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	<title>My Little Pail</title>
	
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		<title>Tom Robbins-how he warms my cockles so</title>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:07:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>promise</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mylittlepail.com/?p=745</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Tom Robbins has been the guiding force of my literary imagination for as long as back as I can reme&#8230;..well, to be specific I was 19. I can&#8217;t recall how I came by a copy of Another Roadside Attraction, but I did, and it blew my tiny mind, to put it mildly.
It was then, and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ara-tom-robins.jpg"></a>Tom Robbins has been the guiding force of my literary imagination for as long as back as I can reme&#8230;..well, to be specific I was 19. I can&#8217;t recall how I came by a copy of Another Roadside Attraction, but I did, and it blew my tiny mind, to put it mildly.</p>
<p>It was then, and remains now, the oldest, most worn out, rattiest, cover duct-taped, edges gone book I own. But at least its signed by the author. <img src='http://mylittlepail.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ara-tom-robins.jpg"><img title="ara-tom robbins" src="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ara-tom-robins-300x294.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="294" /></a></p>
<p>What was it about his stories that shaped me over the years? The redhead worship? The strong female lead throughout all of his books? The rich philosophy, the pedantic ramblings, the mossy, kelp-like undergrowth, rich with brainy minerals?</p>
<p>Throughout some dark times Mr. Robbins kept me sane. He kept me insane as well. Laughing at the tragedy, crying at the ecstasy. He kissed me, and he slapped me. Each time a book was released, I would sigh with relief, that there was a chance, a fat/juicy/hotdog w/ketchup&amp;mustard/hold/onions &amp;pickles of a chance, that I was going to find kinship and symmetry in this crazy mixed up world, and it would allow me to be here, on this earth just to try, for a little bit longer.To keep existing.</p>
<p>Sure, not all his works made me bow down at the altar of Literature. And no, I&#8217;m not the sort of fan who&#8217;s tried to learn everything about the Author. Yes, I went to a reading/new book release once. Yes, I looked briefly into his personal life.(he has kids,has been married, etc.) But the most interesting probing I&#8217;ve done was look into the authors/stories that inspire HIM. Whoa, did that give me a view into the Brain Most Revered.</p>
<p>and <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a title="this" href="http://mylittlepail.com/about/">this</a></span> little, carved out part of the universe, that pays homage to my own thoughts, that gives me voice and soaring freedom of expression. This Little Pail, is named in tribute of him. It&#8217;s been 15 years, and when I crack open those books now, I see myself. I see the shaped parts of my caverns and valleys around a few tenets, inside those wacky books of his, that I hold quite dear. Pacifism. Laughter and Pleasure. Dance. Magic. Mayonnaise. Stilts. Sex.Privacy.Aging. Children. The Pacific Northwest. and last but certainly not least, my origins, as a redhead.</p>
<p>My proudest moment in regards to the Man himself?</p>
<p>When I did go to his book release, it was for Villa Incognito. The book explores the question of the Mysterious, and the many answers we have not, cannot, or won&#8217;t yet, explore.</p>
<p>I raised my voice with difficulty. &#8220;Is there a secret of yours, of the mysterious, that you are not very proud of, and would you share it,with us?&#8221;</p>
<p>My reluctant mentor, stared at me in respect, the room went quieter still, and he said nothing.</p>
<h3  class="related_post_title">Related Reading</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/ode-to-redheads-tom-robbins/" title="Ode to Redheads-Tom Robbins">Ode to Redheads-Tom Robbins</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/post-burning-man-report-the-redhead-review/" title="Post-Burning Man Report-The Redhead Review">Post-Burning Man Report-The Redhead Review</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/weekly-specialburning-man-art-festival/" title="Weekly Special*Burning Man Art Festival*">Weekly Special*Burning Man Art Festival*</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/unusual-gifts/" title="Unusual Gifts">Unusual Gifts</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/who-do-you-answer-to/" title="Who do you answer to?">Who do you answer to?</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/on-being-a-bicyclist/" title="On being a Bicyclist">On being a Bicyclist</a></li></ul>
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		<title>Imagination does not Exist-Hafiz</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MyLittlePail/~3/eA8jEnaYY38/</link>
		<comments>http://mylittlepail.com/imagination-does-not-exist-hafiz/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:30:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>promise</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Drops in the pail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[does]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[hafiz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[imagination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[imagination does not exist]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mylittlepail.com/?p=812</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You should come close to me tonight wayfarer
for I will be celebrating you
your beauty still causes me madness
keeps the neighbours complaining
when I start shouting in the middle of the night
because I cant bear all this joy
I will be giving birth to suns
I will be holding forests upside down
gently shaking soft animals from trees and burrows
into [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;">You should come close to me tonight wayfarer<br />
for I will be celebrating you</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">your beauty still causes me madness<br />
keeps the neighbours complaining<br />
when I start shouting in the middle of the night<br />
because I cant bear all this joy</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">I will be giving birth to suns<br />
I will be holding forests upside down<br />
gently shaking soft animals from trees and burrows<br />
into my lap</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">what you conceive as imagination<br />
does not exist for me</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">whatever you can do in a dream<br />
or on your minds-canvas</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">my hands can pull-alive-from my coat pocket</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">but lets not talk about my divine world</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">for what I most want to know tonight is</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">all about<br />
You.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">-Hafiz</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">I am still breathless of Hafiz, even after many trips around the sun.Powerful words are like keys in doors; the right combination can open to anywhere.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Promise</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">(Thanks to Xero Sama for use of fractal)<a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/artist-xero-sama-abstract-digital-art-Look_Inside.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-814  aligncenter" title="artist-xero-sama-abstract-digital-art-Look_Inside" src="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/artist-xero-sama-abstract-digital-art-Look_Inside-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<h3  class="related_post_title">Related Reading</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/promises-poems/" title="Promises&#8217; poems">Promises&#8217; poems</a></li></ul>
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		<title>Um, better late than never? Happy Anniversary, MLP!</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MyLittlePail/~3/8JouwGY-9n0/</link>
		<comments>http://mylittlepail.com/um-better-late-than-never-happy-anniversary-mlp/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:30:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>promise</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mylittlepail.com/?p=785</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Wow, where on earth is Promise, eh?
