Tuesday 12/8/09 - "ANGELS AROUND ME"

"ANGELS AROUND ME"

Tonight daughter and I went with three of my oldest friends from Naples and the daughter of one of them to a birthday dinner to celebrate the 59th birthday of one of them. Lord, where have the years gone? These friends have been by my side for 25+ years. Our children were babies when we met. Our children grew up together as I and my friends grew older together.

We have celebrated birthdays and holidays year after year. We have celebrated our children's birthdays at places like McDonald's, the roller skating rink, the bowling alley, theme parks, our homes, picnics in the park, in all kinds of places.

We used to meet once a week for dinner at places we could afford such as McDonald's, Burger King, Ponderosa, pizza joints, Chinese restaurants. Our favorites were places that offered playgrounds for our kids to play in while we talked and talked. 25 years later our girls are in their late 20s and we are all eating in a restaurant without a playground. We are all talking "grown up" talk.

I love these women and their adult children. I love the time we spend together. Though we have seen each others character flaws over the years we have mutually agreed (unspoken) that our relationship is worth the effort to cultivate and is cherished.

My friends are like angels to me. God bless them.

Prayer Girl

Monday 12/7/09 - "LIVING CHRISTMAS TREES"

"LIVING CHRISTMAS TREES"

"Just as the wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean, so must I never live my life for itself, but always in the experience which is going on around me. It is an uncomfortable doctrine which the true ethics whisper into my ear. You are happy, they say; therefore you are called upon to give much." -Albert Schweitzer


I am happy. This evening I went with a sponsee and a group of other friends to the annual production of the Living Christmas Trees put on by the largest Baptist church around. I used to belong to this church when it was smaller. It is an elaborate, very professional, and primarily all volunteer show. It is produced each year for the express purpose of carrying the good news of Christ and salvation. Every year they seem to outdo themselves with their production and this year was no exception. It usually marks the turning point of my "getting into the Christmas spirit".

A group of us went out to eat at a Jason's Deli after the performance. This was a delightful experience. I knew my sponsee friend who had invited me and had the opportunity to meet others I did not already know. It felt good to be a part of this happening. I enjoyed a Turkey Reuben sandwich and tomato basil soup.

I have had so many other things on my mind that Christmas has been only barely on the radar screen. No tree up yet, no Christmas lists made or shopping yet, no decorating yet - until tonight when I put on my "Christmas top" with black pants and heels and went to the performance.

I will need to begin straightening up before I can even think about putting up the tree. Maybe this week will bring enough motivation to do this.

I know I need to go into the silence and talk to God. I need to put him in the center of this season and the center of each day. This message was also included in the theme of the Living Christmas Trees - that Christmas is all about God's gift to us. If I remember this simple message I am sure this Christmas will be a wonderful one.

God bless all of you bloggers.

Peace, love, and prayers.
Prayer Girl

Sunday 12/6/09 - CHOOSING HAPPY MEMORIES"

"CHOOSING HAPPY MEMORIES"

Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon broke my denial and I faced all the painful truths about myself - my fears, the lies I told myself and others, the flaws in my thinking and behavior. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd steps prepared me to do this and the 4th and 5th allowed me to become free. The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th provided the action needed to clean up the wreckage of my life. Steps 10, 11, and 12 help me stay free.

So - - - today I am not trapped in that negative past and can choose to recall happy memories rather than dwelling in negative ones.

I remember and cherish loving, happy Christmases and beautiful trees of a past time. I don't regret any that may not have been as sweet. This is an example of the promises at work. "We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it." (Promises, Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous)

I can open a door of joyful memory if I choose. I remember my childhood. I have uncovered many hurts of my childhood, but there are many beautiful memories too. I remember my father swimming out into the ocean at Martha's Vineyard to save my whale shaped inflatable floaty. I was so young that in my little baby eyes, he was swimming to China just for me, to save something that was mine. In that moment, he was "my hero". I have never forgotten it.

I remember the first home we bought. My son was a very young. I had a bicycle with a baby seat affixed to the back. We bicycled up and down the hills in our residential neighborhood, son perched safely behind me. For some reason, that is a memory that makes me feel so good.

I remember my daughter maybe 15 years later, age 5, singing into a pole shaped sprinkler in our backyard, putting on a concert for me. She sang her heart out and that sprinkler was the perfect microphone.

I reserve the right to continue this blog at another time to include other happy memories. I am running out of time now.

God bless all my blogger friends.

Prayer Girl

Saturday 12/5/09 - "PRACTICE"

SIX WORD SATURDAY

"PRACTICE"

PRACTICE

PRAYER


PRACTICE

PERSISTENCE


PRACTICE

PATIENCE

Prayer Girl

(Photo credit: Dream Big by Alexis Yobbagy)

Friday 12/4/09 - "THE HAPPIER COUPLE"

FLASH FICTION FRIDAY 55

"THE HAPPIER COUPLE"

The happy couple heard many blessings from members of the wedding party.

Most said, "Be as happy in 50 years as you are today."

The officiant said, "May you be not as happy, but immeasurably happier in 50 years."

Eight (56) years passed.

They laid together beneath a shady willow dreaming of T-bone steak biscuits.


Prayer Girl

(Photo credit: America's Next Top Models by Debbie Del Tejo)

Flash Fiction Friday 55
is a story written in exactly 55 words.
Let the G-Man know if you write one
and read the ones of your fellow writers.

Thursday 12/3/09 - "BEGINNINGS"

"BEGINNINGS"

Beginnings forecast endings. Birth leads inevitably to death. The blooming flower withers and disappears. The leafing tree remains green for a season and then drops its leaves. Someone begins knitting a pair of socks that when finished warm someone's feet. A student begins a freshman term in college and graduates at the end of the senior year. Divorce leads to new possibilities for a healthier relationship.

Just as often endings lead to new beginnings. Fields of crops left fallow for a season renews and enriches the soil for a new beginning. The end of a journey is the beginning of a new one. The end of my alcoholic drinking was the beginning of a new life.

I fought giving up drinking with all my might. Of course, this was a function of my disease. Every time I took a drink, I turned on my allergy to alcohol. Then along came the obsessive thought of the next drink and the next and the next and then the compulsion to take that next drink was too strong to be resisted. The idea of living without drinking seemed like the end of life. I reached that point all alcoholics who have found recovery know, they can't imagine life with alcohol and they can't imagine life without it.

Then came the day that I picked up a drink that marked the beginning of the end of my last drunk and the end of my drinking. When I awoke from that drunk, total clarity despite how sick I was filled me. I knew that I would never have to drink again. I turned my life over to Alcoholics Anonymous. I later understood it was God I turned my life over to at that moment and God spoke to me through the members of AA.

That end that felt like a death turned out to be the beginning of a wonderful new life. I was graced with a new beginning. Over the years I have learned what was deep down inside of me that encouraged escape through alcohol. I have come to understand the flaws in my character that had kept me blocked from the sunlight of the spirit. Through working the twelve steps in order, one through twelve, I have developed a spiritual connection with God that has given me the power I lack. I now have the power I need to stay away from alcohol, to allow God to change me, and to live a wonderful life.

I have watched many others find new beginnings. It is possible. It happens. Miracles happen. People change. They find lives that include happiness. They develop lives with the capacity to deal with bad things that may happen. They are capable of appreciating the joy of living.

For those of us who may be experiencing an end of some kind, remember that there will surely be a new beginning.

Prayer Girl

Wednesday 12/2/09 - "LIGHT AS A BREEZE, A BIRD"

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY
"LIGHT AS A BREEZE, A BIRD"

Prayer Girl

(Photo credit: ELWind by Fantasize Me R93)