There is that special time in the summer evening when the sun is still up, dinner is over, maybe a movie is on for the kids and you get that really peaceful, easy feeling. I'm there right now. I just took a solo stroll with Odi, the 100 lb eunuch (German Shepard) who looks like he would eat your hand if he could, but would actually lick it and tell you in desperate little yelps that he loves you, wants to snuggle you, just really wants to be on your lap. Together we clipped along looking at the variety of homes in our new neighborhood from Boo Radley's house next door to the $3 million monstrosity down the street. And everything in between. Some yards are meticulously manicured. Some haven't been touched in years. The only thing universal in this beautiful little nook of the world is the lush greenery. The nesturcian flowers vining up fences, palms towering overhead, huge pines that have spent a century turning into giants. I love Leucadia.
Passing each stranger on the street, I found it a challenge to be the first to say "Hello". There is a friendliness here that suggests we all know that there are few places more special to live and we share our fortune by putting out the happy vibes. I passed a young guy plucking bright oranges from a beautiful tree in his front yard, and he took a moment to say hi. Not more than a minute later as I made a bend in our loop, I heard a loud, unfamiliar screeching sound from high up in the trees. After ruling out the possibility of a rogue howler monkey, I stopped and waited to see if anything emerged. Then, lo and behold, a flock of bright green parrots shot out of a tree, flapping twice as hard as most other birds. I have never seen parrots in Encinitas, but then again, why wouldn't they want to live here? It's got everything a parrot could want.
The rest of Odi's and my walk was pretty uneventful, but I made a point to say hello to the teenage boys sneaking a smoke while they "take the dog for a walk". We passed the much-loathed lot where a greenhouse stood for 40 years and is now being turned into a 19 home subdivision (on top of toxic soil nonetheless) and then approached home. As we passed the neighbors' house on the corner, perched in the nook of the large tree in their front driveway, was a picture album, dirty and worn looking. I am assuming it fell out of someone's bag? I can't think of too many reasons why a picture album would be sitting in the trunk of a tree out on the street in front of an elderly couple's home. But on the front of the album in cursive letters was the word "Memories".
There are moments where I feel that I have peeled away the layers of stress and I leave myself available to the flowing tides of love and goodness. In those special moments, when I am not trying to do too much or be something different than who I am, I feel close to God, to truth. I also feel close to my dad. He reaches me in moments of vulnerability and I am so grateful. It will be 4 years this summer since I saw his face. So in the moment that I turn that corner and see a random photo album with Memories sewn onto it, I feel it is a little gift to me from his perch in heaven. It is his wish for me that I remember the memories made already and appreciate the good fortune I have now, like living in a place that makes me feel good. Nothing else really matters.
I came home from my walk, did some sun salutations on the grass in my front yard as the sun fell into the ocean. This was an incredible ending to a good day and I am thankful.
How is that for a sappy post...anyone barfing yet? Hopefully, I will not lose one of my 3 followers!! :)
xoxo Lo
www.mensjournal.com/the-best-nabes-west
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Future Memories
Alrighty, here we go! One of my goals for 2011 was to become more technologically savvy. So, Lo and Behold, here we are with my first blog post. This comes just days after creating a Facebook business page for my insurance agency and updating my business website that has sat dormant for 3 years while I asked myself "Why doesn't anyone use my website??" It feels good to enter the modern era of computer-based, ego-driven (I felt so popular when my FB friend number topped 200!!) information sharing. Don't worry, I don't plan to go too political with my posts!
In actuality, I have no idea what this is going to be. A way to share my thoughts with family and friends? Yes. A way to vent? No doubt. A diary of sorts to keep track of important events and little details that I will likely forget as time rolls on? Hopefully. I am realizing that as kid #1 approaches the 6 year mark and kid #2 just passed the 3 year post, I haven't done a very thorough job of tracking the funny sayings, doings, or makings of the offspring. And while I have saved enough lovey-dovey, sappy anniversary, birthday, just because cards to and from my husband to open up a Hallmark store, my memory gets cluttered with the heaps of new passages that are piled on each year. To remember what it was like to be young, newly wed and BORED...oh my gosh, can anyone with kids remember what it felt like to be bored?!
Anyway, I figure this is a much more appropriate place to post my often inappropriate thoughts than Facebook. There is nothing like throwing out a weird rant on FB and then realizing nobody had a thing to say. Ya know people saw it, but then you start of over-analyze the fact that no one said anything and then question whether you should have posted it in the first place. (My mother has informed me that I have posted "unnecessary" things on FB before). So, here you have it! An open pasture for the words to run wild!
Once upon a time, I wanted to be a writer. Instead, I became an insurance agent. Not too far off, right? Needless to say, I could use a creative outlet. If you want to be mildly entertained and often grateful you are in your own shoes and not mine, feel free to tag along on my little journey. We will see where it goes!!
xoxo Lo
In actuality, I have no idea what this is going to be. A way to share my thoughts with family and friends? Yes. A way to vent? No doubt. A diary of sorts to keep track of important events and little details that I will likely forget as time rolls on? Hopefully. I am realizing that as kid #1 approaches the 6 year mark and kid #2 just passed the 3 year post, I haven't done a very thorough job of tracking the funny sayings, doings, or makings of the offspring. And while I have saved enough lovey-dovey, sappy anniversary, birthday, just because cards to and from my husband to open up a Hallmark store, my memory gets cluttered with the heaps of new passages that are piled on each year. To remember what it was like to be young, newly wed and BORED...oh my gosh, can anyone with kids remember what it felt like to be bored?!
Anyway, I figure this is a much more appropriate place to post my often inappropriate thoughts than Facebook. There is nothing like throwing out a weird rant on FB and then realizing nobody had a thing to say. Ya know people saw it, but then you start of over-analyze the fact that no one said anything and then question whether you should have posted it in the first place. (My mother has informed me that I have posted "unnecessary" things on FB before). So, here you have it! An open pasture for the words to run wild!
Once upon a time, I wanted to be a writer. Instead, I became an insurance agent. Not too far off, right? Needless to say, I could use a creative outlet. If you want to be mildly entertained and often grateful you are in your own shoes and not mine, feel free to tag along on my little journey. We will see where it goes!!
xoxo Lo
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