. This is truly a tangled web. I don't really believe either wants to force the others hand, but they both have conflicting interests and the thing that is holding them together is love, but they are afraid to call it that.
I am happy for another friend who has a date over the next coming days. Too long over due! It is a good thing for a girl to be in love. I think it is a healthy state to be in as long as you keep it in perspective. I am wary about the BLISS stage, unless it can stand the test of time.
I just recently got back in touch with a new friend from the summer and we are writing furiously about how maniacally crazy our year has been. It is so good to be in conversation with her.
I have another friend who is in-love with another friend of mine. The romance has ended. She is fine. He is not. I have been trying to be the sounding board to help him get where he has got to go, but I am feeling a little like either way I might betray one of them at any time. She is a better friend, when she can. He is a new friend. I am trying to be neutral ground.
I found out new information about where I go to vacation and want to get involved in the changes but being that my life has such volatile changes on a daily basis I want to wait until some of the deadlines have passed.
My dad is out of the hospital and home heal ling. I am his alternate nurse. My mom can't deal with blood. I can. She can do with other bodily fluids, most of which I have no desire to deal with - so that is her job. I still go through my ER - Journal emotions pretty regularly. There are good days and there are bad days.
PMSing and Stress recently have been the monkey on my back and once I could identify the mischievous monkeys I felt immediate relief. PMS rises it's ugly head every now and again. Stress has been a perpetual state of existence this 9 months or so. Therefore it is just figuring out when there is a problem and how much of a peak it is. High or low.
Bills always present. So my finances are relatively stable but not exactly where I want them. Things could be better, but things could also be worse. I'll take what i have and pray for better once the certification hoops are successfully completed.
Teaching is a funny business. Students are always unpredictable. There always seems to be a conundrum that always needs to be unraveled.
I myself have been a bad student. I have an incomplete whose deadline is rearing its ugly head at me and I am only half-way through my coursework. I am off to see the wizard the wonderful wizard of oz and try to complete the impossible incomplete on time!

A friend of mine has a studio with some other artists called Art Brutale at 2923 Main Street, near Sisters Hospital. They had an Open mic last night Thursday. I got a chance to meet some really cool peeps! New musicians, new poets and new artists. It felt good to read again. I read three poems that were never read aloud. The other thing that was really cool was the relaxed atmosphere and the communication between the reader and the audience, got some feedback on a new work in progress. It felt good.
For all those e-peeps that like to try something new, you might want to give the small but family style gallery a try. There is a number of different events that they have from art on the walls, t-shirts for sale for the gallery and a local rapper, poet, artist: MC Vendetta. Very cool. Music. All around arts.

Happy Valentine's Day or Happy Black Monday a little late. It is a funny thing I only celebrate the Hallmark holiday when I am single and unattached. When I have been in a relationship or dating, my boyfriends at the time, didn't think it was important to celebrate Valentine's Day.
I celebrate it with a day of doing all the things I never have the time I'd like to spend doing. Usually uneventful, but with a friend or doing a favorite activity. Last year I learned how to knit with my best friend, Andi. This year I was by myself on the official holiday doing my artwork. A little out of practice, but struggling to work on a new series that has been incubating in my mind for 5 years... I think I am struggling to birth the series in a painting series. I have half of the sketching done, a third of the canvas's prep ed and only one canvas almost finished.
This year I loved myself fulfilling my passion with my art.
I went to see Wedding Date with my best friend the evening before and Shall We Dance this past Friday with my mom. Between the two movies I think I have a renewed spirit about LOVE.
I have discovered I have the capability to fall in love easily, it is picking up the pieces afterword - that is the real trick.
I fell into a deep depression after taking the risk and telling my new love interest, here is the rub, he never said he didn't love me in return, he also never said he did love me in return. Only that he was honored that I could share my inner most feelings to him. He told me that I was courageous because I was a risk taker and told him that I felt I was falling in love with him, but he never believed that someone as cool as me could love him. I was shocked, hurt, happy, delirious. See it wasn't the answer I was expecting or even not expecting...it was a new place for me. We talked for several months and then he did a Houdini. Beware of falling in love with Scorpio's they sting a bit! After several months of Silence - I decided I needed closure for my own sanity and that is when the healing roller coaster ride began. The Viper would have been a welcomed ride after this nerve racking test of self exploration to return from the bliss of love. I returned to myself alone and sad at the non results from my risk. I went through the usual assortment of mixed emotions: What did I do wrong?, Could I have done anything differently? Maybe I wasn't in love with him after all?, He doesn't love me and I don't know why?, It was all a dream, an illusion, a fantasy. Then reality set in, I still think about him often and 6 months later I am ready to let both my friend and my romantic interest in him go. The hardest part is the grief of losing a kindred spirit, he was in my life for 10 years and now he is gone. True - maybe not forever. Anyone knows as Scorpio's go 3 days, 6 weeks, 9 months or 12 years later they reappear as if nothing has happened since the last time they saw you.
I deserve a love that time will stand still for. A love that all of nature will be our witness. There will be no doubt we love each other. Until then I am open to new experiences, but I think I am more guarded about letting just any suitors in.
What do we really know about another person? Until we meet their family and friends and verify everything they have told us, we never really know that person. We can never really know everything about another person and it shouldn't really matter as long as there is a healthy skepticism to screen people who might be dangerous to our well-being. Once we have past the skepticism there is only the truth. We just are and if we can accept that about each other then anything is possible.

