Survival Lessons. Living Now.

I'm reading "Survival Lessons" by Alice Hoffman - it's short - to the point and found me nodding, pondering, smiling and tearing up at different points in the book.

A few things resonated within me:

...

"It is difficult to measure a personal tragedy. How much bad fortune does it take to destroy a person? How much strength must someone possess in order to survive against the odds?"

"The older women all agreed upon the answer: They wished they had traveled the world. But more importantly, they wished they’d fallen in love more often. Don’t hold back! they told us. Live right now!"

"If you try and fail at some new endeavor, what difference does it make? None at all, unless you are jumping out of a plane. But when it comes to most skills, failure is the only way to become better at something. Knitting teaches you that. You may have to unwind all of your stitches and start anew. That doesn’t mean you’ve wasted your time. You learn from every stitch, even those that don’t amount to anything."

...

Typically I write an end of the year blog, and I was reflecting earlier this week what I would write about  -  new adventures, new people, old and new heartache, regrets and wonderings - plans for the future. 

In two days I head out on a mini-walk-about to spend the holiday with my friend Kim, her husband Nic and her youngest daughter Brodie.  I. am. so. excited.

It's seeing my friend - who I miss so much - and spending my favorite holiday with her.  It's going to new places - adventuring and holding my arms out wide for new experiences.  It's, sometimes, being scared out of my mind that I don't know what tomorrow brings but - I'll be damned - it's bringing it. 

I feel that opportunity for growth whispering in my ear again... not quite sure what it's saying yet ... but it's there - it's whispering - and I'm listening.

May you fail (not jumping out of a plane), may you succeed (and relish and roll in it), may your heart be lifted when it's heavy (swing low, sweet chariot) and may your lips rise to a smile and grin for no reason but the now.  Live in it.

Much love - the crazy, kooky, amazing kind.

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Politically Incorrect with Four Tires. Waylon Jennings.

I am not politically correct.

I also do not purposely invest my time in proving to any person that my point of view or perspective is correct.  Here's the beauty of life - the right and real things are not your or my opinion. 

Hell.  I'm neither political or correct.

Today I was at a store and the man at the counter ( who is used to me visiting the store) said, "Do people give you a hard time about your jeep now that we're all so politically correct?"

Grinning sideways, I responded, "I think some people think about it - then I hop out of the jeep and they don't say one word.  Go figure!"  I told him I'm considering putting a rebel flag on top of the hardtop once it's installed.  (I already have the horn.)

If my jeep insults you - you have so many problems that I can't even solve with discussion.  I would actually classify you as silly - and straight-forward say to you, "Bless your heart, darlin'." 

My jeep is not my statement to the world.  It says nothing about me except I liked the Dukes of Hazzard growing up, I love driving a standard, and I like a vehicle I can tear up on the backroads of Montana.  It says I'm slightly impractical - but I've lived a practical life almost all of my life - give a little here.  It says that I love the color orange - and that Bo was a secret crush of mine.  It says that I don't give a flying flip about comfort or having the newest of new - because in my Simone world - that doesn't matter. 

It doesn't tell you that I believe in the right of choice - or that I boldly support my LGBTQ friends and family.  It doesn't tell you that I believe that guns are the right of the people and I carry - and I have a right to carry - and I like guns.  It doesn't tell you that I care for people to the highest mountain and will step in front of a bus for a stranger - and I'll protect you with my very being if I thought you were in danger.  My jeep doesn't tell you that I pay for the coffee of the person behind me or for the groceries of the person not paying attention in the line.   It doesn't tell you that I was right and real ticked off that a fountain that was put in place in the early 1900s by the Daughters of the Confederacy was removed from a park near my home because someone was suddenly insulted by it.  (Bless your heart.)

Folks, I recommend reading a once well-known writing by George Orwell.  The title is Nineteen Eighty-Four.  

In my not so politically correct way - I will warn you of erasing parts of history that make you uncomfortable.  Do not make the mistake of making your mental/physical/emotional world comfortable as the cost of history or - even - reality.   Invest in reasonable and real conversation about progress - but not at the cost of the future... because I promise, if we continue to erase a past that somehow insults those who never experienced it - we will be doomed to repeat it. 

Or worse.

