Hibernation

I've gone underground in my psyche lately, hibernating and burrowing and retreating. TH and I have have pared down our activities to the minimums. I'm focusing my energy on more elemental things - what feeds me, what I believe, what I create. It's very refreshing work; it's also very personal work; it's private. When my Spring comes, I may share my blossoms. We'll see.

Meanwhile, I'm still here, I'm still me, all is well.

The Pledge

I, Jen the Lion Tamer, promise to embrace whimsy in all her forms. To seek out the secret alleyways which hold the sideshows. To live with the freaks and the tightrope walkers, the clowns and the fortune tellers, and to learn from them how to dazzle with whatever I have on hand - whether it be spangles and feathers, or the most faded of velets. I will learn to be both resplendent and shabby, struggling and triumphant, a learner and an expert. Above all I promise to faithfully follow my creative impulse even she takes the show on the road.

The Lion Tamer is calm under the most hair-raising circumstances. She does what no one else dreams and make it look easy. Humane and skilled, she uses every trick she knows (and some she intuits) to calm the raging beasts. Likes: wildlife, being in control, long vacations, and costumes. Dislikes: fur coats, being underestimated, feeling trapped.

For more Circus personas, see this site. Thanks to Rachelle at Magpie Girl for awakening my whimsy.

You can join the dance

No matter your skills, your abilities, you can join the dance. See the Axis Dance Company and this clip from "So You Think You Can Dance."

When the dog bites

cute summer sandals, and doughnuts with sprinkles...
TH's smile (it brings out his wrinkles)...
new books that open up worlds on their wings....

these are a few of my favorite things...

Can't we be friends?

or, I've got some good news and some bad news.

I just learned today that a dear friend of mine is now a parent. That's the good news. I know he and his wife have been wanting children, and it's always a celebration when new life starts.

The bad news is that this dear friend of mine and I are not really friends any more. How can this have happened? We were close as brother and sister, but I haven't talked to him in over a year. When I reach out to him, I get an email back, months later, cc'ed to his wife.

To be clear, I don't mind that his focus is on his wife and marriage. What I mind is having my message un-returned for weeks and weeks. I mind that even when I did last see him, I spent more time with his fiancee than talking with him about the upcoming wedding. She, while friendly, is not my friend - he is. Or was.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is it about men and women and friendships? Why do some people have such a difficult time with their partners being friends with the opposite sex? Is it because I grew up with an older brother that having men friends doesn't seem weird to me? Is it because TH has lots of women friends, that me having men friends doesn't seem strange? I was never a threat to this woman's relationship with my friend, or so it seemed from my perspective.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wish them well. But I miss my friend.