By Debra Basham, on December 24, 2019 It is Christmas. The meaning of Christmas differs to your origin, religion, or persuasion.
This Christmas I am especially aware of how important my persuasion or choice is.
Thiw is why when I got dressed this morning, I chose to put on my “choose to be joyous” t-shirt.
Choosing to be joyous is not the same as feeling happy. One can choose to be joyous, even if you are feeling sad.
When we arrived at our Southern home we noticed our homeowners left us a personal companion: Alexa. We can say, “Alexa, play Christmas music.” When you let someone or something else choose for you, sometimes your experience isn’t one you would choose. We heard a voice crooning all I want for Christmas is a real good tan.
“Please, Daddy (Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas)” was maybe our worst listening-to-Alexa experience. Here are the full lyrics:
Please daddy, don’t get drunk this Christmas, I don’t wanna see my mamma cry.
Please daddy, don’t get drunk this Christmas, I don’t wanna see my mamma cry.
Just last year when I was only seven, now I’m almost eight as you can see.
You came home a quarter past eleven, fell down underneath our Christmas tree.
Please daddy, don’t get drunk this Christmas, I don’t wanna see my mamma cry.
Please daddy, don’t get drunk this Christmas, I don’t wanna see my mamma cry.
Mamma smiled and looked outside the window. She told me, “Son, you better get upstairs.”
Then you laughed and hollered “Merry Christmas.” I turned around and saw my mamma’s tears.
Please daddy, don’t get drunk this Christmas, I don’t wanna see my mamma cry.
Please daddy, don’t get drunk this Christmas, I don’t wanna see my mamma cry.
No, I don’t wanna see my mamma cry.
Having a drunk father at Christmas is not fun. It is also not fun to spend Christmas in the hospital, or gravely ill.
Christmas can be felt differently by those who have lost a loved one.
Not having a roof over you head, food on your table, or gifts under the tree can also generate unhappy feelings.
But choosing to BE joyous, regardless of the current conditions, remains a choice.
This is how our persuasion fits in.
Two men were looking at a bottle of milk.
Said one with a groan, “The bottle is half empty.”
Said the other with a grin, “The bottle is half full.”
The first belonged to the courters of disasters,
forever bemoaning their losses;
the second to the invincibles who
win by counting their blessings.
source: Los Angeles Times, Feb 26, 1933, p. 14
I am profoundly aware of so many having so much to feel sad about and it is Christmas. I am in awe of the persuasion—the choice to be joyous, being made by so many.
As a special gift to each of you, I have selected a few Sacred Stories to share again:
Electric Heater
Light My Fire
Hope You Feel Better Soon
I hope you will click on each of these links and take some time with these stories that tell us about the light that shines in the darkness.
I hope you will find a genuine way to keep Christmas this year, regardless of your origin or your religion. From our place in paradise, here I am wishing happy holidays to you and yours.
By Debra Basham, on December 18, 2019 Yesterday at meditation we had some lively conversation. On the drive home, a Katey and I mentioned something we had both previously learned from Brugh Joy: Release the need to understand.
That idea is shared in his book, Joy’s Way: A Map for the Transformational Journey. An Introduction to the Potentials for Healing with Body Energies. In the third chapter of the book, Brugh describes a cosmic experience of a woman who came to talk with him about her challenges in life. A few months earlier, she had been walking along a beach, saw an iridescent light, and heard a booming voice deliver three injunctions. She thought she was going mad. The voice said, slowly and repetitively, “‘There are three injunctions for you. Pay attention to them. Make no comparisons; make no comparisons. Make no judgments; make no judgments. Delete your need to understand; delete your need to understand.'” (p. 59)
Our daughter, Stacey, and her husband, Doug, have the Lady Gail at a marina in the high rent district in Key West. She is asking for divine guidance about their next steps on this adventure. I reminded her they are right where they need to be—today and at least through January 3 when granddaughter, Courtney, flies back to Tennessee after spending Christmas and New Years with them.
