Beloved

"First Model"
Courtesy of Timothy Schildknecht - Visual Artistry and Magic.
Copyright Starfire Media Productions 2009 - all rights reserved.

BELOVED...

Your love brings me strength.

Your example brings me hope.

Your heart brings me courage.

Your arms bring me comfort.

Your eyes bring me light.

Your voice brings me peace.

Your touch brings me passion.

Your life brings me faith.

Your companionship brings me joy.

In the end, your soul delivers me eternity.

Today is my six year wedding anniversary.

What a joy and journey!

I can hold no one in higher light and esteem than my dear wife Jennifer. She has stood by me through so much opposition and pain, and she does so as a willing servant of a higher power.

The word that best describes her is "Love". She will say that she does not have enough. I site that as an example of her second greatest quality... "Humility".

We fell in love in the fall of 2003 after a passionate and intense online romance. She proposed to me on February 29, 2004. I accepted, but I have to admit that I would have asked her to marry me if it had not been a leap year. She arranged for the most beautiful yellow lilies to accompany her proposal. These images are vividly printed in my memory.

This lovely woman and her lovely ways are burned deeply into me, and now make up a huge part of who I am. She represents all that is good, true, and worthy in me.

Jennifer... Thanks to you I will never the same.

I will never be able to repay your amazing sacrifice.

Thank You Love.

Motherhood - An Experience In Loving And Being Loved

Motherhood - "A seed of limitless potential which when nurtured...

blossoms in colors unimaginable... with benefits beyond comprehension"

Mother' Day 2010 is soon to be.

I am not ready for it.

I have often wished that Mother's Day was held on the day of ones birth. A combined affair where the event celebrates the birth of a new being, and the transformation of another.

These celebrations would big like Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, and have a spiritual tone rather than a secular one. The original event of our birth was a very spiritual one. A soul expanding, unifying connection, that unleashed a flood of emotion that, in reflection still holds it's original enchantment and surrealism. These events would be held several times a year, corresponding to the number of births a Mother has experienced. I would not label these celebrations as Mother's Day or Birthday. They would rather be called Love Day, for it is memorializing the first day of loving and being loved.

Lets face it. We were not born with a concept of love. We learned it from our Mothers. We nursed, cried, messed, slept, got sick and then well again, all because our Mother first loved us. As we got older all the hugs, kisses, and snuggles from Mother brought us warm feelings that we enjoyed experiencing. We found that giving hugs, kisses, and snuggles to others also felt good. We may not have understood why these actions created emotions in us, or what these emotions meant, but we would label them as love and continue to grow from there.

As we grew together, Mother would (without any thought or expectation for repayment), express her love for us through her ongoing sacrifice. Sacrifice was a condition that was occurring right from the beginning, starting with morning sickness, emotional disorientation, physical discomfort, cramping, the issuing of blood and water, overwhelming pain, and relentless fatigue. That was your beginning, and now with time, maturity, and understanding, you came to see that her hugs, kisses, and snuggles, may have reassured us, but it was in the sacrifices that she laboured on your behalf that her true love lived and grew.

We emulate what we experience, and when we couple our behaviors with an understanding what they mean, we begin to thrive. Her love for us taught us to love others. Love is what is most important, and is the true measure of greatness in an individual.

Are Mothers perfect? Of course not. But I believe that the concept of Motherhood is perfect, and that all mothers who struggle to do their best in delivering hugs, kisses, snuggles, wiping dirty faces, driving to and experiencing recitals, games and doctors appointments, and issuing forth blood sweat and tears, makes the world much better place than it otherwise would be, and a simple one day a year commemoration celebrating Motherhood seems completely inadequate in comparison to their accomplishments and sacrifice.

Thank You ...Mother.
Thank You... Wife.
Thank You... Mother of Our Children.

RULES... HUH!!!, What Are They Good Foor? Absolutely Nothing.

Wishcast Wednesday for May 5, 2010.

What Rules Do You Wish to Make or Break?

Rules – Rules – Rules – Rules – RULES… and more rules.

That’s all we ever hear about, complain about, and experience.

If a rule blocks our way to self-expression, self-gratification, self-promotion, or any other items needed in our self-realization or self-preservation, we label it a nuisance, and feel frustrated and angry over it.

However… if a rule protects us, our rights, privileges, and dignities, we welcome it with wide-open arms, and praise it as virtuous and noble.

These represent two ends of a proverbial spectrum, with the remaining 98%* of rules, regulations, and red tape, creating a great gray fog that seems illogical, and pointless to even navigate.

(* This number may vary depending on which side of the bi-polar pendulum I am swinging from).

Why?

We live in a society that has proven time and again to be selfish, protectionist, greedy, politically correct, and power hungry. Rules supporting these attitudes are used as tools to create and sustain these ugly and oppressive conditions.

Remember the last time you had to be placed on hold at some call center (located in India, or some other place where the person answering the phone has listed English is their second language), to argue a problem over fees on your bank statement, charge card, medical bill, or tax assessment. What did they say when they finally reconnected? It probably went something like this… “I’m sorry, but corporate/government policy clearly states that… dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. and our… blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, has to… this that and the other, so you must do… this, this, this, this, and this, to avoid… that, that, that, that, and that. Thank you for calling (insert name here). I hope you have a nice day”.

Sounds like fodder to keep the shareholders fat and happy. Picture them all lined up at the same trough?

I wish to take a moment to apologize to my blog readers, for my negative approach to this blog subject. It is not a ZEN day for me, and so today’s entry is my… therapy. It's what I utilize to keep off of pharmaceuticals. LOL.

If I take a moment now to come back to rational and unemotional thinking, truth dictates that some rules and regulations are needed and necessary in… maintaining public health and safety, protecting personal and property rights, defining acceptable societal boundaries, and drawing the line between lawful and unlawful conduct.

Generally, I have no problems with these rules, so long as fairness, and… good, solid, and sound, judgment is applied. Balance coupled with common sense, properly applied, is the only rule to be considered while “making all other rules”, and will in the end place everyone on equal footing, and introduce fairness and justice for all.

My wish for this Wishcast Wednesday is… to only have rules that will support the needs of growth and development in self and others, and dismantle all rules used as tools to control, manipulate, subdue, and restrict, the body and spirit.

Other blog entries that tie into this week’s theme are…

Saying “No” to Unfairness and Greed

and…

Dare to Believe – Balance