Melanie is getting Uncomfortable, finding Joy and other Magical Musings

The "experts" ask, "As a child, what did you pretend to be while playing or say you wanted to be when you grew up?" Besides pretending to be magical creatures, the only thing I remember saying is that I wanted to be a teacher. I can tell you where I was and with whom and what we were doing. It was one of those moments I forever remember. The thing is, though, that I don't want to be a teacher nor would I be a good one. I have a really fast mind and get somewhat impatient and frustrated when trying to teach things to people with a slower response time - not talking smarts, just speed of mind. Plus, if I don't pay mind to my actions while teaching, I can be a micro-manager. Nobody would want me as a teacher. Neither good nor bad, it just is what is is - I am who I am. No, what I realized is that...lets see, third grade...at about age 8, I loved being a student. I've always loved being a student. I love note books and pens, chalk boards and I love learning....

Time...It just keeps running. Like a glacial stream into an ocean, it drip drops, never stopping, always running, running, running... Even in the dead of winter when nature hibernates time keeps moving along never giving humans a break. Disregarding the advice of nature we push on against the wind and snow with only hot cocoa to guide us along the blizzard way. I remember when life didn't have so many things pushing and grabbing and now, sometimes, even biting, zinging or dingalingalinging. I remember when there were spaces in between. Moments of quiet. Moments of play. The energy was like a lazy lemonade on a sultry day...or like the stark silence of a deep white snow, big flakes falling in the glow of a street light. But now everything seems to be in a time crunch. Spaces are filled to the brim. The other day I drove away. I didn't know where I was going but I heard the big spacious mountains calling. I didn't have an agenda. My brain was tired and perfectly quiet. N...

It's been a rough couple weeks but I'm back!  A month ago I was lucky enough to get the common cold. Yes - I said lucky 😉 It was the worst cold I've have ever had with coughing and non-stop sneezing to the point of breaking my body. Even after a deep tissue massage I was left with a rib out of place and a nagging dull then sharp pain in my upper back whenever I moved; there was no getting comfortable. The swelling pressed on a nerve and shot down my right arm making it impossible to type. Thankfully I was able to get in to see a chiropractor and finally five days after that adjustment I am able to fully function again. WHEW - big relief! The cool thing about hardships is that one can always learn from them. So what's the lesson taught by a common cold?! Well, let me take you back to the time before that blessed common cold. This last year has been crazy! Read about my house upgrades in the previous post: https://melaniesjoyandmagic.blogspot.com/2019/10/trick-or-tr...

Happy Halloween ~ Samhain ~ All Saints & Souls Day ~ Dia de los Muertos...Week!! It's my favorite time of year when purple, orange and green abound, the quiet mysterious beautiful nights are longer and happy memories of childhood Halloween excitement permeates my being. There was never anything negative about this holiday. Even in the 1980s when some fools put razor blades in apples, I didn't wage any concern over such madness  because my neighbors in small town Wisconsin were all established and well known, they adored me and gave me lots of candy. YUMMMMMM When I got older I would watch horror movies with friends and enjoy the hilarity of the absurd choices, situations and monsters which were so unreal that I could never understand why it was scary to others. Today I avoid horror movies like the plague! I found out that some of those movies were based on true, terrible and way scary real situations - YIKES! - but I love that my young mind was able to laugh and have fun ...

Sometimes the most uncomfortable thing is to NOT do a thing. Did you ever think of that? We have so many sources telling us we should do this and be that and don't forget to purchase the things before the price goes up forever. I'm lucky that I don't crave shopping or feel like I have to be a certain someone, but I still have a my share of things where it's difficult or near impossible to NOT do it.  Try NOT scratching an itch and let me know how that goes for you. I have eczema and if you’ve never had eczema, imagine the itchiest itch and multiply that by 1000% (not 100% but 1000%!). I would itch that area of skin for at least a little relief, maybe even several times a day. I had to be careful though because if I broke the skin it would bleed then take forever to heal. Well, curiosity got me so today I goggled “why does eczema itch” and here’s what I found out…it itches because you itch it! What the....#@*%! (Well, that’s one of the main reasons:  https://nationale...

I'm back and writing a second post on this here blog. It's dangerous and exciting and I want to do more things that rattle my being. But we must start at the beginning...what does uncomfortable mean to me? First, let's talk about what's not uncomfortable. Road trips are a great example. One time I drove from Colorado Springs to Pittsburgh and back without any motels stays. It was a solid 24 hour drive with a focused mission - to pick up a dog. I can say the last 3 hours of that trip was physically uncomfortable, however, I did not hesitate to jump into this quest and light the open road on fire! For our honeymoon, John and I did a road trip from Colorado Springs to Key West and back. Fantastic! Along the trip we stopped at a winery in Missouri, Beale Street in Memphis, cotton fields in the middle of rural Georgia, and of course Disney and Harry Potter world (as I call it). We made our way down through Florida to the very very tip just in time to catch the fabled green...