May 17, 2016 I AM FROM edited

May 17, 2016 I AM FROM edited

So today I have been trying to hone down and choose which I AM FROM words I will paint onto my canvasboard ~only it didn't work (the honing down part.) Apparently I've caught the I AM FROM fever and the words just won't stop flowing:

I AM FROM edited

I am from the windows I crawled out of
so I could go out to play in the world
without my tag along little sister.

I am from the wild woods I tromped in
with my Daddy and all the children in the neighborhood
as we searched on Saturdays for the elusive Buttermilk Road.

I am from salamanders in creeks where fresh mint and watercress grew.
I am from lightning bugs held in Mason jars for a while.
I am from being told stories about planets and the stars.

I am from getting whipped with branches I had to pick from the yellow flower bush because I strayed beyond the boundaries defined as safe territory.

I am from being walked back to school when I went home because it wasn't my turn to paint at the art easel and I didn't want to wait my turn to paint.

I am from baking soda and tobacco for bee stings and bandaids for bobos and tender loving care.

I am from a childhood where drama plays we created were applauded!
I am from Imagination pretending to be pioneers and kings and queens and astronauts.
I am from sledding on garbage can lids with the handles torn off and making ice cream outta snow.

I am from playing in the water from the hose and swimming in pools and lakes and rivers and oceans.

I am from magic and dress up and make believe and play pretend.

I am from songs to sing for every occasion.

I am from liking boy toys like guns and cowboy boots and cowboy hat more than girl toys

I am from getting a cardboard grocery store, metal cart and cash register and playing store with my little sister

I am from getting a drafting board and all the real tools an architect uses to draw house plans one Christmas

I am from magnifying glasses, kaleidoscopes and telescopes.

I am from big front porches and sweet tea and good neighbors who would do anything to make your load lighter.

I am from people who would go outta their way to help those in need.

I am from my Mama who once very calmly poured milk out onto the dining room table saying “There I've already done it so now I can sit and eat without jumping up.”

I am from a Mama who quit university to get married and birth babies.

I am from a Mama who could sew ball gowns made from her living room drapes.

I am from a Mama who divided M&Ms equally between my sister and me.

I am from a Mama who counted pennies to make sure we both got our fair share of money spent on clothing.

I am from a Mama who was a girl scout leader even after I quit girl scouts.

I am from a Mama who had a good sense of humor and often played practical jokes that involved wearing costumes.

I am from parents who once dressed up in red and yellow and blue and white striped tops and red pajama bottoms and carried a ball and chain.

I am from a Mama who once stood on her head at a party and fell and broke her toe.

I am from a Mama who was in a neighborhood babysitting club and loved to go dancing.

I am from parents who brought home a split rail fence that had held sheep for a square dance so that my sister and I could lay them out to create log cabins or castles or swimming pools or rocket ships…

I am from parents who grew three different kinds of apples, persimmons and asparagus we could pick fresh and bring to the dinner table.

I am from a Daddy who painted nuts for heads, used red and yellow crepe paper for clothes and pipe cleaner arms and legs to make clowns to gift away as birthday party favors.

I am from a Daddy who sketched portraits on the inside covers of his college books.

I am from a Daddy who took me to windy fields to fly kites and taught me the sky is the limit.

I am from a Daddy who was called a good man the salt of the earth

I am from a Daddy who had 21 brothers and sisters and was 14 years old before he was allowed up on a bale of hay in the barn to sleep.

I am from a Daddy who was the first in his family to graduate from university using his GI bill and painting kewpie dolls for $40 a week at the yearlong fair in Knoxville when I was born January 30, 1951.

I am from a step grandmother Miss Elsie
who filled her porch banisters with pass along plants
to gift away when somebody died or a new baby was born

I am from a grandmother who paid me 10 cents a page to learn words in a dictionary
I always thought she valued education and learning but she told me later
She just didn't know what to do with young kids and paid me the dime to keep me busy

I am from a granddaddy who fought to get black laborers in the unions in the south
And won for us in poker games our first television set and a long haired chihuahua dog we named Loco
I am from a granddad who raised Tennessee Walking Horses for teenaged girls

I am from listening to my girfriend’s big brothers’ 45 records and practicing how to do the locomotion in a girlfriend’s garage

I am from collecting snakes to bring home in shoeboxes from camp

I am from tearing up fallen angelfood cakes and putting the pieces in jello with whipping cream like that was what I intended to do in the first place

I am from ironing for 10 cents a piece because nobody else in my growing up home liked to iron

I am from having to take 29 magazines into school because my teacher didn’t believe we got that many delivered to our house

I am from loving school so much I went as an undergraduate for 6 years taking every subject I liked

I am from being paid with Shakespeare books instead of cash money for babysitting

I am from learning to keep basketball stat sheets on clipboards so I could meet cute boys

I am from climbing trees til I was a teenager scoping out dates as they arrived

I am from church youth trips as an ambassador
to the United Nations and Mexico and to see Billy Graham
I am from receiving my first whole Revised Standard Bible when I graduated from high school

I am from the first Free School in North Alabama
where I taught multiplication tables to the pound of hammers building outhouses

and met my first ever lady Zen monk

I am from marrying because I had sex on High School Graduation night
I am from marrying before I graduated from university so my husband could determine where to go next
I am from marrying the third time for love written poems

I am from picture books and book stories and a strong curiosity bone

I am from the wit and wonder in every book I've ever read from Hermann Hess and Kahlil Gibran to Ella Wheeler Wilcox and Sara Teasdale

I am from wandering in the hearts of people and learning about their fairy tales, creation stories, values and religions

I am from having 9 foster boys, 2 foreign exchange daughters, teaching people who can’t read, kids who failed 2 or more years without getting a ‘category’ label

I am from teaching kindergarten munchkins, doing Christmas home visits and replying with handwritten notes to anything they stuffed in my red and yellow plastic Crayola mailbox

I am from handcopying words from Virginia Satir’s PEOPLEMAKING book to use in a pass around notebook to help my students’ parents become better at parenting

I am from all the music that has ever vibrated in my bones from Tina Turner Joy Harjo Tret Fure Buffy Sainte Marie and more! More!! MORE!!!

