Category Archives: grief and loss

Labor of Love

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“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”      ~Martin Luther King          

I tried, I really did! I had made a promise to myself that I would lay low and stay off  the computer this Labor Day weekend. It didn’t work very well. 

The weekend before last I was presented with an e-marketing project for a new client. I decided that I would “sit with it” for a while to make sure my heart and soul were ready to take on the task. I didn’t want to jump into the project until I had thought deeply about the book and had zeroed in on what I felt was the right vision and approach. I am honored to be handling this project. It deserves utmost respect. The obligation to handle the e-marketing of this book, with great sensitivity, weighs heavily on my mind. 

In coming weeks, I look forward to sharing this book with you. But in the meantime, I will tell you that my work on this project has been nothing but a labor of love. Through this task I have gained great affection for the author, received transference of the heartache carried by my client and feel appreciation for the inspiring message that this simple and straightforward book will bring to it’s readers. It is a message of help and hope that speaks to not only target communities of people but to each one of us living and working on God’s Earth. 

Yeah, I should scold myself for working on Labor Day weekend. In this case, I could not help myself. After all, isn’t that what fulfilling work is ideally supposed to be? A labor of love? 

Happy Labor Day, Everyone!

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I Wish Upon A Star

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Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same.” -Franz Peter Schubert 

Three years ago, when I moved to a new community, I met a woman my age and her husband and three boys at church. She and her husband were given the responsibility and honor of raising a special needs son. When we first met, she talked with  me about their family’s involvement with the Special Olympics and what their volunteer efforts have meant to their entire family. They have found such enjoyment in the athletic events, the camaraderie felt between Special Olympians and other families with special needs children. She visited our Kiwanis Club and described the mission of the Special Olympics, too. http://bit.ly/oDJ4n3.

As time has gone by our friendship has grown closer. We have had meaningful talks about her special son, and how God has endowed him with the ability to communicate with others about faith in very unique and profound ways. 

The other day, I began to think what an opportune time it is for parents, families and individuals to share stories of special needs children who are making their distinctive mark on the world. The dynamic and growing world of independent publishing provides a fulfilling platform for teaching other families about the lessons and gifts their special needs children contribute to their family’s life. 

I wish upon a star that more families everywhere will find the means and a voice to tell their stories so others will better understand the joys and challenges of raising special needs children. 

 For more information on how ordinary people are telling extraordinary stories by educating, inspiring and informing others through non-traditional books and films, there is a new 18 minute on-line webinar published by the Colorado Independent Publishers Association that discusses the basics of independent publishing. Please visit http://bit.ly/oIkV2g.

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Giving Back for Children’s Sake

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“Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.”               ~Anthony Robbins 

I love reading stories of people who have a deep understanding of the value of life and convey that understanding by reciprocating their gratefulness through random acts of kindness or by a creative or a uniquely meaningful approach. 

The other day the August 2011 issue of Kiwanis Magazine arrived in my Post Office Box and I began to read it. I was interested in knowing  about the Kiwanis International  Convention, which was held in Geneva, Switzerland this year. www.kiwanis.org. 

As I browsed the articles, I learned something about actress Jamie Lee Curtis. She was honored at the July 2011 Convention with the World Service Medal for her charitable work for children’s hospitals. She is also a best selling author of children’s books such as and “Tell Me About the Night I was Born” and “I Feel Silly: And Other Moods that Make My Day.” These books are illustrated by Laura Cornell and are geared for young children four and up. 

Philanthropy in the world of entertainment often gets drowned out in the media by the stories of those that create sensationalism of another kind. Entertainment and media “notables” partnering with organizations such as Kiwanis International for the purpose of accomplishing fulfilling missions and goals that make this world a better place inspires ordinary people to become superstars in their own right by volunteering for causes that are near and dear to their hearts.

 All around the world there is a service club and it’s members are “dedicated to improving children’s lives one community and one child at a time” they are tagged as Kiwaniians! I am very happy to be included in this group.

