Eight Years OnThings begin.
Things end.
All creatures born,
Eventually die.
All things built,
Eventually crumble.
The pendulum of power,
Swings as it chooses.
And somehow,
Through it all
We continue.
Happy Anniversary, I love you!
Seven Years On
It hardly seems possible that seven whole years have come and gone since that first meeting at Monterrey. In some ways it feels like we jumped in a Tardis and flashed forward while the rest of the world went about its business in real time.
But in other ways, at other times, it feels as though I've known you my entire life. Or maybe in a life before this one -- if such a thing exists.
The way you know without knowing exactly what to say, or exactly what to do; almost better than I do myself.
It's still astonishing to me, even after all this time, and all the events of those years, how instinctively we fit together.
I don't know if there's such a thing as "destiny" in the objective sense of the word or not.
I just know that when we met, I knew almost form the beginning that we were supposed ot be together.
And now seven years on, I see nothing to dissuade me from that assessment.
Fate? Divine intervention? Or just dumb luck?
I don't know, nor do I concern myself overmuch with the answer.
I just know I love you. And that's enough. Happy Anniversary!
Six Years OnOne fine evening
With Mexican food and coffee
Grew into this
Those first tentative moments
Became a house, with two cats and a dog
A Cuisinart and a Costco membership
And a shared data plan
With lawns (grudgingly) mowed
And fresh baked bread
And a whole life
I never dared hope for
But fell in my lap in spite of me.
Happy Anniversary. I love you.
Five Years OnAnother trip around the sun
To go along with
All the beach trips and barbecues
All the miles and miles of stitches
All the laughter
And the very few tears
I never had much faith
In that myth of The One
But we you are
In Our House (with all that entails)
Sharing space as well as life
Leaving me too amazed to say anything except
Happy Anniversary. I love you.
Four Years OnFour years.
That's like 98 human years or something.
And yet
Here I am
waking up with Our Song
Playing on the iHead®
And with your face
Just behind my eyes
Where only I can see
I long ago stopped trying
To figure out how it was
That fortune favored me so grandly.
It's just enough that She did.
Three Years OnAgainst all the odds
(or maybe not... entropy is a funny thing)
A humble strand of ones and zeros
Deflected my trajectory by 90 degrees
And brought me to you.
Three years and countless cookies later
If I saw a movie about us
I would accuse the writers
Of overextending the concept
Of suspension of disbelief.
And yet.
Here we are.
And there's no better place to be.
Two Years On"Every day
Is the anniversary
Of something beautiful."
That's what I said
Last year on this day.
I've never been more right
Or more happy to be right.
I love you Wendy.
Happy Anniversary.
So here's the thing. My Auntie Daryl's birthday is today and I wanna see all ya'll at the party. There's cake, there's tunes, there's 
"Birthplace"
North Topsail Beach, NC - December 2009 (Click to embiggen)
"Ride, Boldly Ride"
North Topsail Beach, NC - December 2009(Click to embiggen)
Hosted by Written Inc.
"Second Photo of 2010"
North Topsail Beach, NC - January 1, 2010, 7:17 AM (Click to embiggen)
Hosted by Written Inc.
We'd used lots of words to describe her: Beautiful. Talented. Warm. Funny.
We never knew the other words: Troubled. Tormented. Agonized. Tortured.
We never guessed.
Then, among the glowing lights and glitter of the season, she left us a holiday greeting with her own unique style.
And when we woke next morning, she was gone.
Graciously hosted by G-Man.
Okay, so would somebody explain to me why out of all the 55 fans out there, nobody told me that Our Host With the Most From Coast to Coast was turning 60 today? 'Cause ya'll gotta know by now we do birthdays big around here.The freshening onshore breeze brought a slight chill to the balcony where he stood. For the sixtieth time that hour he checked his watch, still only 5:15. He frowned as he heard the voice call out "Housekeeping". The frown vanished as the door swung open."You came a long way to bring clean towels."
Graciously hosted by G-Man.
Click and hold to decorate!
"Links, on Amazon.com"
Click and hold to get the lights
"Sorry, no party tricks with this image"
"I've been duly nudged by a friend and reader, that I've been gone too long."Apparently, it didn't take.JC is one of my very oldest... actually check that, she is my oldest blog-buddy. The first person I ever put in my blogroll, the first blog I read regularly, and still (even though she's practically dropped off the edge of the blogging world) jump on every single post like a... like a... post-jumper-onny-thing. She's amused me with tales almost told about things like dancing on stepladders (I'm still waiting to hear the rest of that one.) and tales actually told about things like playing Crocodile Hunter with a recycling bin or Secretly buying horses. Or this gem that made me laugh so hard I had to file the link in my sidebar under "When I start feeling bad about my dating life..."She's also tugged at my heartstrings with other stories on topics not at all amusing, and through it all she's been as real as it gets.So today, on the anniversary of that miraculous occasion when this wonderful friend entered the world, I'm poking her again hoping to see her return to Blogaritaville. So grab some cake and trot over there and see if you can stir something up. And if not that, at least wish the girl a happy birthday, she deserves it. After all, how many people do you know that can make a sentence using the words "mumu" and "duct tape"? For reals.
"Mouse over to see behind the curtain!"
