I will always be concerned about the damage addictions inflict on the hearts of addicts and on the ones who love them. The passing of my husband in 2021 has deepened my commitment to growth, change and overall wellness while also beckoning me towards creation of new and different.
The new and different includes less focus addiction/codependency and more on spiritual truths, spiritual growth and on keeping-life-simple. Living my life in the frame of simple has pointed me towards a memory to a fall day in 5th grade when our teacher asked each student to stand in front of the class and talk about what we wanted to be when we grew up.
Oh my. What does a 5th grader know about such things? If memory serves (and it might not), the pig-tailed, permed, or just-girls-with-crooked-bangs said they wanted to be teachers or nurses or secretaries or mothers. None of us could talk long about why we wanted to be any of the things we were claiming but we were at least brave enough to claim. I stood up and said, "I want to write stories."
Mind you, I had not written a word beyond what was required in elementary school, so I was as surprised as anyone by my outrageous claim. Always a reader, never a writer, until years after working as a secretary, a waitress, a mother, a volunteer, an adult student and a counselor. It was then I began to write: essays, professional articles, a few short stories here and there, (never my long suit), a few novels were started but never completed, and finally my book on families and addiction.
And now, all these wrinkled and mature years later, the fun stories are happening. For little people. The children's stories. Books that don't feel like work. I just sit and listen to the little animals talk to one another and then I write the words down. My book Theopatra, More Than Just A Mouse, an illustrated chapter book about a dreamy-eyed, courageous little mouse, was a delightful and creative romp in the world of writing. And there's another book gestating, conversations between the willful pint-sized mouse and her friends are stirring and I'm writing them down.
So blog entries change focus because life invites it. Life is short and full of invitation to live and love differently and we are asked to show up as the person we have become. I believe all of us live different chapters in our lives. Check out the chapter you're in and make sure you're still creating the life you want. Yes. You. Can.