16 Friday Dec 2011
Posted in Coaching, Confession / Truth in Love, Faith, Noteworthy Days, Rambles and Rants
Tags
Abnormal, Christian Living, Christmas, Coaching, Faith, Hope, Life Coaching
The icebreaker topic “what are your traditions/what are you doing for Christmas Eve and Day?” felt like ice in my veins. I told myself to buck-up and get my happy face on so I’d be ready to breeze through my turn.
But the truth was: I did not want to talk about my Christmas, and how abnormal it would be.
Maybe I’ll lie…
As the women around the table spoke, I realized I wasn’t alone. Continue reading »
09 Friday Dec 2011
Posted in Coaching, Confession / Truth in Love, Faith, Rambles and Rants
You and me. We’re not so different.
I know you’re not always a brave or cheery as you claim to be.
I know you wonder what they really think.
I know you have been looking in the mirror too long. Noticing lines, bumps, gravity.
I know you eat cookies fast, because somehow that makes it not count. I know you throw away fast-food wrappers before you get home. I know you toss out receipts and remove retail tags before anyone can see you’ve been shopping. I know you cut the size-tag off clothes when the manufacturer erroneously adds four more sizes than you know yourself to be…or puts an X by your L.
I know you laugh, when nothing is funny at all. I know you Continue reading »
02 Friday Dec 2011
Posted in Coaching, Confession / Truth in Love, Faith, Rambles and Rants
I don’t like dogs. Tomatoes are gross. And I refuse to have regret.
Yup I’ve said each of these things. To which they are true.
Mostly.
Although when others hear my generalizations of likes and dislikes, I become permanently labeled with my stated partialities.
Tomatoes for example: on their own—without food companions—are disgusting. But turn those killer tomatoes into a salsa or sauce and I’m head-over-heels in taste bud heaven.
And then there are dogs…
Now if I was being really clear, I’d tell you that I’ve been chased down and attacked by German Shepherds. Not once – but twice. I have a scar on Continue reading »
25 Friday Nov 2011
Posted in Coaching, Confession / Truth in Love, Faith, Noteworthy Days, Rambles and Rants
They already have their Christmas lights up. Wrong. It’s just wrong.
I’m sure they are perfectly nice and lovely people. But the issue is, at the time of this writing, it’s well before Thanksgiving and they’re pushing Christmas on the neighborhood before it’s time. Maybe they are “those neighbors” who flaunt and are in some competition to be the best-est and most-est, first-est.
Infact, they probably have a fully flocked Continue reading »
11 Friday Nov 2011
Posted in Coaching, Faith, Humor, Rambles and Rants
Tags
Christian Humor, Christian Living, Christianity, Faith, Hope, Isaac, Life Coaching, perseverance, Spirituality
It’s infuriating when someone takes claim/credit for your hard work.
Right?
You put all this time into a concept or project, only for your boss/co-worker/competitor to take all the credit—as if the idea was theirs alone.
Over lunch you casually discuss client strategies and marketing ideas with a colleague, only to discover a week later that your colleague has a new relationship with your client or is using your idea for their gain.
Your aunt brings a dish to the potluck and receives all the glory for a recipe you gave her a year ago—and like vinegar to a wound, it’s a recipe you created.
You and your sibling go in together on flowers for mom Continue reading »
04 Friday Nov 2011
Posted in Coaching, Faith, Rambles and Rants
Right now, I’m breathing air at 7,000 feet. In Abiquiu, New Mexico.
Surrounded by deep canyons, hidden away in the landscapes of Georgia O’Keeffe a mile above sea-level, is the place I call home for the week.
It is the place I return for an annual writer’s conference. It’s a place to watch the sun rise over the canyon and set into the desert plains. It’s a place to walk the labyrinth and breathe the chilling wind. It’s become a place to release intentions.
The canyon-walls, mesas, and chimney-rocks have a story to tell of years of whittling by the wind. The wind/Wind creates the beauty of this place. It’s a Wind Continue reading »
28 Friday Oct 2011
Posted in Confession / Truth in Love, Faith, Rambles and Rants
I have to be truthful: I hate the pink ribbon.
It’s that time of year when pink ribbons are everywhere. Women are fighting for their lives or shouting triumphs joy by beating breast cancer. The last thing I want to do is make light of their pain, or diminish an ounce of their thriving joy.
But I always been put-off by it’s cheery rah, rah, go-team, let’s fight this thing! vibe of “pink.” Maybe you think I’m waxing on snarky – but I’m not, I’m just being really honest here. And I feel validated in my view.
Why?
Because a lumpectomy resulted from my first mammogram. I’m part of the group of women bound with pink ribbons.
~~Before~~
Prior to my first appointment, Continue reading »
21 Friday Oct 2011
Posted in Coaching, Confession / Truth in Love, Faith, Noteworthy Days, Rambles and Rants
Tags
Christian Living, Coaching, Faith, Hope, Life Coaching, Marriage
“How many years have we been married?”
