Thursday, November 3, 2016

Losses and beginnings

I just heard today that a beautiful friend of mine has passed.  She suffered from a brain tumor and survived 35 months!  Patti was a holistic follower long before it became fashionable. She taught yoga and helped others get healthy through her work as a graduate of the IIN  (Institute of Integral Nutrition).
Those that knew her are sad at the loss of such a brave, loving woman.  But her pain was unbearable. She wasn't the vital, tall stunning blond, strutting down the fairway anymore.  She was sick. 
I can say all kinds of beautiful and spiritual platitudes about how she is at peace and out of her pain.  Maybe she is.  Maybe she has transcended this earth.  Maybe she is at one with the Divine, who knew her struggles.  Maybe she can watch her husband, children and granddaughter go on without her and shower them with her grace.  Maybe.
We all grieve differently.  I grieve like this--expressing my love for her on paper.  I know--for certain--that she is out of her human pain.  We all may have to go through this at one time or another.  I know she can love us from where she is now.  Her Spirit is much too strong to go this early.  I tell families that at wakes and gravesites.  I ask them to watch for their loved ones, listen for their whispers or their nudges.  I am certain that my beautiful friend will be watching over her family and her friends for the next few days.  I see her gorgeous smile and laughing eyes, her resounding voice that tells us she is all right and we will be all right, too. Bon Voyage, Patti.

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Holy Heat Batman!

"Well the temperature's rising, it isn't suprising, we certainly can can-can"
I have no great desire to dance during our recent heat wave. It almost hit 100 degrees here in New York last week.  I even curtailed some of my outdoor activities--not at all like me!

I performed three weddings last week.  One was super-windy and the Unity Candle ceremony was a bust.  The couple had already been legally married the night before in a church and I was the "friend wedding" officiant.  They even forgot the rings!  How did that happen, when they were already married?

Next day was way out on Long Island at a beautiful venue.  The bride was super-anxious about the heat and I reassured her earlier in the week that I would make it super quick.  I didn't want to short change her but she was very nervous.  The groom was cool and calm!  They had been together since high school so I guess it wasn't a big deal to him!  It WAS hot--water was available thanks to the venue and nobody melted.  I took off to regroup and marry the last twosome.

The last couple were two women who wanted to get married at the beach.  I opened up our family beach house to them.  They were also Interfaith-Jewish and Christian-so we had a reading about the Temple and how one has to die to find their true soulmate who was always waiting for them.  So beautiful.  Two lightbulbs crushed and a "Mazel Tov"!!  They were having their big bash in Cancun this week and I wish them much love and joy on this next journey.

You can't beat the heat.  I love what I do for couples and have to say it's definitely a ministry.  I said last summer that I wouldn't have weddings every weekend again.  August is my anniversary month and want to spend some quality weekends with my hubby.  He sometimes is my chauffeur and then we go out to a nice dinner somewhere on the way home.  He supports my ministry and loves telling people I'm a minister.  He had been in a Catholic Seminary after high school for 6 years and he should have been the Reverend Brownyard.  Instead, the female Brownyard in the partnership holds that title! 

Blogging in the AC--remind me of this in January!

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Whats Going On?

Blogging on a Saturday morning when it's cool and sun isn't powerful.  It's been a scorcher here in NY. But the way the country has been going crazy, I think the heat is only part of the problem.

Killings this week across the South.  I hate to watch the news or even look at my Facebook or Twitter. I know that there is a Higher Power in charge but wonder if He/She isn't someplace cooler on vacation.

I'm not a fan of guns, and have never even held one in my hand.  Wouldn't let my kids have toy guns, either. The thought of pointing a lethal weapon at another human being scares the you-know-what out of me.  It's senseless--is it anger and fear that is precipitating all this violence?.  "I don't know you, therefore I'm going to shoot you dead".  It is so impersonal to pick up a piece of metal and pull a trigger.  Then so many families and neighborhoods are devastated forever.

Perhaps, no, not just perhaps, but certainly we must know each other.  We must look our fellow humans in the eye and ask them who they are.  What do you believe in?  What makes you happy/sad/mad.  Dialogue:  Talk:  Open up:  Get human:  Put down your fears:  What are we waiting for?

I am saddened-so much pain and fear.  I choose love today.  I will walk in mindfulness for those who are affected by the madness in the South and all over our world.  Who will walk with me?

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Bittersweet

A new chapter has opened up in our lives.  Our home has been sold and we are "right-sizing" to a beautiful condo.  I'll be sad to leave this place, our home for the longest time in our marriage. We've had new grand-children brought home from the hospital to live with us, our son and his wife planned their destination wedding from these rooms and we have been blessed to have lots of great friends and family gatherings here.

The greatest joy was to have my couples meet me in my home office.  I created a beautiful, peaceful sanctuary in one of our rooms.  I think I enjoy meeting the couples when they are in their jeans, relaxed.  They open up about their engagement, how they met and what they love about each other.  We have one or two meetings, depending on the time we have to plan. I give them ideas for readings from my files after I get the "flavor" of their ceremony. I have pictures of weddings I've done around the room, some beautiful sacred items and a cozy couch for them to sit on. 

When its impossible for them to come to me, I meet couples at places that are convenient to them:  Starbucks, Paneras, diners or even a park bench will do.  I've been into the City to have dinner with some of my brides and grooms, grooms and grooms and brides and brides!  It's a joy!

I'll remember the wedding we had in our backyard, another in the dining room and a pronouncement in the living room of our home.  We asked a friend to come with us from the diner to witness a late night wedding last year.  Wherever you gather, I'm available and ready to watch you elope to a new marital status!

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Sweet 16

It's been a while since I connected with my Blogger spot.  I am busy with material for my monthly column in The Great South Bay Magazine, weddings for some wonderful couples and taking some time to write for my own - almost ready - book of meditations.

Writing can take a fair amount of my creative energy.  When you don't have the inspiration, it's a struggle to sit at the computer and make the fingers move.  I have a lot of time on my hands now, in Florida for a few months, and want to get this project done!  I've had so much going on:  shoulder surgery, officiating a nieces wedding, packing for the winter and then got hit with the flu.  It takes me some time to recharge enough to be able to sit and feel the flow of creative energy.

I found that meditation has been a huge help to spark that flow.  Sitting and just be-ing has been a daily regime that I maintain.  It's been a way to reconnect to the Divine inside and also quell the machinations of my mind.  A friend calls them "the ooga-boogas".  I make sure they are gone by the time I arise from my meditation chair and don't think about them for the rest of the day.

Meditation can be a five minute eye-rest or an hour full body scan.  I can meditate anywhere, anytime and among any group.  My sister, Stancie, used to be famous for her power naps.  They recharged her, too.  I also remember coming home from school and finding my mom stretched out on her loveseat to recharge for us kids.  Whether they were out cold for 30 minutes, or meditating on the peace and quiet, I take that as permission to have myself a lie-down when I need it.

So, the discipline involved in writing starts with my quiet time.  Since the book is on meditation, I get a boat load of material while I'm sitting.  I love it, anyway. 

Let's start off Sweet 16 with some sweet quiet and rest - if only for 5 minutes.  It will send up all the love to the universe and heal yourself and the world.