It was a brand new, emerald green Schwinn 10-speed bike. I was thirteen years old, and I’d never owned something so beautiful. The paint sparkled magically in the sunlight and when I rode that bike through the neighborhood, I sparkled too. I rolled easily through a landscape peppered with unhappy parents, mean girls, first crushes, and bad skin with my hands up, nothing to hold on to and, in those moments at least, nothing holding me back.
If you know me at all, you know that I like a good dose of woo-woo in my world.
I believe in following my intuition, prioritizing my spiritual practices, and recognizing divine messages. This is the lens through which I find inspiration and make decisions. It’s also, to me, a way of having fun.
I’ll admit, it’s an odd form of fun that can show up in strange ways.
As I was staring at my blank computer screen this morning trying to decide what to write, I decided to check my email, because, you know, checking email is always the answer to being more productive.
In this case, my answer was right in front of me. My friend Kate sent a message asking for some blog writing suggestions. Since I love to nerd out over the nuts and bolts of writing, I thought I’d share my 5-Step Blog Blueprint as a guide for keeping your own blogs personal and to the point.
So I opened my laptop this morning and found that the battery was nearly dead. The power cord wasn’t in its usual spot and as I started looking for it I realized, with a sinking feeling, that I must have left it at my mom’s house over the weekend—three hours away.
While I was trying to work out how to replace it before a client call, my phone died.
As I sit at my desk in Chicago, it seems surreal that less than twenty-four hours ago I was on a Florida beach with a rainbow stretched over my head. Actually, it was the second rainbow to grace me in three days, but when it comes to rainbows, you don’t count them, you simply stop what you’re doing and stare.
A rainbow moment is a right-brain moment, a burst of color and creativity from a higher realm.
I was standing at my kitchen sink this morning, washing dishes and looking at an affirmation card I have stuck on my refrigerator that says the givingness of life never leaves me. It got me thinking.
First, I wondered, is “givingness” even a word? I looked it up and yes, it is, except in the Scrabble dictionary. I’m not sure what the Hasbro company has against givingness, but the more I focus on it, the happier I feel.
If you and I are connected on Facebook, you may have seen the post about my recent book signing at the Barnes & Noble in my hometown of Holland, Michigan. I shared a photo of the friends and family who came out and wrote, “You know that feeling you get when you bare it all in a memoir and your family not only still speaks to you, but applauds you…? Yeah, that.”
Happy Holidays! I receive regular emails from a wonderful resource called The Daily Flame. They arrive like love letters full of guidance and inspiration from my “inner pilot light.” The one I got this week was so sublimely perfect and expresses my sentiments so well that I decided to share it here.
Consider this a sort of Santa swap, where I’m re-gifting these words to you.
My sister and her teenage son were visiting from Colorado. We were walking back from the coffee shop near my house when I looked down and there it was—a hundred-dollar bill, waiting patiently on the pavement for me to leisurely bend over and pick it up. The two of them hadn’t seen it and they were astonished and envious that I had.
The extra cash was just what I needed. It allowed me to take us all out to dinner and buy some birthday gifts for my nephew.
I’m so grateful for the friends, old and new, who came to my book signing at Women and Children First Bookstore! I was especially surprised to see a few faces I had not seen in fifteen or twenty years; the spark of recognition in meeting again was indescribable.
That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? A spark of recognition.
I write in pursuit of it. I read in search of it. I connect with friends for the joy of it.
👉 Enjoy dedicated writing space just steps from Lake Michigan
👉 Benefit from one-on-one developmental editing sessions