My husband flashes back a look that reads—you’re the wife, isn’t that your job to know these things?
But rather he replies, “Eighteen years.”
On the outside I exclaim, “Wow!” But inside my heart sighs. We’ve been through much.
We’ve known each other for over twenty years, together for nineteen, and vowed for eighteen. What amazes me, after so many years, is that I still don’t know everything there is to know about this man I buddied up with for life. And I think—know—on occasion I still shock him.
The comfortableness of our long marriage has only come because we stuck it out during the tension and struggles—when it Continue reading »
14 Friday Oct 2011
Posted in Coaching, Faith, Rambles and Rants
Why did I ever start feeding it?
Dupee [dop-ee].
That’s what I call it (and “it” because I can’t tell if this cat is a girl or neutered boy).
I don’t know who Dupee belongs to. But whomever it is, they don’t take care of it.
This makes me angry.
I moved into a new house last fall—the property owner told me of Dupee. She pointed to a cat wandering the back yard and asked, “Will you feed it? I’ve been feeding it and want to know it’ll be taken care of.”
Because I love cats—because this woman was kind—I said yes.
No harm, no foul. Continue reading »
07 Friday Oct 2011
Posted in Coaching, Faith, Rambles and Rants
The bird feeder outside my office window is a great distraction.
Before the dawn was full, I watched a single finch hop from peg to peg nibbling seed.
Something was odd.
As I focused my eyes, I could see, it was missing a leg. And I began to feel sorry for such a small creature. I wondered what terrible fate had happened to take away its leg. Was it born this way? Did it happen recently? Was it a terrible accident or had disease ravaged and taken this creature’s boney little appendage? Continue reading »
30 Friday Sep 2011
Posted in Coaching, Confession / Truth in Love, Faith, Humor, Rambles and Rants
Tags
Christian Living, Coaching, Cupcake, Faith, Hope, Life Coaching, Peer Pressure, Standards, Values
Just because it looks like a cupcake doesn’t mean it’s a cupcake.
(at least not to my standards)
I’ve become a cupcake connoisseur. Perhaps even a bit of a cupcake snob. I know a good cupcake when I see one… and I can spot an imposter in three seconds.
There are so many things to know about cupcake connoisseur-ism. I won’t go into much detail here – but it’s really about the frosting—the quality and texture and taste—and the interaction with the cake—and everything going on inside the paper-wrapper. It’s a fine balance my well-trained palette knows.
I’ve eaten a lot of cupcakes to get me to where I am. Sometimes in the trenches of my training Continue reading »
23 Friday Sep 2011
Posted in Coaching, Faith, Humor, Rambles and Rants
Whatever is in the sauté-pan did not look right.
Mom is at a meeting. I’m in sixth-grade. Tonight I’m responsible to make the evening meal for my dad and brother. And something has gone horribly wrong.
*****
09 Friday Sep 2011
Posted in Faith, Noteworthy Days, Rambles and Rants
Tags
9/11, Christianity, Faith, Hope, Patriotism, RHCC
It’s Tuesday, 5:45am. I have an hour to get to work.
My husband leaves for work much earlier than I, and even though I could get ready in thirty-minutes, I tend to piddle and dilly dally, taking almost 1 ½ hours to get ready.
I’m watching the Today show. Something has happened in New York. I think a small commuter plane hit one of the Trade Towers. It looks bad. Then I see a plane cross the scene behind them.
I think, “wow that’s weird… that’s a big plane.”
No sooner did these thoughts finish Continue reading »
01 Friday Jul 2011
Posted in Confession / Truth in Love, Faith, Rambles and Rants
Tags
Christian Living, Christianity, Faith, Hope, Loss, Spirituality
I have had a thing for 21 years.
And as of this week it is gone.
While it is not a person, pet, or possession, the loss feels as immense and overwhelming as losing a loved one.
Last Sunday I couldn’t bear to go to church. Wild horses couldn’t drag me there. The thought of singing praise (or pain) felt exhausting. It just wasn’t in me. The best I can do is Continue reading »
17 Friday Jun 2011
Posted in Confession / Truth in Love, Faith, Rambles and Rants
Dear Fellow Bloggers (and commenters, and Facebook status updaters, and Tweeters) I read and love,
Today marks the 300th post of Soiled Wings. Wild. So I wanted to say thank you – to you.
Thank you for using social media.
Thank you for living in the Velveteen Rabbit world with me.
Thank you for being real.
Thank you for showing life’s bitter-sweet journey.
Thank you for showing your dysfunction.
Thank you for using appropriate profanity.
Thank you for making me laugh.
Thank you for not letting insecurity eat you alive.
Thank you for finding the way Continue reading »
