Author: thespacebetweenus

I don't live at the end of the world but you can see it from here! The population is twenty including the livestock and my nightlife usually consists of being curled up with a good book. I love to travel, love long walks on beaches, and a good glass of wine with challenging conversation. I started this blog as a way of sharing my gratitude for my life and for myself. It's starting to evolve as I reflect on the work I do with others. Creating community is a challenge for all of us and as the world changes those growing pains have caused me to reflect on the things we all do and don't do to create community and distance between us. Navigating the space between us is our biggest challenge and our most important one. I'm a prolific reader, love to write, published all sorts of non fiction and even submitted a novel for publishing. Stand by if I can find a publisher but it looks promising. A mother of two grown boys and the wife of a game warden I have cooled my butt on every bleacher in the region and nursed everything from calf moose to wolf cubs. My life is an interesting blend of the miraculous and mundane.

The Air Conditioned Gown

What occurred to me today:
1. Procrastination is a cycle that eats me alive.
2. I really can forgive someone who does not ask for it.
3. The day has come when standing on one leg while sober is an accomplishment.
4. There are few people on this earth I trust enough to ask for a favour. That I have been given people who love me enough to drop everything to help me out on a moments notice is an honour.
5. May we all be given the opportunity to be a gift to someone else.
6. Forgive the people tied to their own demons. They have enough problems.
7. Why is it medical professionals give you short gowns with air conditioning in the back, and non functioning velcro to keep it closed? They then discuss something you should probably pay attention to, but you are too busy trying to keep the a draft from undermining your dignity.
8. Memories are sometimes like collections of garage sale souvenirs that clutter a shelf until someone comes along and rearranges the order and you realize their purpose.
9. Don’t worry. It steals joy from today and doesn’t change tommorrow. No matter how many tragedies your mind can anticipate or create, today is the day you, laugh dance and smile.
10. When my body slows and my mind quiets there is a space between breaths when the Universe whispers, “Helllo Beloved. I’m glad you stopped by.”
Number 10
Words dance for me
like puppets on a string.
They dance with meaning and whimsy.
But in the silence of the crowd
sits a girl who is mute and desperate.
hands tied at her sides.
The puppets dance awkwardly to soundless music
that echos in her head.
Until the woman-child rises from her seat
In the pit of bodies watching
like zombies in front of a box.
She tears her bonds like paper
and pulls rag from her mouth.
The crowd gasps with outrage
as she interupts the show.
No longer hostage to her own demons
Kidnapped by her fears.
Then her arms stretch as the puppets dance.
Her chin rises in defiance.
And her voice rings with the truth
Pure but scarred with wisdom,
of a life of her making.
Finally the puppets reach out
small bundles, clothed in hand me downs
and I cradle them in a mother’s arms.

What we are meant to do.

The things that occurred to me today:
1. Demonstrate humor and compassion, it returns to bless you.
2. Courage is often illustrated in small ways, but can unsettle even the biggest obstacles.
3. Organization is a skill washes through my life like spring rain. It inspires early blossoms and returns sporadically. I’m lucky what grows in my life thrives on creativity, determination, and energy.
4. Parents and children raise each other. May we always be teacher and student and truly admire the people we raise.
5. The purpose another human serves in your life may not be known until the moment you pass from this plane. Then their singular message will settle on your heart and all other pieces will align. Be patient.
6. My cat thinks the superman pose is for her entertainment.
7. Only the Universe knows where we are going. Each passenger will know their destination when they get there so relax and enjoy the ride.
8. For those who have left my life, whether you know it or not, my friend I think of you often, you are loved, and I miss you.
9. This heart I was given has been bruised, even gravely wounded, but it has always healed by doing as it was meant to do, love the people in my life.
10. The most sublime moments I have ever known have all been punctuated by the awe of knowing another’s heartbeat.