This morning I received an article from Joel about the mental health benefits of tarot and astrology. Reading the article sent me on a walk down memory lane!
Years ago I was giving a talk on alternative medicine to a packed room at our local hospital. I had a 3-page handout with brief descriptions of each of the modalities offered by the members of our Holistic Alliance. The list was alphabetized, so it began with acupressure and acupuncture. Third on the list was astrology.
I was given a glowing introduction by Brenda Layne, a celebrity and friend from the radio station, a woman in the audience raised her hand. Thinking she may be saying that she couldn’t hear her that the lighting was bad or something, I acknowledged the woman.
Voice dripping with sarcasm she said, “How could you imply that astrology could be a valid medical treatment?”
You could have heard a pin drop in the room.
After taking a deep breath, I replied, “From the tone of your question, obviously it wouldn’t be a viable option for you.”
Then I continued….
“However, if someone going through something major like cancer believed in astrology (even a small belief) and that person had an astrological reading that provided information like this, ‘I can see here that you have just come through your Saturn return and it’s likely been a very difficult past six months, but hold on, because Venus is rising and before the first of the year everything will turn around for you,’ that is a valid medical intervention because it restores hope.”
It is vital to notice what restores hope for you in times of stress or distress.
Eight of Cups was the featured card in the article about the mental health benefits of tarot and astrology, so I sent the information along to Stacey:
Eight of Cups
People who get what they truly want in life know how to walk away when something is good, but not good enough. Mind the parts of you that feel flattered, lucky and scared you can’t do better. It’s okay to have those feelings, but do not let them dictate your decisions.
Barbara Brodsky tells of an experience she had years ago. She was hospitalized with a very serious cellulitis in her leg. Nothing was working and the infection had moved up above her knee and was spreading to her thigh. The doctors started her on another antibiotic saying, “We will give this 36 hours. If it does not stop the spread, the leg will have to be amputated to keep the infection from getting into organs.”
The next morning there was no improvement.
Barbara was in excruciating pain and despair—so afraid, so angry. “Why me?”
Late that night Barbara got a roommate. Through a narrow opening in the curtain that separated the two beds, she saw that the woman had obviously had a leg amputated. The woman’s other leg was just a stump from a previous amputation.
Compassion rose up in Barbara. Others came to mind who had lost a leg due to war or an accident or an illness.
Suddenly Barbara’s heart was open. This was no longer about her fear and pain and suffering. It was about ALL pain and suffering. After doing Metta (lovingkindess meditation) for a few hours, somewhere before dawn, Barbara fell asleep. When she was awoken a couple of hours later, her fever had broken. The antibiotic was working!
Barbara was not pretending to have compassion. Genuine compassion was there for the woman, for others, for Barbara.
From my journal 12-14-19:
Releasing Negative Charge
Today takes on a charge. Each day does this.
The idea of lovingkindness being an active “taking in” of the day and allowing the charge to be released is relevant to all now.
You were dreaming about the environment when you woke up this morning. You saw your friend’s email about the beach in Michigan being eroded. Some would just point fingers and blame. This only amplifies the negative charge.
As you bring loving awareness to the situation — not denial, not ignorance, not sticking your head in the sand — you are allowing the transmutation, which is natural, to work for the benefit of all.
Thoughts today of Jessica in Texas going through an experimental chemotherapy.
Thoughts of Jane Foster and all she has gone through.
I don’t know what their astrology chart might show, but the message of the Eight of Cups is relevant to both of them today, and to all of us.
And not just at Christmas, but every day of the year.
Keep Hope Alive
By Debra Basham, on December 11, 2019 It has been said a picture is worth a thousand words. This one certainly is:
The photo was taken at 10:14 pm on Friday, December 6, 2019. I had been so focused on the 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle I was working that I did not notice I had on one sandal and one slipper. If this sensation, look, and experience went unnoticed, what else might I be missing?
In Buddhism for Beginners, The Noble Eightfold Path, Walpola Sri Wahula lists the benefits and elements of mindfulness.
