Cold Thoughts at 2 below Zero

I’m sitting here at my computer and it’s 2 below zero outside.  The kinda cold that makes sure you are well aware you are alive when you go out in it.  It’s funny..when I first moved to Wyoming,  I thought the winters were going to be much worse than they were in the East. They really aren’t, that humidity that’s lacking here makes all the difference.  When the sun’s shining and it’s 10 degrees, if there’s no wind, it’s almost balmy! And, I discovered that you can go out when it’s below, say 15 degrees, and blow those bubbles that kids get in the bottles with wands, and they turn into crystal and just land on the ground intact.  Just a little observation…..another humorous one is that if you go out in below freezing weather and you take a big inhale through your nose, your buggers freeze!

Yesterday, I was totally blown away. My friend, Tre Surbeck, from FB, sent me a link she received to a song that a woman wrote and sang and posted on Youtube yesterday.  This woman, Rita De Cassia Perez, is a spiritual songwriter, living in Australia, who has been writing and singing since the age of 6. Evidently she had followed a link to this blog from my friend and was moved to write me a song. I’m going to try to post it here to share with you.  It is hauntingly beautiful and I don’t know how she was able to capture so much of me.  I am not going to go into my spiritual beliefs with you. I think that what people believe is personal and between them and the Creator.  I think that you should “walk the walk” and there should be no need to speak of it.  I’ve found that the louder you preach, and the more you are judging others….the less time you tend to spend on actually being a good person. My birth dad was an alcoholic turned bible thumper Pentacostal preacher….I like to say he picked up the bible with equal fervor that he used to enjoy the bottle. He ended up a bitter, scared man, broke because he gave all his money to Jim and Tammy Faye Baker.  I  visited him on his death bed in NC, we hadn’t spoken in years because he was always “condemning me” and was surprised when he told me was scared to die.  He had mesothelioma and could barely breathe. I told him “But, Daddy, you have that sticker about the Rapture on your car and all you talk about is being with Jesus..aren’t you glad to be finally going home?” He had no answer.  I told him that it was okay to be scared but that it would be okay.  He died about 2 hours after I left. It still puzzles me to this day.

I’m not scared to die. I’m not scared to live, either. Having a bunch of death inducing illnesses does that to you.  Notice I didn’t say terminal? We are ALL terminal! We can’t escape death. I wish everyone could see life through my eyes for a bit…when you aren’t real sure if that sniffle is going to turn into something that will keep you in bed until the end and the end could be a week away….you really start to realize that every tiny thing counts. Like, I make sure I smile, I smile ALL the time…and I notice that someone walking toward me may have a really grumpy look on their face, but when they look up and see me smiling, it’s like a curtain opens and …..they smile back! When Rob starts arguing with me and I see we aren’t going anywhere, I just look at him real serious and  then I SMILE and (whether at the moment I feel it or not) I say..Do you know I love you more than life?.....guess what? Argument forgotton.. I mean, we always use that cliché “Life’s too short” but do you really “think” in those terms?  Is that “something” that’s getting under your skin really worth getting all hot and bothered and ruining your day? I thought not.  Now get out there today and smile at some people.  It will do them good and surprise, surprise..you’ll find you feel a heckuva lot better about yourself, too.

Love & Light

Song "Out There, Somewhere, In the Deep Blue Sky"