….are kids who are dealing with, or who have dealth with, catastrophic illness. We have a little girl at our elementary school who is going through cancer treatment, and the last time I saw her, she was in a wheelchair. Today at the Christmas concert, not only was she not in a wheelchair, she was not wearing a hat or scarf or a wig, her beautiful bald head glowing in the fluorescent lighting. She reminded me of Melissa Etheridge – fighting against her illness, loud and proud! This sweet little girl in our school is in the fifth grade, just on the verge of appearance really mattering to these kids. And yet, here she was, proudly carrying this gorgeously white head of hers, like it was all the rage. And yet, it was more than that, really. She really had that attitude of not caring what people thought. And that, to me, is the best place to be. I love kids (and adults, too!) that can wander through their days, not so obsessed with ‘oh no, am I wearing the right brand of jeans, and oh no, did I curl them up just so – just like everybody else?’ (Yeah, I know – curling up your jeans was from the 50’s, the 80’s, and for a short time a couple years ago – definitely not now! Hey – it was just an example!)

Seeing this girl today really made me feel good. It is like, just being in the presence of such beauty and strength, we are ourselves uplifted, some little bit.

I don’t know what all kind of treatments she had, but, I know she is on the road to recovery. And I’ll just bet that a good part of the reason for that is the strength of her spirit!

I have been wanting to talk to a psychic for the longest time! My best friend, ‘Big Sammie’, used to always go and she would tell me what a great experience it was for her! Sammie was into all things metaphysical and really inspired me to embrace things that I’d been feeling my whole life that I had thought were really ‘off’ and I didn’t normally share with people. There’s just nothing really ‘mainstream’ about my spirituality and Sammie was a blessing in my life, because she nurtured that in me. I know that we were meant to be together. Another thing that I know – is that I was meant to pick the psychic I picked today at PsychicSource.com. See, when you call, the menu goes through a list of the available psychics and you hear a little blurb from each psychic about their gifts and the tools they use. So you can go through a whole list of them – there are nineteen of them available right now. Marilyn, however, was the second one whose ‘blurb’ I heard, and I didn’t want to listen to anymore – I just knew she was the one. I had a wonderful reading – she really helped me to clear some things up in my mind and to see clearly how I need to face certain things in my life. I’m so glad, so thrilled, that my first reading was so wonderful. Right before I called, I was nervous, and I was thinking, “But I wanted Sammie with me for my first time!” (She passed away in 1997.) And then I felt her nudging me, ‘Silly! I am with you!’ And I’ll just bet that it was her nudging me to pick Marilyn, too! Thank you, Sammie! It was really cool, too, because for new customers, it’s only $10 for 10 minutes! That rocked!

No matter what you think about our current war, I know that this will take your breath away. This post on my friend, Marcus’ blog Moment of Silence today– really makes you stop and think, and realize that …hey! You may be going to McDonald’s for lunch today, or taking the kids to the zoo, or watching movies with friends – heck! You might be going to see the opening of Spider Man 3 – but, you know what – men and women from the United States of America are out there dying right now! It makes me weak to even think about it. Please – go … read that post. And see if you don’t just tremble a little bit like I did.

…is that you get to go through all your stuff! You know, all that special stuff that you’ve been keeping forever and a day! It’s funny because if we don’t move, I sometimes don’t see this stuff for years, but, it’s so majorly special to me! It’s almost like, once a year or so, I should go through all my stuff, just for the warm fuzzies it gives me!

Some of my favorite stuff to go through is all of my ‘Catholic stuff’. I call it that because it is a mix of things from all aspects of my life growing up as a Catholic. My grandmothers were both very devout Catholics, and they would give me little trinkets here and there, and I inherited some of their things when they passed. And our church would frequently have book sales, so I have lots of sweet, little Catholic children’s books. My most favorite of my ‘Catholic stuff’, however, is all of the first communion gifts that I received when I received that sacrament in the second grade. I have the most beautiful rosary from my Grandmamom, and a very pretty necklace from my parents, and a wonderfully precious children’s mass book signed by one of my very favorite priests, Fr. Kamel. He was such a sweet, gentle, and kind man, I loved being around him.

I feel so warm and cozy and loved when I am looking all over this stuff, and showing my kids, and telling them my stories about my sweet grandmothers, my favorite priests (Fr. Kamel, Fr. Kelly, and Fr. Gayle) and what it was like growing up Catholic.