1. Right understanding
2. Right thought
3. Right speech
4. Right action
5. Right livelihood
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right concentration
Approximately 90 minutes before I snapped that photo, a friend completed his transition. His wife wrote the following morning:
“I was getting ready to spend another night with him when he just went away. I had told him a short time before, again, that it would be OK if he was ready to go. Thank you for the love and prayers. He went in peace and now he is in great joy.”
Yesterday in the instruction/sharing time before meditation we had a very lively conversation about view. I am reminded of something Abraham Hicks said to a man who reported feeling like he was running out of time. The man went on to share that he did not believe in an afterlife or reincarnation. He felt that these views were a cop out.
No wonder the guy felt stress…
Take a few minutes to explore your own view via Abraham’s response to the man who said I Don’t Believe in Afterlife.
Perhaps we are in a place where it is possible to allow our intellect to enjoy right understanding. Perhaps continuity of consciousness is that right understanding. Perhaps this changes our experience of life and death.
Perhaps—just perhaps—we really do have one foot in one shoe and the other foot in another…
By Debra Basham, on November 30, 2019 How each of us views life differs slightly, but the themes of life itself are universal.
Years and years ago I studied dream interpretation with a man who had trained at the C.G. Jung Institute. One aspect of dream meaning is to notice a theme that is emerging as an initiating dream.
Three generations of women watching Life Itself, an American 2018 drama directed by Dan Fogelman which follows multiple couples over several generations, was a mixed bag. After watching it, I read that reviews were not great—calling the film “simultaneously overwrought and underwhelming.”
Well, isn’t life itself simultaneously overwrought and underwhelming?
This past week my husband and I have been staying in a house that has been the home of our daughter and son-in-law for over a decade. They are now house guests in that home. The house is now the home of our older grandson and our granddaughter-in-law. We are sharing this space with the six adults, three dogs, and two cats.
Although the house looks different, Thanksgiving Brunch was held at this HOME, and tonight this HOME will host the annual Thanksgiving weekend “Soup Night.”
I have done my regular duties of cleaning the inside of the microwave and wiping out the fridge. These are in addition to unloading the dishwasher and folding the laundry. I added polishing the outside of the toaster oven to this trip….
One of the most fascinating aspects of a home is recognizing the way a home gives those in it gifts. Of course a home comes with costs and responsibilities for those in it too.
We are grateful to have a roof over our heads. We appreciate a warm shower, and some of those in this home value a cold beer.
Not to spoil the ending, but it has a happy ending.
The final scene of the film is Elena reading from her book titled Life Itself. Elena’s dying grandmother is telling Elena’s father that although life may bring us to our knees, if we look hard enough, we will find love.
Elena concludes her story by saying how one moment shaped her entire life, and that every bit of her has some of her mother, her father, and her grandmothers.
That reminds me of the gift John made for me for Christmas in 2016: a wooden plaque with stick-on-letters: Not to spoil the ending—but everything is going to be OK.
The craftsmanship of the plaque was not professional, but the wisdom and love are palpable. The message is one of those universal truths so that plaque hangs proudly in the laundry room of our home.
Home is not just where you live. Home is also an internal state of being where you are. When life seems overwrought and underwhelming or underwrought and overwhelming, take heart. You know that life itself is still unfolding.
Sometimes attributed to John Lennon: Everything Will Be Okay in The End, If It’s Not Okay, It’s Not The End.
By Debra Basham, on November 24, 2019 
I grabbed this image from a Zen practitioner. Have you ever wondered what makes someone decide to make a commitment to something like Zen? For the most part, we want to be the best we can be.
Today has been a productive day.
I got so much done, I have energy to burn!
What do you do with energy when you are revved up? Some people drink, some people smoke, some people eat, some people sleep. Some people exercise. I write!
Yesterday morning I saw this amazing ice etching on the mail room windows. The blue sky was right there too. It was quite breathtaking.
I am watching gorgeous pinks and blues spreading across the evening sky right now too.
