Turquoise

This year, my husband discovered my love for turquoise. It was our anniversary and I paused in front of a glass display cabinet stunned by the varying shades, textures, and sizes of the stones. I honestly hadn't seen stones as large as some of the ones on display. Even the Squash Blossom jewelry is made of smaller chunks of stones. I told him I would feel more like a queen wearing one of those necklaces than I ever would wearing ropes of diamonds.

I once had the pleasure of being assigned The Anthropology of Turquoise by Ellen Maloy a strange book where I learned the chemistry of turquoise: CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8*4H2O, blended with its history and mysticicsm. In the book it is noted that in 1652,Thomas Nichols said, "Many strange things beyond faith are reported concerning the vertues of this stone, which nothing but excesse of faith can believe." But, my favorite bit of history is that in Egyptian prayer the words for water and turquoise are interchangeable. For me, a woman who still pretends to be a mermaid every chance she gets, this trivia is like locking puzzle pieces together.

On Sunday, I rested this solid, steady, circle of turquoise on my chest. The weight of it was like a soothing palm, warm and soft... and I did feel royal. Thank you, dear one.

~Princess Words like Water

Mother's Day

History of Mother's Day

The above link to the history of Mother's Day is an interesting read about a woman who wanted to honor her own mother and allow other, individual families to do the same. She spent her life and her fortune fighting against the political, social, and commercial "monster" she'd created.

I wish she'd won.

Mother's Day is one of my least favorite holidays. I like my "I love you's" year-round and do not appreciate the pressure my family feels to spend money we don't have on this day. I don't like the pressure of all the attention and "honor" of the day. Motherhood has been such a gift to me. However, being a mother has not, instantaneously, made me into some noble and perfected being. The office is noble, indeed - but, I am not perfect in my mothering.

Spending a full day, publicly honoring me (and mothers like me) is a slap in the face to women who want desperately to be mothers and have never married or have been unable to have children or whose babies have passed away and are reminded, again and again, that their arms are empty.

I'm with Anna. Enough already.

To Beard or NOT to Beard

Once upon a time, I kissed a boy and I liked it. Then, I married a man who couldn't grow a beard. There were some excuses about the 1/8th Choctaw blood in his genes disallowing the process to actually take place. Only a few splotchy patches here and there could ever creep in enough to get a decent goatee. Testosterone replacement therapy anyone?

I'm kidding. (And this is NOT the reason I divorced him ... really!) A whole lot of men walk this planet without facial hair. It's a sign of cleanliness and discipline. If you've seen some of the scraggly beards running around on men who also do not brush their teeth, you probably agree. However, my current cutie grows a great beard. Give him two weeks, and it's full and soft. We aren't sure (for lack of opportunity to test the theory), but we're thinking that in 6 months without trimming he could be sporting a regular Rip Van Winkle style. (Not that we plan on testing this!)

It makes me CRAZY that his workplace has some "missionary" dress requirements that state no facial hair. An uprising in the meat department led to the general admission that a well-trimmed moustache is okay. When is a MOUSTACHE ever okay?! (Unless you're Brad Roghaar or my Grandpa Hank who keeps his in a waxed handlebar.) You'd think he could claim his Scottish heritage on this one and show up in a khaki kilt and beard.

So... what are we hoping for in a career? You got it. Someplace where the men who have enough testosterone to be men, and grow soft, sexy beards for their wives back home are not discriminated against by the men who can't.

The Young Victoria (2009)

This movie has me hoping to read the memoirs of Queen Victoria. Did she really write letters this way? Was she as strong willed as portrayed? Having watched Mrs. Brown, it is interesting to note the rise so long before the decline...

However, the best part of this movie is not its youth, it is the love story between Albert and Victoria. From their first meeting, they were taken with each other. But not in the Romeo and Juliet sort of way that many first loves happen. The weight of their births may have contributed to these two people being mature beyond their years - both wise and aware of themselves and each other. I couldn't help thinking that this was the sort of love story I wanted to tell my daughters... not the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale of a woman needing a man to bring her to life, but of a man and a woman being one by encouraging each other to be whole.

Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)

Although seeing a young, dark haired Sean Connery singing "My Pretty Irish Girl" while breaking a glow cutting down weeds with a scythe is good for any girl with a little Irish in her blood, his role as the handsome newcomer on the scene is hardly the reason to watch this film. It is the facial expressions of Irishman, Albert Sharpe that make this movie worth watching again and again. (Well, that and the sped-up dancing maneuvers of the leprechauns as the leap into the wine glass.)

Sharpe, who plays Darby O'Gill, is so expressive, that Disney was able to carry out an entire fight scene without showing more than a few seconds of the fight. This may have gone a long way with the ratings board and the "family friendly" G-rating at the time... or not. Perhaps, Director Robert Stevenson recognized an acting genius - a man who could tell the entire story in a twitch of his nose or a downturned brow - and wanted to document it for generations to come.

Tonight, I reintroduced my family to Darby. The youngest two of the clan had never seen it and thought King Bryan was a "silly" and the banshee absolutely petrifying. (Neither of them moved while the banshee cried.)

Oh, I wish all the movies could be a bit like Darby
they'd be a bit cheesy, but they'd entertain my army...

Okay. It was a half-drunken sounding rhyme. I know. But, I was really defeated before I began. After all, who could beat King Bryan's "McKluskey and Whuskey"?

Trust

The dictionary defines the word "trust" as "reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing. Confidence."

Recently, I had the opportunity to analyze my own reasons for trusting (or not trusting) the people that touch my life. Although, I won't give the details. I found that the more someone insists that they are trustworthy, the less likely I am to trust them.

Sometimes, I find it strange that I see the world in words. Writing is a love affair for me. Yet, I do not take words at face value. There is always a portion of myself (conscious or otherwise) holding its breath in expectation because action speaks more loudly than the whispered "I love you" or the "forever" shouted from a mountaintop.

Several years ago, my mother lived with me. She was unemployed at the time and had become a finatic follower of Dr. Phil. Oftentimes, I would watch with her. I think I heard his philosophy on trust so often, that I adopted as my own. It wasn't necessarily the repetition, but the power behind it. He used to ask his guests, "What is the worst thing that could happen?" and "Could you handle it?"

Last Saturday, I met someone I couldn't trust. Not for the lack of knowing him or having anyone to recommend him, but because I knew what the worst could be and I wasn't ready to face it.

Kinky Boots (2005)

More than just a story about hot shoes for "men, women, and those who haven't decided yet," this movie is about embracing the true self - whoever that is. Billed as a "How far would you go to save the family business?" sort of film, you know that Charlie Price will at some point find himself desperate and will turn to what is thought of as a deviant lifestyle niche to save his company. What is unexpected, or rather "who", is Lola aka. Simon.

Lola is the transvestite expression of Simon. S/he is a perfomer in a nightclub and needs sexy footwear that will support the full weight of a man. S/he is also a choreographer and designer. The design elements of talents will bring her to Northampton where he dresses as Simon to avoid making the suburban locals uncomfortable. At first, this is very difficult because he feels so little like himself in a pair of jeans and flats, without any lipstick. Charlie is encouraging and they learn to respect each other as they work together.

In the end, it isn't Lola that needs to accept herself, it is Charlie. Both men have grown up under the weight of their father's expectations and find themselves facing fears and dreams while deciding what living with integrity means for them.

This movie is truly well done. Using what the world may generally see as an extreme lifestyle choice in juxtaposition to a "normal" life facing the same issues of being true to oneself, made their success even more of a triumph in the end.