The rule of thumb

                                      Have you ever had your eyes opened to a blindness you have carried and cherished nurtured and reveled in your whole life. This happened to me in the instance I am willing to talk about when I was first married 18 years ago it was march and I wanted to share a huge family tradition in my house with my husband. We watched the Quiet man every year faithfully loved it quoted from it, well my Dad my Sister and I did. My Mother was not a fan and "joked" with my Dad about John Wane being an alcoholic wife beater, but we will get back to that later. SO with joy at sharing the treasure I sat down with most of my family and my hubby to watch the greenness of Ireland and the listen to the melody and wit of the people. As the movie went on I noticed my husband getting more and more uncomfortable. when the part came when the town was marching across the field with John and the woman came up to give him a stick "to beat the lovey lady with" That was it he was done he left the room and went to talk to my Mom. Later I asked him why he had left, his response was that John Wayne had not been very good to the wife in the movie and he just did not care for it. That sat with me for a long time made me think of the role of Men and Women.

My Mom

                                    Growing up in my house was interesting in my teen years my Mom worked at an abuse agency. My parents "debated" about politics my mom being Dem my Dad Rep. One of the impressions I did at age 5 was Jimmy Carter, it was in total me drying off my teeth and putting my lip up on top of the throwing up 2 peace signs and saying "Hi, I'm Jimmy Carter" my Nixon was worse. SO I grew up in a house that talked regularly about issues not so much personal issues but issues. My mom talked about women's rights but made sure to clarify she was not off the deep end about it. Meaning she shaved her legs and arm pits and being married meant everything to her. I always kind of saw her as a hippy want to be she wanted the things they did but the norm was not so bad. She had always been popular, never with out a date since Jr. high, she had grown up kind of privileged with a Dad who was a respected Business man in Madison. She was the dream of her area of time happy wife with 2 daughters she dressed well and loved her family very much by day. Her job had always taken her to places of compassion and hard to look at places of our society. She had become a nurse because her mom was a nurse. the Jobs I remember her having were starting the head start in Beaver Dam writing the grants for them then working for the WIC program weighing babies and doing quick checks for them, the one that left a lasting  impression on me was when she worked for the abuse shelter. I remember all the radical friends and their talks of women's rights and thinking it was over stated to think women were not valued to same  as men. When my mom died I was lost I did not know what to do she was my rock the one I could always count on, the one I could be real with. Who was I now with out her? I drifted for years holding on to the only thing keeping me floating, my faith but that was so new I had no idea how to manage it. I lost so much of who I was and those around me suffered, in that time became hard and unsure of my self. It was this time in my life this rebel part of me my Mom loved and hated with intensity started to rise up in me. It started questioning things and making me think through things I had not. along this way I found friends that challenged me to do the same and loved me while I worked it out, And I found my self again. I am not as proper a women as my Mom would have liked but I do think as she always did she would admire me for being me.

                                      The idea of equality for women has come back up in my life that seed firmly planted by my Mom and I have been spending time thinking about Her and the influence she had on me in this part of my life what a revolutionary she was fighting in the courts and If my mind remembers right working to pass laws or get them enforced anyway. Yesterday I saw a picture talking about traditional Marriage and what that actually looked like. Women property until 1768, Monogamy since 1899, wife own property 1900, contraception 1965, interracial couples 1967, credit in her name 1975 (I was one), Husband owns all property by default done 1981 (I was 7), and Legal marital Rape ended 1993 (I was one year out of high school).  First off I would be one illegal women in the 60's, married to a Mexican and owning credit and all. But it got me thinking the right not to be raped was won in my life time when I was an adult. How crazy is that? As I looked into this not so fun fact I learned was that the saying "rule of thumb" comes from the rule you could beat your wife with a stick as long as it was  no thinker than your thumb. really how does that work. sorry "Timmy Dad got to into beating your Mom with the stick and beat her to death but it was with in the rule of thumb so wink wink it's ok, pass the ovaltein Daddy worked up an appetite." Come on I am tired of the whole we are still fighting for this. it is 2013 we should be so past this by now we all should be equal. everyone! It just seems like there is more hate more subjugation of people or it is a growing trend anyway. the generations of women starting in the 1700 have been on this since than and we still have people like Rush Limbaugh saying things have gone down hill since we let women vote, and he is still on the air. REALLY are you kidding me? Some is paying him to be on there saying this. NO really they are even Radio aint free.

