Dragon Blood

I remember why I stopped going to 'alternative' cafes and crystal shops. The people who work there, minus one or two, are total flakes. Please forgive me. And the guy that served me? What a moron. When someone's got it, they've got it. Sincerity oozes out. It's unmistakable. I just finished paying $13 for an oatmilk cappuccino and a small cookie and he couldn't even muster up some grace! Never again. These guys ruin it for the healing movement. 

I've been there, done that. He reminded me of a guy I worked with at a vitamin store many years ago. Pre-Covid, you might have thought these guys were odd then but during Covid, you came to realize just how completely enveloped they are by conspiracy theories! Total right wing nuts! Not lefties, at all. They lack compassion and are so far up their own asses, they've forgotten just how elitist they are, all those things they claim to be against. 

They are in total denial. They think going to a retreat is going to shield them from their own stupidity. All that fake positivity is toxic. Why did I come here? They sell magical room sprays...but I can bet my life that they have no real understanding or desire to learn what those oils together, along with an intention, can really do. It's all just superficial nonsense.

I asked this guy to confirm the cost of the room sprays, whether they were all $20. And as he made his way around the counter to the shelf to check, he said, "The price is on the bottom." I picked it up and said, "Great, thanks." And do you know what this ass-hole said, "That's what the sign says." That alone almost made me walk out. I should have.

I said, as I headed back to the counter to pay for my order, "Well, you know how it is with signs. They're not always clear." He must have heard my tone and proceeded to be nicer. Too late!

Pretentiousness and I do not mix. Back in the day, I would have swallowed that kind of arrogance and pushed down my voice...because secretly, I thought these people were better than me. Not anymore. 

They're all just wearing masks. Like me. I should pity them. Time to head home and use my dragon blood...

Loss

I want to reach out but I'm afraid. Afraid of being pushy or too forward, loose and perceived as a desperate woman. I can't win in a losing game no matter how much effort I expend. 

I suppose this is what's called Temptation. I want a taste of a nectar I've never had in the whole of my entire life. It's difficult to admit that to myself. I feel like a loser. 

It's one of those catch-22's. Either way I go, I end up losing something. The past is gone. I have to face the music that blares, "That ship has sailed, woman!" I should probably keep this all close to the chest. Yet, this is me being creative, connecting with my muse or my inner child. I've got to give it a voice so I can come to grips with these emotions, so I reconcile this underlying pang...of grief? I must be mourning a loss...a loss so big, it encompasses areas of my life that will never be. How do I make peace with it? Tell me.

I envy those who make it look so easy, who stumble and give way to it...because they want what they want when they want it. I've never been that person. Maybe, it's faulty wiring. If I could just shift perspectives, I'd have my way. But, at what cost? Don't people realize there's a price to pay for e v e r y t h i n g ?

I can't bare hurting anyone, especially those I love who in turn, love others. It's a circle that, once broken, can never be made whole again. 

So, I miss him. I miss how I felt when I was around him. I miss the familiarity when I stood next to him. 

What does it matter, anyway? This is just me sitting on a cloud in the sky. Sooner or later, this cloud will evaporate. May the green leaf man save me from feeling the blow of a hard ground once more...

My Birthday

Today’s my birthday. I’m going to treat myself to a margarita. Or maybe a daiquiri. I’m going to sit by myself and dream about all those things I’ll probably never do. I’ll whisper my wishes to the wind in the hopes they’ll be carried closer to an angel’s ears. And then I’ll wait and ask myself how I got here. This longing will never leave me. On good days, it tastes like honey. Wait, no. It tastes like ripe peaches. On bad days, I’m looking for a white flag to save me from the abyss. Why did you make me this way? I see a void in people’s eyes. There’s no one home. Even when we’re talking, I’m looking for something else and I can’t find it. Though if you ask me what I’m looking for, I couldn’t tell you! But, it’s not this. I know why you made me this way. It’s so that I turn to you and away from them. In another time and place, I’d live exactly the way I want to. I’d find my way to your room. You’ll undress me with your eyes and I’ll feel like the most beautiful thing in the world. I’d wrap my legs around you and you’d take your arms and hold me close. Then you’d take your left hand and squeeze my backside. But, tenderly and not like some brute. I’ll remember how life doesn’t imitate art and just like that, I’m pulled back into this world...where your room is not in our house...but in someone else’s, someone I don’t know, someone who isn’t at all like me. You’re nothing like him, either.

