"Life is lived forward, but understood backward. It is not until we are down the road and we stand on the mountain looking back through the valley that we can appreciate the terrain God has allowed us to scale.” Jill Savage

Saturday, July 26, 2008


"All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without the benefit of experience." – Henry Miller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXhLg1MVLpg&feature=email Last Summer/Mamma Mia

I have been thinking about living this week. Living with passion. Choices we make. Being able to be ourselves. (So what's new for Chatty - that's her core - Lol). The movie Mamma Mia has brought me into touch with lots of passion as well as a friend of mine -

"Toooooo cute! Thought about Mama Mia all day and couldn't get to sleep last night...the adrenalin was still flyin' high. That movie IS a HIGH!!! Who needs drugs or booze, just see Mama Mia....how's that for a plug for a movie! I've told everybody at school today how awesome it was...."Pure Joy" is the phrase I use most. I know you're having a great time with (my son).....These are special days....too few and far between. Love and Hugs, (my friend)"

No wonder we're the best of friends - right? Wish you guys could know her too, I've been wanted her to start her own Blog (hint, hint) - it would be a great one! Anyhow . . .

I've been thinking about vacations a lot recently. Vacations verses real life. Why do we take vacations? Do we take vacations to get away from our regular every day life? If so, what does that say about the way we've chosen to live our lives? Hmmm, think about that.

Why can most people change on vacation, how they act, and what they do - only to come back to the real world and revert back to who they were? Why don't we learn from our 'vacation' and take the vacation mentality back with us in every day living the sense of being able to be ourselves in a slower paced atmosphere? To be slower, freer, nicer, happier, etc.

I'm thinking about the movie - Mamma Mia. When I saw the happy and fun party atmosphere - I wanted to be there with them! I know that fun party atmosphere - it's in me - it's a part of who I am, but I admit a lot of the time I'm not living that way in the real world.

What is the vacation spirit? It's carefree. Slower. Happy. Less worried. Fun. Time stands still, you don't think about the worries at home. You can't do anything about it when you're gone from home anyway. You're more apt to take a chance to do new things. Play. Laugh. Dare to live.

I know you can't act that way all the time in this world, but why can't your heart carry on with that same happy attitude all the time? Why is it we can do it on vacations and not at home in real life?

Are vacations a respite for our souls? Can we find our real soul on vacation? And where does our essence go when we get back home?

I think I like the European mode of life for rest and relaxation better than here. A lot of people take a couple of hours off for lunch - they eat a large lunch - then rest for awhile ( a mini vacation). Then they go back to work more relaxed. Some don't even work that late (vacation).

Not only that, but some businesses over there close for a month of two during the summer and they go to their second homes in the mountains or by the beach (another vacation). Do you have a second home? I don't. (Although I am working on my backyard as my mini vacation spot). Seems to me that a lot of times Europeans are more passionate and emotional than we are. I think they laugh and love more. Probably even get angry more often.

So why is it so stressful here? Are we making that much more money? Are we that much more ahead of them? Why is that all so important to us anyway? Why isn't taking care of the soul just as important than anything else? I've seen people die and when they are taken away - guess what goes with them? NOTHING - just a white sheet. Sorry, but it's true.

What if you wanted to have that happy spirit all the time? What if you try really hard, but the world and the people around you don't have it, in fact they don't 'get' what the heck you're talking about? How does a person keep their own spirit up, when the world around them insists on keeping their spirit down?

I think you'd have to fight like heck to save that 'part of yourself' from dying off, retreating. You'd have to save that part of yourself in a special place and nurture that part of you that was light and carefree. It would be constant hard work and a battle of the soul to keep yours light and happy, while being around others who are more negative and unhappy.

One goal, dream, or fantasy I have for myself is to go and live in Italy for a month one summer. I wonder if I can think that into reality one day? Gee I'd love that.

"Adventure is worthwhile," Amelia Earhart believed. "You will find the unexpected everywhere you go in life. By adventuring about, you become accustomed to the unexpected."

Chatty Dreaming of a vacation

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