I haven&#8217;t been back, really back in the saddle of writing since early December. I probably shouldn&#8217;t tell you that, as you may not have noticed the HUUUGGEE gap (gulp) but since I missed my own damn anniversary, I thought I should get down on bended knees and freeakin [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/anniversary.jpg"></a>Wow, where on earth is Promise, eh?</p>
<p>I haven&#8217;t been back, really back in the saddle of writing since early December. I probably shouldn&#8217;t tell you that, as you may not have noticed the HUUUGGEE gap (gulp) but since I missed my own damn anniversary, I thought I should get down on bended knees and freeakin APOLOGIZE.</p>
<p>BABY, I&#8217;m sorry! I know I missed our one year anniversary, but you mean EVERYTHANG to me, baby, please open the door! I&#8217;m SORRRYY~!! How many times I gotta say it?</p>
<p><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/apology.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-808" title="apology" src="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/apology-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" /></a></p>
<p>*pause*</p>
<p>*sound of door unlatching*</p>
<p>okay! So now that the groveling is over. What can I say? December was a blur of a Cute Boy, Old Friend who Came back Into Promises&#8217; world. Then there was Other Cute Boy I met at Christmas Time, even though I had a Cold. Then came a quiet and solemn New Years Eve, and Day. Then came all kinds of ping-ponging with Cute Boy #1, which led to yanking around of Cute Boy #2 (sigh, poor thing) and now Cute Boy #1 is gone, and Cute Boy #2 remains. Oh, and I had bronchitis for 2 weeks.</p>
<p>So you see, there was really nothing going on.</p>
<p>But I&#8217;m happy to say that BEFORE all that, there was a boy named Jocko, who we all NOW know&#8230;dum dum duuummmmm! Is actually a fraud and a con man, yes! See my other post,<a title="here" href="http://mylittlepail.com/conman-jeremy-clark-erskine/" target="_blank"> here</a>.</p>
<p>I have been at my new job (technically a transfer) for the last 3 months, and even though I work harder, for less pay, and took a demotion, I am so stupidly happy to be rid of the mental anguish and constant humiliation, its all I can do every day to not kiss my boss, and dance a jaunty irish reel, right in the middle of her dangerously overloaded round table. Still, it&#8217;s amazing the feeling of being out from under someone&#8217;s deadly triangle shaped fingernail.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m back to researching adoption, and insofar as Love goes,decided to Let Go of the Idea of A Man for Promise. For now. It&#8217;s too hard. Period.</p>
<p>The cat is good, the house is good. Family has endured some rough trials, see <a title="here" href="http://mylittlepail.com/not-enough-time/" target="_blank">here</a>.but I&#8217;m working on the acceptance there. My sister is leaving for France very soon, and I&#8217;m SOOPER excited for her. Never had a vacation. I know, I know, what&#8217;s THAT about! Go Sisterness to the mountains, to the cheese, to the seductive language, and the warm hearts~! Watch out for dog poo!</p>
<p>I&#8217;m a bit tight on money these days, so spending time reading indoors until Spring peeps out of its bear cave. Headed to Portland in late March, very excited to see Best Friend and Baby. Perhaps visit a family who&#8217;s adopted that I&#8217;ve already interviewed.</p>
<p>Thanks for bearing with me! and *raises glass*, here&#8217;s to the first year of MLP, and hopefully, many more!</p>
<p><img title="anniversary" src="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/first-birthday-cupcake-248x300.jpg" alt="" width="248" height="300" /></p>
<h3  class="related_post_title">Related Reading</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/not-enough-time/" title="Not enough time">Not enough time</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/whats-news/" title="What&#8217;s news">What&#8217;s news</a></li></ul>
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		<title>Conman-Jeremy Clark-Erskine</title>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:41:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>promise</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[
It was an ordinary night in October, 2009. I was on OKCupid, considering disabling my profile, as I was exhausted from dating, and wanted to take a break. A handsome and charming young man and I started chatting on IM, and he impulsively asked me if he could meet me for some ice cream, right [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-789" title="Jeremy Clark-Erskine mug shot" src="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/281.jpg" alt="" width="224" height="279" /></br><br />
It was an ordinary night in October, 2009. I was on OKCupid, considering disabling my profile, as I was exhausted from dating, and wanted to take a break. A handsome and charming young man and I started chatting on IM, and he impulsively asked me if he could meet me for some ice cream, right then. So I said yes (what the hell sort of thinking).</p>
