Chatty Crone

All things beautiful do not have to be full of color to be noticed: in life that which is unnoticed has the most power.

Old Chatty's been 'thinkin' again - I do that once in awhile and then I go for days without thinking (Lol - not true - I'm always thinking, I just don't always write about what I've been thinking). Maybe I think too much for some, too different for others, not right for you - I have learned that you have to come to the place in your life where you accept yourself for who and what you are. People have the choice to like you or not, but don't give up yourself to make others like you. Be yourself. You're Beautiful.

Sunday I was going to take the day to rest, however, I ended up going out. My friend who I've mentioned before, whose getting a divorce (last week it was final) called to ask is she could return my book manuscript. She had read it in three days! I had given it to her at the book signing and lecture we went to last week.

As she handed it to me, she gave me the biggest hug, said she loved it. "It was a five handkerchief!" She quoted some lines and said how meaningful it had been to her. She said that she herself had gone through some of the very same things as Annie had and she saw my therapy work in it too. She was right.

Her only 'corrective' comment was about the first chapter - the one I'm sharing on my Blog - she didn't know where I was going with the book until Chapter 2. So after going to the book signing and lecture this past week - I know I'll have to re-write Chapter 1. I was kind of thinking that myself anyway to be honest. I received some real positives fuzzies (I call them) from her - she's an ex- college professor - so when she says it's good - I believe her.

(So what is my book about? My book is for the 'mature' woman. It is about love. It's about personal growth - I mean what else would or could it be about?

I guess mainly my book is about love. Love is a many splendid (faceted) thing. Alas, but love is like a lump of coal or at least at the beginning. And it's always going to be coal, unless you're willing to commit and work on it. Mold it. Treat it right. Give it time and attention so it will grow and not die. Respect it. Bond with it. Be willing to open your heart. Give up your fears and let go no matter how hard it is. Love then changes from that lump of coal to a diamond - with it's many prisms - from all the hard work and chiseling you have done to it in the process. Heat and fire can change that coal to something of real value.

It can be love of course between a man and a woman, but it is also the kind of love you have for yourself. How can you love others if you don't love yourself? It just doesn't work. So love is a many splendid thing if you chose it to be. Love yourself. Chisel yourself to be the best you can be. Annie did that in the book. Remember you're beautiful - we are all just diamonds in the rough.)

To go back to my original story, we decided to go to a place called Buca di Beppos. Have you gone there? It is my favorite place to eat - ever. It's the atmosphere, the chemistry I love so much. Italian of course.

My daughter and her friend went - so we were four girls - celebrating my friends divorce. Now I wasn't really so much celebrating her divorce - that's something between her and her husband - I was celebrating the closeness of friends. The bonding. The chemistry we had. Being there for one another in good times and in bad times. Hanging tough. The ability to let our hair down. Kind of like Sex and The City without the sex part! I need the closeness of friends. I love to feel close to people. To me, that is the real joy and meaning in being. To me closeness makes me feel alive. Without closeness I think I would whither and die. To me that feelings validate life. I appreciate that not everyone feels that way and that;s okay - we are all different - we are all beautiful in our own way.

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies within us while we live.-Norman Cousins

It was funny, when we first sat down at the table, my friend put her (empty) wine glass down -kind of hard to make a 'determined point' and the stem broke - so we all started the dinner with a good laugh and partied for three hours. And gee no drugs or alcohol needed to have fun. Imagine that. Now this day will be put into my memory bank of memorable moments. How great is that? Do you have a memory book?

"Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for truth."
– Benjamin Disraeli
Chatty