We've come along way...I hope.

When you choose hope, anything is possible.

During the reccent storm I took some time to watch the third episode of the farewell season of the Oprah show, she had returned to Williamsburg Virginia to try an answer the question... What has changed, what has stayed the same.

Twenty three years ago a man with HIV jumped into a public pool & into the national media. The storm of controversy that followed showed exactly how frightened & uneducated we were in 1987. I don't have many memories of this scarry time, I suppose I was more concerned with hair accessories over headlines but our country was scared, frantic & ready to place blame someplace...something the human race has done over & over throughout history.

Ten years ago I worked at an amazing camp for kids affected or infected by HIV. It was an amazing experience & despite my great aspirations to go & make a huge difference in these childrens lives, what happened was quite the opposite. It was the campers that taught me so many lessons about really appreciating life. But even then a few friends, family & even strangers gave me a questioning look & asked "Aren't you afraid?" The fear that people felt in the 80's seemed to be calming but the public displays of disgust were replaced with whispering & apathy, something that I know these precious children felt everyday (except for when they were at camp)

Today I heard a man sincerely apoligize for his words, words that at the time were spoken out of fear & a lack of education. His judgement caused a family a great deal of pain. This apology doesn't erase this hurt but it is a great place to start.

When you know better, you do better. Right?

I hope so.





























































































































































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Just lumps of clay...or much much more.

A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn’t look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.

He thought little about it until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone! Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him.

He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!

It’s like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn’t look like much from the outside. It isn’t always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it. We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy but we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.

There is a treasure in each one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in relationships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May we see the people in our world as God sees them.

I am guilty of letting some relationships slip away because I became too busy or our lives just seemed too different & that loss makes me sad. But that loss also makes me even more grateful for all the friendships I have in my life today, I value each of them like a rare & very expensive gems...even if they just look like a lump of clay on the outside. A very fabulous lump of clay of course.

"For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.” ~Judy Garland

How strange & frightining that one person can make such a profound difference in our lives...& yet it is that very connection we all dream of having. I'm not sure if I simply wished on the right star or finally kissed enough toads, but without a doubt I have found that person. Just like a picture that slowly comes into focus, I can now see my future with more clarity than ever before. I am so thankful for him & still grateful for the time that I spent waiting...it makes all of this even more wonderful & magical.

How Ridiculous

I am all about lists, my daily "to do list," my ever changing "grocery list" & then there are the more serious lists that include my "life goals, dreams & aspirations." I need these lists to function & keep me on track, but this week I decided to make a completely different kind of list. A list of things that will help me focus on the pure joy of living & rediscover the inner child that is in all of us. These are the simple things in life that make us laugh, bring us closer together & transport us back to a time when stress was a word we didn't yet understand. So here is the first edition of "The Most Ridiculous list" I hope you will chuckle as you read them, make a plan to partake in at least one or two this week & my all means add more ridiculous things to the list.

The Most Ridiculous List:

Find a four leaf clover & believe it will bring you luck.

Bravely stand before complete strangers & become a Karaoke queen.


Take time to put your toes in the sand & build yourself a castle.


Forget your worries & your age, start a pillow fight.


Get in touch with a time gone by & milk a cow.


Laugh so hard you pee your pants...just a little.


Don't run indoors when it starts to rain, find your someone special & kiss them.


Put on your play clothes & get dirty with a game of mud football.


Dance like a fool at someones wedding...maybe your own.


Put your clothes in a safe place & go skinny dipping.


Eat Ice cream for dinner, at least once.


Dye your hair an unnatural color...if you dare.


The next time someone says "go fly a kite" do it!


Pretend your a giggling teenager again & play spin the bottle.


Need a stress release, go to a haunted house & scream your head off!


Don't throw the dishes or the phone when your angry, simply throw a snowball.


No bedtimes here, stay up all night doing whatever you like.

Whispering Pines

I have always had a love hate relationship with backpacking. I love to be surrounded by nature exploring things that you would never see unless you venture into the wilderness, but to find those spots you gotta deal with the hills, the sore feet and yes the 30lb pack weighing you down. About a mile or two into the trip I usually find myself asking why did I do this? However Whispering pines in Hawn State Park was a bit different, it had it's share of challenging moments but there were so many beautiful and unexpected things to see that those cleverly named hills were well worth it. It was a collection of all that the Ozarks has to offer; caves,waterfalls, creeks, giant boulders, bluffs, and of course trees, trees and more trees! The trail cuts through the pine trees towering over head and as the wind swiftly blows it sounds like your approaching a giant waterfall. The trail is wide enough at times to walk hand in hand with that someone special and a large rock jetting out over pickle creek makes the perfect spot for a picnic lunch.

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. "
-John Muir
The weather was warm, the sky was clear, the sun was shining, the scenery was beautiful and the laughter was plentiful. My love hate relationship with backpacking was ALL LOVE this time around.