Memorial Day

My morning started with this wonderful reminder of today. It is such a gift to actually have Memorial Day off to soak in the beauty of what it stands for. Last year I was working at the hotel so it was a work day for me. So happy this is a new year and I have enjoyed the bliss of a new job and I get a three day weekend!!!

This is also my dear brother’s birthday. For those of you that have not lost a sibling that is younger than you are I don’t know if I can explain how confusing the birthday of that person becomes. But, I am going to face this with the joy and celebration that my brother symbolized. So to start my day off right I loaded up my mat and water and headed to 9:30am yoga.

My yoga is my “honey.” It is where I go to escape all of the world. Where I go to stretch back into my body, slow down, sweat out toxins, and basically, reset everything that the real world tries to do to beat us down.

Today was so very special because as class started I looked across the room and saw Melinda. Melinda is a gorgeous person, yoga teacher, mother, grandmother and friend. I have not seen her in months. She was one of the dearest people when my brother came to visit me. I wanted him to enjoy yoga with me so she taught us private yoga classes. She knew that it needed to be safe for a new yoga student and she has a heart of gold. Those memories of yoga with my brother are more”honey” that will forever be in my heart. So Melinda, just like the beauty of honey, golden, sweet, natural, like liquid sunshine – reminded me that the best parts of my life are those that remind me of honey.

If you really think about this….honey is such a gift. Those tiny bees buzz around and spend their lives making this magical, golden sweetness. It moves slowly, glistens like rays of sunshine and brings sweetness to all that it touches.

This is what my brother did to anyone he met. So, to celebrate him today I want to feel all of the honey in my life. The sweet spots that move slowly. The places that feel like golden drops of sunshine that can fill your heart.

What or who is in your life that makes you pause…because they fill your heart with that golden, pure sweetness? Who do you feel makes you slow down, taste the sweetness of each moment and walk away feeling touched by the miracle of honey?

Make today a sweet day…with lots of honey.

A Blessing

Sometimes it is the funniest things that fly into my brain. One of them that repeats itself and actually makes me pause is the silliest dinner blessing. I bet you have heard it or said it when you were younger. It goes like this, “God is Great, God is Good. Let us thank Him for our food.”

I grew up in Alabama so saying the blessing before a meal is very common. My family usually sang a beautiful blessing that my older sister wrote when she was around 9 years old. It is a wonderful song to a simple tune that says, “Thank you for our bread and our meat and all of the other things that we eat. Thank you for our home and our friends for this is where our happiness begins.”

But the traditional “God is Great” blessing is just something that is taught to everyone in Alabama. It is probably taught with the A,B,C’s. But, as the words repeat themselves in my head sometimes it truly gives me pause. Pause to ask myself that question, “What is your food?” What am I thankful for” – What is feeding my soul and giving me strength? The strength to face another day. The strength to keep holding on to hope even when you feel like a situation cannot get better. The hope that you will find that perfect job that really gives you a chance to shine.

So I ask you that same question on this glorious Friday. 

What is your food?  What feeds your heart?  What makes your soul shine?

Happy Friday!  Thank you for being my food and sharing this Healing Knots journey.

Flowers and a Note

Yesterday I came home to flowers and a beautiful handwritten note.

The note was written from Vicki. Vicki was traveling to Maryland. It is a trip she never imagined she
would be making without her son being there to greet her. Her precious son Matthew was attending
Goucher College when his life was tragically taken by a drunk driver. Vicki and her husband have
continued to live with the most broken hearts that this amazing person is gone. Vicki brings the deepest feeling of love, faith and compassion to anyone she meets. Her gift of being real and loving others even when her life has been crushed by great loss is something I watch with wonder. Her words are always so beautiful and enlightening.

I wanted to send her on this trip with bracelets for all of the people that have held her hand, prayed
with her and been there for her as she has walked this path of loss and healing. I put a bag of her bracelet gifts on the front porch so she could pick them up on the way to the airport. I wish I could have just held her hand the whole way to Baltimore. Sometimes all you can do is love a friend and give them bracelets as they head out to conquer chapters that are unbearable.

Her gift of flowers and a handwritten note felt like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I share her
words because they are so tender and dear. The beauty of her words is that this is what she actually does for me.

Corinne,

There is a stillness in my heart-filled of love and gratitude for the tender mercies of kindness
you continue to pour into the quiet places of healing- places of strength, of peace, of joy – you
are there.

Bless you as my heart smiles.

Vicki

Let these words remind you that you can make someone’s heart smile. It can be the smallest
handwritten note of love and appreciation. Make someone smile today..all the way into the darkest
crack of their broken heart. You can do it!!!

Nancy in California

This picture popped up in my phone today. It was around 3:00 and I was at work. That is my droopy
hour. You know the feeling…something better wake you up because you are starting to drool over your keyboard. Well, today this picture perked me up and made me smile.

These precious girls are in a group in California called Girls on the Run. One of their coaches is a friend of mine. We will just call her Nancy in California. That is how she appears in my phone. Her last name has so many crazy letters that you could never spell it correctly forget trying to say it. Well, Nancy learned about Healing Knots at a birthday party in California where Healing Knots were given as party favors. Yes, it was a party for a grown man that was turning 50 but the Healing Knots bracelets were still just the right favor and many a man grabbed a triple wrap bracelet and proudly wore those wooden beads as we all celebrated our friend’s march into the decade of 5-0.