Life is Not a Parade

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Things I learned today:
1. A snow, like rain, makes my world look new.
2. The world owes a debt of gratitude to the first person who ground coffee beans and put them in boiling water.
3. Even brilliant men occasionally think communication can occur in monosyllables.
4. Cats personify “high maintenance princess” and we are all court jesters.
5. In a silent moment, the small whispers inside you, are the voices we need to hear.
6. To find out what someone you love needs from you, pay attention to what they give you.
7. Laughter can be the most beautiful or most complicated language you will ever hear. Listen carefully.
8. After 50 years of living, the fact that I can miss my mouth drinking a glass of water amazes me.
9. Everyone feels out of step with their world at times. Life is not a parade.
10. Your own heartbeat synced with your Highest Purpose (God, Universe, Spirit, Mother Earth) is an echo of all your ancestors and and the rythym all our children will breathe as they come to being. Honour it.

Purple Elephants

 

 

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1. Body image, like the definition of a clean house, is highly variable and others’ opinions are not really relevant.
2. Morning hair can be truly terrifying, highly entertaining, or a blessing depending on how you look at it.
3. Commitments to yourself are often the most important promises you will make.
4. There comes a point on a sleepless night where one wonders whether a new pillow or serving tea to the purple elephants playing bocce ball in your bedroom, is most urgent.
5. You are the link between the teachings of your grandmothers’ and your children. Be a teacher and a pupil in both situations.
6. We are the link from the past to the future. And through that web of connection we are all family. May we find a way to accept and honour that.
7. Only the truly enlightened can be thankful for oatmeal when one is tired. However, if I drink enough coffee, wisdom may overflow into the paste.
8. Road trips are the test and the joy of friendship.
9. Its like Christmas when you sort to the bottom of your closet. And for those who are awake that is a metaphor and a fact.
10. If I name my dust bunnies do I have to vacuum? A good question is as important as a knowledgeable answer.

Blossoming

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Joy is often a delicate thing.
A flutter against your cheek
When your eyes are closed.
Sit quiet for while it can’t be trapped
Or kept on a shelf.
It will hover about you
Shy, fascinated, and fey
Colors winking,
Quicksilver, whispering, dance.
Settling as the currents of your life
Quiet to breezes in sunshine.

Thermostat War

Things that occurred to me today:
1. I am officially and gratefully eccentric.
2. Turning the blender on without the lid on was a imagesmistake.
3. Nothing
of value is ever motivated by anger, guilt, or shame.
4. Kids and cats are perverse. As soon as you get the camera out, they stop.
5. Love is not conditional. Unfortunately we often give it without predicting who will return it. Give it anyway.
6. I don’t know enough about me to answer all the security questions needed to open an on line banking account.
7. The hugs I embarrassed my sons with at 16, are now returned with interest. Invest often, in spite of the eye roll.
8. Blue Jays have a song that sometimes reminds me of a blues singer, raspy and with jarring musicality. Its song with all the others are worth trouble of feeding them.
9. Sometimes sadness is just shading for highlights of your life. They bring depth to the picture but don’t dwell there.
10. Rules of Engagement for the Thermostat war.  I have no idea what temperature it actually is, just what I perceive it to be.  No matter though.  I’m still in charge of the switch.

 

Perception is Reality

The things that occur to me this lovely morning:
1. Sometimes the most wonderful things are accidents: strangers who become teachers, whispers of our intuition, spontaneous bouts of insanity, love when we aren’t expecting it.
2. In order to forgive we need to let go of expectation and give ourselves permission to move on.
3. Family is a community chosen by the universe to teach life’s most important lessons. With those building blocks we chose to rejoice, renovate,or to recycle. Wisdom is where we learn what works best in each space.
4. For those who have never met my family, I am not a surprise. For those who know them, we are as a group, usually surprising.
5. Each day has blessings, no matter what is going on. Find them, breathe them in, return them.
6. When contemplating loss I always remember my grief is proportional to their impact. May my life reflect their impact and not their absence.
7. Blue jays, sunshine, laughter are here in part because we rejoice in them. Our perception determines our reality.
8. Why is it that our default compliment to a woman is “don’t you look lovely.” They may be smart, hard working, decent, loyal, resilient and funny. As if an accident of their genes take precedence over who they are. Well women in my life I honour all that you have made yourself. And yes you are beautiful in every way.
9. There is in the world an infinite capacity for love, awe, gratitude, and joy. The more we experience and give away the more is created.
10. As much as I wish it, I can not take away another’s hurt. I can acknowledge it, bear witness, and affirm there is reality beyond it.Do-not-regret-getting-older-used.png