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Conspiring Through Smell A Vision

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“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.” ~ Bernard Meltzer 

I have found myself caught up in the middle of a conspiracy, and it is me who is being conspired against. I know just who the little schemer is and how she is plotting to draw me in. The little manipulator is Darien Gee, and she is using word tactics of smell a vision to get me involved! 

You see, I never have been one who really likes to cook but, I did have many fulfilling moments of baking back in my days of raising a child. In fact, my son’s friends knew where to get the booty when their sweet tooth cried out for a fix. I was the rare Mom who made home baked goods. When I knew I’d have a houseful of kids, I’d jump into action and make something tasty. When the teen years rolled around, it was a good way to keep tabs on the adolescents, they’d frequently check in to see what was to eat. 

Ever since I became an empty nester and moved to a high altitude environment, where baking is more challenging, my cache of homemade creations has suffered. Author Darien Gee, the little conniver, is trying to lay a guilt trip on me through her book Friendship Bread. Have you read it? 

The magical powers of Amish Friendship Bread is the basis of the book. The wicked descriptions of warm yeast, cinnamon and sweet has made me want to try my hand at a batch. There are real consequences to jumping in because there is no way you can make just one loaf. The bread grows prolifically until before you know it, you are: 

  • Talking to your neighbors
  • Building community through food
  • Giving strangers more than just a passing glance
  • Strategically positioning yourself with groups
  • Building friendships based on commonalities and love 

I’ve peeked ahead in the book, and the recipe is there for the moment when Darien Gee is finished with brainwashing me into baking a pan. http://bit.ly/n50wn.  She is half-way done and I’m already beginning to execute my plan…. For starters there’s the Yampa Valley University Women, my fellow Kiwanians, the guys and gals at SHe Writes Steamboat, the Steamboat Writers Group and Lift Up Routt County (they can always use donations of food). 

I could put Strings in the Mountains on my list. Perhaps they would welcome a starter of something other than Steamboat fare for their own cookbooks. Then, lest I forget, there are always the kind and welcoming women of the United Methodist Church, although they can already abundantly cook! Then there is that other new meet-up group in town. What is it called? Ignite Steamboat? 

We will see, Darien Gee….with the way the recipe works, just getting people started might be the key. Perhaps then I can get out of the kitchen and just spend time creating other fulfilling things. 

Come on back tomorrow…. I promise the blog will not be so long!

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She Writes Home

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“The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives.” ~ Anthony Robbins

 

The other day, I began to think about the consequences of the digital world with regard to personal communication. I think back to my college days of long ago – leaving my family and my high school friends behind. Long distance calling was not cheap, nor was it a daily or weekly occurrence, so I wrote a prodigious amount of handwritten letters to my friends and family, all about the fulfilling life I had rebuilt for myself  some 500 miles from home in the Green Mountains of Vermont. 

Sometimes I tried to be creative. I’d send my family and friends a token from Vermont. A pressed, dried wildflower or single frond of fern, tucked flatly in the envelope. I often walked to the college grounds, through the woods, from my off campus housing. I was always on the look-out for large treasured pieces of peeled birch bark to be used as an alternate source of stationary. Sustainability was not the buzz word back then, but, I did realize on some level that I was recycling and re-using a natural resource. 

Sending handwritten letters on beautiful stationary, envelopes sealed with stamped wax, have nearly gone by the wayside. Now with instantaneous digital communication, people reserve handwritten notes and cards for special occasions – Fathers Day, Mothers Day, Birthdays and Anniversaries. E-Cards have reduced the need for “Belated” cards because you can deliver electronic cards, PDQ! 

It has been a while since I have sent a heartfelt letter through the mail home. Next time I do, I’d like to enclose a sprig of prairie grass, sagebrush, New Mexico privet or maybe a small branch of Apache plume, will do. But I am reminded by the words of Gerard Manley Hopkins: 

“What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long the weeds and the wilderness yet.”

