Monthly Archive Of June 2010


The first lesson in finding our balance…

June 28, 2010

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This summer is way better than last, for so many reasons.  I guess we are totally set up now.  Bella loves camp, Lola is attending a preschool camp 2 days a week and my nephew Tylor has been spending the past 3 weeks with us. I love him being here, not just because he helps so much – my sister has done an amazing job raising this guy – he’s pleasant, kind, patient and incredibly neat – for a 17 year old.

He began spending summers with me when he was 8 years old, living wherever I lived; in Malibu he attended surf camps, at the ranch he played in the river and learned to ride horses.  I have a special relationship with him, really because my sister and I have lived so close in spirit with one another. When she had him I was still young and in school – our mother had died a few years before and I knew I needed to show up, much in the same manner that my aunts, uncles and grandparents did for us – we knew we belonged to a bigger world than just my mother.

Now Tylor is grown and I have little’s, he loves on them like siblings.  Yesterday he taught Isabella to ride a two-wheeler and wow what a fantastic moment this is in our lives.  I remember my learning of this grand memory that never leaves us – after all it’s really about balance, once we find this balance it’s never gone from us.  I told Bella to think of it as riding a horse, you’ve got to sit solid in the center and pay attention to where you are going, you see if you are riding a horse and your mind drifts shifting your level of presence the horse will follow your lead.  I’ve loved this lesson; learning to ride in relationship with the animal is nothing shy than a truly spiritual experience.  Don’t misunderstand me I’m not a great rider, I just like the relationship of it all.

Bella is so much like me in ways, quirky and yet solid.  She got it, she was riding on her own, when she passed me I had to hold back my laugh because she was sitting completely straight, eyes on the prize and saying repeatedly out loud “I’m riding a horse, I’m riding a horse, I’m riding a horse.”

I learned to ride a two-wheeler in Clark Court Apartments; we lived next to Bay and Bukie Marshall.  I jumped on my sisters red kids sized beach cruiser and peddled away, however my know it all self forgot to ask how to stop and I flew over the handle bars!  Bella was lucky, Tylor kept catching the bike, not letting her smash to the ground.

I love this, he’s learned what family is about – we can’t prevent the falls only try to break them, serving as a cushion.

Today Tylor and I are going to visit yet another local Nashville University, Lipscomb.  I really hope that he attends school close to me, I’d hate to miss out on watching him turn from young man to man.

For me it’s really been about being the belle of my own ball, filling my life with my kids, Lee and work.

I’ve been writing like mad, my goal is to finish 3 books by the fall.  I’m just about done with one and wow writing it has been a journey, ‘cause this book is all about food and health.  It’s really taught me much more than when I started it.  I thought Oh, it will be a cookbook – but now I’m siked ‘cause it’s not!  I’m not a chef, I’m not a super hard-core cook in the kitchen, I’m a regular person who has gotten well eating foods in their original form and what I know is how to heal your body and what each food does.  So I’m way siked about this project, cause it’s not a “cook book”, it’s a PKIA Book with recipes.

The other day I sat here typing in the Convent, I looked up and out the window, I felt a sparkle in my eye– I was in the middle of an “Oh yeah I’m really doing it moment”, I love these – ‘cause it’s not about the final product but the good enough feeling of giving it my all.  Luckily I’ve always been able to see when I’ve arrived at a point in my life.  Maybe to the outside viewer these moments seem hardly successful, but to me they are huge.

I write because I don’t wanna miss out, not on a second of it.  Once I’ve written I go back and see the magic of the moment or a clearer view of the situation that I’m in the middle of.  Gotta see those good enough moments, ‘cause that’s the only way our life is good enough.

EYES OF PROTECTION….

June 22, 2010

Gosh, I love taking it all out…the past week has been non-stop and sometimes I wonder how to get it all done, but I just keep showing up and pushing through.

Princess Know It All Please dont make me connectI want to do it all, I want to hang out with my girls, soak up my time with my nephew, he’s going to be a senior next year and this is probably our last summer just to hang out together.  He’s been staying with me since he was 8 – our summer time together has really meant a lot to me.  Bella is loving having him around and Lola too…Last week was interesting the girls were invited to a birthday party last minute and of course since my new “motto” is to join and not isolate keeping my “PLEASE, DON’T MAKE ME CONNECT” at bay.

