Gotta give those episcopalians some credit

Seriously people, why shouldn't gay people have the right to be just as miserable as (some of) you are?

Full Moon Cleanse

Last night was the Full Moon. I dreamt my former husband told me he had a four-year-old child. Once I would have been tied up in knots and tears for days over a dream like that. Not so last night.
The Full Moon is the perfect time for releasing something that no longer serves you, or letting go of something that you no longer need in your life, an opportunity to let go of an aspect of yourself that you have outgrown.
So I celebrated the emergence of a new me by stepping out of an old way of being. I am making way for new magical opportunities to come to me!
Pretty good, right?

This first picture is of my friend, Gloria. She is in the cafeteria at Ikea. Gloria takes care of the dead bodies for me. It seems I am able to drop a book on a palmetto bug (aka Giant Roach) and crush it to death but I am unable to dispose of the body. Now that's a good friend. A Super Duper Good Friend!

So, we had such a good time at Ikea in Miami. I borrowed Connie's pick-up (thank you girlfriend!) and this is what I came home with. Two ginormous boxes and yes it was a challenge getting them from the truck into the living room but I was determined.

Took me all day but here is what I ended up with. And not one single screw was left over. I am quite satisfied with myself.

I voted. Did you?

The temperature was down in the 60's the last two mornings. Got to turn off the AC and wear long pants yesterday and put on the slippers that Lucia, Micah and Roman sent me for Christmas last year. So cute, right?

I am still in the throes of moving in but took an afternoon off this week to start working on some curtains for the living room. I found this wonderful bark cloth last summer on Ebay and bought 12 yards of it. Very vintage looking but it is relatively new.

I've put hidden tabs on the back which makes them slide nicely on the rod. I used an old sheet for the lining. Have to get my buddy, Tom, over to show me how to hang the rod on a concrete wall.

Yesterday, I went to the Florida Keys Quilters monthly meeting and it was so much fun to see everybody. Here are a couple of show and tells. The first was not taken at a good angle so if you can't tell, it is chickens and socks. Don't know why the socks but it is cute.

This next one was painted by Elaine. Do you know what it is? It is a barn quilt. Basically, a barn quilt is a large piece of wood that is painted to look like a quilt block (although she has four blocks here) and put up on your barn or these days, the side of your house. It dates back to about 300 years ago when German immigrants like the Amish and the Mennonites settled in Pennsylvania and began painting folk designs, including geometric patterns from quilt squares, on their barns. Many of the symbols used had a special meaning such as eternity, success, happiness, luck, etc. Apparently this has become quite popular again and Quilt trails have been developed in many states, where you get a map that guides the viewers to the various locations, with a picture of the square and a name or explanation of it's meaning. Cool, right? Well, our Prez, Mary Lou, thinks we might like to do some and I am going to do one for my new house. When I have one spare minute.

 Lastly, I wanted to show you this picture I took last night from my backyard. I felt depressed when I first got here. Told someone I couldn't look out of my house and see the sky or the water. Look how beautiful my view is afterall.

So, it's hard to know what to write about my weekend with Oprah. I think I'm still processing . . . If I just had two words, I would say Life Changing. I came away with a few lessons that I trust will stay with me always. One biggie is about forgiveness and another is that Life is a gift and should be treated that way - not thrown away. I've spent the last few years since my husband left, hating him and what he did to us and feeling like I was just waiting out the rest of my life, frankly. Well, that is done now. The saying, Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for your enemy to die, pretty much described my state of mind but I just couldn't seem to shake it. All done. Consider it shaken. I forgive myself. I forgive everyone. I surrender. And that is what I will continue to work on and tell myself until it is the absolute truth. Here are some pictures:

The event took place in the American Airlines Arena and Museum Park next door, in Miami.

The view from the arena

This is what the stage looked like when I got there on Friday night. 

And this is what it looked like right before Oprah came on. All of a sudden the lights went down and everyone's wristband lit up. It was like thousands of stars appearing all of a sudden. The crowd went wild. Later on we found that the bands would change colors, usually when a new person came on stage. V. cool.

And this is what it looked like when Oprah was on stage. Here she is talking about a tree in her backyard. She is wearing a long yellow gown. As you can see I didn't have the VIP seats on the floor but I wasn't in the nosebleed section either.

Saturday was more casual. We got our workbooks on the way in to the arena and got to work with Oprah and then with Deepak Chopra, Elizabeth Gilbert, Rob Bell and Ivanla Vanzant. I'll tell you, I wasn't crying that day but my eyes were leaking the whole time, tears running down my face as I finally heard a lot of truths I hadn't wanted to face. 

Don't know that it was anything in particular that touched me so deeply - so many amazing insightful words from people I've admired for years - and the collective consciousness of the group in that arena had something to do with it. To start off Saturday, Deepak did a guided meditation. There were 13,000 people there and you could have heard a pin drop. Nobody even coughed. Gives me chills just thinking about it. 

Rob Bell puts Life in perspective

During lunch break, I took a walk over to Bayfront, another vibrant example of life in Miami.

Oprah closed the day with this poem by Derek Walcott.

***

Love After Love

The time will come 

when, with elation

you will greet your self arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror

and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookkshelf

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit. Feast on your life.

***

When I left the arena and was driving toward the highway, my wristband turned pink and stayed on for a full minute.