ON TURNING SIXTY

Today is my birthday. I am turning 60 years old.  I have been dreading this birthday...but, my best friends tell me I don't look or act 60. And, anyway, there is a certain status that comes with being 60, they say.

Lots of things have happened in my life-very happy things, very sad things, very important things.  When I reflect on my life I am thankful for all that I have experienced, and in truth I wouldn't change much. The good thing about getting older is that you gain perspective on all those experiences-both good and bad. How and why I got from point A to point B has become much clearer.

I have also had much good fortune in my life.  I married my high school sweetheart and have four amazing children. I have many wonderful friends. And, I have been blessed to work at something I love.

Fear might be my only regret.  In my 60 years on this planet I have learned that there is great value in being fearless. When I was younger I think I protected myself from situations and people because I was afraid to put myself out there. Now I have a sense of fearlessness and freedom I didn't have when I was younger.

I have had some magical birthday celebrations already, beginning in early December with a huge party in Chicago with all my Gannon siblings, continuing with dinners and lunches out with my family and friends, and culminating today with a special surprise from Kristin who took the day off from work to spend ALL DAY with her 'very old' Mom. With any luck this special treatment will continue throughout the month (:

CONGRATULATIONS MOLLY AND LUKAS!

Our youngest daughter, Molly, and her boyfriend, Lukas, are engaged! They are estatically happy....and it is infectious. We are all thrilled about their engagement and upcoming wedding.

So, we are in 'wedding planning' mode here. Our conversations now are all about wedding ceremonies, venue locations, guest lists, 'Save The Date' cards, engagement photographs, etc. etc. etc.

How different wedding planning is now then it was thirty-seven years ago when Tom and I got married. We choose a date in October (3 months after we got engaged) that didn't compete with an opening hunting season (seriously), went and talked to the priest we wanted to marry us to make sure he was available that day, booked the church, and began our preparations.  We asked a friend who owned a restaurant if he would do a pig roast in the park near our home for our reception. I made our wedding invitations and sent them; bought an ivory colored dress from my favorite department store. We wrote our vows. When our wedding day came, we were ready.  It was a very simple affair: a big picnic shared with family and friends under a canopy of crimson and gold colored trees. A magical day.

Molly's wedding will be much different then mine. She (and I) will work on her wedding for almost a year. There will be details upon details upon details to work out.

And, I know that Molly and Lukas' wedding day will also be incredibly magical. It couldn't help but be anything else......but, it makes me laugh to think how different our journeys will have been to get to the same place. (:

THE DARK MAGIC OF ALL HALLOWS EVE

Come with me All Hallow's night

We'll frighten everyone in sight

Such pranks for once, are justified

And fun and frolic amplified.

 Samhain, All Hallos Eve, Halloween, Dia de los Muertos (which falls on October 31st) is deep Autumn. Crispy-cold evenings with leaves blowing underfoot and the smell of woodsmoke. Long dark nights with clouds scattering overhead. Chilly mornings that lift damp fingers to a veiled sun.

Samhain is a time of change-for letting go of the old and making way for the new. For many who practice earth-based traditions, it is the turning point of the year, the dark half of the wheel, a time to reach through the veil and communicate with the otherworld.

It is a time for going within to the darkness, into our shadows, and meeting ourselves and those who have gone before....remembering that death is just a phase of our journey.

To celebrate this magical season, we carve jack-o-lanterns and make pumpkin bread from our garden pumpkins. We decorate our home with dried leaves, apples,  pumpkins, Indian Corn, masks, and witches (lots of witches)! We burn spicy-scented candles and take time for reflection in their flickering light.

MABON APPROACHES

As a child I understood the season changes through the portends of nature....the black and orange fuzz of a wooly bear caterpillar foretold the nearness of Halloween, and legend had it that the thickness of her coat foretold how cold the upcoming winter would be. Apple picking meant the end of summer and the beginning of crisp, sweet Autumn. To this day, Fall remains my favorite season. And, I now also know this season-shifting time as 'Mabon', or The Autumn Equinox.

'Mea'n Fo mhair' (which is what the Druids called Mabon), honors the Green Man, God of the Forest. Offerings of libations to the trees in the way of cidars, wines, herbs and fertilizers are appropriate at this time. 

At Mabon the light and dark once again sit facing each other with equal sway. The coolness of the darkness has come to soothe our sun-drenched brows, but we have not yet descended into the dark half of the year. Here in Wisconsin, we are nearing our first frost, but, the days are still balmy and pleasant; yet on the wind I can smell Autumn.

There is something quite alive about Autumn, even though it marks the first 'deaths' as the tilt of the earth takes the northern hemisphere away from the sun. The summer dogs days have passed and it is time to snuggle in, in preparation for winter's coming chill.

FABULOUS FLEA MARKET FINDS

Kristin and I loaded up my little volkswagon beetle with Spirit Dolls this week and hit the road on a selling trip. We headed toward Northern Wisconsin's tourist destinations-stopping at little out of the way galleries. We had an amazingly profitable trip! Not only did we sell our Spirit Dolls, but we met some funky shop owners (now new friends); AND along the way we found a quaint antique shop where we bargained for a gigunda box of twisted-up junk jewelry-which we got for a pittance! All it took to uncover our vast treasure was some time and patience for de-tangling.

It was an all around grand adventure.

ITSY BITSY TEENIE WEENIE YELLOW POLKA DOT BIKINI

The color of buttercups and lemons...my choice of a color theme for summer is YELLOW. Yellow is a vivacious color : energizing in the kitchen and warm in the bedroom-especially when it is drenched in morning sunlight. Yellow is a sophisticated color when paired with white, and dynamic when finished with black edges.

Whether it be amber, butter, mustard, ochre, or saffron, for me, yellow always evokes a sense of pure joy and memories of long, lazy, sunny summer days.

A HEALING POEM FOR SCARLETTE

My friend Scarlette lost her husband a few days ago (and her son just months ago). My heart aches with her suffering, for I remember well how it feels to be in that lonely place of sorrow and loss. When my brother died a little over a year ago, I found some comfort from this poem by John O'Donohue about death. I am hoping that John's words will likewise bring Scarlette a tiny bit of peace in the terrible days ahead.

On the death of the Beloved by John O'Donohue (1956 - 2008)  Original LanguageEnglish Though we need to weep your loss, You dwell in that safe place in our hearts, Where no storm or might or pain can reach you. Your love was like the dawn Brightening over our lives Awakening beneath the dark A further adventure of colour. The sound of your voice Found for us A new music That brightened everything. Whatever you enfolded in your gaze Quickened in the joy of its being; You placed smiles like flowers On the altar of the heart. Your mind always sparkled With wonder at things. Though your days here were brief, Your spirit was live, awake, complete. We look towards each other no longer From the old distance of our names; Now you dwell inside the rhythm of breath, As close to us as we are to ourselves. Though we cannot see you with outward eyes, We know our soul's gaze is upon your face, Smiling back at us from within everything To which we bring our best refinement. Let us not look for you only in memory, Where we would grow lonely without you. You would want us to find you in presence, Beside us when beauty brightens, When kindness glows And music echoes eternal tones. When orchids brighten the earth, Darkest winter has turned to spring; May this dark grief flower with hope In every heart that loves you. May you continue to inspire us: To enter each day with a generous heart. To serve the call of courage and love Until we see your beautiful face again In that land where there is no more separation, Where all tears will be wiped from our mind, And where we will never lose you again.