I shifted everything around to get there; the little girl hosting the party is a new camp friend.  I was thrilled to meet her two dads, as fo’sho this is a world that I can fit into.  The best part was the cake, one of the dad’s – had made it singing of the 1970’s Tennessee – as he used an old school Barbie to top it!  I was reminded of my grandmothers 1970’s toilet roll covers that were hand crocheted; a totally warm and cozy feeling.IMG_1174

I sat down and took it all in, one of the dad’s leads ghost tours here in the city; I didn’t know they gave ghost tours – but now it makes sense as they do in most old cities with horse drawn carriages.  With a relaxed slip I said “Oh, I know this town is haunted – we’ve had our own experience.”  Then an elderly woman sitting next to me started to talk about “The House With Whispering Walls.”  Apparently she lived in the neighborhood long ago when things went down.  She used to play in that house as a child.

Again the room got cold and crowded, I became super uncomfortable and I knew that their memories – those that live in the walls – were next to me.

Oh, man I was torn between wanting to go there and asking as many questions as possible…and not participating.  The lady next to me however was intriguing; as she shared her experiences I put pieces together.  Not wanting to reveal too much and conflicted with the fact that this was not an appropriate place to discuss all of this.  However the kids were off on jumpy playground equipment and not in earshot.  I had to hold back and connect the dots – feeling protective of what I’d experienced and my relationship with the memories of that house.

The owner of the house had attempted to convince me that NO one before us had undergone anything uncomfortable while living in the house, including the family that lived there during the tragedy.  In fact she ran a list of how happy folks had been.  She’d forgotten that when we first moved in she’d taken me to lunch and spoke openly about how her husband had become paranoid and drank to much – destroying their marriage; sounds like a happy time.

According to my birthday party guest many folks who’d lived in that house had stumbled down a tragic path – including the original owners.  According to the elderly woman two of the originals had suffered deeply…one drinking herself to death and the other taking her own life.

That’s the thing when we live within the energetic memories of others…we are influenced, especially if these memories are kept alive by many living beings.

It’s the argument over say alcoholism – it’s not just genetically passed down but energetically – like if your dad was a drunk and he never drank in front of you, he still lived in that house with you and the feelings of a drunks space effect us.  When we grow up we’ve become influenced by this drunk’s way of living and find ourselves either drinking or again living with an addict – recreating the energy of our childhood.  That old saying – we are whom we hang around – is true.

Moving into a house that holds deep secrets, sadness and loss can only invoke those feelings within current residents.  Especially if the house itself has never been cleaned or even acknowledged.

My dreams there were paranoid, frightening and full of what I couldn’t speak out against or protect.  Since moving into our current house I’ve not had ONE dream like this.

I went to see Happy Son Of My People the next day; you see he’s not just an acupuncturist but also a Rabbi in the making– a Kabalistic teacher to me.  He had come to our old house when things got really crazy and he himself saw the face of what went on there.  When I walked into his office I climbed upon the table and told him “they are back.”

He immediately set to placing needles throughout my body, particularly certain points on the bottom of my feet.  Let me tell you shorty, these points HURT – I felt like I was stepping on nails.  When I asked him in Hebrew – “Mazay” (what is that point) he said “Kapara those are soul points, they are setting a boundary and opening your comprehension to other worlds and other life times.”  Then we spoke of what was going on, he said, “They want you to use your voice. You understand from the inside out what went on there, do you want to write it?”

I felt very quiet, not sure…then I drifted off into a dreamlike state that only the acupuncture needles take me too.  I saw an arrow and then a bulls-eye, the bulls-eye turned into the “Eye of God” known to some as the “Evil Eye” as it is said to protect one from negativity.  IMG_1236

Then I heard the elderly woman from the birthday party, her voice rang in my ears she asked did I have protection?  Then she asked had there been any stigmata in the house – I would have thought this incredibly bizarre – but instead I wondered how she could have known?

I woke up from my dream like state, still not sure if I wanna go there…Happy Son Of My People told me to talk to “them – the memories of the whispering walls” ask them what is it that they want to convey and then tell them that I need to do this in my own time and in my own way.