<p>2 dates later, I was utterly charmed and faith-restored back in Men In General, but specifically, &#8220;Jocko Abramovitch&#8221;. He was easy to talk to, respectful, funny, dorky, and had a rich past. You know, he was like me. <img src='http://mylittlepail.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />  He suddenly moved to LA for a job, and I was disappointed and sad, but we had agreed to keep dating. &#8220;This is far from over, you and me, just a small challenge.&#8221;, he said. Of course, I got two distant emails, weeks apart, very non-commital, and after some embarrassing crush-like obsession for a few weeks, I let it go.Insofar as, I let go of the idea.And I let go of contacting him. The problem was, J.A had restored my faith very fragile it was, back in Men. and his total lack of&#8230;well, everything, sort of sent me into a romantic depression for several weeks. It colored my perspective; professionally, spiritually, emotionally, friendship, all over the place.</p>
<p>Now, I&#8217;m no 20-something upstart who doesn&#8217;t know her way around a cornfield. I&#8217;ve been in the battlefield of dating for going on 15 years now. Go ahead, tell me it&#8217;s not a battlefield. I have to tell you, it honestly is.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve seen my share of LTR, NRE, crushes, obsessions, public maneuvers, how to&#8217;s, do not&#8217;s, follow-your-heart messages, and the friends who will throw themselves in front of a truck to stop me from calling a boy. I&#8217;ve seen marriages, divorces, polyamorous triads and then some, domestic partnerships, children, adopted and otherwise. Dating starts an interview process that essentially never ends. It gives our lives spice and variety.</p>
<p>So when I say I got a bit down about it, I mean I am still trying to recover. Is this Jocko&#8217;s fault? Yes and No. He&#8217;s really the end of a long line of bad choice boyfriends and dates that&#8217;s been going on since I dated a fantastic, awesome, one-in-a-million Arabian who is now happily engaged. (not to me <img src='http://mylittlepail.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' />  I&#8217;m working on the me-part of this equation of How Did I Get Here.</p>
<p>So IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when I find out said &#8220;Jocko&#8221; has been incarcerated for Fraud? Identity Theft? as of January 7, 2010, which I found out about right <a href="http://merrygentlemen.blogspot.com/2010/01/psa-for-law-enforcement-and-victims-of.html" target="_blank">here</a>.(Special Thanks to Merry Gentlemen for the information!)and <a href="http://mostwanted.indystar.com/fugitives/281-clark-erskine-jeremy" target="_blank">here</a>.You can basically track what happened the moment &#8220;Jocko&#8221; went to LA, and started charming many, many other girls, stealing, lying, bouncing around and generally putting his considerably saavy brain to use, using other people.</p>
<p>I laughed out loud for so long when I found out. Partly due to the irony. Partly due to relief that nothing of mine was taken. Partly due to the happiness that he&#8217;s been caught. Partly because i intend to get in touch with SFPD about the brand new 2010 mustang he was driving and the pretty fancy condo I was in for our second date, suspiciously devoid of any personal effects, but loaded with furniture and nice decor. (I had teased him at the time.)</p>
<p>And for all those who may have been affected by the sham, do not feel badly. Many of us bright women were taken in. Know his name, now forget his face.</p>
<p>As if dating weren&#8217;t hard enough&#8230;:D</p>
<h3  class="related_post_title">Related Reading</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/data-dump/" title="Data Dump">Data Dump</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/temperature-check/" title="Temperature Check">Temperature Check</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/a-memento-a-testament-to-dating-in-the-modern-age/" title="A memento, a testament to dating in the Modern Age">A memento, a testament to dating in the Modern Age</a></li></ul>
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		<title>Not enough time</title>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:04:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>promise</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Milestones & The Little Boat]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mylittlepail.com/?p=765</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
There&#8217;s not enough time to fix it&#8211;to mend over the broken, ripped stitches.Or to make new, luminescent ones.
There&#8217;s not enough words&#8211;I have to shout just so you will hear me, and even then, I&#8217;m abbreviating it so you will get the gist.
