Float

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Life is full of wave after wave of challenges. Some splash against us. Some crash against us, and some threaten to sweep us away like giant tsunamis.

We can kick and struggle, doing our best not to go under, or we can lie on our backs and…float. Floating is easier when the waves are small. The water doesn’t crash over our faces. But even when the waves are giant it is better to rest than to struggle. The truth is, we are at the mercy of the waves. We can’t stop them or slow them down, all we can do is figure out the best way to swim through them.

I think it is better to float; take careful breaths and look up at the light.

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Working at Home

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I just took my daughter to work and have settled in to my own job at home. The day stretches out before me like a challenge….or a gift. I get to choose.

Actually, I guess we all get to choose.

I love working at home but it has its own set of challenges. One of them being that people don’t believe I have a real job. I actually have two real jobs; I am a business consultant and a writer. Both jobs take an enormous amount of time, thought and dedication if I do them right. And I LOVE my jobs. They fit me like bicycle shorts.

I just don’t like that glazed look people get when I try to explain what I do.

“Oh”, they say. And I miss having lunch with fellow workers or those brief talks around the coffee maker.

But I’ve decided that today will be both a gift and a challenge for me. I will work hard today, and while I am working I will be thankful for the gift of being able to make a difference in people’s lives by what I do.

Pansies

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I planted a bunch of pansies yesterday. I love seeing their little faces all winter long. 

I’ve heard people call other folks ” a pansy” meaning weak or not brave.  I find that strange since the whole reason I plant pansies is because they bloom through the winter months. All winter long I can look out my window and see purple, yellow and magenta flowers, sometimes peeking through the snow. I have seen pansy plants after an ice storm caked with ice one day, but on the next day when the ice had melted, they were completely unscathed. 

I think pansies are strong and courageous. You can call me a pansy if you want to.

Solitude

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I think that we are all lonely. That even if we have wonderful people to love us, when we are by ourselves for any length of time, we are lonely. I believe God made us that way so that we would always have a longing for Him. Life keeps us pretty busy and when it doesn’t we try and stay busy so that we don’t think about it, but if we are ever still and quiet long enough we will feel lonely… and that’s okay.

Higher

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When Caleb was about four, Anna was a toddler and she followed him everywhere. He loved to play with little plastic animals. He was old enough not to put them in his mouth but it was still dangerous for Anna to play with such little toys. So once in a while he’d stand on the piano bench and play with his little toys on top of the piano where Anna couldn’t reach them. He would invent imaginary worlds where yellow horses talked to purple pigs and red kangaroos hopped on top of dinosaurs. Most of the time Anna would sit as close to the piano bench as she could and just watch. Sometimes she’d fuss because she didn’t want to be left out. That’s when Caleb would hold up one of the animals and make it talk to her, or he’d climb down and give her a hug then they’d run off to play.

Monday, October 8 it will be twenty years since our Anna went to be with the Lord. I know that God had a purpose for her death because I know that He is a loving and perfect Father but I still can’t imagine what that purpose could be.

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Just carve…

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I missed art class again…was just too tired to go…if I could have gotten there I would have been energized by the creativity and the creative spirits I share the room with….

I went to a very short sculpture class once. We chose a small chunk of stone…mine was green and about the size and shape of a Kiwi. The teacher told us to just start carving and let the stone tell us what it wanted to be. Usually I start my creative endeavors with a plan, a vision of the end result. Often they take on lives of their own and the end result is different from my vision, but I almost always have some kind of goal.  But this time I just started gently carving without any idea of what I wanted it to be.  

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I finished it!

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My husband says that I celebrate everything. And he’s right. I do. In fact, that is really what this blog is about, celebrating even the very small joys in life. But today I have something big to celebrate. I finished my middle school novel!

I am having my writer son, Caleb, (see www.calebmonroe.com ) and my precious editor friend, Nancy Koesy Parker, give it the once over, and I am very sure both of them will suggest changes…and they are always right, and….I will need to check on a few research facts, but all in all The Silent Glades is finished and today I am celebrating!

