50 Truths about ME.

1. This was inspired by my friend, Glo.
2. I am not sure how well I will do getting up to number 50, but I thought that when I was 49.
3. I have a huge heart that breaks easily.
4. I have a strong heart when others need strength.
5. I love my daughters from here to the end of the Universe and back.
6. I love my partner to the deepest part of my soul.
7. My absolute best companion is my dog.  She adores me and never disagrees with my wishes.
8. I sing Jazz very well.
9. My voice is best used for healing chants.
10. I like to wear a bit of bling, but always take one piece off before leaving my bedroom in the morning.
11. I love receiving flowers...for no particular reason.
12. I was one of the most incredibly shy children in the world.
13. You would never know that by how I am now.
14. I am still shy and like to have my quiet moments.
15. I think the last one should count as 2 things.
16. I am an artist and I have always been artistic.
17. I think that a creative mind is the only kind that will adapt to circumstances and come out on the other end of change having changed.
18. I like Zen gardens.
19. I like soft music.
20. I like candle light.
21. I play piano.
22. I also play drums and percussion instruments as well as a Shruti Box.
23. I have never had a quiet laugh, which has annoyed many and delighted some.
24. I am almost halfway to 50 and I think that this is going better and faster than I imagined it would.
25. I am a crack shot with pistol, rifle, and FNC1's and FNC2's.
26. One of my many jobs growing up on the farm was to shoot the millions of pesty gophers.  This is why I am still a crack shot.
27. I speak to dead people on an almost daily basis.
28. I don't believe in any religion as much as I connect with every spiritual path.
29. I love to garden and growing flowers in my favorite type of gardening, although I think that there is also a lot of value in growing your own food.
30. I am omnivorous and will eat anything that I define as "food", whether it grows in dirt or moves around on stilts and, yes, I DO know the difference between a pet and a steak on stilts.
31. I enjoy watching TV.
32. Yes, I am a shaman who also enjoys watching TV.
33. I love presenting talks to groups of people and educating folks on how to connect with their OWN path instead of a path that they are told they must follow.
34. I tend to defend people who are underdogs or in some way viewing themselves as powerless to change their situations.
35. This has gotten me into hot water a number of times and I don't care and would still do it again and again until all the idgits of the earth finally get it through their thick skulls that oppressing people is NOT COOL.
36. I have an eye for women's fashion and sometimes help female friends find clothes that work really well on their body types.
37. I wish I was as good at finding men's clothes that look good on me as I am at finding women's clothes that look good on women.  I think I live in the wrong area of the world for that.
38. I used to have very long curly blond hair.  Then I cut it shorter....then I had kids.  You can draw your own conclusions about that one.
39. I often feel that I am not doing enough and that my best is not quite good enough.
40. I have had to learn to stick up for myself as much as I stick up for others....and that has not been easy.
41. I have a belief that people just need to be honest...mostly with THEMSELVES...and then the world would be a much more harmonious place in which to live.
42. In my alternate reality I am a gentle and regal prince who likes to spend his time meditating on an ocean beach at sunset and communicates with a beautiful spirit guide who sets him straight when he is messing with his own mind.
43. I think that my alternate reality is what helps me get through my current reality....many times.
44. I believe in magic as it expresses itself to us through spirit and nature and that it is an avenue to God/Goddess consciousness because it forces us to take responsibility for our own thoughts and deeds.
45. I lost my voice for 16 years.
46. I found my voice when singing lullabies to my babies.
47. I found my courage when I became a father.
48. I found my personal path when I let go of everything that everyone ever taught me about who I was supposed to be and how I was supposed to be that.
49. I am grateful every single day for the many family and friends that I have in my life and whom I love and who I know love me.
50. That's how old I am.  AND I am looking forward to the next 50 as well.

Our Time with Jax

This is my 5 month-old grand nephew, Jax.  The other day his mom and aunties went to a Billy Talent concert and, because 2 of them are from out of town, I got to spend some time taking care of the little guy.  I haven't had a baby to take care of since my youngest was a baby, and that was 14 years ago!
 
It went very well, considering it was the first time that he and I met.  But I knew that we were going to be great friends by the end of it all.  He doesn't like a sling, according to his mom.  But after the first hour of walking him around the house to show him stuff and keep him entertained, I decided that the sling really wasn't for him.  It was for me. So I made a sling out of a massage table sheet that I had.  Then the challenge was to figure out which way he would rest in it best.  After a number of configurations, he finally decided that he liked having his face to my chest the most.  Most likely he liked the sound of the heart beat.  Or maybe he just didn't trust me enough to let me out of his sight.  It is hard to tell.

By the end of the evening he was very ready for his mom to return.  And she did.  Of course, he was all smiles and giggles for her.  That made me feel good.  I didn't want her to feel bad about leaving him with me.  And really, he is a very easy baby.  Babies cry.  Sometimes they get upset for reasons other than fear, like hunger, teething, gas, wet diapers etc.  So once all those things were covered in the arsenal of supplies that she left me, he was able to let out a really good vomit of his bottled breast milk (all over me I might add!) and then get on with having fun singing and dancing (wait a minute....that was ME) and sleeping (that was him).  I also had to have a little talk with him about his tendency to flirt with my girl.  Of course, he is related to me, so I knew that everything that I had to say about that was going to be completely ignored.

I love babies.  They smell good (most of the time) and they are fun to cuddle and kiss and buzz with the lips.  Their giggles are completely contagious and they tend to think that I am the oddest thing that they have ever seen.  And they would be right about that.