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Saturday, November 7, 2015

Aim for the Moon

Aim for the Moon

Where does possibility come from? There was no way that anything could be done. He knew it. His mom kept telling him that the world was full of possibilities, that he should just do what he wanted to do. But when he told her that he wanted to be an astronaut, she turned back to the stove and stirred the soup she had just stirred. ‘OK honey that sounds exciting. Do you know what you need to do to become an astronaut? It may be a bit difficult when we live in this little town so far away from any space centers.’ 

Her words got smaller and smaller in his ears. He finished his cereal, picked up his backpack and left. He didn’t slam the door. ‘Bye mom’ His mom even knew that Chris Hadfield was coming to his school. She knew that he was just a farm kid. His teacher called it ‘a vision’ that he wanted to be like a guy like Chris Hadfield. But he didn’t play guitar. Didn’t even like guitars. But he really wanted to float and be up in the sky beside the moon. The scientific stuff was interesting too.

What did his mom mean about possibilities when she didn’t seem to think this ‘vision’ of his was one of them. Billie would just keep reading about being an astronaut. He pulled out his drawing of an astronaut with the name Billie on the space suit. He hoisted his back pack more firmly on his shoulders. Maybe his mom didn’t know about astronauts being possibilities.

“Don’t let life kick you into the adult you don’t want to be.”
~ Chris Hadfield

Glass Ceiling

Glass Ceiling

Sadie found the old leather bound book in her grandmother’s things while she was cleaning out the house. Her grandmother, the woman who had raised her, who taught her to be strong in spite of the ‘man’s world’ she was entering, and who was as gentle as a soft breeze in summer, had died. In her mind and heart, her voice was strong. ‘Do not weep for me for long, Saditcha. You have our memories with you.’

The book was not that old, but had been in the dusty attic for at least twenty years. ‘Witches, Midwives and Nurses’. The title was stamped in the leather. Hmm….Granny never told me about this book, but I know she had been a nurse in the old country. The ‘men’s world’ Sadie was entering was medical school where the glass ceiling still existed. She had chosen the Cardiac Surgery specialty where there was a glass ceiling that had a few cracks in it from women brave enough, and stubborn enough to challenge it’s very existence.

Opening the book to the title page, Sadie read ‘Witches, Midwives and Nurses - A History of  Women Healers.’  Her curiousity piqued, Sadie settled herself in the ancient rocking chair in the corner so she could read by the dusty, streaked light of the attic window. Odd. Florence Nightingale has never been seen as a witch ~ except maybe when she insisted the doctors wash their hands! Florence started the first nursing school in 1860. So what history is this book talking about? Flipping through the pages, the ‘witch craze’ and witch hunting was much earlier than that…..from the 14th to the 17th century according to these authors. 

Reading further, Sadie discovered that the book was extremely feminist in nature. Granny’s voice came into her heart again. ‘My Saditcha, read these words and remember how far women have come in this world of healers.’ Pulling an old afghan around her, Sadie kept reading. She had always thought her grandmother was too rigid in her beliefs about men and oppression, but thought, ‘She’s old and old people get set in their beliefs’. And Sadie had never felt oppressed. Her father and brothers had never put her into the woman’s work world. But this next sentence got her attention:  ‘If a woman dare to cure without having studied she is a witch and must die.” A statement from a church doctrine of that terrible time. Appalling and sad, in those early centuries there was no opportunity even offered for women to study the healing arts.

The old grandfather clock in the front hall chimed, reverberating through her Granny’s tiny home. A sound she always waited for as a child while she watched the golden pendulum swing slowly back and forth. Now it was her time. Time to challenge an oppression she had only heard about from Granny. No longer evil, women had entered all areas of the healing arts. No longer evil, women in nursing, medicine and midwifery were seen with new eyes. The glass ceiling, centuries old, but full of cracks and chips, still existed and Sadie was willing to take up her challenge.

“They were called “wise women” by the people, 
witches or charlatans by the authorities. Medicine 
is part of our heritage as women, our history, our birthright.”
~ Barbara Ehrenreich Deirdre English,  
Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healers

Witches, Midwives and Nurses ~ A History of Women Healers
Barbara Ehrenreick and Deirdre English 1973

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Panning for Gold

Finding a vision 
on a walk back in time
a nugget of gold was shining
in the busyness of life
stuffed in a back pocket
rinsed in swirling water
dried and polished
put back in a pocket
turning up any time night or day.

Peering closely through glasses
with beliefs that have held
polishes the golden nugget once more……

“Hidden in the glorious wildness like unmined gold.”
~ John Muir

Renewal ~ 2


Closing up
Energy swirling down and down
Belief in a vision clouds and vanishes as though never there
Distance between head and heart thin and fragile.

Until energy is renewed
Windows and doors open
Fresh ideas flow in on the wind
Opening shimmering possibilities on the horizon.

“It’s the possibility that keeps me going, not the guarantee.”
~ Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Circular Thinking

Circular thinking
brings vision into focus
riding the roads of 
what could be
what was
what might be.

Over potholes and pavement
dirt road and asphalt
keeping the motor running
with thoughts, feelings and ideas until a destination is reached.

“All my life’s a circle, but I can’t tell you why;
Season’s spinnin’ round again; 
The years keep rollin’ by.”
~ Harry Chapin (1972)

Monday, November 2, 2015

Come As You Are Party

When big red bells chime
red lights flash,
sirens ring out a tuneless tune


When neighbours gather,
visiting and wondering
why firemen come to the party.

The party went flat no when fire was found
but the bells kept on ringing and ringing
And ringing and ringing…….and ringing……...

No vision is needed when the big bells ring out
merely response to what could be disaster
and (hesitant) gratitude for the impromptu drill ~ and knowing that the fire bells work!

“Our life ends up becoming the result of 
the responses we give to the demands of life.”
~ Sunday Adelaja

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Hindsight

Hindsight

Violet von Bergendorff stood impatiently in the grocery line tapping her foot while she waited for the clerk to ring through the groceries of the annoying woman in front of her.
Impeccably dressed as always, Violet felt her hair drooping, her freshly pressed dress wilting, and patches of moisture spreading under her arms.
Settling her impatience, she overheard the annoying woman’s voice break when she did not have enough money to pay for a loaf of bread and liter of milk.
Immediately ashamed, Violet knew that she hadn’t had to worry like that for a long time.
Opening her purse, she said to the clerk ‘I’ll be paying for those groceries, but I would like you to bag them for this young woman, please.’
‘Nina - that is your name, isn’t it - would you please help me get my groceries to my car, they are much too heavy for me?’

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing.”
~ David Beckham