Beauty is everywhere, when you are watching.
A friend’s husband has Alzheimer’s. He is in a facility. Last week he got punched in the stomach by another resident. She is recuperating from a knee replacement so she could not even go to see that he was OK. She was immediate in the feeling of how unfair this was; why him; he is such a great guy. Very quickly, though, she was also aware that she was holding onto something he had already forgotten. The very nature of the illness allows him to not hold onto anything painful.
Abraham Hicks speaks very directly about Alzheimer’s. Only watch this if you are ready to let go of painful things that you have been holding onto.
Whatever you are seeing, train yourself to see the opposite. Everything holds its opposite….
Live solely from the center.
Be still.
Be.
By Debra Basham, on November 23, 2019 I was writing in my journal how it seems otherworldly that we don’t plan to be back here in our Michigan home until April 6. As I write the question,”What would you have me know?” I hear in my head:
V: Wherever you are is home. Notice how the selfing tells you this is home, this is not home. You are welcome to appreciate the creature comfort’s – just be in the experience rather than telling yourself stories.
Can you see a bird that is migrating having a sense of “leaving home”?
The bird is following an inner call. The bird goes. The bird eats, roosts, and sings wherever it is.
Use your bird brain….
Every day we are being invited to experience an expanded awareness. At a certain level of development, when asked what makes wind a child will say that the branches waving makes the wind. As our thinking expands, we understand warm and cold and upper level currents and wind.
Many of us grew up without an understanding of “karma.” We may have even thought of karma as something only Buddhists experience. We may have perceived ourselves as immune from karma because we did not perceive it, like the child did not perceive the wind currents.
Today’s quotation from Aaron says “Karma attaches to the emotional and mental bodies and it moves with you from lifetime to lifetime. Whatever insights you have as you move through the lifetime and the transition at the end of this lifetime, you do not lose them. Whatever you deeply understand stays with you. Whatever negative habit energies you have that are not released, they also stay with you. You do not lose anything, not the wholesome, not the unwholesome.”
If you have not yet embraced an understanding of moving from lifetime to lifetime, simply think of this as moving from childhood to adulthood. As you move though your life whatever insights you have go with you. Likewise any negative habit energies you have that are not released stay with you.
Worry, insecurity, impatience, desire for control…. these unwholesome habit energies are your karma.
Joy, patience, kindness, enthusiasm, surrender…. these wholesome energies are also your karma.
One of my favorite practices around all of this is the Daily Recollection. (See my November 2012 post Beads!)
Marker bead: Namo Prajna, Paramita Hridaya. Homage to the wisdom mind.
63rd Bead: Whatever has the nature to arise has the nature to cease and is not me nor mine.
64th bead: When wholesome thoughts arise, cultivate the wholesome. When unwholesome thoughts arise, abandon the unwholesome.
65th bead: Tend the contents of the mind with compassion, as a mindful gardener tends his garden.
66th bead: This is the way to purify the mind and remove the clouds that obscure the vision of ultimate reality.
Intention bead: In this way will I train myself.
P.S. Send me an email or text message if you would like to receive and use the handout of Barbara Brodsky’s Daily Recollection.
By Debra Basham, on November 15, 2019 Patience is needed with everyone, but first of all with ourselves.
~Saint Francis De Sales
One of the daily thoughts I receive comes from Neale Donald Walsh.
This one was was especially poignant:
On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know
that nothing is ever as bleak as it looks.
Everything, in fact, is a blessing.
I know, I know… that is sometimes very hard
to believe. How can a sudden, calamitous event in one’s life
be a blessing? It takes a longer view, I know,
to see this wonderful truth. Even a diagnosis
of a terminal illness could be seen as another gift
from life when experienced from a particular perspective.
It is an opportunity for us to express once again,
at the next highest level, Who We Really Are.
And, if it turns out that, at the Soul level, we have
indeed decided to leave our present physicality
in this particular way and time, that, too,
would be an expression of our Highest Self.