"An artist in many senses of the word, 'Mimi Pencil Skirt' looks at life through a unique prism of optimism and humor, of deep-seated compassion and firmly rooted conviction. There are no secrets here. What you see is Mimi Unplugged, an unvarnished, undiluted incredible human being with a sly wit and a quick mind. You'll laugh, and occasionally you'll cry. But you'll never doubt."I'm sure Mimi would tell ya that it's not too early to start thinking about your Peace Globe for next year. But whether you're ready to start thinking along those lines or not, you really oughta take a minute and go visit Mimi Writes. It's bad form to keep the Queen waiting you know.
"Mouse over for more"
(*And in case you were wondering, yeah, she really is that hot.)
I have to tell ya. This Karmic Cowboy gig is no fun at all. Because when you go out to ride, boldly ride, it means somebody is suffering. And in this case I feel especially bad about it, because I had no idea. For a week or better, I was so wrapped up in projects at work, at home, on the blog, elsewhere, that I didn't notice my dear friend Mimi hadn't poked her head up for days. And when it suddenly dawned on me that her absence -- conspicuous by it's very nature -- hadn't been prefaced with some kind of notice I knew it couldn't mean anything good.I was right.Her father, who's been battling heroically against a couple of protracted illnesses for far too long a time now, is in the palliative care unit (that's Hospice to most of us). The last stop on the earthly railway line.If you read Mimi's blog, you can pretty well figure out she's not ready to let go of dad yet. I'm hoping this time in hospice will allow her to do that. I know it did for me. When you see it coming, you can tie up the loose ends. There will still be some things left unsaid, or undone. There always are. But you can say/do the important ones, the ones you know you'll regret not saying/doing, the ones that you know would haunt you to your grave. Contrast that with Carmi's situation, where death came suddenly and if not completely out of a blue sky, at least unexpectedly. Knowing Carmi, I rather doubt there was very much he "tabled" and never got around to. But I'm sure if you asked him, there are a hundred things he'd want to tell his dad if he'd known. He wasn't ready to let go either, but he didn't get the chance that Mimi's getting. She's actually been getting it for quite some time now, and to her credit, she's made good use of the time.And maybe that's part of the problem. Maybe you can have too long to get used to the idea. Maybe when it takes this long, you've said all there is to say, all that's important, and you're just marking time. And maybe that feels like time you're wasting, time when you should be doing something, dammit. Anything. Making it better. There must be something that still needs to be said, but you don't know what it is. It's like death on the Easy Installment Plan, and with an criminal rate of interest.When my dad passed in July of 2000, he did it like he did most things. He was never one to put off what needed doing in his life, and he didn't modify that philosophy in his death. His stay in Hospice was mercifully short, sparing us the agony of sitting shiva for someone who's not yet departed. He hung around long enough to put his affairs in order, to make his last decisions and by the grace of whatever you want to call the ruling influence in the universe he was still able to make all those hard calls for himself. He made it easy for us, or as easy as it could be. So even though I've spent the night waking bolt upright at every little noise form the hospital bed next to me, I don't know what it's like to endure what Mimi and her mother and sister are going through. Even though my dad's decline was swift, it wasn't a bolt from the blue, so I can't empathize completely with Carmi and his mom and their family.I can't offer either of these friends empathy, not really. I can only offer a hand, an ear, a shoulder. I wish I had a better answer.
in the process I managed to find my way over to Okay, Fine, Dammit and the rest, as they say, is history.A few weeks after this exchange, it came to my attention that my brand new blog-buddy was celebrating the beginning of another orbit around the sun. I was, of course, by this time completely hooked on OFD and its author and thus began what's become something of a tradition here at Casa Mojo. I hadn't hired the elves yet, and there wasn't time to find temps, so I had to scratch together this post by way of celebration. Yeah, the first virtual birthday bash hosted on Why? What Have You Heard? had the one and only Maggie Dammit as its guest of honor.It hardly seems like a whole year has gone by since then, but here we are for another first. This is the first repeat virtual birthday bash, and I've gotten a little better at them since that first fledgling effort waaaay back in '08. And there's a whole lot more to tell this year, because I know the guest of honor a lot better now than I did back then. And I can tell ya, the longer I know her, the more amazed, awed, and impressed I am by her. Not only is she one of the most gifted writers I know, she's also one of the most fundamentally good souls I know.
The high priestess of elemental goodness. For reals. Only someone with a heart as big as the Wisconsin wilderness she calls home could ever have conceived of the much celebrated, and apparently badly needed, Violence UnSilenced. She won't take credit for it because that's just how she rolls. She'll tell you that she doesn't really do anything but schedule posts and moderate comments. She'll say that the contributors do all the heavy lifting, she's just along for the ride. She'll undersell her role in it, but don't let her kid you. To break it down to simple logic, if it were not for Maggie, there would be no VU. It sprung full grown from her heart and mind and whether someone else had eventually had the idea or not, it would not be what it is. It would not be Violence UnSilenced. And the survivors who have found their voices because of VU would not have had the outlet it gave them. Ya did good sis, and you did it well too.I'm gonna shut up now even though there's so much more I'd love to say. But if I said it all, the candles would burn out and the ice cream would melt. I once told Maggie that if I'd ever had a kid sister I'd have wanted one just like her.* (And I'd have taken care of that little punk for you too. Believe it.)So Happy Birthday, Sis.Dammit."I never had a sister. But if I had, I hope she'd have been just like you. No, not 'hot'. C'mon. Although having a hot sister (who has hot friends) could be a bonus I guess. Okay, okay, I'm stopping now before this gets weird. Er."Now you know.
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