The elderly woman had wanted to get together and talk some more…I just gotta figure out if I really want to go  there; do I really want to know anymore? Or do I know too much as it is?  She did tell me that it wasn’t the spirits that were touchy about this story but also the living humans that remember.

Drive by….

June 16, 2010

The other day I drove by our old house, the one with “Whispering Walls”.  It’d been sometime since I’d passed, not because I consciously was trying to avoid it but because my daily driving route has changed.

IMG_1198Ever since passing by my mind has been hooked by memories of what we experienced there, I know I left you all hanging but it was for good reason – once we knew what we knew it was all I could do to pack as fast as humanly possible and get out.  I’ve not spoken in detail about what went down, not because the landlord asked me not too, which she did and I respecting her didn’t want to hinder the future sale of her home, however I did inform her that in good faith she must tell future renters  -  had I known I’d never have moved in there – but of course it was all perfect, had we not moved in there our presence couldn’t have shifted a very old situation the way that it did….I’m getting ahead of myself, sorry.

My real reason for not writing was because the darkness that did what it did in that house was so big I fo’sho didn’t want it following me via my memories to our new house; my Poppy (my grandfather) always said “Decide where you stand the light or dark, once you make that decision stick with it.”  So at a young age I KNEW I was fixn’ to walk in the light – avoiding as best as possible any interaction with darkness.

I have NEVER been a fan of horror movies, scary books and to tell the truth Halloween and it’s “Evil” characters kind of creep me out. Dressing up in funny things are cool with Mee & of course vampires as I am obsessed with the idea of immortality; the thought of what it would be like to really get good at this human reaction thing is intriguing.

The Day of the Dead, is one of my favorite holidays – because it’s not about sadness but again celebrating the connection as we pass through the veils of this world – death is not evil its an intricate part of life.  With all this said and my deepening comprehension of memories, time & ghosts – that our memories actually are what haunts our hallways and dreams – what went down in our last Casa is revealing it’s self with a new perspective.

Tonight I spoke to a friend on the phone that I’d not caught up with since before Thanksgiving, and well it was the day after the Thanksgiving weekend that everything began to unravel and the truth would not remain hidden – the clanging of cupboards and doors was no longer something we could ignore.

As I began to tell her, why we’d moved so suddenly; the room got cold and felt as if it were crowding in on me.  Before I could even finish the first sentence my friend suddenly said you know what let’s not talk about this, my body is covered in chills. I said thanks, we can talk about it later when I see you in California.

After we hung up, I sat alone in my room and yet that crowded feeling filled the space – I thought of Senora Gina and how she nips situations, folks & thoughts in the butt -”Oh, No We Aren’t Going There”  came out of my mouth, with the same I’m not playing around tone as Senora used when with me when the possibility of Cancer knocked on my door.IMG_1201

Just like a bully on a playground pulls back from someone who stands up to them – refusing to feed their poison -  I did not participate – this is how one stays in the light; and so the energy in my room shifted.

What left remaining was her, I thought of her all night….the one who’s story I have tried to leave behind.  Not such an easy task being a truth teller.

So I will wait and in time maybe I will write more, but I know that I will not pass that house again because they will feel me, and then I will hear their memories…

That’s the thing about memories they are everywhere and can really be heard, the more attention that a memory has been given the more power it has in the present.

I’m too tired to write anymore and like I said sunrise is many hours away and this is a tale I shall write from the light of the Convent.

Mansions and Magnolias

June 9, 2010

Florida, Florida and more Florida!

IMG_1145What a much needed trip to the coast…sitting by the sea and dipping in it was so good fo’da- Mee!  Hanging out in Memaw’s (my mother in –law) house was an escape in it’s own right, as she lives in another world – visiting with her is fascinating to me – watching her mind jump from now to then – then being somewhere in the last 90 years.

Her confusion isn’t really confusion as much as it is rapid time travel leaving her to spin between all the life’s that she’s led.

The old house is full of memories, you can feel them brush by in the middle of the day – I find myself stepping closer to the wall, getting out of the way, lending respect to these folks that once walked the floors in human form.  I know that my mother in law is up there in her room sorting through their times together calling them into the great rooms via her memory.