Untitled-a poem

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Untitled

My brain is tired; I hold the pen.

the paper’s clean–the words within.

I screw my face and grunt and squirm.

The words won’t come—I draw a worm.

They say what matters most—start writing,

and so with all my heart I’m fighting.

Today what matters most is

writing!

                                                                                                  copyright 2005 Robin Prince Monroe

              

Laundry Chute-a poem

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Maybe you like doing laundry as much as I do???

Laundry, Chute! 

A shrill alarm sounds in the hall, then still and quietness.

I rush toward the siren call, to rescue my red dress. 

The latch released, I close my eyes then lunge into the dark, to free the poly-cottons from the hot breath of the shark. 

I dump them on the top of an ever-growing pile, of jeans and towels and T-shirts that have waited for a while. 

The dryer’s empty now, and while it’s growing cold, prepared to beat the mountain, I finally start to fold. 

The wash-cloths are so easy, being tiny, square and neat. But I almost lose my patience when I wrestle with the sheets. 

“I am finished!” is my cry as I tackle the last frock.The giant hill has dwindled to a mis-matched pair of socks. 

But victory is brief for as I turn to leave, peeking from the hamper is a little bit of sleeve.                                                                                                                 

Copyright 1997 Robin Prince Monroe  

Tonight I get to paint!

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Tonight I get to go to my Monday Night Painters class! I haven’t been there in weeks and I can hardly wait to get back to creating little two dimensional worlds on canvas. I can also hardly wait to get back to my sweet friends there. Last week I had all my painting paraphanalia packed in the car ready to go and I just was too tired….

But there will be no stopping me tonight. I think I’m going to paint daisies…with a vengence!

The Fight to Write

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It is there waiting for me…the chance of a lifetime….a publisher interested in my middle school novel. The problem??? I have to finish it. It is so close but it just isn’t there…and life keeps throwing me curve balls, heck, they are more like fast balls to the head…and I am ducking so much that it is hard to stop, catch my breath and write. People say that ultimately you choose to spend time doing what you really want to do. I don’t believe that…sometimes you do what you have to do…I need to write, I want to write….

Today I WILL write. I’m going to sit down on home plate with pen and paper and my back to the pitcher!

Six Wags

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Well, we finally got there. We have driven past this play park for dogs for the last five months. Today was cool enough to take a pug outside for a run so we went to Six Wags. Lucy loved it!!! First she ran all around looking back at me like she was saying, “Are you really going to let me go wherever I want?” Then with a treat I coaxed her through the agility tunnel…then with a treat (it seems she will do almost anything for a treat) I coaxed her over the jump, then around the cones. Since we were the only “people” at Six Wags we moved on up to the medium sized dog park where there was a creek. Now, Lucy has never been much for water. When we took her to the beach and she stepped in a puddle she put on the four-legged breaks (you know like the horses in the cartoons). But today….she ran right across the creek! She may become a water dog yet!. I’m thinking it may be time to see if her life jacket fits. Kayak here we come!

Pug Emergency

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My pug, Lucy, makes a habit of eating anything she can get into her tiny mouth. Last night when I took her out for her last potty she found something in the leaves. That something started her coughing and gagging. This isn’t the first time she has done this. She sees the whole world as one big smorgasborg. And she has had gagging fits before but this time she didn’t stop. So I loaded her up at 11:30PM and carried her to the 24 hour Animal Emergency room. To my utter surprise the place was full. It turns out that Saturday night at the Animal Emergency room is about as dramatic as the one for people. My gagging pug had to wait for a poodle who had torn out his stiches, a German Shepherd who had collided with another dog chasing a tennis ball and a pit bull who had been fighting and the police ordered his owners to take him to be cared for (You can imagine the dirty looks those guys got from the rest of us). Anyway, Lucy gagged through the first hour of waiting but by the time the vet saw her whatever was stuck went on down the hatch. He gave her a shot for the inflammation in her throat and sent us home.

The upside to this?? Lucy the Pug is just fine now… and it is really good to know that there are places to take sick doggies in the middle of the night…:)