Just some thoughts....

This isn't inspired by anything in particular -- there has been no event, no word spoken, no gesture made to label this a reaction to it. These are just some things I've been thinking on for a while.............

I'm world-weary; more precisely, I'm weary of a lot of things about the world.

I'm weary of a world that expects conformity, and considers it the highest value. I lived in that world: it was called high school. It took moving across the state and starting with a blank slate in college to move beyond it. I swore I'd never live there again, and I have no intention to do so. Perhaps that is why I sometimes choose to be contrary simply for its own sake -- to remind everyone that in a world of a billion shades of grey, we need hot pink and lime green and eye-popping turquoise and even ugly UT Orange (both UT's).

I'm weary of a world which only places value on your economy -- what you can contribute, how much you drain. If you fall below a certain Mendoza line, well...... or if you somehow get above an arbitrary ceiling set for you, then they'll either let you loose or find a way to bring you down.

I'm weary of a world which places no value at all on the arts. Okay, that may just be an American cultural thing. Or art only if it's controversial and arcane. Or art if it draws a fortune at a Sotheby's or Christie's auction. We tell our children that arts and crafts are best left to childhood camps and art day at school, but artists in real life are slackers who don't want to "grow up" ...... or who have to do work which doesn't feed their art or their soul.

I'm weary of a world where people are judged and divided by where they fall on an issue -- and immediately labeled as the enemy. I daresay I probably disagree on various issues with my friends and yet we still love each other. Unfortunately with the cameras rolling, I doubt Harry Reid and John Boehner would ever own up  to agreeing on anything.

And I'm definitely weary of a world in which all our best efforts go completely unheralded and our tiniest mistakes magnified.

I believe in more.

I believe there is a place where people are valued for who they are, encouraged to be whomever they want to be with no limits and no expectations. I believe there is a world where people are free to do what makes their souls sing and they are loved for it. I believe in a place where differences are respected and everyone still loves each other all the more for it.

That's my version of heaven ......... and I believe in my heart of hearts that if we just put forth a little more effort, we could have heaven on earth.

The shackles are undone, the bullet's quit the gun
The heat that's in the sun will keep us when there's none
The rule has been disproved, the stone - it has been moved;
The grain is now a grove; all debts are removed.
Oh, can't you see what love has done?
Oh, can't you see what love has done?
Oh, can't you see what love has done,
What it's doing to me.......


To every broken heart, for every heart that cries
Love left a window in the skies
And to love I rhapsodize.....


This song has been going through my head just about every morning this week as I've awakened. Someone's trying to tell me something...... thank you Bono!

FITBF, 6/8

Today I bring you the new and improved

Fill in the Blank Friday!

The format is a little different, but the idea is still the same. There will still be blank filling, but instead of coming up with seven blanks each week there will only be one. You may be thinking, "What?! What am I supposed to do with only one blank?!" Well, let me explain....

I will be giving you a fill in the blank, a theme or a story starter each week and you'll complete a blog post based on the prompt. Kind of like a writer's workshop. Remember that when you were in school? I always loved those!

I thought this would be a fun way to see how people make the post their own. Feel free to add photos or whatever you want to personalize your post and then make sure you link back here as always so we can all check out each other's posts! So, without further ado, here's this week's blank....

I need to... period.

I need a creative outlet for all the thoughts, words, ideas, everything that swirls around in my head. I need a place to put the deeper story of life: the backstory, the little details that explain, the emotions behind the words.

I need to write. I sing, my one best talent, but that's hard to do in a blog. Writing is my "1B" .... I need to write so that I can continually improve the craft, hone my skills, expand the gift I was given.

Vainly, I blog to have some sort of record somewhere, other than facts in a census record or vital records vault, to show the world I was here. Without kids to carry on my story, this is how I can do this.

I blog to help others, especially in my weight-loss blog. I want to show people that anything is possible with determination, hard work, and a lot of support. To never stop believing, dreaming, working, planning and trying.

I blog privately to express the things I cannot say aloud: my deepest secrets, my worst fears, things that induce my deepest guilt and shame, the things that bring me unspeakable joy.

I blog... because I must.