April 25th (Sunday) between 1 and 8 pm at the Unitarian Church on Elmwood Avenue will be a poetry event where I will be reading. Celia White and Joe Todaro are in charge of this poetry event in our community and this will be the 4th Annual Urban Epiphany. There are several poets reading per hour and the event is usually video taped for any of the poets who are reading to have a copy of your performance. I will give directions to the spot with address a little later when I have more information.

I can't believe it has been a month since last I wrote anything. I have been working on my new job and all its rigorous requirements. Attempting to finish my incompete on time, but do to being sick I have spent most of the month on and off the couch with boxes of Kleenex, cough syrup, cough drops and just trying to feel better.
My dad is in the hospital for the last 11 days and most of those evenings were hanging out with dad. My Uncle Mike died. We couldn't go to the funeral due to dad being sick and I had work. I think we might go visit in the spring. The doctors say my dad has 6 to 12 months to live if he stay at his current health status. I have written before about all that. I don't think I am ready for his death. Then again we never are. The Pollyanna in me, says it is possible for him to get better and maybe live another ten years. He is only 57, he is so young to be SO sick.
My job has it's ups and downs and I am learning to fight the good fight. I have been figuring out what is really important to me.
I have been working on my artwork again. That feels really good, but I am taking it slowly. Trying to find little bits of happiness everyday. I started writ ting poetry again. That feels good too. [size=xxl]I have been invited to read at the Urban Epiphany on the Th of April at the Unitarian Church on Elmwood ave. More details as the date gets closer. I will be reading between the 5-PM hour. [/size]
I think the moon is void of course this day and that is why I have been getting absolutely nothing done today. Very frustrating.
I am rediscovering my social life and slowing down my work life into a reasonable pace right along with some of my career goals.