There&#8217;s not enough ways to talk&#8211;talking brings on coughing, which brings on the racking, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/father%20and%20daughter%20on%20seafront.jpg"></a><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/me-and-silver.jpg"></a><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/father%20and%20daughter%20on%20seafront.jpg"></a><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Sil1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-771" title="Silver-young man" src="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Sil1.jpg" alt="Silver-young man" width="366" height="448" /></a></p>
<p>There&#8217;s not enough time to fix it&#8211;to mend over the broken, ripped stitches.Or to make new, luminescent ones.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s not enough words&#8211;I have to shout just so you will hear me, and even then, I&#8217;m abbreviating it so you will get the gist.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s not enough ways to talk&#8211;talking brings on coughing, which brings on the racking, ripping, burning horror in your lungs bursting up, and the image of you bent over, throwing all your weight into a handkerchief, like your lungs were a companion-docile animal who turns and bites you without reason.Then keeps on biting you.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s not enough privacy&#8211;when you can move at all, it&#8217;s from bed to the bathroom, to the living room chair, in front of a 6 ft screen, surrounded by hutches filled with glassware for guests that never come, plastic moveable tables holding daily pills, various oxygen machines, cough drops, and the remote for the TV.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s not enough touching&#8211;I can&#8217;t get to you to hold your hand. I can&#8217;t sit near you to wrap my arm around your shoulder. To do so causes uproars and exclamations, moving of furniture, clucking, fussing, what a production, a chorus of <em><strong> &#8220;Are you sure?&#8221; &#8217;s</strong></em>. Like touching him could blow him into the breeze like a wil-o-wisp. The danger of intimacy.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s not enough time, you tell me. To sort through the 10,000&#8217;s of video footage shot over the years, to mark,label, and date the vacations. I need to do that, you say. If I can get out from in front of the darn TV. That&#8217;s you, to a T. You say darn, instead of damn. To go through old photographs, send them to the right family member who featured in them. To sort through the cumulation of a life, and preserve it in such a way, that it might be seen through, beyond the veil and illusion that this person marked time, was in history, that this person lived and breathed, loved and lost, witnessed, and was seen by others who love him.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s not enough movement-getting you to the kitchen table was a major breakthrough in the house. How on earth can it feel, to have your breath, your chi, the very essence of human life, slowly fight you, getting stronger over you day after day? I can&#8217;t even sit on the porch with you and watch the stars.</p>
<p>And what would I say, if I didn&#8217;t have to scream it, if I could touch your hand, if your lungs weren&#8217;t the enemy, if we had privacy from the well-meaning worrying fuss? How can I tell a man, who&#8217;s never raised his voice to me once, how sorry I am, that we are just plain out of time? That the vast canyon of his Beliefs and my Beliefs, that How he was Pushed Away while I was Young, and How I was Raised, all these factors now stare me in the face&#8211;as I look helplessly, silently, and lovingly at the man who I called Daddy.</p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;</p>
<p>I worshipped my dad from my earliest memories. <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">I thought he was the sweetest, kindest man I&#8217;d ever met. I can still say that, actually. </span></strong>It&#8217;s amazing, but true. I was caught on Christmas Eve, gorging on weakly-concealed chocolates stolen from kichen cupboards. I&#8217;m talking A LOT of chocolate. His idea of punishment? &#8220;Go sit on your bed for an hour.&#8221; <span style="color: #000080;">Seriously?! </span>Where are my books are? And my soft blanket? and the CAT? <strong><span style="color: #000080;">THAT&#8217;S PUNISHMENT??</span> </strong>I was ecstatic. Best hour of my entire.childhood.life.</p>
<p>Mom and I moved out of state shortly after their divorce, and I was devastated. I missed him terribly. He became the beacon in my heart for all good things, a person and a refuge for all my conflicted, angry, impotent feelings that children have when they want control over the crazy events going on around them. I was fighting with the New Stepdad all the time, especially after my sister left home.</p>
<p>I used to go to school, pissed off and fuming, and walk to the payphone, and dial Daddy&#8217;s number. I know it by heart, I&#8217;ve known it every single day of my life. It&#8217;s 805-835-8508. I liked dialing the numbers. I liked knowing that if I needed to, I could reach him. Some days I needed to dial more than once. Or twice. However long it took me to calm down. I never did call him. First of all, I didn&#8217;t have change. Secondly, explaining to my mom that I&#8217;d called my dad would be a betrayal, and I couldn&#8217;t afford to do that in an already divided home. Third, I didn&#8217;t trust I could tell my dad without him doing something about it,and he definitely <span style="text-decoration: underline;">would</span> have done something about it, which would cause more troubles..see Item 2. Fourthly, and this was only admitted on rare occasions to myself, he was too busy, and didn&#8217;t want to hear from me.</p>
<p>Eventually, around freshman year of high school, I stopped calling, even on those ghost calls from payphones. I went through some intense experiences in high school (don&#8217;t we all), and finally decided that getting impersonal checks on my birthday and christmas was making me acutely uncomfortable. I wrote a long letter when I was 17, explaining that I wanted him in my life, but not in a halfway, distant manner. Either get in or get out. I asked him if he knew I liked antiques? Long dresses? that my favorite color is red?</p>
<p>He responded two months later, and said Yes, he did want to be in my life. Shortly after, he sent me an antique candy dish. I&#8217;ve prized this possession above all others in my house for years. It sits in my front living room. Even after its perilous journey, stolen from me by a vindictive former friend, recovered and circulated back through a mutual friend who didn&#8217;t know it&#8217;s origins..it remains a symbol of beginnings..of love.. and reaching across the distance.</p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;</p>