And so, all “calamities” are blessings,
not yet understood by the Mind.
God knew this was a good day
for you to hear this…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Perhaps every day is a good day to recall that “calamities” are blessings.
Those who have been following “Sailing Lady Gail” likely know that this week has brought calamities in the “Adventures of Doug and Stacey.” Their first open-water sail was 30 hours of 8-foot-plus rolling waves. Stacey violently vomited for 20 hours so Doug had to stay at the helm without sleep. When they got into safe harbor they were both spent.
I saw a powerful video on Facebook. While the video is 10 things you should never do to a person with Alzheimer’s, it outlines appropriate kindness to persons in all challenging circumstances.
1. Never argue, instead agree.
2. Never reason, instead divert.
3. Never shame, instead distract.
4. Never lecture, instead reassure.
5. Never say “Remember,” instead reminisce.
6. Never say “I told you,” instead repeat.
7. Never say, “You can’t,” instead let them do what they can.
8. Never command, instead ask.
9. Never condescend, instead encourage.
10. Never force, instead reinforce.
The closing message is: Remember that your loved one with Alzheimer’s can understand kind touch, laughter, and smiles even if they’ve lost most of their verbal skills.
As they await the arrival of some parts to repair an electrical issue on the boat, Doug and Stacey are being cared for well by her Uncle Jack Basham in Largo, Florida.
They are receiving lots of kind touch, laughter and smiles!
And after a few days on dry land, Stacey and Doug are now back to the dream drawing board. Details to follow….
By Debra Basham, on November 9, 2019 
The Comcast saga came to an end late yesterday morning. Today my fingers are on the keyboard of my PC and I am connected to the SCS domain. The solution was actually simple. And it is what Donny, my customer service agent at my local Comcast store, suggested to me weeks ago: Swap out the modem.
Relief is an interesting concept. Relief is defined as a feeling of reassurance and relaxation following release from anxiety or distress or assistance, especially in the form of food, clothing, or money, given to those in special need or difficulty.
Alison, I’m not sure to whom this message of appreciation should be addressed, but I want someone within the Comcast organization to know what you did for me.
I had been struggling between Comcast and my web host since October 18. On November 7, when I found you I had spent over 30 hours having to give the same information over and over, and never being able to follow up with someone I had spoken to previously.
I was rude, frustrated, angry, and you stayed right with me and assured me you would not leave me until the issue was resolved.
Although you were not able to resolve the issue that evening, you gave me your extension number and email. I became a real person to you. I cried!!! I mattered to you, and that matters to everyone.
During this period of time I was struggling with the problem with my service we had two deaths in our family. People have a lot going on….
You suggested we swap out the modem and when I got the new one the following morning, you were able to assist me to get the help from Kevin to activate it.
I sent email and left voice mail letting you know we were successful. Then you called again to make sure everything was working correctly.
Donny, at the Benton Harbor, Michigan, store was the first one to suggest we swap the modem. I wish everyone could work with you and Donny…. everyone deserves to!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
During these weeks of frustration I have said many times I recognized this as an opportunity. I have learned a lot. I learned we do not have to call Comcast and go through 30 minutes of being passed from one person to another only to have to tell them the exact information before getting to someone who cannot help you. Using the Comcast app on your phone, you can give the information once and request a call back. The appropriate person calls you back. Oh, my….
Another learning has been to see how kind the conditions are. Regardless of how challenging, right here within the conditions is kindness.
It is kindness to let it go each time no resolution was at hand.
It is kindness to persevere and make another call when I had a couple of hours. (EEK…)
It is kindness to remember nothing is a life or death matter—not even life or death.
It is not denial to say not even life or death is a life or death matter. It is truth.
Over lunch yesterday my dear friend, Jane Foster, shared that even having lived with cancer for over 35 years now she still bumps into a fear of death. “Will it hurt? Will I be alone? How will my husband handle things? How will my son get through this?”
It occurs to me these are not evidences of fear of death. They are evidences of desire to control. We want to know. We want assurances. We want things to go a certain way.