On second thought, I think I’ll just send an e-card, that way I can design the page with any flower or plant that I want. http://bit.ly/q89tj7.

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Wings and Roots

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“The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence. “ ~  Denis Waitley

 

 

Last week’s blog entitled “A String of Summer Memories” elicited a response from one of our most loyal readers, Marie. She voiced her concern about the over-scheduled lives of children in this day and age and the effects it has on children’s ability to know how to entertain themselves and to discover and create themselves. I would concur.

Marie’s remark about creative play led me to remember a scene that I witnessed in a parade years ago, in the tiny hamlet of Moscow, Vermont on the 4th of July.

My happy memory involves not a group of children creatively playing, but a group of over-the-hill women who truly understood the concept of finding their own fun. Dubbed the Women’s Lawn Chair Marching Drill Team, they joined in the parade toting their lawn chairs, in celebration of Independence Day. Just as their own self-created, wild and crazy fun got a little out of hand, they’d tire and stop with precision, perform some drill team exercises, and take to their seats. Their movements were orchestrated by the live audio-broadcast of radio station WDEV. It was a fun spectacle to watch, and it made me remember how important and fulfilling it is for aging people  to have fun, too ! 

For more information on Vermont’s shortest 4th of July parade, please visit http://bit.ly/iKGIUF.  Moscow, Vermont, with a “downtown” of  less than a city block,  located in the heart of the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont, has grown in population more than 14% since 2000, please visit http://www.bestplaces.net/zip-code/vermont/moscow/05662.

 I send my Best Wishes to All of you on this 4th of July. I am proud to live in a country that was born out of the independent spirit. Right now, it is ever more important to keep that kind of energy and attitude alive! It begins with me and it begins with you!

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Show Me! Tell Me!

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“Wherever men have lived there is a story to be told.” ~ Henry David Thoreau  

That’s it – I have had enough. I am finished, out of here, done, fini! The television is going off.  DYJHITW all you hear about is people suspected of killing their children, political posturing and positioning, people in cars running from the law! 

What ever happened to the Land of I CAN, I WILL, I DO! I want to hear positive stories to lift my spirit, tales to help me believe in the good of mankind, news that inspires me to follow in the footsteps of people who have overcome because their heart and souls are working hard to make this a better world. Despite what the media would have us believe, fulfilling stories like that can be found! 

How about sensationalism of a different kind? 

I am turning off that squawk box, right here, right now. 

 I may have to take a sneak peak at the TV every once in a while though. There is a story I want to see on PBS’s “Directors Cut” that is near and dear to my heart. I think it will  be shown sometime in July. It is all about an independent film called “ALPFD.” http://bit.ly/mEF3FN.  The film has undone stereo typical thinking in the filmmaking industry that in order to produce quality films you need a big budget, big production crew and big bucks. If you hear when the movie ALPFD will be featured on PBS “Directors Cut” , let me know. I do not want to miss it. IMHO it will be a good show! 

As I end this blog, I have just gotten more exciting news about ALPFD and it’s U.S.  theatrical release. There is also an arrangement in the works that will increase the visibility of this film,  not just in theatres but in households across America, too! For more information, please visit http://bit.ly/mAvP5d.

 TLK2UL8R.

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Narratives in Medical Curriculum

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“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” ~ Maya Angelou 

Writing medical histories through the narrative form is currently being incorporated into curriculums in medical schools in many parts of the country. Medical students are learning how to better assess medical conditions through more intensive listening to the patient, and recording what they hear into narrative forms. The goal is to make healthcare decisions for the patient based not only on statistics and tests but by also “reading” a patient’s unique personal story of how they are feeling and their own symptoms. 

Why is the addition of the narrative form being incorporated into the way medical schools have traditionally taught students to diagnose illness? Empathy for the patient has been missing in this age of highly developed technical medical testing. Listening to a patient’s story leads to a better understanding of the whole picture of a person’s medical situation. A person’s emotions and spirit about the way they are feeling is part of the overall report, too. 

Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind, http://www.danpink.com/whole-new-mind explains how our society is on the brink of a whole new age of thinking. We have gone from an agricultural age (farmers) through the factory age (industrial), to the information age (business based on knowledge workers) to the emergence of right thinking business people, who are creators and empathizers. Surprisingly, we are moving into an age where more Americans are beginning to work in fields such as arts, entertainment and design than those working left brain fields (accountants, lawyers, insurance adjustors). In order to be accomplished in these growing fields of work, right brained thinking skills must be used and developed. 

Prosperity and abundance has brought a whole new need for fulfilling emotional, aesthetic and spiritual needs. Jobs in the “caring professions” counseling, nursing, healing are surging, too.  They are not jobs that can be decimated by workers overseas who can work faster and cheaper.

To read more about this movement toward the new conceptual age and right brain thinking that Pink claims will change the world, pick up A Whole New Mind.  Many libraries have it and it is a Business Week best selling book. It’s a fascinating read.

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Film Friday Update on ALPFD

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“Filmmaking is such a collaborative medium.” ~ Daryl Hannah

“Filmmaking is such a collaborative medium.” ~ Daryl Hannah 

The film A Lonely Place for Dying is proving it is alive and well on the film festival circuit that is for sure! I received an update this week on this film that is drawing more attention and awards on the film festival circuit with each passing week. 

So far, ALPFD can boast of 38 Official Selections into Film Festivals across the country and 45 nominations in various categories of awards. This low budget, independent film has won 19 Awards including 14 awards for Best Feature Film. The musical score by Brent Daniels has won awards too. 

Last summer, ALPFD was featured in MovieMaker Magazine www.moviemaker.com  (Issue 88) in an article called “Period Pieces on the Cheap.” It is notable for the sizeable number of visual effects shots in a production of less that $ l million dollars. There were more than 350 visual effects, most of them created on a computer without bells and whistles, from a dorm room at DeSales University http://bit.ly/mF9VB9.  

The total budget was $200,000. Everything was done with economy in mind. Yet this film attracted high profile actors, James Cromwell and Michael Wincott. A Lonely Place for Dying has proven that low budget films can attract quality actors, fans and win fulfilling awards too! 

Just as we promised we will continue to follow this film as it continues on the film festival circuit. The results are not in on some nominations yet. It has claimed awards in Santa Fe, Durango, Cinema City, Wild Rose Film Festival, Myrtle Beach and Indie Spirit…. just to name a few. My guess is there could be more awards on the way.

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e-Conomies. What Does it All Mean?

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“I look for what needs to be done. After all, that’s how the universe designs itself.” ~ Buckminster Fuller

e-Commerce, e-Books, e-Publishing, e-Marketing. http://rww.to/aiuHxb. You’ve heard the terms a lot lately, haven’t you? But what does it all mean? It means entertaining new ways of doing things! 

Let’s face it – our economy needs a kick in the pants! We need independent spirited folks to take ideas and run with them. Brain power, our most available resource, surrounds us everywhere. It is not located in any one place. We need people who are tired of sitting around waiting for something to happen, to make things happen! 

Right here in Steamboat Springs,CO there is a group of people who want to have their say, they want to be heard, and they want to be seen. Right now! They are not willing to play the game of waiting on someone else to create their future for them, or not! 

She Writes Steamboat is a newly-formed meet-up group that will come together for the first time at 4 pm on June 21st at the Bud Werner Memorial Library. www.steamboatlibrary.org.   Independent publishing is one economy that is on the fast track and it is gaining momentum every day. Business people, non-profit organizations, parents, teachers, children and very ordinary folks with unique stories to tell are pumped. Internet and media technologies have changed so greatly over the past 10 years anyone can jump on the train and tell their story, inform, educate and inspire others through all independent film, music or books. Entertain that thought! 

Further, the internet has provided a way for independent publishers to become visible all over the world! Are you ready to share your voice? Join Us @ She Writes Steamboat – click here http://on.fb.me/lbnPms.

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