<p>A few short years later, I found out that Daddy is not my Daddy. He&#8217;s not my biological father, and illegedly, he didn&#8217;t know this either. I felt lost, and terrified. How did this happen? How can you tell a man, the child you&#8217;ve helped raise, sent money to, loved, lost,grieved, and fought back to gain, isn&#8217;t actually Yours?</p>
<p>That&#8217;s a different story. What happened is that I told him. Gently. He laughed at me &#8220;Honey, is <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em>this </em></strong></span>what you&#8217;ve been so stressed about when we talk? I had my suspicions you weren&#8217;t mine when you were little. But I decided <span style="color: #008000;"><strong>you needed a father, and I could be that for you</strong></span>. You are my little girl, and you always will be. Now, can I please come and visit and we can have a nice time?&#8221; I could hear the smile in his voice. The acceptance. The love, and protection. I said, Yes, I will see you tomorrow.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve had the most honest, quiet, sweet relationship since. His family always embraces me, even when our views on lifestyles and choices runs black to white. They include me on email updates, and invite me down constantly. When I called on Father&#8217;s Day last year, he teased me about whether or not he was ever going to walk me down the aisle. It was such a fatherly thing to say, I teared up.</p>
<p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p>
<p>Loving him has never meant sacrificing my own happiness, or having to follow his expectations. Being his daughter has brought me support, love, honesty, grace, and patience. When he has responded in anger, he was pushed into a corner and had to do so to maintain his integrity. His reasoning is solid. We do not see eye to eye on everything, and I haven&#8217;t had even remotely the time I wanted to bond further, but I cherish, CHERISH the memories I do have, that wash over me again and again, as he fades from his human experience.</p>
<p><img title="With my Dad" src="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/me-and-silver.jpg" alt="With my Dad" width="511" height="428" /></p>
<p>I love you, Daddy. May the silver shine in you, be reflected in me, forever.</p>
<h3  class="related_post_title">Related Reading</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/um-better-late-than-never-happy-anniversary-mlp/" title="Um, better late than never? Happy Anniversary, MLP!">Um, better late than never? Happy Anniversary, MLP!</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/damn-its-time-for-true-confessions-week/" title="Damn, its time for True Confessions week">Damn, its time for True Confessions week</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/about-a-fire-three-letters/" title="About a fire-three letters">About a fire-three letters</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/rally-car-montage/" title="Rally Car Montage">Rally Car Montage</a></li></ul>
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		<title>Quan Yin-in the dark</title>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:04:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>promise</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Drops in the pail]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mylittlepail.com/?p=756</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I step up to the altar-greet her dragon; gaze at her face. I light one candle, then another, and mentally rest for a moment, though I am standing. It feels like a perch, spiritually. A place at the end of a quick-light footed staircase, leading to a panorama. I perch there, and muse on my [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_757" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 270px"><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/260px-Liao_Dynasty_-_Guan_Yin_statue.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-757" title="260px-Liao_Dynasty_-_Guan_Yin_statue" src="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/260px-Liao_Dynasty_-_Guan_Yin_statue.jpg" alt="Quan Yin statue" width="260" height="347" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Quan Yin statue</p></div>
<p>I step up to the altar-greet her dragon; gaze at her face. I light one candle, then another, and mentally rest for a moment, though I am standing. It feels like a perch, spiritually. A place at the end of a quick-light footed staircase, leading to a panorama. I perch there, and muse on my path, and the various threads that intersect with it.</p>
<p>I touch the water around the base of her statue, lift my finger to touch her head lightly, then touch the pearl she holds hand outstretched. To keep her fluid. To keep us flexible.</p>
<p>I feel a kinship with Quan Yin. She embraces and protects me. I trust in her authority. I feel her presence in my actions. I BELIEVE, and am surprised to find that what I just wrote is true. I&#8217;m not a lost-soul. I&#8217;m not coming off the tail end of some trauma, some earth shattering, soul crippling heartbreak. I simply live as sweetly as I can, and feel the strength of her compassion behind me, and under me, gently encouraging me along, and lifting me up above stark atheism.</p>
<p>I stand there, in the dark, before the sun comes out to blind us all, with two candles, and a thoughtful look, and experience unabashedly, simple &lt;Love&gt;.</p>
<p>Photo credits to-</p>
<p><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Liao_Dynasty_-_Guan_Yin_statue.jpg/260px-Liao_Dynasty_-_Guan_Yin_statue.jpg">http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Liao_Dynasty_-_Guan_Yin_statue.jpg/260px-Liao_Dynasty_-_Guan_Yin_statue.jpg</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.lightomega.org/Earth/ANC/images/bsp_two_candles_1088679.jpg">http://www.lightomega.org/Earth/ANC/images/bsp_two_candles_1088679.jpg</a></p>
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		<title>Ode to Redheads-Tom Robbins</title>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:30:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>promise</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Drops in the pail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[henna]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ode]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[redheads]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tom robbins]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mylittlepail.com/?p=732</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[

 
How are we to explain the power these daughters of ancient Henna have over us bemused sons of Eros?
 
Red hair is a woman&#8217;s game. 
