Tag Archives: Reading

#Reverb12: Day 8

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reverb12

Okay, I knew this had to happen eventually: today a few of the prompts have started to repeat, to overlap. From Carolyn Rubenstein’s Reverb11 list, “Limits: We often learn about our limits the hard way. Were there any limits you realized this past year? Alternately, what self-imposed limits were you able to move beyond this year?” I answered this one already on Day Two.

Art

The full prompt: What was the most moving piece of art that you saw/experienced this year? This could mean a painting or a sculpture, or a performance you took in, or even a book that you read – tell us about the kind of art you encountered, and the way that it moved you.

The most moving piece of art I saw this year was original artwork made just for me by Mary Anne Radmacher. It wasn’t only the art (which is gorgeous, so precious) but the cycle of compassion it was part of, proof of the power of kindness and love and creativity. I wrote about it the day it arrived.

peacedream

Reading

There are two prompts for today that are almost exactly alike. The first prompt: What has been your favourite book or blog or magazine you’ve read this year? (Author: Carolyn Rubenstein), and the second prompt: Your favourite book? What was the best book you read in 2012, and why? (And by “Why?” I mean: Why did you read it? And why was it your favourite? Although these answers could be one and the same…!).

P.S. I think it is utterly adorable that the two prompts that overlapped are from places where it’s a “favourite” book, rather than a favorite.

I already wrote about books on Reverb12 Day Five. So, instead I’ll share some of my favorite blogs that I followed this year, (most of these are in addition to the list I shared in this post).

  • Ken and Paper. I especially love his “Meet Ken” page because except for the part about being divorced and a man, we have the same story.
  • I Saw You Dancing. Kat is hosting the main Reverb12 that I’m following, and that was initially how I first found her blog, so I’ve only just started reading, but I am really enjoying it. We seem to have a lot in common.
  • Justine Musk. I may have been reading her blog for more than a year now, but she continues to regularly inspire and encourage me, saying things I would never dare to say but that I so need to hear.
  • Be More With Less by Courtney Carver, who is a complete badass. I told her so when I got to meet her this summer. She consistently writes things that make me want to live a simpler, better life, and she makes that seem absolutely possible.
  • The Daily Breadcrumb by Sunni Chapman. Time and time again she writes the kind of wisdom that snaps me wide awake, breaks me open. She is kind and generous, she is powerful and wicked wise, she is a ray of light and love wrapped in human skin.

P.S. I got distracted by one of the dogs when writing this post, (I can’t tell you how many times this happens, mostly because I’ve lost count), and forgot one of the blogs I wanted to share.

  • 3x3x365, a blog co-authored by Patti Digh, Kathryn Schuth, and Amy McCracken (Amy is one of my new most favorite people), “Three friends in three states share one photo every day.” The stories these women share are so beautiful, sometimes simple and sometimes incredibly complicated, but always touching and precious.

#Reverb12: Day 5

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reverb12 Kind and gentle reader, this week has been nutty goo goo. It’s the last week of classes here at Colorado State University, so I have been in the thick of grading, meetings, tying up loose strings and putting out fires. A few things had to be postponed, which is why I haven’t reverbed for two days, and why I’ll be publishing multiple posts today as I catch up. Yes, I could just skip them, but like I said before they are way too much fun.

Worthy

The full prompt is: Who have you taken for granted? Write to them a handwritten letter expressing how you truly feel about them. Then mail it. (Author: Linar Studio)

This might sound like a strange answer, but I have taken my body for granted. When I first started working on this prompt, I had every intention of writing the letter, scanning it, and sharing it here. But I wasn’t too far into it before I realized that it was too personal, too private, and way too long to share.

My body is a precious thing, but I have for so long ignored and denied and abused it. It is an awful, ugly, messy business. The apology has been made more than once, earnestly and wholeheartedly, but as with any relationship where trust has been broken, the restoration is going to take time. I have to prove that I’m not going to break my promises. I have to stop saying “I love you” and start proving it.

Brave Belly

Letting Go

The full prompt is: For next year, I’m letting go of…

  • Busyness. I have no idea how I am actually going to do this, because I am a doer, I go go go, I want to do all the things, do/be more, do/be better–but I am finding that way of being is no longer sustainable, healthy, or even productive.
  • Smashing myself to bits. Again, not sure how this is going to work, because I’ve been trying already, but it needs to happen, so I’ll keep trying.
  • Letting what other people say or think (or what I think they think, even though I can’t possibly know for sure) stop me. If I have confidence, an open heart, and am doing the work I feel called, compelled to do, it doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks. I am not trying to be popular or to fit in or get rich, that isn’t the point at all, so I can let go of caring or worrying about it.
  • Stuff, lots and lots of stuff. I mean physical things here, the clutter and nonsense and mess that has accumulated in my life. If I don’t use it or love it, I am going to let it go, clear out some space.
  • Shame and regret. These have never served me, never added any value to my life, so buh bye.
  • Judgement and criticism. This one is quite possibly the stickiest of them all, maybe the one at the heart of the rest, but I am going to try.

Don’t Forget

The full prompt: Five things you do not want to forget from 2012? List out 5 things you do not want to forget from this past year, and write a bit about why you do not wish to forget…

dexterwithlittled If you’ve been reading my blog lately, you know my Dexter is dying. There’s a good chance he won’t make it into 2013, (although, I am happy if he does). Right now, in this season of goodbying, I am trying to memorize everything about him.

  1. The way he runs back and forth across the kitchen and down the hallway when I am getting his breakfast ready, whining with excitement, tail wagging the whole time.
  2. How much he loves his Little D. How he carries him around in his mouth, looking just like his real baby might, following me down the hallway in the morning to my desk, where he rests by my feet, chewing on Little D’s bones (the beans in his feet). Or how he lures me into the bedroom when I get home from work, gets on the big bed, Little D in his mouth. He runs in circles, shakes him, drops him or even throws him off the bed to let me know it’s my turn. I pick him up, whisper “ready, set, go” while Dexter crouches and stares intently at his boy, catching him and having a little party when I finally throw it.
  3. How when I pet him, he pets me back. He reaches out and rests his paw, curling his toes and pressing them into my arm. If I stop petting, he pats me this way a few times in a row, “more, Mom.”
  4. How I can tell him something and he knows just what I mean. Like “where’s your toy?” (his ears will perk up and he’ll go find it) or when I get ready to go to work and I say “I’m going to work, you have to stay here with Sam” (he’ll run and get in his bed, knowing he’s not going with me), or I can ask “where’s Dad” and he’ll go find him. He knows so many words, understands so much for a boy who can’t speak English.
  5. All the normal things we do, routines we have. Our walks, at almost the exact same time every day, to the same few places, on the same trails. Cleaning up the yard, patrolling the neighborhood, checking for deer or beaver or foxes or cats or other dogs or people doing weird stuff that people shouldn’t be doing, watching out the front window, taking out the trash, yelling at the trash collectors and mail deliverers and little kids walking to school and people walking dogs, sharing food, sitting on the couch watching tv, taking naps, hanging out in the backyard, brushing our teeth, meditating–all of it.

Reading

The full prompt: What has been your favorite book (or books if you can’t pick just one) that you’ve read this year?

somanygoodbooks

Dream Destination

The full prompt: What was your dream destination in 2012 and why? It can be a town, city, country or region — real or imaginary — and doesn’t matter if you actually got there or not!

My dream destination wasn’t so much a place as a state of being. I longed this year to get to a place where I would be utterly and completely confident, wise, compassionate, healthy, strong, sane, awake, and at peace. I’m sorry to report, kind and gentle reader, I didn’t quite make it. Maybe next year?