The one thing that is fo’sho in this here house is that it doesn’t feel lonely or empty, with every glance my own imagination is triggered or maybe it’s not my imagination but the eyes of myIMG_1122 heart that dance in and out of Memaw’s memories – Lee and I love to spend our early evenings sitting  out on the large front porch overlooking the St. John’s River, I can stare at the big ‘ole Magnolia tree for hours, images of well dressed folks from times gone by fill the grandiose lawn – I see white table clothed tables mixing with men in white dinner jackets and a big band playing in the back ground.   Whenever I enter the kitchen I find Idora sitting alone staring off and out the window, she will be 95 years old this fall – still every morning she puts on her white uniform and heads down stairs for work, work for her now consist of opening the blinds, setting the alarm system and occasionally washing a few dishes.  Her hearing is leaving her but her mind is like Memaw’s and she too spends her days traveling through the worlds of her past – the kitchen where she now resides most days is full of all the folks that ever worked there with her; around 9am the day crew of current workers cooks and maids show up & the room really feels crowded – once again I find myself stepping out of the way for the invisible.

I always spend a great deal of time with Idora, as I must cook my whole foods diet she sits with me, reminiscing on my methods of food preparation confirming that indeed this is ancestral cooking – NOT some NEW hippy way of approaching food – but what folks originally ate – ACTUAL FOOD.

IMG_1139This week we talked about her daddy – Wyatt and what life was like for him, you see Idora was born on an old Georgia plantation; her daddy was a share cropper – she’d talked to me before about it but this time she was having a deep memory – when I asked what life was like growing up on that old plantation she said “It was tough, we had to do what they said.”  I responded with my ignorant Yankee mentality – but you all were independent workers – she laughed her deep loud laugh saying, “girl independence didn’t come to black folks in the south just ‘cause we wasn’t slaves no more.”   She then jumped to talking about her momma and what she cooked, and how she taught her what to do in the kitchen.  Idora’s deep & melodic voice and use of language pulls me through her tunnel of time, especially when she gets excited about something as she did with my cooking, “Sugar Lump, I sho’ is happy that You is feeding my babies real food and none of this can and boxed stuff – I didn’t never feed Old Lee none dat mess when he was a youngin’.”

The girls love being with these women, they believe Idora to be their grandma too, and the house entertains them with its mystery.  The large chandeliers that dangle from giant ceilings and paintings of folks from long ago has Bella asking questions and Lola too, in fact I think that they too dance in and out of Idora and Memaws memories – it’s not really possible to not – these  two Steel Magnolias, large, rare and beautiful women, remind me that life and time is passing – not to be saddened by its loss IMG_1100because the moments of magic are there to be savored; just like  the smell of a Magnolia, one never forgets the smell – and just like a Magnolias  scent is stored deep within to be pulled on when a refreshing moment is needed.

My favorite part of the visit was sitting in the library and watching Bella sing for Memaw and Idora, I know that they are not long for this world and I do want them to leave KNOWING who the girls are.  Being that we live far and they are now memory time travelers I’m hoping that they will call my little ones back into the house via their memories, filling the halls with their sweet voices after we leave; that’s the magic of memories they are created in every instant.

After a few days we headed south to visit with my grandparents, let me tell you they are AMAZING – the two of them are just as spry as they were years ago, Poppy taught Bella to drive his golf cart around the “Yankee Trailer Park” (as Lee refers to it) and then they spent the afternoon swimming with the girls in the pool.  A part of me didn’t want to leave; instead I too wanted to crawl back through time and spend the rest of the summer with them as I had when I was a kid.

IMG_1082By the weeks end it was time to return to Nashville and jump back in the game, Bella started summer camp at her new school yesterday and LOVED it – what I loved was being able to walk her to summer camp and then walk her inside and meet the teachers that run the camp, I even spoke to another parent!  Bella made a friend who will be in her class and lives on our street!  This morning Lola and I dressed early to walk her to the school, I’m feeling positive ‘cause I know I’m getting connected and surrendering to the UNKOWN.