The harsh truth is, most red-haired men look like blonds who&#8217;ve spoiled from lack of refrigeration. They look like brown-haired men who&#8217;ve been composted. Yet that same pigmentation that on a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
<h1 style="margin: 5pt 0pt 5pt 36pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; background-color: #ffff66;"><strong><em><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/redhair.png"></a></span></em></strong></span></h1>
<p style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 36pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<h3 style="margin: 5pt 0pt 5pt 36pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><strong><span style="font-size: medium;">How are we to explain the power these daughters of ancient Henna have over us bemused sons of Eros?</span></strong></span></h3>
<p style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 36pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 5pt 0pt 5pt 36pt;"><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Red hair is a woman&#8217;s game. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 5pt 0pt 5pt 36pt;"><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">The harsh truth is, most red-haired men look like blonds who&#8217;ve spoiled from lack of refrigeration. They look like brown-haired men who&#8217;ve been composted. Yet that same pigmentation that on a man can resemble leaf mold or junk yard rust, a woman wears like a tiara of rubies. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 5pt 0pt 5pt 36pt;"><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Not only are female </span></span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; background-color: #a0ffff;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;">redheads</span></strong></span><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> frequently lovely but theirs is a loveliness that suggests both lust and danger, pleasure and violence, and is, therefore, to the male of the species virtually irresistible. Red O red were the tresses of the original femme fatale. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Of course, much of the &#8220;fatale&#8221; associated with </span></span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; background-color: #a0ffff;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;">redheads</span></strong></span><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> is illusory, a stereotypical projection on the part of sexually neurotic men. Plenty of </span></span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; background-color: #a0ffff;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;">redheads</span></strong></span><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> are as demure as rosebuds and as sweet as strawberry pie. However, the mere fact that they are perceived to be stormy, if not malicious, grants them a certain license and a certain power. It&#8217;s as if bitchiness is their birthright. By virtue of their coloration, they possess an innate permit to be terrible and lascivious, which, even if never exercised, sets them apart from the remainder of womankind, who have traditionally been expected to be mild and pure. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 5pt 0pt 5pt 36pt;"><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Now that women are demolishing those old misogynistic expectations, will </span></span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; background-color: #a0ffff;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;">redheads</span></strong></span><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> lose their special magic, will Pippi Longstocking come to be regarded as just one of the girls? Hardly. To believe that blondes and brunettes are simply </span></span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; background-color: #a0ffff;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;">redheads</span></strong></span><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> in repressive drag is to believe that UFOs are kiddie balloons. All </span></span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; background-color: #a0ffff;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;">redheads</span></strong></span><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">, you see, are mutants. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 5pt 0pt 5pt 36pt;"><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Whether they spring from genes disarranged by earthly forces or are &#8220;planted&#8221; here by overlords from outer space is a matter for scholarly debate. It&#8217;s enough for us to recognize that </span></span><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; background-color: #a0ffff;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;">redheads</span></strong></span><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> are abnormal beings, bioelectrically connected to realms of strange power, rage, risk and ecstasy. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 5pt 0pt 5pt 36pt;"><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">What is your mission among us, you daughters of ancient Henna, you agents of the harvest moon? Are those star maps that your freckles replicate? How do you explain the fact that you live longer than the average human? Where did you get such sensitive skin? And why are your curls the same shade as heartbreak? </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 5pt 0pt 5pt 36pt;"><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Alas, inquiry is futile: Either they don&#8217;t know or they won&#8217;t say &#8212; and who has the nerve to pressure a redhead? We may never learn their origin or meaning, but it probably doesn&#8217;t matter. We will go on leaping out of our frying pans into their fire, grateful for the opportunity to be titillated by their vengeful fury, real or imagined, and to occasionally test our erotic mettle in the legendary inferno of their passion. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 5pt 0pt 5pt 36pt;"><span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Redheaded women! Those blood oranges! Those cherry bombs! Those celestial shrews and queens of copper! May they never cease to stain our white-bread lives with super-natural catsup. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff66"><strong><em><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/redhair.png"></a></span></em></strong></span></span></span></p>
</div>
<p><span style="COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff66"><strong><em><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/redhair.png"><img title="redhair" src="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/redhair.png" alt="redhair" width="596" height="368" /></a></span></em></strong></span></p>
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		<title>Know thyself</title>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:56:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>promise</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Milestones & The Little Boat]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[know thyself]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[questioning]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mylittlepail.com/?p=749</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[knowing your own heart.It can be the roughest, strangest, most foreign terrain on Earth.And in Heaven.
I am having the roughest time lately with UNDERSTANDING my own heart. What she wants. Where she goes. I feel a general fog around my path, that obscures even the simplest decisions. I used to SEE with a blaze of fire [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>knowing your own heart.It can be the roughest, strangest, most foreign terrain on Earth.And in Heaven.</p>
<p>I am having the roughest time lately with UNDERSTANDING my own heart. What she wants. Where she goes. I feel a general fog around my path, that obscures even the simplest decisions. I used to SEE with a blaze of fire and insight. I could dance circles around the indecisive, the wishy-washy, the unambitious. Now I find myself slowing at any old physical or emotional speed bump in the road slowing down to 2 mph, when I could be going 15.</p>
<p>Constantly QUESTIONING.I feel insecure. Fragile.</p>
<p>Something like this happened two years ago, around the same time. I&#8217;m wondering all the time, is it a weather thing? Is it a battered heart thing? Have I over-extended my trust? Can Promise kindly step up to the mic? Is Promise here? Has anyone seen her lately?</p>
<p>*pause*</p>
<p>*sounds of people shuffling*</p>
