Once upon a time in a world where I still believed that there was somewhere over the rainbow where people never died and cotton candy couldn’t make you fat cuz it was “fat free” there lived a girl who didn’t believe that Oz was just a little man behind the curtain. I think I watched that movie a dozen times before I realized that there really wasn’t a great and powerful OZ. I remember back in the day, before there was such a thing as videos or dvds and The Wizard of Oz was a special event in many homes. It usually was shown around Thanksgiving and I remember when we still lived in the Midwest, and came in from a day filled with snow and sledding to watch it by the fire with piping hot mugs filled with steamy hot chocolate, wondering if this time, they would find OZ, forgetting that you could really find everything you were looking for in your own back yard.
Since then, I have continued my own quest for courage and a heart and oh if I only had a brain…I have yet to find a yellow brick road or be guided by the likes of friendly little people down a path attempting to reach the unattainable but I can’t help but suspect that I may have really met up with a wicked old witch a time or two during my journey and have been tempted to throw water on one or two of them to see if they would actually melt! But in the end, I almost missed the whole message that it’s really about finding it all in your own back yard.
The question is what am I looking for? I think it has changed over the years. I know I definitely was looking for love and thought I found it a few times. I definitely could have used that brain during those times and the courage to use it. But hey, when you have those flying monkeys darting at you, it is hard to think!
Actually, I think the paradigm of finding it all in our own back yards was not so much finding anything but a state of mind. To finally rest in the knowledge of that place inside us all, where we can love and not be scared and not need anyone’s approval but our own
Yes. Yes. Yes.
There’s no place like home. Home is where the heart is.
So often I try to tell people if they want something then be it. If you want a great love then love greatly. Give. If you want all the presents only for yourself then you are a cold ugly selfish person. If you delight and are warmed by the excited look of other people opening gifts from yourself and others then you are warm and beautiful and giving. If you want a great love then love greatly. It took me so very long to learn that. My heart breaks every time I try to explain that to someone and I get a blank stare back. The world could be such a lovely place.
Thank you for putting me in touch with that right now. I am five degrees warmer, my face and chest radiating, I feel a bit drunk in a good way, a silly little happy grin on my face. Powerful stuff.
You have the courage to write these articles and make them public. You have the heart to make your reader care when you put passion into your words. You have the intellect to communicate it all effectively. You have a lovely garden in your back yard, do stop and smell the roses as they are you.
The graphic of the beginning spiral reminds me of my slight OCD and how I can’t just start reading a blog, I have to start at the beginning. It is the only right way.
I just got home from work. Following you around my blog has grown addicting! You have taken me back on a journey of unforgotten words I wrote, long before I ever thought anyone would ever read them. As you can see… this one for example was one few ever read. Not sure how it happened… where people like you started reading my ramblings… but I am sure glad they did cuz meeting you has been a gift! Your words are so sweet, talk about feeling warm!!!