Nancy and I know each other because of the birthday boy and his wife. Nancy has known them for
years. They both held her hand as she lost her precious husband to cancer. They would show up with
dinner when Nancy and her daughter were watching their family change by losing the man that was
their rock. Years have passed and Nancy is still this amazing happy, fun and bubbly woman. She has
weathered that tragic loss and brings so much joy into a room that her presence cannot go unnoticed.
This is the second year in a row I have received a text from her, “Corinne, my girls and coaches need
Healing Knots. We have a 5K and I want to give everyone a Healing Knots bracelet.” Her text are always full of so many funny words and so much love. Making these bracelets is always done in record time. This year it was 15 single strands and 4 triple wraps to California by May 17th !!! Nancy’s daughter is all grown up now but she gives time to these precious girls to help them know they are strong and can do anything. The message comes by running together and training for a 5K. The love comes with every step of the run and just the fact that young girls get to meet someone as strong, genuine and magnetic as Nancy. Trust me, after the year is over and they complete that final race, the memory of Nancy stays with them and they know that life is powerful and being a woman is powerful!!!

I so cherish being a part of this journey. An amazing woman that has battled great loss and keeps
growing and sharing her love with young girls. All along, Nancy is sharing that life is not a race to the finish line, but life is a race to find love, acceptance and courage no matter what gets in your way!!!

Repeat

Sunday was one of those days that I would love to put on “repeat.”

If I could just push a button and have it reappear on my calendar when I needed to take a break or find that moment of refresh.

At 7:00 in the morning I threw towels, a cooler of waters, my dog, 2 of my children, my bag of bracelets to be finished and a cup of warm coffee into my blue van. My sweet husband behind the wheel and we headed to the coast. Yes, the ever famous “one day at the beach” was coming true and I had three of the most precious people in my life going with me. No one was whining or complaining.  Okay, the two in the back were asleep and totally unaware that they were being transported to the ocean so I could breathe in the salt in the air, feel the ocean breeze and just stare at the horizon where water meets sky.

We made it by 11:15 for our brunch reservations at a sweet little restaurant close to the bridge. The clouds were dark, rain was trickling down on our windshield. It did not matter. We were free and had made the great escape. We waited for our brunch to be served and slowly the clouds turned puffy and white. The sky was begging to be blue and the sun was fighting to make an appearance. Again, it did not matter to me. We rounded the corner past the sea oats to Beach Access Road #3. And there it was....the ocean. Just waiting for us to sit and soak up the healing. To sit and watch the waves crash on the shore. Because we are in Texas we are able to drive the car right up to the crashing waves.  Yes, it is a little strange...but, I will take it for now. Sandals off of my feet and toes straight into the sand. AH, relief.

Breeze whipping my hair. Bootsie jumps out and is in shock that her paws sink. She sticks her nose into the sand and I could feel her spirit of a puppy return. I guess we can all feel that when we get to the beach.

We all pour out of the van and start walking. No one needs to talk. The breeze is singing in your ear.  All four of us and Bootsie just start walking...feet sinking, face being kissed by the sun. I have no idea what else to say to you...but, Sunday was a gift for my soul. Hallie took this picture of us standing where the waves hit the shore....and not sure I need to say anything more.

Go to your favorite place. Hold someone’s hand and remember what really matters in life.

Have a beautiful week...life is so precious when we slow down.

This Little Light

“No matter who you are, or where you are, or how mundane or tough your situation may seem, I believe you can illuminate your world. In fact I believe this is the only way the world will ever be illuminated – one bright act of grace at a time, all the way to the river.” Elizabeth Gilbert, O Magazine, May 2016.

My neighbor is so very generous.  Not only does she have me over to sip a cocktail and enjoy the most delicious cheese known to man, she also shares all of her many magazines with me. She is a wise woman that is now retired but does not let her mind rest. She was one of the first women to graduate from the University of Texas Business School and she then entered into the finance world when there were few to no women to be found. Her theory on making it in a man’s world was to read every kind of magazine ever printed. She reads all sports magazines, for that is a language that can break into a man’s world. She reads People and Oprah because that can connect you with younger generations. She reads The New Yorker and National Geographic because goodness knows that opens the door to even more interesting conversations. So these magazines land in her mailbox and then when she is finished she places them on her front porch bench for us to enjoy. She fell and hurt her back one year so I started taking her newspapers from her driveway to the front porch bench so she could safely grab it in the morning. And now that is something my husband or I do faithfully. So some mornings when we place the papers on the bench we get to gather a pile of these wonderful magazines. And yes, she still gets multiple papers and reads them as well.

So this week the Oprah magazine caught my eye and the words that I shared from Elizabeth Gilbert have been warming my heart all week. The article starts describing a cold rainy day in New York City.  Elizabeth is riding a bus. People are cranky, wet and tired. She shares that as the bus filled the bus driver got on the intercom and said, “Folks, I know you’ve had a rough day and your’re frustrated. I can’t do anything about the weather or traffic, but here’s what I can do. As each one of you gets off the bus, I will reach out my hand to you. As you walk by, drop your troubles into the palm of my hand, okay? Don’t take your problems home to your families tonight – just leave’em with me. My route goes right by the Hudson River and when I drive by there later, I’ll open the window and throw your troubles in the water. Sound good?”

The article goes on to explain what happened on that bus after his words landed on everyone. It transformed the energy. People were given permission to let go of their pain. He offered a hand to reach out and love strangers. Crabby, grumpy, rude people. His words touched hearts and his hand reached across all boundaries.

How simple is that? If you have the time today, offer to hold someone’s hand. Reach out and let them put their troubles in your hand and then release it out of the window. Maybe it sounds silly. But, so does walking around in pain all day. Let today be filled with light. Find someone to share your heart with and you will both walk away feeling better.

Or at least share your magazines with a neighbor...it might be the one article that changes everything. Thank you Barbara for being my neighbor!