<p>I mean what else can I do but wait? ride it out? Sure I could apply the band aid of retail-therapy to this sucker, but how do I get the neosporin-for-the-soul in there if I wrap it up tight in repressive gauze?</p>
<div id="attachment_751" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 530px"><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/fragile_future_2_lamp_2.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-751" title="fragile future" src="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/fragile_future_2_lamp_2.jpg" alt="Fragile Future" width="520" height="440" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Fragile Future</p></div>
<p>Bear with me. I&#8217;m trying.</p>
<p>Photo credits-</p>
<p><a href="http://technabob.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/fragile_future_2_lamp_2.jpg">http://technabob.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/fragile_future_2_lamp_2.jpg</a></p>
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		<title>Promises’ poems</title>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:24:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>promise</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[
It was real masquerade, it was a real cover up
make up
pulling up
drop me down
of standing in the bathroom tub full of water incensed
and curled up sleeping he’s saying I love him
on his way out the door clicks
but I heard him pause in the hall
I heard him rattle his keys in his hand like he might [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">It was real masquerade, it was a real cover up</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">make up</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">pulling up</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">drop me down</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">of standing in the bathroom tub full of water incensed</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">and curled up sleeping he’s saying I love him</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">on his way out the door clicks</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">but I heard him pause in the hall</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">I heard him rattle his keys in his hand like he might come back inside</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Like he doesn’t really have to go</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">and I am the air of the sigh</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">                        he makes</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">I am the jacket over his shoulders</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">I am the soft jeans           he runs his hands over trying to decide</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Trying to decide to stay or leave</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Delicate, consumed. </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Pulsing in my womb, sadness smokes through me, I am paper. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">A light, living thing, carrying two sets of wings. One for Heaven, one for the Valley of Danger-Love. Adventure Love. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">We were there, in the tunnel of the great expanse. Pulsing in my womanhood, you evaporate. Its as if you never held me, my memory is the comrade, your memory the negotiator.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">I feel the beating against my lungs, from the inside the heart announces, Be.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Softly again now, Be.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Asking, Be.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">For a few moments, the sadness and contentment are joined. The feeling looks the same, no matter which facet you see. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">And for a moment, its no city I see, but a great expanse below my feet, a vibrant pulsing landscape, the soil itself sings, and the torn feet feel the comfort of the moss…….</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Red and Yellow flowers</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Feminine hills like Lady  Love Lying Down</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Soft ground, yellow daisy blankets,</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Firm wind, hush hush, it says, I’m talking to you about Heaven, girl</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Have you ever been to the splendid sky</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">racing on hot surface blasts from the desert, rushing above the ground only 6 inches from your face to dive</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Into the catacomb coral of the sea, the water so alive, it makes you sick with longing</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Pushing in and out of you, sand like diamonds, life invisible and all around you…</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Oh, caving in my senses</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">are in overdrive!, slow down and under this ground is a beating, fighting spitting mountain of Our Mother</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">She would kill me with a lift of her hand, if the desire was in her, but I’m in her heart,</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">So its sun and hills for me</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">to live this day and know she loves you too and you are thinking of us both, boy, </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">can you imagine if Love was <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not </span>all around us? </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Can you imagine the world without birdsong?</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Can you imagine if She hadn’t had me meet you that day, and you said,</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">“Where are you from?”</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Heaven, I say. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">“Where is that?”</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Right here.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/tuscany.bmp"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-736" title="tuscany" src="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/tuscany.bmp" alt="tuscany" /></a></span></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;">Photo credits-</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><a href="http://www.venere.com/blog/images/tuscany.jpg">http://www.venere.com/blog/images/tuscany.jpg</a></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://www.museflash.net/images/poetry06_plakat-detail.png">http://www.museflash.net/images/poetry06_plakat-detail.png</a></span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://eplteen.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/poetry.jpg">http://eplteen.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/poetry.jpg</a></span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
</div>
<h3  class="related_post_title">Related Reading</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/imagination-does-not-exist-hafiz/" title="Imagination does not Exist-Hafiz">Imagination does not Exist-Hafiz</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/why-promise/" title="Why Promise?">Why Promise?</a></li></ul>
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		<title>Gratitude &amp; Manifestions</title>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:05:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>promise</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mylittlepail.com/?p=711</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I landed at the Oakland airport, on a sunny day in 1997. My mom came to rescue me from a dead end situation in Seattle, and as we drove back to her place in Napa, we started talking about manifestion. and it&#8217;s link to the force of gratitude.
From this one spark of conversation, came a new way [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="mceTemp">I landed at the Oakland airport, on a sunny day in 1997. My mom came to rescue me from a dead end situation in Seattle, and as we drove back to her place in Napa, we started talking about manifestion. and it&#8217;s link to the force of gratitude.</div>