I sent out a prayer request:
I have a precious client named Jessica.
She is thirty-something…
13 months ago she was told she had 17 months to live.
Three months ago she was told she was in remission, but her most recent scan showed tumors on her liver.
She has been at MD Anderson in Houston this week and if she is a candidate for an experimental surgery and treatment she will fly back down on November 17 and have the procedure on November 19. If there are no complications she will be able to fly back to Michigan on November 22.
They were not very optimistic… Possibly extend her life six months.
She asks for help with her mental state.
Here is her Bitmoji saying:
If you are inclined to pray, please add a special prayer for the mental state of all humans. May all beings know peace. May all beings love and be loved. May all beings come to the end of suffering.
Pray for Alison and Donny and each of those who work in organizations that inflict such pain in the delivery of service. Pray for Jane Foster to embrace sacred life and sacred death. (See Corpse Prayer) Pray for Jessica as she navigates such turbulent waters.
Pray that all sentient beings feel relief….
By Debra Basham, on November 7, 2019 
I could begin this article with an update on my SCS-Matters domain still being unavailable here on my home WiFi router, or that our underbelly of our mobile home is not yet insulated or ‘closed up’ as they call it and there is snow on the ground this morning, but I will instead begin by sharing what is important. Last evening we attended the visitation and funeral for the 34-year-old son of our cousin, Rita.
Chris was eccentric. Was that his soul’s destiny? Perhaps it a result of having been born in cardiac distress and immediately being whisked off to a children’s hospital several hours away from home. Maybe having lived his 34 years knowing he could die at any moment contributed.
Perhaps living our lives knowing we could die at any moment would be good for us all.
In the two-year Dharma study group this entire second year is working with the sacred darkness. You might be quite surprised how much fun and how easy the exercises are for this very challenging practice. Sit on an exercise ball, like the one my Dharma Sister, Patty, is leaning on in this photo and note the balance or imbalance until you can find inner stillness.
Another exercise is to hold a book in your hand, out at arm’s length. Notice the inner process. “This is silly. This is heavy. No big deal. I am going to hurt myself. I see no point in this. Kindness says to put the book down.”
You can see how these simple processes are pointing to a deeper state of awareness.
The third exercise is to take a raw egg and purposely let it roll off a counter and fall onto the floor and make a mess! I did this while on Zoom with two Dharma Sisters – one in Texas and one in the Sea of Cortez. We were to watch the tension and the mind activity. “This is wasteful. I am going to have to clean it up. What am I supposed to feel? Is this working? Did I do it right?”
Both of my witnesses said the SPLAT sound produced the greatest gut reaction for them.
I confess to being unwilling to waste one of the good farm-fresh eggs…. I noticed aversion, tension, and desire for control.
Many other events that are filling my days are too personal to share without betraying confidences of others. But one happening just now is worthy of sharing with you.
I was standing at the kitchen island writing this post on my laptop because the Comcast challenges that prevent my PC from having access to my blog. John came back into the house saying, “Look who I found outside raking leaves for a neighbor.”
My eyes had been against the screen and all I saw was a man in a heavy jacket wearing fogged-over eyeglasses and a stocking hat. I walked over to get a closer look.
“From Stevensville United Methodist churches young adult class years ago,” he said. “Scott.”
I recognized his voice!
He went on, “First let me say we have three wonderful children and five amazing grand children. And I want to thank you both for giving me such a foundation for life. You were so far ahead of us spiritually but you never let us know that and you were right there with us helping guide us along.”
“I call that ‘doubling back’ such as when an avid reader wants to inspire love of reading in a toddler. You have patience and kindness and meet them where they are to bring them along. It is such a joy to watch the love grow in them…” I shared.
I also told Scott what I had been told at the Oakwood retreat, “Debra, you love so deeply and you serve so many. You often worry is you are doing enough or if you could have done more. This week let yourself truly cherish yourself….”
