tao1776

"Come in. Come in. Sit down and make yourselves comfortable. You know that you're going to come in regardless of what I have to say." "We're only here to help". "Well uh. okay. Begin with your sweeping and cleaning. I thought that things looked fairly empty already." "Maybe it's your turn now. Could it be that you're just not unhappy enough to make the changes that you need to make?" "Oh. Okay. So now it's my fault." "There's no fault. Only what is. Awareness is the key." "Awareness?" That's just a word now. My awareness has elapsed into neurosis." "Are you aware of your neurosis?" Welcome that too. This fragile body is matrix for mind and soul. Do you believe that you are alone in your suffering? Is not the tie that binds, for all of human kind, that all is suffering? Where is your compassion for yourself?" He who stands on tiptoe is not steady. ...

I've been painting (with help) as this is a rare opportunity. An empty house, a painter's canvas. New paint in every room, floors will be done, kitchen floor torn up and scheduled for a fine checkered pattern. It's still a mess but progress is being made. Last week's weather melted away more snow revealing the level of work that needs to be done outside. But this year I face the task with more hope and gratitude. Things are and have been changing fast. Faster than I am accustomed to. I also want to give "props" to a dear friend who has been for me a celestial catcher's mitt as I fell fearfully into the unknown and she has graciously caught me again and again. She, as a paramedic has been awarded as one of the few out of the many, to receive the high honor of being awarded the American Ambulance Association's "Star of Life Award". This accomplishment merits high praise. It also serves to remind us of all those men and woman who serve as fir...

It was perhaps rather appropriate returning to an empty house and finding it as cold as a mid-winter bus stop. The tank had been run empty of oil multiple times and filled with a few gallons of diesel to squeak by while I couch surfed waiting for her departure. When I came home, she wanted to leave me nothing. Just an empty shell with a big price tag attached. I had oil delivered. 150 gallons of oil hurts as much as a hard march through a long day without water. Looking at the dirty and empty house, I was parched. Someone came to the store and told me that my chimney was spewing black smoke, giving me visions of a locomotive spewing smoke from track to horizon. Moments later my son called stating that the house is, "full of smoke". Like any other reasonable homeowner, I ran home looking rather unreasonable and I shut down the furnace. Then I called the repairmen. The furnace had angrily coughed soot all through the house and basement....