Tomorrow! The Ides of March, the Oscars, and what would be my Julius’ 37th birthday!
Reflecting:
Decades ago, as a single mother, my daughters would periodically covet something of mine that I was not ready to ‘hand over’ and so the phrase for such moments became: “Can I have it when you die?”..hahaha…of course my answer was always ‘yes’.
As my years in my Malibu home marched forward, and the ever present awareness of my demise on the planet as a human became more real, I began a magnificent creative gift for my loves that would go on….a sort of art/spiritual/personal installation.
Every single ‘thing’ in my Malibu home had a story. I began writing poems, riddles, hints, along with arrows and 3-D add-ons with dried flowers and crystals to guide…and I wrapped and hid, complete with entire histories of each object, these THINGS in my carved Indian trunk, my grandfather’s poker table with a hidden drawer, my great grand father’s hand carved(by him) cherry chest, the tiny drawers in my mother’s carved mahogany desk from Paris….all over…the most elaborate fun filled adventure to be discovered after I go!
WELL…we all know what happened to my Malibu home.
During these 14 months since then I have written 7 books…3 are little ditties, the others, each very different from each other, but more substantial….I have NEVER considered myself a ‘real writer’…screenplays? YES…a visual and audio story teller? YES…but my soul needed to feel that my grand children would have SOMETHING.
WELL….I was and am shocked at the response to my books…they have sold so voluminously that a British distribution company has picked one up for international distribution….I want to THANK ALL OF YOU….thank you. This would not have happened without you. We are all here to touch and expand each others’ awareness, and that was all I intended for my grand children. What a surprise.
BUT, as Julius, my beloved golden retriever, is the star of several of the books, and his birthday was The Ides of March (hence his name), which is in tandem with the Oscars (once upon time ago I wrote speeches for recipients) and always dreamed of being ‘up there’ with my own triumphs, TODAY feels like the perfect day to thank you all. Again.
Now? My triumphs are in the depth and beauty of connection to you, of how each of us contributes to the world moving forward in our very own specific ways, together…it is a triumph simply to be here now with eyes and hearts wide open, expressing ourselves.
Let’s keep holding hands in this.