My father had two back to back surgeries for his renal dialysis procedures to fix some complications with his treatment. He has been in the hospital for 3 days and came home yesterday. I love my family, but sometimes they are very inconsiderate.
I had plans with my mom to help fit my best friend for the wedding she is the maid of honor in in a few weeks. We had this planed and my father who had just come home knew about it too! No problems.
I have a whole bunch of work to get caught up on right after I finished this big project for this Thursday. I am making sure I haven't forgotten anything. Grades. Correcting papers. Lesson plans. Demonstrations for class to explain each step with them for the harder projects... etc...
It is an hour before my best friend is to come over. She calls to double check the time and that my dad is OK with visitors. Yes, everything is a go. I'll see her at PM. I keep working figuring, who cares if my best friend sees me unshowered and in my sweats. I had work to do. So instead of taking a shower I worked and helped my dad. Mom had to go to Tops and Wegman's an errand for dad and prescriptions to be filled, as he needed pain medications immediately! So mom went to make sure that dad would get his meds on time and stay as comfortable as can be expected after surgery.
The phone rings, it is my downstairs neighbor to tell us "We are having company. My uncle and his girlfriend are coming over now." I'm like OK. So I started straightening up the living room and loOKing for the stuff to make coffee. It is true I do not drink lots of coffee and it is my parents house therefore I wasn't sure where everything was and how any scoops to make, etc...
It's four o'clock and there is a knock at the door, it's my best friend. Accidentally she was told by my Uncle to park in my drive which is currently rented out to my other neighbor. I apologized and told her to park in my mom's spot and mom will park in front of the house. So she did and came back upstairs. We all chatted a moment and I asked her if she wanted tea or water or something else we might have. She wanted water and we went into the kitchen. Partly to let my dad relax and so that I could continue the coffee quest.
Then my Uncle and his girlfriend came up without taking off their shoes, as my parents just got new carpeting laid. They commented on it, but did not take their shoes off - how rude! I just made a sign, maybe that will help! I didn't say anything because dad was talking. I went back to making coffee and entertaining my best friend who I don't see that often. We were talking. My Uncle's girlfriend came in to make the coffee and was totally rude and condescending to my friend. I think was mostly in shock and then without any notice... there is another knock at the door, it's my cousin and a friend. No warning what so ever that they were coming. I'm like ok. NOW what. Feeling highly frustrated and irritated I went back to what I was doing finding coffee and making it for the guests, which left me out of the running and my throat is sore. Anyway, I spend time with my friend in another room waiting for my mom to get back to try the dress on and see if there are any needed alterations.
I was showing her the work that I was doing with my students and the big project, we were slightly disgusted with the way the conversation was headed and were trying to not pay attention. My Uncle's girlfriend is nice, but I think she is starting to show her true colors. Always asking really personal questions, passing judgement and always giving her opinion - as if anyone really cared.
When mom came home I helped her carry in the groceries and unpack them, we (my best friend, mom and I ) chatted in the kitchen for a bit and then went to try the dress on and work on what she came to do. We did walking through their conversation to get to the bathroom where there is a large mirror and my mom's bedroom to work on the alterations. They of course had to make comments. I am like this is unbelievable! I was getting passed my patience. We visited with the doors closed because my friend was taking her cloths on and off to try and retry the dress on to make sure everything fit just right! Very important for the occasion! They left while we were in mom's room. Thank fully.
Then my dad asked me why I didn't say hi to my cousin. I'm like he doesn't know how to walk up to me and introduce me to his friend so that I could also introduce him to my friend. Why do I always have to play hostess with the mostess? They came unannounced, with more people than planned. They couldn't take off their shoes when they noticed that everyone else - like my company - had theirs off. They gave dad the third degree and did they realize this would take a toll on my dad - NO!
So I went back to my company and the fitting and we visited for a little while. I invited my best friend for dinner, but she had dinner waiting at home. WE thought maybe go to the show next week, just to relax and hang out.
Dad asked me why she didn't stay I told him. He was really tired and in lots of pain. He just didn't want anyone else to see it. He let his guard down when everyone left and told mom and I how he was doing. We ate dinner. Watched TV. I helped him with his meds.
Later we had another guest, a friend of my dad's who he really wanted to see. He visited for a short while then left. We had snacks so that dad could take his pain pills. Watched more TV and tried to make dad comfortable. Which was hard to do, since he is in pain either way. We were there, just in case he needed anything.
I just can't believe my family...