                                    Women we have a heritage of strong compassionate women a sisterhood we have an obligation them, our selves, our daughters and sons to speak up, stand up and do not except less. Men do not think you gain by this idea when one of us loose our power we all are weaker for it. I am not generalizing Men, I know many that understand and revel in this encouraging the women in their lives to be who they are and be free. I have been luck enough to be married to one. It is time this stopped being an issue and started being history.

                           

even if you shake

Ugh I fell like I write this all the time. I get so down on my self when I can't find anything interesting to write about. I feel like I have nothing to say, nothing to offer when the world rears up an gut checks me I loose all perspective. I for get each of us has a view that is like no other my view is my own and sharing it helps me sort it but also allows others to share their views and perspective widening my own giving me a better view than my navel I have been pondering with the limited view life gives. I may not shatter the earth with my brilliance/ quirky voice but I will at least speak.

I was listening to a poet today called Sarah Kay her ted talk, at the end she recited her poem and in it she was talking about Hiroshima and the blast burning the rocks and evaporating the people in the blast and the rocks being burnt except where the people had shielded it with there bodies leaving a white mark of their out line, a positive image. I want that, not to be vaporized but to leave a positive mark. it does not have to be big it can just be an out line but I want when the world finally vaporizes me for the mark that is left is of where I blocked the darkness. for some part to remain where the darkness of life can not take over that because I was here because I spoke because I had the courage to be who I was made to be.

God that sounds good, right? Sounds like someone so full of optimism you would think the world never touched them with darkness that light just free flows from their eyes and finger tips rather than the anxiety laden person who doesn't have the patience to wait for the page to load so she plays a game while she does everything person actually writing this. But is the truth of how I feel inside, no matter how much soul crushing radiative ash making crap life brings this is all I have. Don't get me wrong I have some very good things in my life I would not give up the relationships experiences and things that have formed me into this neurotic women I am, but all I own in my life is that. I can own my voice I can own the time I place into loving well. I may not be the most brilliant my words may be spoken better by others but the uniqueness that is me can not. SO I am going to stand on the words of a person I forgot who they were but not what they said that said speak even if your voice shakes in the hopes that someday even if they can not name me my words will bring that kind of courage to someone else.

The Others

           I have been thinking this morning about a challenge a friend of mine made to me to think of  the 10 things that are most important to me. with all the things going in politics here in WI and around our country I am thinking of Arizona and North Carolina as I write this One jumps to mind I wanted to share here. I have been noticing it all day in looking at the propaganda posts of all sides the cartoons and "news" posts is that the old ways are still effective. Making some one other than us makes them distant and then we can cast all our fear and negativity on them. It is dangerous in my mind to do so all propaganda has started this way all hate lives here. When someone is unlike us we distrust them because after all if they had the same information as us they would believe as we do, and if they do have the same information they must be stupid or evil wanting destruction of us all.

                 Look at the stereo types placed in cultures The Indians wanted to kill us, the Micks were rats taking over. IN our own day look what is said about people that are Arab, Black, or of Hispanic decent in the name of saving our people / protecting our borders or gay marriage. They are going to bring the destruction of us all. We will live in jejad, and the Mexicans are going to over run us, and the gays will bring about the down fall of marriage. The call for this is is that they are other than us they are not like us, their values are different so they are flawed. This has all been said before Russians in the cold war, the Irish in the turn of the century were going to over run our nation The end of slavery and Jim crow laws were going to bring down our economy and letting couples from other faiths or races marry was going to bring down the institution it self.

                               If the border thing is so true why is it always the southern border we worry about I am closer to the Canadian border both our our allies there are as many Canadian people here illegally as any other.  No one disparages the  pick up hockey team from there, or the very polite people at the coffee shop, But the very polite people buy salsa are so different? The equality of all people in our nation has done so much to enrich our lives as a people so many people from other cultures have added to us as a people not taken away.

