Make 2018 What You Want it to Be…!

2017 was quite a year!… And I’m sure 2018 will be even crazier.  But no worries!  We can make the new year into anything we want it to be!  All it needs is a little tweeking.  A bit of elbow grease.  And a whole lot of Adventure!

I don’t know about you, folks—but last year, I did things I’ve never done before in my Life!

I went through a time that I call my “Wilderness Sojourn.” I quit my job and went camping in the High Desert.  I slept in a tent under the stars all alone—far from towns and civilization.  All around me was thick darkness with all its strange noises!  I had no protection but the Good Lord and a can of bear-spray!

I had no cellphone.  No Wifi… No electricity or running water.  Just a tent and a hammock… And not much else.

My friends and family all despaired and wrote me off as a Goner.

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Strangest Thanksgiving Story Ever…!

Everybody likes “Miracle Stories” around Thanksgiving and the Holidays….And today I have a good one for you! It’s a Miracle Story that I recently ‘participated’ in—so it’s one of my favorites!

In case you hadn’t noticed, I disappeared for the last few months and it was for a very good reason! I took off work and went on a long Sojourn to the countryside. After several weeks of solitude, I felt inexplicably drawn to “Yreka”, an old town that I’d lived near several years ago.

There, I ran into a rather interesting biker-gal, Joanne, who happens to be the Ex-wife of my Ex-husband! She wasn’t too pleased to see me in town—but I refused to be intimidated and soon I became her friend.

Of Monstrous Mistakes and Frightful Fridays

Three days before my 56th Birthday, I made the dumbest mistake. It almost cost my life. My Birthday celebration could’ve just as easily become my Funeral.

It happened Friday evening near sunset. I was sitting on the cliff near Camel Rock, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, while waiting for my friend Charlene to show up. But for some reason, Charlene never arrived and I got bored.

I peered over the precipice. I’d heard that a car had recently been shoved off the cliff and I was curious to see it. Soon I found myself wandering down the path leading to the bottom of the cliff.

It must have been my preoccupation with finding the smashed car that made me careless. Either that, or I was drunk on the Elixir of Life…the gorgeous day. The tantalizing spray of surf. The rays of the setting sun. It was intoxicating, and I soon found myself laughing as I ran along the bottom of the cliff…Laughing at the surging waves.

“You can’t catch me!” I shouted. “I’m not afraid of you!” Those were the last words I remember saying.

Of Garden Greens… and Birthday Blues

The other day, my dear friend turned 55. And what a day it turned out to be! I’d bought 5 birthday cards to give to Holly on her 55th birthday—but in the end, I didn’t give her even one. It was that kind of a day, folks!

I awakened in the early morning to the irksome throb of my cell phone. I squinted at the clock and groaned. “What do you want…?” I said into the phone.

“Today is my Birthday!” said the voice on my celly. “And I need help in my garden!”

“WHAT….?” I lurched upright in my bed. “Today is your birthday?” But of course! My friend had been telling me for weeks, but somehow I’d forgotten.

Of Nieces, Nonsense, and Newspapers

The day was dull, dreary, and oh-so-ordinary! I had a hundred errands to run…shopping to do…and articles to write—but my grandnieces were raring for Adventure! To them, even ordinary days should be ‘Funtastic!’

“Auntie?” said little Katy as we headed into the Grocery Store together. “Can you be ‘Mary Poppins’ today?”

“Indeed!” I said, grabbing a shopping cart.  “I’m guess I’ll have to be ‘Auntie Poppins’ to get through this shopping trip!”

Resolutely, I pushed the shopping cart past the bins of gum, pop and candy—hurrying the girls along.  But then we passed a Newspaper rack, and I paused.  My brain was thinking fast.

“Look here,” I said to Katy and Avri as I handed them a Newspaper.  “If you’ll behave yourselves today, you might find yourself in the Newspaper, soon.”

Their mouths dropped open.  “How?” said the girls, looking intrigued and excited.  “How will it happen?

The little Darlings had no idea that their ‘Auntie Poppins’ wrote a column for the local newspaper….And they didn’t know that she was pushing a deadline.  Auntie didn’t enlighten them, either!

The girls spent the next half-hour chattering happily—pondering the mystery of the Newspaper in their hands.  They scarcely noticed all the goodies on display throughout the store.

We made quick work of our shopping trip with a minimum of distractions.  I was congratulating myself, when suddenly Katy tripped and fell down in the bakery aisle.  Her smiles turned to tears, and she started to cry loudly.

Heads swiveled as other shoppers turned to stare.