I thanked Scott for being God’s answer to my willingness to truly cherish myself.
This morning I watched again the last Dharma Path video. I made a note in my journal about the book exercise: Ego cannot hold on very long. LOVE can hold on as long as it is needed. That is what love can do. Love can hold on as long as it is needed.
Thank you Chris, and Rita, and Comcast….
By Debra Basham, on November 2, 2019 Tender emotions here…. Some of the emotions are frustration. I have spent the past two weeks without resolution to my WiFi/Domain not speaking to one another. Twenty three hours on hold with Comcast, Comcast, Comcast, and Bluehost.
Monday evening, Aunt Sharon Basham passed. I met with her family on Thursday evening, went to visitation Friday evening, and I had the honor of officiating her Celebration of Life today. Everything about that service touches other places deep in my heart. Aunt Sharon lived with her daughter, Tracey, and son-in-love, Bo. The family supported Sharon in her wishes to be able to live her life out in the home they all moved into together on her birthday in 2008.
A powerfully relevant poem, “Two Mothers Remembered” by Joann Snow Duncanson, speaks of this unique bond when a daughter is a caregiver to her mother:
I had two Mothers – two Mothers I claim
Two different people, yet with the same name.
Two separate women, diverse by design,
But I loved them both because they were mine.
The first was the Mother who carried me here,
Gave birth and nurtured and launched my career.
She was the one whose features I bear,
Complete with the facial expressions I wear.
She gave me her love, which follows me yet,
Along with the examples in life that she set.
As I got older, she somehow younger grew,
And we’d laugh as just Mothers and daughters should do.
But then came the time that her mind clouded so,
And I sensed that the Mother I knew would soon go.
So quickly she changed and turned into the other,
A stranger who dressed in the clothes of my Mother.
Oh, she looked the same, at least at arm’s length,
But now she was the child and I was her strength.
We’d come full circle, we women three,
My Mother the first, the second and me.
And if my own children should come to a day,
When a new Mother comes and the old goes away,
I’d ask of them nothing that I didn’t do.
Love both of your Mothers as both have loved you.
They chose some wonderful music. In the Garden, by Alan Jackson. And Supermarket Flowers, sung by Ed Sheeran.”You were an angel in the shape of my mum….Spread your wing….And I know that when God took you back he said Hallelujah, You’re home….”
The Basham family is an amazing family. I married in to it over fifty years ago and I am so grateful….
Tonight Stacey sent a text message: “Please hold energy for Doug. He’s frustrated with stuff breaking, weather, etc. I just want to be supportive of him. This is his dream that I’m along for the ride.” (See FaceBook Sailing Lady Gail or Adventure of Doug and Stacey.)
We had opportunity for a voice-to-voice and I shared some from my journal this morning:
D: Last night I was kind to the person at Comcast (8:30-9:30 pm) and Bluehost (9:30-11:00 pm) while still being honest about the frustration.
D: What would you have me know?
V: Ask Jesus for help. Remember the Sacred Story you published that there is an angel for everything?
D: I am willing. I do see how my not planning to go to Indy for the Welcome Baby Party for Brian and Tegan was part of that greater awareness.
V: That is ALWAYS happening. Even the challenging situation with your domain is kind. You can do everything you need to do—just not the way you want to do it. Yes?
D: Yes.
V: Do you remember this is part of the Sacred Darkness? Watch the one who wants to control. As Barbara heard when she was trying to save her neighbor from drowning,”Stop trying. Relax. Let LOVE do this.”
D: Helplessness; confusion; grief. As I embrace that in myself I do it for all sentient beings.
I reminded Aunt Sharon’s family of the importance of celebrating little acts of love and enjoyment and remembrance.
It is OK to feel grief and relief.
In closing, these words to Sharon, and to each of you, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Well done….”
As I was hanging up with Bluehost I asked the guy what time it was where he was at. He said it was 8:00 pm and I responded, “It is 11:00 pm here.”
We are not actually all having the same experience, even when we are having the same experience.
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