         Couples inter marry with other religions and races (my self being one) and very live happy lives. This was not so in just the generation before us. Hundreds of thousands of Arab people live in our country and want it to do well for their children and them selves because it is their land too. That actions of a few horrible people should not taint our view of all people. Most serial killers have been white do other people need to worry that we will go all Dexter on them?
              The moment we make someone different from our selves an "other" it makes it ok to do things say things we could not do when we see them as our selves as valuable. It allows fear to rule us, fear makes a poor ruler. If someone is valuable even if they are different from us, if not only that but they can offer us a wider view of the world then we hold in our singular look at it. Giving perspective and wisdom to us that other wise would be lost showing things we would not want to see or would gloss over, makes us stronger. It takes hate out of it. How can you hate someone like you how can you hate one of us. Hate never rings perspective never brings growth it keeps one trapped. I listened to a TEd talk the other day about being wrong and the one thing that stood out to me in it is that being wrong has no feeling it feels very much like being right, till we are proven wrong. If all we do is hang out with those like us there is so much we could be wrong about and never know. I am a firm believer Love wins every time Love is stronger than hate. In Love for others there is not room for making someone other than your self they are like you human. Love can cast out fear, there is no reasoning with fear and hate. It does not make us free it enslaves us limits who are as a people: makes who we will be smaller then who we could be. Both as a nation a people and human-beings.

Flying death monkeys

                                   Bees are like beans we all know we need them one to pollinate flowers the other to unclutter our insides. But one is a flying death and the other causes moments we all rather would not have. I do not how ever hold the same hate for beans that I hold for bees. Beans can improved in flavor by spices and other things, Bees can not. People always say we can learn so much from bees  they are hard workers well organized. But there other lessons To learn too.
     
                            Bees have a life span of about 1 year but physiologically they could live 5 to 6 years. They work them selves to death they limit their intake to only what is necessary when leaving to get pollen. I am not advocating for gluttony or laziness, just taking care of our selves. Rather than just suffering with hunger in some attempt to loose weight rather find a healthy thing have, moderation in all things but constantly depriving your self is not good. I am not talking about eating healthy and doing what is good for your body I am talking about waiting just a little longer than you have to to eat or drink something not just once in a while but regularly. some would call this disciplined others self control. this last week I have been looking at how I treat my self I have strive to be kind  loving others and compassionate this how ever I have not applied to my self.

                                  In the bible there is a quote that says love your neighbor as you love your self. The traditional view of this is that we treat our selves so well and others so poor. How ever it is clear to me no one is harder on us than us. Even to deep down meanest of us is harder on them selves. We beat our selves and starve our selves from things that are good for us things we need to live. Why would we not be kind to our selves treat our selves as we would treat our best friend or an honored guest. Why does that feel selfish to respect our selves. I have no answers in this I am struggling to find it my self. I guess it calls me back to  the tattoo I got a few years ago it says learning to live loved. that has meant many things over time. but learning to actually implementing it for my self has been spotty at best. I think it is something that we need to do for our selves so that we can treat others as we treat our selves or will be doing disservice to both.

Messy

I was thinking today about the romance of things and how that romantic idea sometimes stops us from actually injoying life. Confused ok let me elaberate.

I love the romance of fishing the boat the water relecting

the sky the silence with just the ripples of water on the boat sides. the gental sway of the water rising and falling as the sun kisses your skin:  a soft breeze adds just the right amount of freshness. The struggle with the fish as he fights for his life and the fishermen or women struggle to land the massive fish.

that sanitarily lands on your plate with sauce on the side, and little Baby potaoes browned just slightly on the side.

This is a noble idea of fishing that longers in my brain the reality of fishing in my minds eye is that you get on a smelling boat with water in the bottem and the bugs swarm you as you make your way out to where you are going to fish at you swat away the hords of bug the humming of them never stops and the spead boat runs past almost knocking your som much smaller boat over. You cast out and catch nothing but manage to feed the fish as you bait flies way as you cast. So you pull it back in, as you are putting the new bait on you stab your self with the hook and start to bleed.