Traveling through time on a Mosaic Dragon…

June 3, 2010

I have got to get this blog out, not sure why it’s taken so long to push through. Well that’s not completely true…

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Last Saturday we loaded up and drove to Florida, something happened the moment we got in the car – I disappeared into my own private world.  I’m not one to enjoy a long ride in the car, however the first 7 hours seemed to move along as I let go of the survival mode that I’d been clinging to so ever tightly.

The 10 days before leaving were busy with the end of the school year and flood clean up and flood recovery, we’ve been moving forward and paying out of pocket as we go – the SBA or disaster loan folks are almost as full of it as FEMA – however we are crossing our fingers that soon they will come through.

For the girls it’s been about wrapping up their time at their current school, Bella will not return and it’s looking like nor will Lola.  For Bella it’s a given she wants to change and attend a more structured and academic environment, I’ve found a nice private school in our neighborhood within walking distance – we are hoping this will aid in joining an actual community.  Lola is tricky, she LOVES her teachers and I too do really like them, however the fact that I’ve met really nice women briefly from her class and yet not connected is uncomfortable – if Lola were older it’d be an OK situation but the fact that this is pre- school and a sweet time to enjoy friendships and play dates, I gotta get us a better situation if we are to stay in Nashville – my momma NEVER liked Oberlin nor felt a connection – this hindered me – had she participated more my experience would have been influenced more positively.  After leaving Lola’s class picnic I had a serious conversation with myself – “I’ve got to find a way to form community” – the girls current school is not a fit for us.  All of this thinking comes to a head,  because her main friends – Marielles girls have left for Mexico, where they will live full time.

This brings me to the tuff part of the the past few weeks, goodbyes…I know, I know, I hear you all from here – there are no goodbyes, you can maintain friendship – I know this because of our gypsy life I’ve done this with all of my friends – however as Marielle and I understand it is not the same, we have really come support each other in our Nashville adventure – what surprised me was my relationship with her girls.  I’m not someone who goes crazy for other peoples kids, I’m honest – my hands are full – but for the past year I’ve really wanted to support my girls and Marielles kids were a perfect complement to mine; they are incredibly worldly as they have a home in Paris as well as Mexico City, they are super intelligent, flexible and creative.  I began car pooling them early on, picking them up after school, having play dates and listening to music loudly in the car – forcing them all to “seat dance” and be silly (something I learned from my own momma).IMG_0997

The last week they were in Nashville I kept them as much as possible, on our last trip to the Dragon Park, Ines the older one disappeared – I turned to find that she had climbed high upon the mosaic covered dragon and was full of tears – as I climbed up to sit with her she started to share with me “Mee, do you know that this dragon helps me remember my life here in Nashville – I am thinking about all the places I have been and the places my mother wasn’t able to take me that I wanted to visit. This Dragon is even helping me remember this moment right now with you.”  I rubbed her back caught by the depth of  her 8-year-old comprehension, I said quietly “You are seeing time – it is my favorite thing to do.”  She began to sob harder asking, “How come no one else does?”  I explained that many do, they just aren’t so aware of it or that they are so happy to only see the current moment in the moment that their time for reflecting comes later.

On our last day together Marielle handed me a gift, as I sat opening this gift my eyes too filled with tears – her gift was reflective of who I truly am and what I strive for – my tears were for the realization that Marielle KNOWS who I am – this is all we all want is to be who we are.

The astrologer Bill Atride told me upon moving to Nashville that I was there because it was my “place of luck & destiny” he said I would ONLY form poignant relationships.  What I didn’t realize is that one of those poignant relationships would be with two little girls, that they would inspire me and fulfill my world – I also didn’t’ expect them to influence me in such ways – showing me that I too am somewhat of an influencer myself.

IMG_0962So here I am sitting in my mother in laws magnificent home – truly a vision of Tara over looking the St. Johns River; there are Magnolia’s blooming everywhere and Spanish moss dangles from every tree that will have it…This house is like an elegant  time capsule to another world  – perfect for a time saving gal like me.

Marielle, I miss you and thank you for your friendship – I have thought about our conversations regarding which interesting place we will visit next and who will we become -I’m thinking that just maybe you are right and Nashville will turn out to be my “Interesting Place.”

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