I am from spiritual groups gathered to Ponder Meditate Breathe Chant Drum Flute Dance and do Qigong Tal Chi Yoga and Bellydancing
I am from years and years of exploring Edgar Cayce's spiritual principles in study group circles and applying them into my daily life

I am from having a gypsywagon built to hold my gypsy soul and traipse about in
I am from creating my own tarot deck full of questions from the poems and prayers and promises and things that I believe in

I am from colors and textures and sweet smellums

I am from all the art I take into my heart from my girlfriends Claudia Rachel Jan Rose and Renee to strolling thru Niki de Saint Phalle's Tarot Garden in Italy and any museum or gallery I can get myself into

I am from floating like a star in the river in my backyard to hearing Sue Sellars remind me I am made from stardust

I am from Spin the Bottle kissing to reading books at restaurants with my husband

I am from writing wedding vows that insure we can both be whole people who meet in the middle and share our adventures

I am from love that gets worn in places by good use

I am from faith in the good of Creator and in all of creation (altho in some places it may be buried deep)

I am from being shattered and broken and having to put myself back together with kintsugi gold so I can live in new ways

I am from delving deep and climbing up and down ladders and the Kabbalah Tree of Life

I am from the belief that surely we are unfolding the way we are spozed to be

I am from living in awe and wonder in a world whose beauty can take my breath away.

I am from love and light and laughter and deep dark caves that hold hidden secrets and mysteries

I am from beaches and mountains and deserts and meadows and fields and forests untouched by humankind

I am from LovingKindness and poets and truth tellers and fairies and elves and gnomes and such

I am from shamans and high priestesses and queens and kings and potters and tinkers and common ordinary everyday people who have sparkles in their eyes

I am from Lordy and Big Mama and Buddha and Kwan Yin

I am from pulling myself up by my bootstraps and a little help from my friends

I am from Who knows what tomorrow may bring? Let’s live with elan vital in this moment now.

I am from building little altars everywhere and rituals to celebrate living life

I am from creating a home full to overflowing with love & laughter & victories made glorious by the sharing of burdens & trials by fire.

I am from collecting quotes like: “Make this declaration several times: I am love and I choose joy as my experience.” by Brother Ishmael

I am from using my creative spirit to celebrate my Indwelling Living Light.

I am from being radiant with all of the good ju-ju stuff I believe.

I am from trying to develop and use my creativity so I am having to use different parts of my brain.

I am from gathering collections of books to help me practice spiritual principles and books that help me nurture and nourish my creativity and set my intention to create some whimsical art.

I am from my desire to be a true artist who helps the world by revealing mystical truths.

I am from family of Father Sky and Mother Earth Living in Spiritual Grace

I am from asking to be lifted to Higher Ground.

I am from living Luminous Grace and living in gratitude for the many, many blessings that flow into my life.

I am from deepening my path of service/ dharma.

I am from discovering what creative task(s) need(s) to be done each day.

I am from community, Mystery, surrender, freedom daring us to dream, to risk, to feel, to imagine, to turn toward beauty, toward the light of becoming

and the exalted flight of freedom beyond wings.

I am from writing haikus and painting, reBIRTHing and reWILDing

I am from climbing my Life’s Tree.

I am from an open hearth blessed with the warmth of friendship, a Bon Secour/safe haven to provide rest for fellow travelers on their path with heart.

I am from prayers for the children- may every child the whole world over wake up each day & go to bed each nite with God’s healing light & love nurturing & nourishing them- may we all work for the reality of the Highest Good for All!

I am from labyrinths and good red road medicine wheels

courage to pick myself up from my Woe! Is me Poor Pitiful Pearl place

focus on the Spirit of God at the core of my being

helpfulness & hopefulness

upliftment/uplifting

sit & keep on with my soul’s purpose

in-stances

response-ability

the Powers that be

hope

gratitude

empowerment

revelations

at-one-ment

oneness with the Source

joyful doingness

wonder-ment

the Tree of Life

chakras

Tarot paths of understanding

living in joy

every day is a blessing

awe- inspiration of nature

amazing grace

surrender

grace

personal legend

wild delight

connecting/attuning myself w/ God/ the Powers That Be /Creative Force-Source

weaving the divine into the earthy-earth/ the mundane     

living with thanksgiving/ an attitude of giving

search for spiritual truths/inspiration/new ways of being

Revelations of Truth

Dharmic Service of others for the Highest Good of all beings

Oneness with all of life

Living in spirit with joyous delight

Inspiration with joyous delight

Love, grace and gratitude with joyous delight

Being joyful with joyous delight !!!

I am from doing Gypsy Spun Divination readings and leading others to ask questions into their lives.

I am from helping others to create altars and make Bowls of Their Beings.

I am from God and Goddess are alive and magic is afoot.

I am from one thing leads to another.

I am from volunteering to lead Children’s Church and read with kids at the Youth Center.

I am from raising my hands up to the Divine and asking How can I be helping hands to help others find their way to Walk and Dance and sing and say TA~DA! on Their Path With heart?

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