Stories and Gooseberries

 I was discussing social anxiety with a friend recently, and she asked me what childhood event I think might have sparked my social anxiety.  One specific event came to mind - one that I have not, until recently, been so open to share.  I do not believe this was the first event that had some role in the development of my social anxiety, but I know it played a drastic role.  And so we begin, the story about my most embarrassing moment... I started cheerleading in the 1st grade.  In the 3rd grade, I joined competition cheer.  For a football sidelines little league squad, we were pretty good, and my first year, we won State and made it to the Regionals!  That being said, the cheer season took us all the way through the winter, and since we weren't drinking as much water in the cold, we had a couple issues with girls passing out at practice.  Our coach had us all start drinking a whole bottle of Gatorade before practice.  Now, for a normal kid, t...

Today, I'm going to tell you about a dream I had once.  Specifically, it was a nightmare, and I was 4 or 5.  If this tells you anything about me, it's that my imagination is active and my memory is vivid. The dream took place in our home in Richmond, VA (where I lived at the time).  My mother was in the kitchen, which had a peninsula.  If you were standing in our kitchen looking over the peninsula, the stove would be behind you, and our breakfast nook was in front of you.  To the right was an open doorway into our formal dining room, and along the wall that housed that doorway, which extended into the breakfast nook, was my play kitchen.  It was off white with teal and yellow accessories, and it had a table that could lift up or collapse.  There was a tall, skinny man with a white beard sitting on a barstool at our peninsula (though, we never had barstools at our peninsula) , who was putting together a wooden toy truck.  I do not know who this man...

Inconvenience. What a hassle, what a nuisance.  What a negative thing to occur. But what if we look at inconvenience differently? Opportunity. A chance to grow, a chance to learn. Just as life can throw us lemons, and we complain and groan. When really all we need to do is use the lemons and supplies we already have and then the lemons aren't that bad. We can add some lemon to our drinks throw in some sugar, too. And the sour, inconvenient lemons become our favorite treat. We can add some eggs and sugar,  top it with meringue. Or we can add some flour, eggs, and sugar, and ice it with a glaze. Then the sour, inconvenient lemons become pie or a cake. So it's all about perspective, you see. When life throws us inconvenient lemons, the lemons are not all that we have.  We have tools in life to take those inconvenient lemons and make something delightful instead. What an opportunity! This was a poem that came from a gooseberry of thoughts going on in my mind.  I was teac...

 I teach horseback riding lessons.  To be honest, though, I sometimes dread teaching.   I dread the idea of my horse getting scared and tossing a kid, causing either physical pain or emotional torment as they experience possibly the scariest moment of their little lives.  I dread the idea of a child not understanding what I'm trying to explain or perhaps not picking up the sport as quickly as they had hoped, and then becoming frustrated and wanting to quit.  I sometimes just dread having to socialize and be cheery on a day when I'm simply not in the mood.  And sometimes, I just dread having to share my horses at all, because I really just want to enjoy them myself.  But in reality, while horseback riding is one of the hardest sports to teach, it's also one of the most rewarding. I get to watch as children grow in confidence and physical strength.  I get to take part in pushing kids outside of their comfort zone and into a challenge.  I g...

I always like to call you to share my joys and my sadness, so you can rejoice and pray with me and share in my sorrow and my gladness. You always pick up or call me right back, and we share with each other what's new. We laugh and cry and talk and pray, and you tell me a story or a few. I've got something to tell you, something exciting, that will fill you with glee! It's what we've all been praying for! I can imagine how happy you'll be! But now, you see, you're no longer there to pick up the phone and say,  "Well, hello there, my favorite girl! Tell me something good today!" Someday I'll get to see you again, but we sure won't need a phone. Heaven has no need for such, as everyone there is already home! So I'll meet you up in heaven someday, and I'll catch you up on years gone by. We'll sit down by that river up there and talk and laugh until we cry. Grandmac, how I miss you, how I wish you were still there. I miss our chats, our ...

What's a poem if it does not rhyme? What's a poem if you can't count the time? Not every poem must have a beat, To be considered truly sublime. Indeed, a poem might simply be a list of words that beautifully express the feelings of the heart and the thoughts of the mind. Perhaps a poem rhymes and sounds just like a song, where the soul is pouring out what it longs for. Perhaps a poem sounds like an essay, filled with profound words of wisdom, where the mind is sorting thoughts and making sense of things. A poem doesn't have to rhyme. A poem doesn't have to count to time. Not every poem must have a beat to be considered truly sublime. A poem. A poem is where the thoughts flow freely, where emotions run wild, where feelings come together and make more sense in the end. A poem is word art. The artist paints with words, rather than color. But just like color spreads over a canvas, so do words over a page, forming a picture for the viewer to understand the creator more. ...