Everything & Anything

Do you know this person? This person staring back at you. Are those lines you see, discernible furrows crisscrossing the once smooth terrain of face? Can you tell what brought the hint of shadows into those eyes? Eyes that were always alight with laughter, chasing intending shadows into the oblivion of joyousness. Do you know this person? That worries about a myriad of matters; never mind that these things are not within their power to change. This person whose past haunts them like wisps of smoke lurking after a fire has been put out. Do they know that even if they could go back in time, they would probably be able to change things but they would still make mistakes that will make them sad with the knowledge of things gone past? Do you know this person? Full of dreams and hope for the future? Filled with the conviction that if they can just ride this present wave of disappointments and dearth, they will coast on to the shores of opportunity, hope and bounty. Do you know this per...

AAM - you know who you are! Last time we talked, you were off to Asia. This is a hello, hi, how are you doing message. Hope you are fine and your trip was all you expected it to be. I am following through on my threat/promise to write you via my blog! Ore mi atata, you feel I have become an exhibitionist because I have taken to blogging. I have never looked at it that way o. I just need an outlet for all the thoughts - silly and otherwise - that are in my head, so that my poor hubby does not run away from what would be my incessant chatter! And sometimes, when I blog, I make sense. Other times I bring laughter to someone or help another someone to hope. So, love to your spouse and don't be a stranger!

I have been away. Yes, I suppose it must seem like I have been away really often in the past few months! Anyway, this time I went off on a spiritual - not religious, please - jaunt. I am Catholic, so, that meant visiting Fatima, in Portugal, and Lourdes which is in France. Both these places have the apparition of the Virgin Mary in common, with Lourdes probably being the more popular of the two places - I could not believe the numbers there; there were literally hundreds of people at Lourdes, the infirm and the healthy, believers and non-believers, Catholics and non-Catholics. Yes, I prayed for you all. Yes I went alone (as usual). No, I did not bring back kegs of Holy Water - travel restrictions at airport security, remember? (Both places have springs that only started flowing at the times of the apparitions and at Lourdes especially, miraculous cures have been documented and thoroughly investigated BEFORE being proclaimed miraculous - contrary to what people may think, the Vatican...