Let's not get to the 'or worse' part....

Please.

So if you see my jeep - know I'm bouncing around in it - happy - listening to music - likely some Waylon Jennings. (Press Play Below.)

Be ever so happy.  (Just try it.)

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Believer.

(press play:)

Imagine Dragons - Believer

There are always those songs that we hear on the radio, or on Pandora, or maybe our Amazon station - we hear parts of the song - but don't really hear the story of the song...

The first time I looked up the lyrics of this song I whispered aloud, "woah." 

Just a whisper.

 - my past - the same for my brothers - has not been a road you would choose.  If you know me - them - us - you know this.  And yet, even with the racket - we are some pretty amazing (I wanted to type badass) people.

....

But a story re-told is not the point of this blog.

Music.  Music.

I live a life where there is a soundtrack constantly playing in my mind.  Sometimes it bubbles out - sometimes I have to share a song.

Tonight - I have to share a song.

Snow is surrounding me everywhere.  Soup is made.  Quilting is being pieced and sewn.  I've grabbed pieces from my Europe trip and started to group things so I can begin the process of creating altered books that will encapsulate that amazing adventure.

Wherever you are now - this moment - this point in your life - I sure hope: By the grace of the fire and the flames, You're the face of the future, the blood in my veins, oh ooh, The blood in my veins, oh ooh
But they never did, ever lived, ebbing and flowing, Inhibited, limited, Till it broke up and it rained down, It rained down, like....  You made me a, you made me a believer, believer.

Go be the greatest most amazing you.  (Believer)

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**** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** ****

First things first
I'ma say all the words inside my head
I'm fired up and tired of the way that things have been, oh ooh
The way that things have been, oh ooh
Second thing
Second, don't you tell me what you think that I can be
I'm the one at the sail, I'm the master of my sea, oh ooh
The master of my sea, oh ooh

I was broken from a young age
Taking my soul into the masses
Write down my poems for the few
That looked at me took to me, shook to me, feeling me
Singing from heart ache from the pain
Take up my message from the veins
Speaking my lesson from the brain
Seeing the beauty through the

You made me a, you made me a believer, believer
(Pain, pain)
You break me down, you build me up, believer, believer
(Pain)
I let the bullets fly, oh let them rain
My luck, my love, my God, they came from
(Pain)
You made me a, you made me a believer, believer

Third things third
Send a prayer to the ones up above
All the hate that you've heard has turned your spirit to a dove, oh ooh
Your spirit up above, oh ooh

I was choking in the crowd
Living my brain up in the cloud
Falling like ashes to the ground
Hoping my feelings, they would drown
But they never did, ever lived, ebbing and flowing
Inhibited, limited
Till it broke up and it rained down
It rained down, like

You made me a, you made me a believer, believer
(Pain, pain)
You break me down, you built me up, believer, believer
(Pain)
I let the bullets fly, oh let them rain
My luck, my love, my God, they came from
(Pain)
You made me a, you made me a believer, believer

Last things last
By the grace of the fire and the flames
You're the face of the future, the blood in my veins, oh ooh
The blood in my veins, oh ooh
But they never did, ever lived, ebbing and flowing
Inhibited, limited
Till it broke up and it rained down
It rained down, like

You made me a, you made me a believer, believer
(Pain, pain)
You break me down, you built me up, believer, believer
(Pain)
I let the bullets fly, oh let them rain
My luck, my love, my God, they came from
(Pain)
You made me a, you made me a believer, believer

Inspiration. Personified.

What inspires you?

Interestingly - it's people - it's my friends - it's a complete stranger ... these are the large majority that provide the best and most real inspiration.

Leaves inspire me. And rocks.  And how the sun curves over a building at sunrise or sunset.

The way a man looks when he is pondering a matter.  The way a woman looks when she is determined.  The way a woman looks when she has embraced the beauty of being a woman.

Art. 

Y'all - art makes my heart race.  It's a visceral response ... it's real and right in Simone world.

Late Autumn is singing its tune to me - and Winter whispers. 

I feel like it's daring me.  Likely - it is.

Be the ever beautiful possibility...

Just be so ever happy for the opportunity to be your genuine self.

You get one you.  One time. 

It's awesome.

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