Insomnia

It's 1:30 am and for some reason my sleep schedule has been all over the place this week...so I'm thankful for a job that mostly allows for the days when I sleep from 3 until 10. And I have been getting a lot of reading done which is easier to do in the still of the night than in the noisy day. I'm excited tonight because there's supposed to be a spectacular lunar event in a couple of hours so I can't wait to see that! How cool it is to be treated to spectacular shows by nature every now and then:)

Baal Perazim

I had a small breakthrough today on a story I was having trouble cracking -- and it felt good. It's so interesting how it's always hardest right before a breakthrough...like you've pushed until you can't push any more and something, or more accurately someone, comes behind you and gives you that extra shove. It's a frustrating place to be at the edge of a breakthrough...I've felt it many times in my health, in my career, in my relationships -- and I suppose that's what makes the breakthrough that much sweeter. Like taking a clean clear breath of air after having been underwater for too long. There was an ancient Hebrew term I've always loved, "Baal Perazim" that is roughly translated to mean "The God of Breaking Through" and when I'm up against a rocky place I always like to hold it in my heart and I know He will. Plus it's fun to say. And I'm thankful that Ryan keeps me from screaming like a crazy person and banging my head repeatedly against the wall while I wait:) Patience isn't exactly my best quality.

They sort of like me, they really sort of like me!

I read a review for a movie today. A movie I wrote. My very own review...in Variety, a Hollywood institution. And while it wasn't a glowing review, it wasn't a scathing one either. And I had my feelings hurt over a line or two...but then it hit me...this reviewer is writing an article because HE SAW A MOVIE THAT I WROTE. And the fact that I have a movie out there for people to see and review, to not like, and, hopefully, to like -- is just about the coolest thing ever:) And so I'm thankful for a little taste of fruit after a very long season of sowing and growing.

Keep walking

I had to walk my two incorrigible dogs today, each of them pulling in two opposite directions like some kind of medieval torture device, then wrapping around my legs, trying their best to trip me the whole way. Add to that my allergies flaring up and the fact that I only had one poop bag for two animals and well, I was pretty exasperated. I was tired and wished I'd never gone on the dumb walk in the first place. And that's when something neat happened. As I started to turn back towards my house, I heard a voice deep inside me say "Keep walking." So instead of retreating home, I decided to keep walking around another block. And then another. And then I thought that maybe I was supposed to keep walking because I was going to see something amazing ...and I did see a pretty cool cactus flower about the size of an outspread hand. Which was more nice than amazing. I also saw a taco bell coke cup, lid and straw that had obviously been thrown out a window and was now strewn across a nice lawn. So I thought about how my mom would say "leave a place nicer than how you found it" and I picked up the trash and then I saw a recycling bin and thought of how my hubby loves to recycle, so I threw it in. And it made me feel good. Such a small thing and somehow it turned my bad mood right around. I've never thought of garbage as amazing before, but in that moment it was. That old grumpiness just couldn't keep up with me on such a long walk, and it was nice to leave him in the dust.

The world is full of wonders

I am thankful for a migraine free day today. And for my kindred spirit sister friend Lindsay's birthday:) What a beautiful day at Ocean park it was with the blooming roses and the magnolias scenting the air and the ocean sparkling and blue for as far as you could see and Lindsay and I trying to change her friend's baby's diaper and laughing ourselves silly...how many blondes does it take...:) I loved the card I gave her with Pigglet pointing out a snail to Pooh saying "The world is full of wonders!" It is indeed.

My husband

Takes good care of me, and I'm forever grateful for that:)

Good Stuff

No migraine today! Hooray! And that is something to be very thankful for:) I'm also thankful for all of the new fragrant blooms on my gardenia outside my office...makes me think of the south and of my mom's wedding bouquet so it makes me extra happy. I'm also thankful that my beautiful Corita art has finally come home from the framing store and looks like joy incarnate up on my wall...talk about inspiring!

Za!

Pizza crust, BBQ sauce, carmelized onions, mushrooms, smoked gouda, mozzarella. A BBQ Chicken pizza minus the chicken -- a California perfection!

Shhh

I had a headache today, so on the way home from a meeting this afternoon, I actually turned off my car radio for the whole drive home. And that silence was just what the doctor ordered. Sometimes I forget how much I enjoy it. The silence was extra luxurious today because my mind was actually pretty quiet too, which is a rarity -- it's usually something of a chatty parrot squawking for attention. But today somehow the pain crowded out the words and then in the silence, the quietness crowded out the pain, and before I knew it I was home.

That Moon

I haven't communed with the moon
in much too long
so tonight I sit and listen
to the stories he has to tell
stories of memory and prediction
past and future side by side
Such a romantic, that moon
and I try to write by the light
of sun caught in a jar
so pale in comparison -
the soft salmon glow
next to the sharp silver white
Such a glamorpuss, that moon
The pink ink I use melts away
as soon as it touches the page
like the invisible pen at the joke shop
I used to want so bad as a kid
what pranks I could play
with an invisible pen
People would think I was magic
that I could make the letters disappear
And tonight, I do
writing the words as if I'd spoken them
Here one moment, gone the next
Like the moon and his stories
not so much written as impressed
on the hearts of generations
like fancy stationary with raised monograms
Such an eloquent orator, that moon