My Aunt Mary died 40 years ago today.  This message goes out to my cousins, John and Tim…. and my Aunt Janet.  I am thinking of you… and sending my love.

I have a handful of memories.  There was one time, when we were visiting our “Lake Family” at Indian Lake.  Aunt Mary made us soft pretzels, from scratch.  They were SO delicious.  My Mom asked Aunt Mary how she made them.

At one point, she explained that she had to dip them in lye as a part of the process.  This made my Mom crazy.  Lye was what you made soap out of.  My Dad assured her, this was a valid step… and then Dad said… “Lucy, would we lie to you?”  My Dad and Aunt Mary laughed and laughed.  Mom didn’t think it was so funny.

Mary Margaret Kronenberger Reese was one cool lady.  And this world lost one of its brightest candles, way before it should have been her time to go.

Mary Kronenberger Reese  1928 – 1975

Intentions.

There are so many good intentions in this world.  They abound.  But so many are lost… gone, gone, gone…. before they ever turn into action.

I wonder why this is.  I have had a lot of good intentions.  Some made it through… into some kind of purpose and pursuit.  Others did not.  I wonder why this was.  Why it is?

Were they too grand?  Too hard?  Did they meet resistance?  Or was I lazy?

This morning for instance, I intended to put my shoes on.  And I did.  It wasn’t something I thought about… or tried reeeaaaallly hard to do.  I just had the notion, and carried through on the action.  And BOOM.  Looky There.   My shoes were ON.  Great intention… but followed through without too much ambitious effort.

That is how all intentions should go. I think.  Wellllll.  Let me rephrase that…  GOOD intentions.

But.  Without the endeavor, without the effort, or the exertion… the purpose isn’t much of a purpose.  They say that even the smallest deed is better than the grandest of intentions.  So very true, it is.

So.  As we put our shoes on… so should all our intentions go.  If we think we should do “something”… because it is the right and good thing to do… the “follow-through”  should…. well…..  should follow through.

Here is the big part though.  If we do not have intentions… then we are simply “existing”… and “ambling” through time.  Maybe it is good to amble.  Maybe that is the path for some.

Yet, I suppose that the greatest endeavors in life… start with intention.  The greatest acts of love, kindness, compassion, deed, and advancement…. most likely started with good intention.   Oh sure.  Sometimes we can stumble upon something.  But more often than not…. we do great things when we SET OUT to do great things…    We love, and care, and learn… because we intend to.

“Live with Intention.  Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon.  Laugh. choose with no regret.  Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is. “  — Mary Anne Radmacher

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” — Socrates

“The starting point of all achievement is desire.”  — Napoleon Hill

Tonight, I was thinking about the planets.  From Mercury all  the way to the now defunct Pluto.  I like to wonder about things.  Anything.  And sometimes I wish I knew things about how life works.  Our living matter.  Our energy matter.

Yet, we cannot ever really know these things.  No matter how much knowledge we acquire… be it self-awareness… or otherwise….. I think we should always keep sight of our smallness.  We should remember just how BIG the Universe Is.   How completely infinite our Universe is.

I think when we admit that we really can not know it all…..  we find the possibility of new possibilities.  Like… we can begin to open our hearts  and learn about our Inner-Self.   And it is this profound Inner-Self that knows the  truth about things.  What direction to take.  On any given day.  It can guide us in doing the next right thing.

Introspection is a good thing at these times.  And so is Devotion.

In that way…. I mean this.  Devotion can be a lot of things.  But when we realize how small we are, in the grander scheme of things…. we can have a realization that there might be something which is higher and bigger and greater than our individual selves.    Than us.

And….. even if we cannot comprehend what this may be, we can acknowledge that something greater than our egos exists.

There is a huge difference between the ego/personality part of us…. and the “energy” part of us…. that is the light within us.  The part that knows clarity.

Perhaps… we can use meditation, or prayer…. or whatever you want to call it….  to make contact with this  ‘Energy Within Ourselves”….. with our ”Soul Selves” ( As well as our Universal Connection.  Because even though we are small… we truly ARE connected in a great big way.)

