These things I know for sure - August 1, 2014

These things I know for sure - 

If I meditate, do yoga and floss everyday, I will be on my way to vibrant health or at the very least a good night of sleep.
People will pay me well for my advice.
Doing things from excitement renders better results than doing things from desperation.
The universe is abundant. I just have to remember how to tap back in.
The scent of burning sage calms me down.
I am so excited to welcome my girl home from chorus camp today.
That in a few short weeks, I will be looking for high schools. May god have mercy on my soul. 
Like begets like.
Sitting around watching the world events unfold, without any action on my part, means that I support them.
I am craving a big juicy steak dripping in herb butter. Yes, I know this for sure.
God, the divine mother/father, would never ask us to kill in their name. NEVER! EVER!
Birds are wonderful creatures.
Holding my friend Sam calms and fills my soul. ‪#‎sambaker‬ ‪#‎sweetbaby‬Stacey
I am blessed by the company I keep, even if I haven't seen you in ages.
My body is craving warm tropical breezes on soft white sandy beaches and the smell of tropical flowers.
These things I know for sure...

These Things I Know For Sure - July 25, 2014

These things I know for sure - 

I love the times when I am alone in my apartment - it is so wonderfully silent.
When I feel stressed movement helps. ‪#‎asanas‬
I honestly cannot figure out what creative project I will work on this week - this coming week is a staycation get your life together week.
My neighbor is getting married tomorrow and I am about to embark on a sidewalk chalk fest that will make them so happy.  ‪#‎sidewalkART‬‪#‎covertOperation‬
My cat thinks I am her mom, really she does.
I want to dance, but it has been so long I feel that I may have forgotten.
I am not hungry these days.
I don't know how to bring peace to the world.
I wish my niece was home so we can hang out by the pool and look through magazines. ‪#‎missingAlexa‬
I am about to take a pair of scissors to my hair. ‪#‎uhoh‬ ‪#‎punkrockroots‬
I get by with a little help from my friends.
Laying on the grass, watching the clouds roll by with my sister was the best medicine today.
My friend Luis, lifted my spirits today.
Today I was asked to chair a committee and I agreed to do it. ‪#‎sharpeningMYskills‬
I am grateful...I am scared...I am hopeful...but mostly, I am grateful.

These Things I Know For Sure - July 1, 2014

These things I know for sure:

If you move though darkness you always end up at the light.
Life is just a series of choices.
Alexa and Cole are coming over for dinner tonight. (see light mentioned first)
My dear Jo-Ann and her family are moving to SF for a month. (see light again)
My friends and family all know that I love them. (see light again)
In a few minutes I get to have a big cup of English tea courtesy of Annie and Simon.

So, it has been a while.

I just realized that it has been since forever since I have posted on this blog. So much has been going on so I am going to just jump back in.  Last Summer my sweet Dad passed away.  He was having problems breathing and his doctor had diagnosed him with chronic bronchitis, then COPD, then they found it. Stage 4 advanced lung cancer.  Oh god, there we go - the C word again.  We were told we could have up to 6 months with him. Oh god, 6 months. I would have to drive him to the ocean and Big Sur. He would have to hear the sound of his beloved Pacific ocean one more time, he would have to hug a redwood tree just one more time.  He would have to eat Dim Sum here in San Francisco, just one more time.  So many lasts that I wanted him to experience. I wanted him to say goodbye to the ocean, the trees and so on. More time to talk to him. To ask him about his history. To say goodbye. For him to say goodbye. But instead he had other plans.  My dad passed in a few weeks.  My family was stunned.  I believe we were shocked because it never occurred to us that he was already in this 80s.  He acted like a much younger man. His humor, his appetite for life and food.  His love of a shot of tequila, "Una tequilita mas". His incredible humor, and that twinkle in his eye. Oh god, that twinkle in his eye and his voice are what I miss.

I make an effort to give my brother Victor extra long hugs because my hugging Victor feels like hugging my dad.  Maybe it is the height, maybe it is body type, maybe it is how he smells - but hugging my brother feels so comforting and familiar.

After my dad died I started to worry.  My mother was devastated but coping. My siblings were in such pain. But me, there was nothing. Okay, yeah, a few tears but not devastated.  I often wondered if maybe my grieving was broken some how.  It is not that I didn't love him - I did, fiercely.  It is not that I don't miss him - I do, so very very much.  Maybe I mourn differently.  Maybe something is broken. Or worse, maybe one day in the future it will hit me and debilitate me so deeply that I will not be able to function.  I simply do not know.

So on Facebook I started writing - my truths because I needed to know what I knew.  This writing I called - These Things I know For Sure.  I will share them with you as we move along from this day forward.  You can tell me what your truths are too.

Here is picture of my dad.

Owl

Owl Animal Symbolism

The owl is sacred to the Greek goddess of learning, Athena and is even depicted on some Greco-Roman currency as a symbol of status, intelligence and of course, wealth.

In ancient Egyptian, Celtic, and Hindu cultures the symbolic meaning of owl revolved around guardianship of the underworlds, and a protection of the dead.

In this light the owl was ruler of the night and seer of souls. A misunderstanding of this necessary relationship gave the owl some negative associations with death.

It should be clear that the owl was honored as the keeper of spirits who had passed from one plane to another. Often myth indicates the owl accompanying a spirit to the underworld - winging it's newly freed soul from the physical world into the realm of spirit.

Native Americans associated the meaning of owl with wisdom, foresight, and keeper of sacred knowledge. This may largely be due to the fact that the owl is a great foreteller of weather conditions. Also its ability to see at night is legend among the Native Americans, and this attribute would be invoked during ceremonies when an oracle of secret knowledge was required.

Similarly, West African and Aboriginal Australian cultures viewed the owl as a messenger of secrets, kin to sorcerers, as well as companions to seers, mystics and medicine people.

During medieval times in western and central Europe it was fabled that owls were actually priestesses (witches) and wizards in disguise. To this day the owl is considered a witch's familiar (an animal soul-spirit linked to a spiritual person via a unique, communicative bond).

Hindu Deities - dedicated to Allegra

Images...beautiful men