Monday, September 21, 2009

Chasing Waterfalls



Things happen to us at the strangest times in our lives. It’s like hiking all the way to the top of the mountain to see the most beautiful waterfall, and when you reach the top, the water is dried up, you cant see the view past the trees and you are left standing there, in the clearing surrounded by trees and a dry river bed. Dissapointed, confused, worn out from the hike and even worse… thirsty as hell and again, no water. It’s this moment when you sit down and look around for the joke…… realizing it’s reality and you have to keep searching for something to make the hike worth while so you sit a little longer. The rain starts, at first it’s a soft warm rain, the kind that makes your hair stand up on your arms in pure joy, then it begins to fall faster, and harder, growing colder and colder until you’re searching for a place to escape. In front of you is the cliff, you know, the one the waterfall is supposed to be running over, behind you a forest with miles to hike back to your own car and nothing but mud to make you slide the entire way down… and of course the bolders you’d land on.

THAT is where I am right now. I’m that person. Huddled under the biggest oak tree I can find trying to stay warm and dry, yet the wind continues to blow. I keep closing my eyes, thinking any minute the sun will come out, the rain will stop and I can go home, safe at peace and warm where I should be, but it seems never ending.
I love life. Even the down falls- always have. Maybe the downfalls aren’t the best when you’re in dead center of them, but when you do finally get out of the cold harsh rain and wind, down the mountain and back safe at home you start to realize how important the things you DO have in life really are. I’ve lost a lot in the past two weeks. Not material, just emotional value. Nothing worth talking about here since it can and will be used against me later so you can just email me or wait for the book to find out. :)

It does make me curious though, how you can go through life trying to do nothing but good. Help whom ever comes along, do all you can and still get kicked in the face when you’re on your knees asking for help. It’s always the ones who kick the hardest that you thought would be there to pick you up but it never turns out that way. It’s the people you never knew would be there when you need it the most.
The rain is literally getting ready to pour here- the sky is black and the coolness of the fall season is pushing through the windows. Tomorrow is the first day of fall- Autumn I should say. The start of yet another chapter in life, time to stand up from under the tree, brush the mud off the best I can and make the long journey back home. I’m sure I’ll stumble on the way down, no doubt we all do. but I had to make this hike to see what it was for myself, instead of listening to what anyone else might have said. We all see things different, accept things in different ways, react differently, care differently, show affection differently… you name it. The one thing we can do, as humans is try to find the good inside- even those who really don’t have any (and yes I’ve seen them first hand as of late). Give people a chance and then move on. Pick up our friends when they are laying face down in the mud instead of walking over them because we don’t want to get our shoes muddy, not even stopping to think of how that person in the mud right now may have been your ‘rock’ when YOU needed them. Sometimes Rocks fall down. They can take a lot of pressure but all rocks will eventually break when they have all the weight on them, and nobody to put the weight ON themselves.

I’m walking away- saying goodbye to the dry river bed, making this long journey back home, to myself to my smile and to my way of life as I knew it, I’ll just be a few friends short, a little less weight for me to carry. I mean really, we have to clean out our closets sometime in life right? Why keep the negative ugly ones that aren’t even comfortable to begin with? That’s why we hand them off to the thrift store, someone else will mistakenly pick them up thinking ‘what a cool shirt’ only to return them just as I am.

To my lovely readers, Happy Monday! I hope you have your rock by your side. Your heart in your hands locked safely unable to be hurt, your head held high and at least one person to remind you who you are if you lost sight of it, even when the entire world feels against you. I hope you can stop your tears long enough to realize the strongest person you know is yourself. Hands down and that even you, that rock, has to give in once in a while and admit that you can’t take on the world forever without a little crack in your surface now and then. You know what, it’s ok though. The sun will always come back out!





Much Love- cheers and oh, boo hoo Cowboys! Hey Romo, pull your head out of your tight little ass please, your gonna give me ulcers.

5 comments:

La Pixie said...

you are so inspiring!

Chuck Dilmore said...

you've got
the best of all worlds
right inside of you, Bambi...

sweet.
warrior.

between your lines, i read hope.
everything good is before you.
Chuck

Anonymous said...