So.  I say these things, and I hope they are true.  I am constantly searching for new things to learn. New ways to see.  Yet it is SO difficult to see for myself.  To know what path to take, and how to do it.

I know it is there… I just can’t seem to find that ultimate connection. Like so many others have.  In this way, I say these things… in hopes that I will find clarity…

… and continue to grow and learn, in my human being self.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
– Bertrand Russell

The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
– Bertrand Russell

I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.
– Bertrand Russell

I used to live in Charleston, SC.  Right downtown.  Near the Battery.  The address was 17 Meeting Street.  A grand old place… built in the late 1700s.  Much of Charleston is filled with such old and beautiful houses.

And wouldn’t you know…. Four signers of the Declaration of Independence were from South Carolina… most of them Charleston.

One of those guys… was good old Eddie Rutledge.  Edward, really.  But I like to call him Eddie Boy.

And here is the thing.  Edward Rutledge lived right across the street from us.  Well… at ONE time he did.  Back in the day when they did things like break away from England and form new countries…. for new found freedoms.  And own slaves.  Uhhhnnnnn.  Anyway….

Yeppers. Ed was at 16 Meeting Street.  In fact, I am pretty sure his ghost is still there.  But that is for another time.

People were cut of a different cloth back then, for the most part.  He was born in Charleston in 1749.  Most notably, he was a Delegate to the Continental Congress from South Carolina, 1774-76, 1779.  But he did a lot of other things too.  Like…. he made great Strawberry Pancakes… and could balance a spoon on his nose.

Eddie…. became a snappy Lawyer.  He had studied at Oxford.  (Not Ohio… but THE Oxford).

But he kept on, and on.  He and his brother John were both engaged in the law, and both attended the congress. They supported each other unabashedly…..  both on the floor and in committee.   Like the Peas in a Pod… or Magnolias on the Bush.

Edward attended Congress at the remarkable age of 27, and was no doubt pretty excited to find himself in the company of the most eminent men of the colonies.  The Big Time, if you will.  His career was filled with a lot of things… including military service… AND…. he even ended up as Governor of SC.

Sounds like a bit of a go-getter.

Mr. Rutledge joined 55 other men…and they  took out their little Bic Pens…. and signed that Declaration of Independence, back on July 4th.

Not true… really.  On July 4, Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence.  Those guys didn’t actually sign the thing until about a month later.  With Quills…not Bics.

So there you have it.    We are afforded great freedoms here in this country.  Hopefully, we all appreciate this luxury given to us… not so very long ago.   Thanks to the people like Eddie Boy and the Pen Men.  And their wives, and families, who enabled them to be who they were.

And now.  We are who we are, in the land of the free.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
— Fred Rogers

For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
— Nelson Mandela

Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.
— Albert Einstein

I love music.  Songs…. songs… songs.
But.
You know.. some songs just don’t make sense to me.

“If I could put time in a bottle….”

I would put a lot of things in bottles.    Like rockets.  But not time.  Time is here to be all spent up.  Wrung out like a sponge.  Soak up every drop…. and wring it out and soak it through… all over again.

Or…

“You’ve got to be cruel to be kind….”

Bunk.  Bunk. Total bunk.  Who writes these songs?
You DO NOT have to be cruel to be kind.  Don’t let anyone fool you about that one.  No Sirrrreeeeee.   The kindest people I know…..  do not have a cruel bone in their bodies.  Heck. They even dream about nice things… like fluffy clouds…. and cars filled with a herd of colorful lambs…
It takes a big heart to be kind.

These are both big on my to-do lists.  Especially for my upcoming Fourth of July Resolution List…. …. if I had such a thing. Back to the To-Do’s.
1.  Living each moment of time.  Fully.
2.  Being kind in each one of those moments.  No matter.

Every time we fill ourselves with the spirit of loving kindness….. a little ugliness …. a little bit of the despicable is removed from the world.

And along with that… if we live in the spirit of love…. our lives become fuller…  and our souls fill up with the better of it all.

Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.
—  Swami Sivananda

Tonight, I was reminded of being a little girl.

I like those times… when something, or someone, spawns a memory.  Especially a fond memory.