<p>From this one spark of conversation, came a new way of thinking that changed my life, forever. I tried thinking on what I was grateful for. And sure, at first it was awkward and embarrassing. All I could think of were money and material related things (hey, I was 23.) I yearned for a great romantic love. I wanted a job that stimulated and appreciated me. I wanted to own a big ranch. All I could think about were my far off dreams, not the things in front of me. With reluctance, I expressed gratitude for my health. (big whup). Then for my mom, for paying for me to take a weekend break from my pathetic life in Seattle. (Moderate gratitude-ok, this sort of works.) Then for my best friend, Dee (wow, big wave of love there-cool!) Pretty soon, I was finding all kinds of things that made me happy in tiny, incremental ways. The sunny sky. The working car, hurtling us down the freeway. The laughter from good music (Weird Al Yankovic). It was WEIRD, realizing how much my mind was actually picking up from my environment, until I really started to notice it.<br />
 <a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/light-chakras-border.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-721" title="light%20chakras%20border1" src="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/light-chakras-border.jpg" alt="light%20chakras%20border1" width="225" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>and when we had run through a breathless, LONG giggling list of things we found, Mom started to tell me&#8230;</p>
<p>&#8220;Okay, see the way the Universe expresses itself is through Abundance, and Diversity. The Universe doesn&#8217;t edit your expression. If you say, &#8216; I want to fall in love. I want to be over this flu.&#8217; <strong>then the Universe will GIVE you an abundance of you WANTING</strong> to fall in love. OF WANTING to be over the flu. If you really want to manifest your intent, you need to express it as if it&#8217;s <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><span style="color: #800080;">already happening</span></strong></em></span><span style="color: #800080;">,</span> then release it utterly into the hands of the Universe. Whatever you spoke, wrote down, or expressed, WILL come into being, if you are clear in your intent.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>WHOA! Can I just say&#8211;HOLY WHOA!!</p></blockquote>
<p>So I tried it.I could feel how open my heart was after expressing gratitude, especially out loud.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> <strong><span style="color: #000080;">I</span><span style="color: #000080;">&#8216;ve always believed that words are like keys in doors</span></strong></span><span style="color: #000080;">.</span> If you can find the right words or combinations of words, you can open any door to people, to places<span style="color: #ff00ff;">&#8230;t</span><span style="color: #ff00ff;"><span style="color: #ff00ff;">o</span> the world.</span> There is a power and grace in the spoken word. It&#8217;s magic in action.</p>
<div id="attachment_714" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 502px"><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/wallpaper_gratitude_p78de.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-714" title="Gratitude" src="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/wallpaper_gratitude_p78de.jpg" alt="the opening this creates will blow your mind!" width="492" height="450" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">the opening this creates will blow your mind!</p></div>
<p> </p>
<p>So I decided to do two things with my own manifestations-speak them out loud, and add some bread and butter daily ones, to keep up the caliber of life I wanted to make for myself.</p>
<p>Because I love my readers so much, I will share some of them with you.</p>
<ul>
<li>Everywhere I go today, I will be on time.</li>
<li>I am healthy, happy and whole, guided, guarded and protected at all times.</li>
<li>I am refreshed and relaxed as if I had a restful night&#8217;s sleep.</li>
<li>I am singing, dancing, and writing.</li>
<li>Money is flowing into my life~~ easily and effortlessly~~.</li>
<li>I intend the highest possible good for all my loved ones. (Here I insert prayers for specific people, such as Devilish who is recovering from a devastating accident-I found out through his mom Highjinks&#8217;s posts.)</li>
</ul>
<p>Then I get into more specific intent regarding life path, home/hearth, love, and travel. Speaking the words out loud, sending my dreams and hopes into the ether..flat out, people,  is POWERFUL medicine. I encourage you to do this RIGHT NOW. Yes, you can<span style="color: #008000;"> <strong>[</strong></span><span style="color: #008000;"><strong>[</strong>whisper<strong>]]</strong> i</span>t at your monitor if you like. I will wait. Don&#8217;t feel weird, it&#8217;s been time to<span style="color: #ff6600;"> s</span><span style="color: #ff6600;"><span style="color: #ff6600;">tart</span> doing this <span style="color: #000000;">a</span></span><span style="color: #000000;">nyway.</span></p>
<div id="attachment_715" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 570px"><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/3433-1.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-715" title="Waves of Fire" src="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/3433-1.jpg" alt="a Rubens tube uses sound waves to make fire!" width="560" height="469" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">a Rubens tube uses sound waves to make fire!</p></div>
<p>I was doing this faithfully for years, then only sporadically. I realized that I felt a bit demanding of the Universe, and I wasn&#8217;t sure what I was doing to balance that out. But now, I&#8217;ve been back to doing them every morning, and my heart is the happier for it.</p>
<p>Quan Yin is still in my life. Her presence touches me continually, and I feel a better woman made for it. But Gratitude and Manifestation are also two forces I could not do without. When I think that my life used to be battered about, on the waves of my emotions, that I had no control, no sense of which way was sky and which way was earth.. that no lifevest could help me, only the occasional random wave would fall back, so I could gasp of fresh air..</p>
<div id="attachment_716" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/infinity1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-716" title="infinity" src="http://mylittlepail.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/infinity1-300x225.jpg" alt="create a loop, then follow the road." width="300" height="225" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">create a loop, then follow the road.</p></div>
<p>Well. Hallelujah to Now, is all I can say.</p>
<p>It doesn&#8217;t matter what you believe, insofar as Universe, the Buddha, or Jesus. At the very least, can you believe in yourself? What was the first time you decided to show your individual spirit?</p>
<p>I intend to Believe!</p>
<p> <img src='http://mylittlepail.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Photo credits go to-</p>
<div><a href="http://magisteria.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/infinity1.jpg">http://magisteria.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/infinity1.jpg</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="http://www.stoneanchor.com/stonipedia/images/stories/Chakras/light%20chakras%20border.jpg">http://www.stoneanchor.com/stonipedia/images/stories/Chakras/light%20chakras%20border.jpg</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="http://hacknmod.com/wp-content/old/pics/3433-1.jpg">http://hacknmod.com/wp-content/old/pics/3433-1.jpg</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="http://www.planetpinkngreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/wallpaper_gratitude_p78de.jpg">http://www.planetpinkngreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/wallpaper_gratitude_p78de.jpg</a></div>
<div><a href="http://thebirdinmyheart.com/float/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/lightbody2.jpg">http://thebirdinmyheart.com/float/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/lightbody2.jpg</a></div>
<h3  class="related_post_title">Related Reading</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/quan-yin-in-the-dark/" title="Quan Yin-in the dark">Quan Yin-in the dark</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/quan-yin/" title="Quan Yin">Quan Yin</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/data-dump/" title="Data Dump">Data Dump</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/35th-birthday/" title="35th Birthday">35th Birthday</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/unusual-gifts/" title="Unusual Gifts">Unusual Gifts</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/musing-3/" title="Musing #3">Musing #3</a></li><li><a href="http://mylittlepail.com/magik-peter-murphy/" title="Magik-Peter Murphy">Magik-Peter Murphy</a></li></ul>
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