Remembering a Dream

photo(1)As a young girl I was a voracious reader of historical novels. Gone with the WInd, Michener’s Hawaii,  I could  devour one a week. What came out of this love for epic historical novels was a secret desire to write. In college, after reading and loving Tolstoy’s War and Peace, I shared my dream with Brandon, my best friend and an aspiring writer. As if ashamed by my boldness, I tentatively told him “that someday I would like to write an historical novel but I would wait, until I was older, when I would actually have something to say.” Well, that dream like several others, was pushed aside in the dustbin of forgotten memories. I got on with my life, my career, marriage and motherhood.

Always surround yourself with people who believe in you. I have such an angel in my office at the spa. Alma, my CFO, and brain child read my last blog and told me I should write a book about my life. “No no, I said, I don’t want to write about myself but about one of Mother Jonesthe most fascinating women in history, Mother Jones.” Alma is from Romania and had never heard of Mother Jones and so I began an impassioned monologue of this great woman’s life. How she lived in the first Gilded Age, this being the second, and how she championed against child labor and for fair labor laws. I spoke of her wit, her charm and her tragic life. “Write the book, Alma exclaimed, it is a great gift if you do. You have the time now.” And she is right; I do!

I feel a renewal and a quickening in my soul as I write her story. A part of me that lie dormant begins to stir and I am excited by the vastness of life’s possibilities. It is never to late to dust off an old dream.

 

Dancing in a Field of Flowers

Dancing in flowersHaving a twenty year marriage to a wonderful man healed a sense of isolation rooted deep in my childhood experiences. The incredible nurturing of family strengthened me, making me more self-confident and emotionally flexible. Together we had a beautiful daughter named Mira, a home, a successful business and a remarkable community of friends. How then can anyone begin to understand why such a bond is broken?

There is such a strong cultural belief that if a marriage ends it is somehow a failure. Not at all, just the closure in a chapter of a life. Just an about face and a rebirth. I am testimony that divorce can be a liberating phenomena. As a mother, wife and business owner, time alone was rare and I craved it for twenty long years. Suddenly set free as an empty nester and a single woman I have a yawning space of time in which to renew myself.

My marriage had so much good that I wouldn’t change any of my choices. The memories we created and the lessons learned have made me who I am today and I am grateful to all those who played part in this wonderful drama called life. I give particular thanks to Roy, my soon to be ex-husband who stood by his family sometimes like a soldier whose sole purpose was to protect the homeland. Running a small business in a roller coaster economy is not easy.

I still cry sometimes and miss the intimacy found with family but I also know this too will pass and someday I will find myself again in a tight bond of community. But in the mean time I feel like I am god’s child dancing in a field of wildflowers.

It’s Not How Much You Eat. It’s What You Eat.

 

Fighting the bulge.
Fighting the bulge.

I love to eat and I love a trim, healthy body. I always thought my regular daily exercise program would keep my weight in check but one day I woke to the hard truth when I saw a photo of me from the back. I was was in a swimsuit and I hardly recognized myself.

I realized that my youthful metabolism was gone and if I wanted to be my ideal weight I’d have to change what I eat.  I started by eliminating all white flour and sugar but the big shift happened when I started to eat more green food.2_dark-green-vegetables Our energy ultimately comes from the sun. The green in vegetables comes from chlorophyll which absorbs the sunlight that creates energy. The cow eats the grass and when we eat the cow we are two steps from the sun’s energy. When we eat green vegetables we are much closer to the essence of all life. Make this shift  in your diet and you will notice an immediate change in how you feel and what you crave. One day before dinner you’ll find yourself craving a salty carrot instead of crackers and cheese. It’s a food revolution. Join us and feel good!