In this case, the recollection I had was of my Aunt Mary, and my Cousin Timmy, and being up at Indian Lake.  You see, tonight we had dinner with some friends who live at Lake Lakengren.  After a marvelous meal, we took a boat ride out on the lake.  We had a pretty fabulous time.

But it was that Pontoon Boat ride, along those shores of the lake, that reminded me of that cherished childhood memory.  So long ago.  So very far gone from the physicality of it.

My Aunt Mary died when I was about 9 or 10.  Her son, Tim, was a year younger than I.  That part was profoundly sad.

But prior to her death, there were a lot of good early memories… of playing at the lake house, and on those rickety old roads of Russell’s Point, Ohio.   Great visions of being out on the lake and one of my uncles, or cousins, letting me steer the boat.  Ah, the need for speed…. at such a young age.

The sound of the water lapping on the docks… or the quiet of those same waves, finding their way to the boat… when the motor was cut off, and we would just drift along in the lake.

The sights, and the sounds, and the smells… all came rushing back to me…. as I sat there tonight… in my 51-year-old-body….. with my mind dancing back to 45 years ago.  Back….. back…. to when I didn’t know what was in hotdogs… and I loved it that way, because they tasted SO good when we got back to the lake house.  Those roasted hotdogs, with a fistful of Lay’s Potato Chips.

And the feeling in my heart right now, which is very dual in its awareness… in its emotions.  Feeling both love, and loss, at the same time…. for THAT time… so very long ago.

It is a popular belief right now… that “living in the moment” and “mindfulness in the moment” is important.  And I agree.  But there are also frequent references to “living in the present, because the past is gone, and the future is not ours.”…. and such.

But I wonder.  I know for me, the past is still very much a part of my life.  It is where all the lessons I have learned were born.  And and all the experiences…. which have led to this one… where made in the past.  And the memories of that history are very real… not gone forever.  As for the future… there are certainly no guarantees.  But that is where our hopes, and our dreams are residing… in waiting.

Today truly is all we have… this very moment.  But contained in that moment is the continuum of the infinity of time.

I was sitting in my office today…. in the quietest of quiet.  And my computer “dinged.”  Someone had sent me a message.    And in that message was the best quote ever.

It embodies the standard I have in my head, and my heart…. for my own life.  Sometimes I don’t live up to it.

At any rate, here is the quote by Sai Ali Baba.

Before you speak ask yourself, is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence?

This is profound, in so many ways.

But perhaps, that which we do not often consider.

“Does it improve on the silence?”

How often do we try to be in our own silence and experience how that feels at any given moment.  Perhaps, this moment.

With that, I have no more words of my own tonight.

So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
T. S. Eliot

Silence is a source of great strength.
Lao Tzu

The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.
Albert Einstein

If you were a marijuana smoker, and you wanted to buy some Hashish … you might find yourself in a Pot Store.  In which case you would want to know the prices.  You would probably look at the Hash-Tag.

Or, let’s say you LOVE Corned Beef all fried up with potatoes.  And you love games like “You’re IT!”… and such.  You may find yourself combining the two… like a big game of Hash-Tag.

Forget all that.  I am feeling a little bit like the Pied Piper.  And a tiny bit like The Yellow Brick Road.  You can “Follow Me @_yellowpiedroadpiper.

Hash Tags.  They are every where.  I don’t want my life defined by the hash tag.  I’ll tell you that much right now.  And I am not sure I want to be followed…. like I have stalkers.

I don’t want to be known as @_pollyk either.  #are-you-following-me.

That is the thing though.  I love technology and all that it affords us.  But I totally get tired of some of the trends.  #over it.

And, while we are on it.  When did it become the Hash Tag?  I wonder.  To me, it has always been the pound sign, or the numbers symbol.  I guess saying… “Follow me @pollywollydoodle hashtag up-in-arms-pollyis a LOT cooler than saying…. pound sign  #up-in-arms-polly.

The technical term for a hashtag is “octothorp,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary; octo, in reference to the eight points in the figure, and Thorpe, OED says cryptically, from “the surname Thorpe… perhaps even Olympian Jim Thorpe.”