It never fails to take me an hour when I should only have taken five minutes when going on line. Then while I was here I thought, I should post. I have nothing to say. I should go to bed.
The problem is I am a night owl. I love being productive at night. I can function in the day. I prefer being awake at night so I have to force myself to go to sleep. I am a work-a-holic. Teaching hasn't changed my work ethic much. I am in the middle of correcting sketchbooks, as I teach art and I needed a sound break. TV didn't really grab me this evening. Work didn't either. I think I work just to work through my other thoughts, you know the ones that hide on you and then come back to bite you in the butt when you are not looking.
I just had a phone call from a good friend and I know she'd been on my mind for awhile I hadn't realized that it had been 7 months, I should just mail her surprise present! Spontaneous shopping - good therapy bad for my checkbook and my pay my bills on time ethic! Anyways just catching up made me feel human again. Like there is more to life than work... I am a Virgo and we have distinct needs to get the job done and to be the best we can be. Unfortunately this means we are moody, unhappy and just trying to keep up with ourselves. I'm not very proud of this side of my personality.
Every day I have a good day must be because I have remembered to say my morning prayers! Laugh you might, but when I forget to say my morning prayers I pay the consequences...even if it is just one thing - it'll be big! I am not a morning person but can survive getting up early and manage to have some semblance of my usual self after several hours of being awake, kick in the what do I need to get done mode and we are good to go.
Not a very healthy way to function for several months on end with lots of stress. I am just having time to think about the experiences I had in July 2004. I am a little back logged when pondering what lessons I have learned in life, just to keep a pulse on where I am going... Not that Picasso is one of my favorite artist, but he was quoted for saying it is not that children aren't artist, it is the struggle to be an artist after we have grown up... or something to that effect.
I am remembering weird thoughts like, gee I'd like to paint soon! My laundry is still piling up in the basement. Sigh. I am just trying to do something artistic everyday! That will bring about sanity. The strange thought occured to me, will i know when i am sane again? See once you have pushed yourself beyond your envelope, will you recognize what normal - for you - is? See stressed has been part of my daily existence for so long I am unsure as to when I am not stressed. Usually I can tell when I am around other, but I don't much care to be around people right now. Feeling more like checking in with myself and when I had time to be alone I was working. Now that I have time to be alone, and am, I am biting into my sleep time. Which in the long run is a bad idea... and yet just checking in, writing a thought, a moment, part of my day. Makes me feel sane.
There is this long mental check list and as I go through more and more things on the list I begin to feel freer and freer. True, it is all an illusion, but the feeling is there! And Feeling is believing these days.
Dad is going in for a minor procedure tomorrow and I have chosen to go to work. I want all to go well and I will visit him in the hospital, but I need to get my life on some kind of track or rhythm...
Only an half an hour longer than I expected to be... Honest - I'm going to bed!

This morning I took a TV break and watched an Charmed and ER for my daytime drama.
Death a pervasive theme in both shows. I had a good friend on my mom's pass in September. (Happy birthday!) Then another unexpected fast and close friend in October. Which is bad because that is the anniversary of my grandmothers death. Didn't really have time to grieve, but then I realized I have another issue on my plate, i try not to think about.
My father has a terminal disease that could take his life at any moment and he could also live 20 or 30 more years. He could have died a year and half ago. I won't ever be ready for it! My dad and I are very alike. I'm the miniature female version of my dad. We argue a lot! We disagree a lot. I'll never really make him proud, and i don't really know why... but I know I love him! I guess he really loves me too! I watch him have good days and bad days. I watch him slowly losing his independence and know it has got to be killing him. He's rude, obnoxious and mean which hurts but it is all because life is just a gamble right now. There are no certainties, there are no guarantees only the moment you have right now. Some of them are fun, some of them are work, some of them are contentment. Some days I get so mad at him. Then I think how would you be dealing with it? Probably different. :) Or at least I'd like to think so.
There is no advise. There is nothing but life to live. Everyday brings it's highs and lows, it's sadness and happiness. I am grateful he is still here. There are little things that if I were younger it might make more sense to be upset over. There is a little girl still inside of me that wants my daddy to give me away at my wedding. I want him to see my first child being born. I want him there for his grandchildren. I want them to know him and his feisty ways. I want him to help me buy my first house. My first brand new car. My first really great job. I want him to be there to see my accomplishments and to give him the opportunity to be proud of me.
I watched my grandfather, my dad's dad, fight cancer most of my life until his death in the early 90's. It really hit my dad. I'm not his son, but it is something I have to deal with everyday. I check on him when he sleeps, just to see if he's breathing. If he catches me he yells at me thinking I'm a freak and let him alone.
There are constant doctor visits, emergency room visits, hospital visits, pains, aches, procedures, surgeries, blood work, tests, medications and it seems like he didn't get a great deal on his retirement plan this life. He talks about the Golden Years once and a while, I find out something new. A new story from his childhood, something about my grandparents or even my great grandparents, some job i never knew he worked, some place I never knew he had traveled too, sometimes he'll talk about his service to his country - not often, but sometimes. I learn about relative and people I have never met that were in his life and that made a difference for him.
It is hard to make up for lost time. It is hard to balance the anger. It is hard to learn how to be myself around him, because he doesn't have another 50 years for me to get it right. I guess it is just really hard. To be yourself, live each day to the fullest, forgive yourself for all the things you never got to do or had time for, and just enjoy the things you do have.
My mind ventures of to the tune Cat's in the Cradle...