Everything we have done and all the choices we have made have led us to where we are today. Our lives have been journeys: A journey from where we were to where we are now. There have been long and short roads; smooth and rocky roads; crooked and straight paths. In our life, many roads have come our way as we journey through life. Yet we are not done, there is still many roads to travel, and many choices to make. There are roads that lead to a life of single blessedness, marriage, and religious vocation. There are also roads that lead to fame and fortune on one hand, or isolation and poverty on the other. There are roads to happiness as there are roads to sadness, roads towards victory and jubilation, and roads leading to defeat and disappointment. There are corners, detours, and crossroads, with limited knowledge on where they would take you would you go, which road would you take? What is the guarantee that we would choose the right one along the way? Would you take any road, or just stay where you are? There are no guarantees. You do not really know where a road will lead you until you take it. There are no guarantees. This is one of the most important things you need to realize about life. Nobody said that choosing to do the right thing all the time would always lead you to success. LOVING someone with all your heart does not guarantee that it would be returned. Gaining fame and fortune does not guarantee happiness. There are too many possible outcomes, which you really cannot control. The only thing you have power over is the decisions that you will make, and how you would act and react to the different situations as they arise. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty. Had you known that you were making a wrong decision, would you have gone along with it? Perhaps not, why would you choose a certain path when you know it would get you lost? Why make a certain decision if you knew from the very beginning that it is not the right one. It is only after you have made a decision and reflected on it that you realize its soundness. If the consequences or outcomes are good for you, then you have decided correctly. Otherwise, your decision was wrong. Take the risk: decide. Since life offers no guarantees and you would never know that your decision would be wrong until you have made it, then you might as well take the risk and decide. It is definitely better than keeping you in limbo. Although it is true that one wrong turn could get you lost, it could also be that such a turn could be an opportunity for an adventure, moreover open more roads. It is all a matter of perspective. You have the choice between being a lost traveler or an accidental tourist of life. Take caution that you do not make decisions haphazardly. Taking risks is not about being careless and stupid. Here are some pointers that could help you choose the best option in the face of life's crossroads: Get as much information as you can about your situation. You cannot find the confidence to decide when you know so little about what you are faced with. So what to do? Get the information by asking. Just like any investigator, ask the five W's: what, who, when, where, and why. This is important, do not act without information. A uniformed decision is worse than an incorrect information decision. Oftentimes, the reason for indecision is the lack of information about a situation. Identify and create options. What options does the situation give you? Sometimes the options are few, but sometimes they are numerous. What do you do when you think that the situation offers no options? This is the time that you create your own. Make your creative mind work. From the most simplistic to the most complicated, entertain all ideas. Do not shoot anything down when an idea comes to your head. Sometimes the most outrageous idea could prove to be the right one in the end.

Anonymous said...

continue.... You can ask a friend to help you identify options and even make more options if you encounter some difficulty, but make sure that you make the decision yourself in the end. Trust yourself and make that decision. Now that you have assessed your options, it is now time to trust yourself. Remember that there are no guarantees and wrong decisions are always at hindsight. So choose… decide… believe that you are choosing the best option at this point in time. Now that you have made a decision, be ready to face its consequences: good and bad. It may take you to a place of promise or to a land of problems. The important thing is that you have chosen to live! You have become the one in control, instead of remaining a bystander or a passive audience to your own life. Whether it is the right decision or not, only time can tell. Do not regret it whatever the outcome. Instead, learn from it and remember that you always have the chance to make better decisions in the future. I believe things happen for a reason, even if you cannot see it at that time. In my life, I have traveled many roads to lead me to who I am today. Kind of like trying to find love when there is no passion left. My heart can never be a headline news report and I will not settle for being a dishrag bundled up and thrown away. I would not change one thing about that road. It could have been a little easier and a smoother ride. Yes! However, I would not be the person I am today. Sometimes we will never know the reason behind people and their decisions. It can teach us a thing or two. Every memory dies, but not every memory lives for tomorrow…Billy

Miss Caught Up said...

Very nice post...