Or it takes a village….. In cartography, the octothorp is a traditional symbol for village.  And here is how it goes.  Eight fields around a central square. That is the source of its name. Octothorp means eight fields.”

(From octo- (“eight”) and thorpe (“field or small village”).  Are you following me here?  If not… you can always Hashtag THAT…….  #octothorpe.

As I mentioned, I say all of this with a push me / pull me attitude.  I love the world of Geekdom.  I truly think many of these technological advances, are just that.  Advances.

On the other hand, certain parts of it bug me.  Like all the acronyms instead of actual language.  IDK it bothers me.  LOL.  I mean… it REALLY shouldn’t bother me so much because  … I use those acronyms sometimes.

I guess, as with so many different things in life, there are two sides to every coin.  There are positives and negatives, to almost any situation you consider.  Sometimes, it just depends which side of the table you are sitting.

Perhaps it is best to get as much as we can from the positive aspects, and try to leave the negative behind.  Think in the upside of things… and let go of the down turns.  As… @Monty_Python so aptly said… #always look on the bright side of life.  That is advice I WILL try to follow.

Positive anything is better than negative nothing.
— Elbert Hubbard

Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.
— Zig Ziglar

Sometimes.  Things do not always go as we hope, or wish, or dream.  But the day in and day out of it…. is what happens.

Pretty much… every day.  Sometimes others don’t want what we want.  That too.

Sometimes there are no bells and whistles, or sparklies, or pink unicorns, dag nab it.  It is reminiscent of watching reruns.

But it is this moment.  What we have.  Not that which is past, or that to come.  All we have is the now.

And the best we can do, in any given moment…. is to be our best.  To be true and authentic about life, and about living.  Listen. Watch. Learn. Act.  Lift up our voices.

Not only is it what we should do… it is what we must do.

The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.
Buddha

Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got.
Art Buchwald

Home.

What is it, really?  In the red book…. with all the other words in it….  a home is purported to be…. “the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.”

I think this is partly true.  But HOME is so much more, I think.

Home is not really where we live.  It is more…. perhaps… HOW we live.

Okay.  Say for instance, you live in a little cracker box of a place, with the love of your life, and all your beautiful children, and your dog named Joe.  (And even your little cat… who calls itself  “Dark Lord of the Universe”).

Then one day… someone plucks you out of that tiny-walled-place, and drops you in the middle of a marble mansion in the middle of the Kingdom of Cuz.   But there is no Life-Partner.  No kids.  And heck NO… not even Joe or his fleas.

You can never see them again, but here is this spectacular mansion.  Are you home?  I would guess not.

Home is that warm bowl of oatmeal in the morning, and the flowers growing in the garden.  Home is the pictures on the wall, and the apples in the bowl on the dining room table.  It is Jessie’s “A” in reading class, and Martha’s big win at the soccer field.  Home is the song on the radio, and ceramic jar from last year’s festival.  The summer pickles in the fridge.

Home is what grows in our hearts.  Like warm green moss on the side of an Oak Tree in the forest.  The two seem completely different, but completely inseparable.

Today, I went to a reception hosted by the HIT Foundation.  Which, by the way, stands for Home Is The Foundation.  It was honoring all their volunteers and donors, and participants, in the Senior Home Repair Program.

Because once you find your home….. you never want to leave it.  Not really.  There is no place like it…. in the world.  So you always go back home.  Or at least… you hope to.

That continues when we get older.  Maybe even more so….. that need, that longing…. to be home.

So this program does repairs and such, for Seniors in our community, to assist them in keeping their homes longer.  A happy longer.  I can only say that the people who donate their time to this cause, are amazing spirits.  Some of them give tirelessly.  Endlessly.  From Construction Companies, to Church Groups.  Incredible giving.

It is an amazing grace, this thing.  Just like home is an amazing grace… in our hearts.  And that…  is why we call it “Home.”

“Home is where I want to be… Pick me up and turn me round.”  – Talking Heads

The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.  —  Maya Angelou

Be grateful for the home you have, knowing that at this moment, all you have is all you need.  —  Sarah Ban Breathnach