Crumbs

I can feel it slipping away...a kind of feeling or maybe it's a knowing...a knowing that something has most definitely slipped away. I blinked and there it was...gone. And then it has me wondering whether it was ever really here. How much can you mean to someone if you don't hear from them? It simply can't be much.

I'm in that space of absence. You know...when the absence is so big, you can feel it take up more space than it should. The sun doesn't make it better. It just magnifies this space and the absence it occupies. That's where I am right now. No one hears me. At least, not the living. 

I ought to not give it a second thought. I should tell myself to snap out of it, that I always knew better. Those moments were tiny reprieves from the sink hole. I tell myself to be grateful. It's hard to muster gratitude when something's gone. It's even harder to muster gratitude when you realize people were going through the motions. They didn't add anything of real substance or value to the interaction. I understand how we're all passing through. But, my ego, won't let me be thankful. 

It sucks when you invest more of yourself. It sucks when it goes unnoticed. It sucks that we don't know how to receive. It sucks that we're not present to receive. I dislike how people talk out of both sides of their mouth. Who are we? Who are you?

Ah, what does it matter? I rolled over and blinked and suddenly don't care. I slipped in the shower last night and the fall jolted me from my stuper. Some awakenings are real blessings, the way they come out of nowhere and help you see in a new way. And yes, some awakenings are still blessings even when they shake you to your core. Thank goodness for the ones we can bounce back from. 

I bounced back. I have a spring in my step and a smile on my face. I'm entering a new phase now, one that helps me see my worth and what I'm capable of, my independence, my strength. You can't imagine how much I don't need you. I can imagine how much you don't need me either. Time can do that - show you who you are, who people are, why people do what they do, why they say what they say. Time can show you the meaningless of some things while simultaneously demonstrating the meaning and value of everything else and all those things you take for granted, all those things that aren't shiny and new anymore. 

Commitment and loyalty have to stand for something. For better or for worse has to mean something. It does mean something. You have to bring meaning to it.  Otherwise, you're just some feather in the wind looking for something that doesn't exist. You're looking for something out there. What you're really looking for is what's already inside. But, there aren't any frills that draw you to that space or place so you fail to see it, access it and therefore, develop a kind of relationship that would open your eyes to the illusion of this reality we've created. 

Don't hurt the ones you love. The grass isn't greener on the other side. You don't have time to waste when you're in your 50's or 60's. If you want something, you have to attain it in the right way because there is a wrong way. And the wrong way can never be right no matter how much you want it to be. Your feelings don't matter. Your thoughts about it don't matter. Your opinion doesn't matter. All that matters is the way in which you do something, in the way in which you carry out your plans. And, if you make happiness your goal, you'll always be disappointed.

I'm not for rent. I'm worth more than your crumbs. All the money in the world won't make me lower myself so you can have your cake and eat it too. 

Two Worlds

I won’t let myself go there. Except when I find a tear, an opening, in the air. I stretch it out and wide to find a way in and away from here. You should see how beautiful this place is. No one tells you what to do or how to behave. There is no talk of God or religion. It’s just you and that space where the landscape changes just because you wish it to. 

There’s that tree again. And another tear in the air that I stretch out and wide and in I go. Now it’s me in a castle by the window overlooking the forest and the ocean in the distance. Your voice which was faint over there is so clear over here. Oh how I long for thee. In this dream. This dream of mine, I dare not bring you into. You’re right at the periphery just outside the line, the door. I won’t let you knock because I’ll have to let you in. But then I get scared I might not let you in at all and hurting you would feel unbearable to me. 

I catch a glimpse of you and your arms. I’ve never seen arms like that before. And your hands? Forget it. I can’t go there. Not even here where I think I’m in the clear and safe. Someone’s always watching even if they're not listening.

I take a needle and thread and stitch this hole up real nice. No one gets in and no one gets out. I miss you. I like knowing you’re in the world though not in mine. 

Staying Put

Is something going to give? It feels like one setback after another. Yet, I see the good things too. And I'm still learning that just because you get what you want, doesn't mean it's a good thing to have!