 As your casting you catch it on the tree behind you. You struggle to get it out of the tree limb it breaks loose hitting the shirt of the person who is with you. finally you make it into the river with bait in place.

The sun beats down on you breakign through the 5 LB of sunscrean you put on and bakes you like a cake. The bobble bobs down you wait knowing the fish will be back the bobber goes onder and you jerk up on the line snaggin what feels like a huge monster under the water. as you fight to ge tthe fish in when the water gives way and the fish shows Himself to you. He turns out to be too small to keep and he must go back in. So at the end of the day of fishing after you stop at the emergancy room for a quick tenis shotand a few quick stitches on your thumb that would not stop bleeding. from the rust hook that ripped you thumb open and a target stop for the shirt you need to replace from the same hook. you have to gut the fish just bairly big enough to keep with smell and funky stuff ripped out of said fish and put it into the freezer. As you dial for pizza because the thought of fish is making you ill at the moment. Now you might think this is an exageration but these are all actulual fishing memories for me except I think we stopped at JC Pennies not Target for the shirt in full desclosure.

This is what I mean about the romance of the thing destroying the actuall idea of the activity. HAs that ever happened to you? I face this all the time In my mind Life is like a Movie perfectly framed and plotted for every screan there is never any Bugs tring to kill you so they can brag to their Bug buddies. (Yeah that is right I implied Bugs are gangs waiting to kill you. ) there is never offencive oders or sweat in places I may get banned for mentioning. you may glisten with a little sweat on the brow but nothing more. WE may face a trail in our life experiance a huge loss but by the next 3 sceans or 2 hours that is done it will not change the essance of who you are for years.

But life is not like that Life is grit in your teeth as you fight through heart break and sturggles. Some times in life when I am most on track and doing what I know I am made for is when I feel the least sure of my self the confidant in what I am doing because the dream in my head interfears with the reality of what that actally fleshes out to be is unrecognisable. I have been bleassed in my life to have many of the things I dreamed of as a girl I have a quirky group of friends that are fun and funny yet deep and real some newer some older I planned my life with as a geeky preteen girl. I have a hot hubby with an acent from a forine land and a heart that should be on display some where the most beautiful I have ever seen: He loves me like crazy for which I have no explination. We may not have much as far as things and cars but we have what we need.

I think about the romatic notions that could make me dissatisfied with my life yeah we can not aford a lot of things trips are years apart and new things are few and far between. I do not get to see my friends daily or weekly for that matter but I do see them often. We have not been able to have children and my health has not been the best. I could micro scope in on the things that anoy me about my husband. But what would this get me? My life may not be an ideal picture on a post card or even make a good christmas letter. I did that one year sat down to writeout a chirstmas letter because we just felt so great and I had time so I did and when I went to the standered form of what people write int he letters It was the most depressing thing I have ever read. It was wierd to me how different it felt vs. how it read. So I choose life the real grit and strif hopes and crushing blows bad smells and sunburns and all. The romancic ideal or ideal just numb you to the treasure that actually awaits int he failing and struggle of real life.

I had a friend of mine described the grossness of birth with the water breaking the blood the poop and guts that come with birthing a baby, If that is how we come into the world how can we expect to live a life other than how we entered it. messy.
But we wait don't we: we wait till the Baby is all washed up with the blanket wrapped just so and the little yamica hat babies wear is on their head and sleeping 

so there is no crying in the picture. There was even a huge up roar over the artist Jill Greenberg the took candy away from children to
capture the pure sadness.

People were out raged! Not that life is always sad or hard but Those times and the hard parts make the joy so much brighter. If we sanitize the bad we will not ever feel the joy and contentment of Life. It has been my experiance that as I face things things look them in the eye brings so much more than the disapointment and beating our selves up for wrecking the image.

We are so obsesed with the romance of things sanitizing things into beautiful picture  that leave so many feeling inadiquit. Reality is relity the messy is life. You cna be Lerical and build a pretty picture and dramatise it all you want and I love me a good dramatisation, but real is real the rest is just going to rob you of life and happiness.