Memories Made

I have had a wonderful but wistful morning. I got an early morning text from Byron‘s cousin Karen who asked where we scattered his parents ashes. Frank and Pat asked that they be scattered at the end of the road at Nettley Marsh on the southern tip of Lake Winnipeg where the the extended Schram/Pelletier clan met for duck hunting , fishing, campfires, singing and many laughs and beers. The hunting cabin built by Byrons great grandfather became home base for a tightly knit but small family who revolved around the epicentre two cousins, Frank Schram and Ken Pelletier who wreaked havoc in thier young years, teased families to adulthood, then retired there sharing beers, stories, and hosting grandchildren.
My kids went there every summer. Benevolently kidnapped by their adoring grandparents and Frank and Pat would stuff them full of junk food, run them ragged in wave pools and playing cops and robbers which always culminated when Frank (the robber or the sherriff) would sneak next door for a visit with his lifelong partner in crime. Fran, Kens wife of sixty five years, would have supplied the cold beers and something for the boys when they figured out Grandpa slipped the noose again.
Now they are both gone. Frank died six years ago and Ken lost his battle with cancer two weeks ago. Two generous funny men with huge hearts and endless humour. They wanted to have thier ashes sprinkled together with their wives in the marsh where they made so many memories. Two cousins who wove a life together and created a legacy of love, memories, and laughter. Byron said some their best ideas were usually hatched at midnight under the influence of a couple too many beers. Indeed he may be right.12819415_10153195043636706_801829177687214345_o.jpg

Accidents and Miracles

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The things that occurred to me today:
1. Love is a verb. The people who do it well do it every day.
2. By the time you learn to love yourself you have broken your heart hundreds of times. I guess you matter that much.
3. Trust your gut. Your heart can be foolish and your brain thinks too much.
4. Sometimes when someone needs you it is just to honour where they are at and treat that place as sacred.
5. I should learn to clean my own stove. I likely won’t.
6. Impulsive, sarcastic, brutally honest women entertain me. Any guesses why?
7. I may have been too young to make smart conscious decisions on a  life partner thirty years ago. Luckily instinct or pure blind luck still works out for many of us.
8. My parents taught me “married well” is not an accident.
9. Some days coffee doesn’t cut it.
10. Thermostat War Rules of Engagement. I have no idea what temperature actually is, but I am still in charge of setting it.

We are all one.

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What occurs to me today:
1. Trust begins with asking for what you want.
2. Let go of expectation. How people respond is about things beyond your control.
3. Trust is built slowly and destroyed in an instant. Honour integrity.
4. The Universe gave me wonderful people to love.
5. I love my home and the people who make up its foundation.
6. Fresh snow reminds me of the beauty of seasons and life sleeping and renewing itself.
7. The Earth like an open heart has infinite capacity to nurture life, renewing itself as it embraces.
8. Conscious is more than “not asleep” it is being awake. Awake to the gifts around us, as simple as the brush of snow on a cheek or as complex as fulfilling your purpose. It is the knowledge that each moment contributes and connects to the larger purpose.
9. The same matter, energy, and love make up each and every being in the Universe. We each share the moment of our creation. A common awakening.
10. In each breathe I breathe you in, in each exhale I am sharing who I am with you. We are all one.