Here I am again, longing for what isn't. It's tiring. When all was perfect, I still found something to complain about. If I could turn back time, if I could slow time down, I'd taken that time to appreciate the little things. A quick glance would have become a long gaze. A shower would have turned into a bath. A text would have been a phone call...

I blinked. I just blinked and twenty years went by. I still wouldn't have had children so no regrets there. Have you seen what some parents look like these days? They go from not knowing who they are to raising little beings. 

But, who knows? Life would be a lot different if I had chosen another coloured pill. I suppose there isn't any point in speculating or guessing. It truly is what it is...and perfect despite its imperfections.

I know I shouldn't want. I know that wanting is suffering. Gosh, how easily things come to people when they want something. Religion doesn't factor in their decision-making. Not concepts of right and wrong. Not even what it might feel like to hurt another person in one's attempt to get what they want. And why? Because we have needs ? It sounds so pretentious and greedy...and selfish. 

Now they want us to believe that being selfish, putting myself first, in spite of my desires, is a good and selfless thing. It isn't. It can't be. It's just another human trying to justify his behaviour. And I'm not evolved? What a fool you are...you who will turn grey and old and perish.

You'd better believe there are things I want now I didn't want before. But, it won't be me to change things. I'll leave that all to something bigger, higher and ultimately wiser than me. There's nothing else I can do.

April 20, 2012

Today is the 13th year anniversary of my mugging. I've come to some realizations since then. 

While we might remember other people's birthdays and deaths, no one is going to recall the day when death came knocking on your door and you survived. Not one person.

You'll have to remind them and by reminding them, it sounds like you're looking for something, some kind of gesture that shows they love you, that they value who you are, that you have value to them.

If I had died that day, I'd forever be remembered as sweet Grace, a woman who had been taken away too young. 

There are no celebrations for survivors, victims of abuse and tragedies. The world continues to turn in its usual way. Today, we'll shed a tear, maybe even tomorrow. But then, we are forgotten. It isn't intentional, it's just another day...about me and my loved ones...about you and yours.

Isn't that why it's so unnerving when a painter becomes famous after death? Your work isn't noticed while you're living and breathing...unless you've got some luck on your side and not because you're really good at what you do.

I am observing this glorious Easter Sunday, this one single moment at a time. I'll give myself all the love I never got. I'll take a moment to notice the trees and the sky and let myself be swept away by them. Love is always readily available to me, to you. Just look and soak as much of it as your body will allow. 

My mind resists. It wants to go to that place of self-pity because misery loves company. Why am I looking for some grand gesture? My family isn't capable of giving it. I'm not even sure I'd know what it looks like. What I do know is that I can feel so small to the point of invisibility as though I weren't really here.

What irony. Yes, it's true. We take eachother for granted. We're all to blame and yet, we're blameless, too. This space doesn't operate in a sphere of winners and losers. We all suffer in some way. We all experience grief. We all handle darkness in our own way.

Expectation is a killer of spirit. 

The heaviness that has persisted since the new year is slow to lift. Oh god, I pray for some light, some relief. I'm strong but not that strong. I've got my own ailments, my own angels and demons I'm wrestling with.

Maybe the light comes in the form of divine intervention at just the right moment. I shouldn't minimize the significance of these happenings just because the result isn't what I think it should be or look like.

April is full of joys and sorrows. I also celebrate my 20th anniversary as a clinic manager for the same employer. I tell myself that expectation is a killer because my anniversary came and went and my boss gave me nothing. That isn't to say that nothing is coming, only that it didn't come on the day it should have. 

It brings up too much for me. The idea that I devoted twenty years of my life to the same person and not get anything when it counted the most, while I'm also experiencing the loss of my father-in-law, the deterioration of my partner's health, is heartbreaking, just so utterly, fucking, soul-crushing. 

Some expectations are meant to be had, if only to show yourself what you're willing or unwilling to continue with, to put up with. When someone stays where they aren't valued the way they feel they ought to be, it's time to leave. I learned that when you stay it's because you don't feel you deserve better. I wish it hadn't taken me so long to see this. I can't turn back time. I am grateful for all of it despite what I might be sharing here to the contrary.

It's time to turn the page for fuck's sake. It's time.