The Willow Has Spoken - And the Winner is

Well it is time... Time to let a winner be chosen for my Emotional Willow giveaway... As many of you know, I love giving little things away and although I will start off with some things, it always grows to more.

 

So many of you left wonderful comments. Some of you even shared some of your own doings with the willow. A few I have already tucked away in my goodie book for later use. Thanks for sharing.

 

The person chosen as the winner is definitely the one who is suppose to be blessed by the willow items. First I used a number generator and she was the one chosen but I am not too keen on number generators and like to handwrite the names and pick a winner at random. Lo and behold the same name was chosen again... I took this as a sign that the fates had spoken.

 So without further ado... the winner of the Emotional Willow giveaway is Faerie Sage over at Faerie Sage Kitchen. And she is even a Pisces.... so a happy birthday to you dear, there will be a few extras tucked inside to celebrate the grand occasion. Please drop me an email when you can with your mailing info and I will shoot your box out to you in the next few days.... Congrats and I hope you enjoy all your goodies.

Musical Mondays - Mistakes

Is there something in your life that given the opportunity you would go back and change? Would you go back and completely avoid the situation and treat it as if it did not even exist therefore making it no longer a part of your life? Or maybe you would go back and still interact with the situation only this time around you would deal with it in a different manner, hoping that the choices you make this time would have a different affect on the outcome. 

I have always thought this kind of thought is folly. Of course there are things that after the fact we all would like to possibly go back and have a do over. But then just as I told my son the other day, hind sight is always 20/20. It is easy to look back on a situation and have the exact interpretation as to how we "should have" dealt with it. We seem to forget that we usually do not have all the details in the beginning like we do in the end. We also seem to forget that there are usually always circumstances that have a way of clouding our eyes or possibly making our sight a bit rose colored. 

Still we spend a lot of time pondering on the what ifs and if onlys. I have times in my past that I will have to be honest and say that I wish they could have been a bit more happier, and less hurtful. I have experiences that I wish I would not have had to endure in order to learn the lesson that I eventually gleaned from them. Yet I know also that without so many of these "times" I would not be where I am today. I would not have so many of the blessings that I have. 

One may say blessings… what can you be talking about. Well for instance, my first marriage was not the best. Yet if I had not experienced it, I would not have my three wonderful children and all the wonderful things they have brought to me. I could even go as far to say that I would not have the blessing of my grandchildren as well. 

I guess I always try and see the positive in things. It drives some a bit crazy. I have been accused of being one of those overly sappy kind of people who don't allow those with "real" problems to just have their issues. Yet I myself have had my fair share of hard times. I made the decision a long time ago ( I think I was 7) when my alcoholic father had me cornered in the dining room. Everyone else had made their escape and I remained. As I attempted also to leave he stopped me and told me to sit. I obeyed his command. As he sat there and attempted to intimidate me with his harsh words and stare I returned his glare. Even when he threw a knife which landed next to my ankle, I continued to stare at him. I remember vividly telling myself that I would be the only one who controlled my happiness. Now although I made that statement with as much conviction as any 7 year old could I still had years to learn it fully.

Life is not always fun. In fact many times it can be down right a pain in the ass. Yet it is what you make of it. It is what you do with what you have. So do I think I have made mistakes? Hell yea I am sure I have and I am sure I still will. Am I asking for a second chance? Only to be 20 some again so I could go out and act crazy and have twice the energy that I have now. 

I have choosen one of my favorite songs for today. "Same Mistake" by James Blunt. Although it may not go along exactly with the way I feel it always makes me think on the subject. Beautiful words from a beautiful voice. 

I think Sophia Loren put it best when she said "mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life."

Awake, thou wintry earth -

Fling off thy sadness!

Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth

Your ancient gladness!

~Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"

Musical Mondays - Into The West

There are things through life that grasp us. They take hold of us in a manner that is hard to explain to those who do not have the wonder of experiencing them also.

To many these experiences are shared by many

yet to some they are shared by few.

In my opinion this makes the blessing even more special.

I have always been somewhat of a quiet person,
that is until of course you get to know me
 then some say I have a problem of not shutting up.
 This may be so, yet when it comes to myself and the life that surrounds me, I will admit that I do not share easily with those that I do not know well. I have become better at sharing my stories and such yet still the feeling that I may be looked upon as slightly daft lingers in the back of my mind.

I will say though that as I grow older in years,

this worry about what the others with differing opinions

may think of me grows less and less.

If only I would have known such wisdom

 when I was younger.

I would like to share some of myself with you today for Musical Mondays. Not that I do not share a little of myself with you each time I write,

it is just that today I may journey a bit deeper into the "real" me than I usually do.

I hold great belief and respect for that which the average man sometimes dismisses

due to lack of evidence or just the fear

that some may laugh at him because he claims to believe in something that most do not.

The Lord of the Rings is one of those things that touches me in such a manner. Yes I know it is a book written by Tolkien and it is said that it represents the world wars and such. Yet it is hard for me to believe that Tolkien being of the heritage and influence that he was did not have some feelings towards the unseen and that which is not fully known.

My favorite and perhaps most sad part of the story is when the time of man comes and the time of the elves and others comes to a close. Why is it that the two can't coincide together. The wisdom of the ones prior is so deep and so unlike the wisdom of man.

 Man wishes to build and grow and prosper

and does not seem to be satisfied or happy
 unless he does this.

Often in his quest
 he loses sight of what he may be damaging
in order to gain his prize.

Whereas the others
 think first of simplicity and the old ways.

Progress (or what is interpreted as such)
 is not always a good thing.

Take technology for instant.

We have become so consumed
 with possessing the latest gadgets to get us "connected"  

that we have forgotten the simply joys of life.

For some time I worried
about the fact that I did not "fit in".
 This is not longer a concern, at least not as big of one.
 I now count myself as blessed
to be able to still see the beauty of little things
 and the wisdom that many have to give us.

It can at times be a bit of a solitude life.

I am blessed beyond words to be able to live it.

I may not be in the fastest lane of life

but I most definitely am in
 one of the most scenic.

Today's song is "Into the West" by Annie Lennox. Annie has a way of putting such expression into any piece she presents and this is no exception.
 The lyrics can be found on my Musical Monday page.
Take a quiet moment to sit back.
 Close your eyes and simply experience.

Although it is a song which speaks of an end

it also speaks of another beginning.

Yet isn't that what each end really is;
 the beginning of something else.

Enjoy and remember:
it is still the simple little things
 that make this world keep turning.