Saturday, February 14, 2015

a Valentine's Blog...with water, water everywhere!

Happy Valentine’s Day! You’ll be glad to know that I am wearing my dangly heart earrings made for me by my multi-talented, Emmy-winning friend, Debi Cochran. As a matter of fact, I’m in such high spirits that I am foregoing my traditional all black attire today in favor of, well, possibly incorporating some other color like purple or red with the black. (Baby steps, you know.)

It’s been a heck of a week, boys and girls. It began last Sunday with a Valentine’s Love Fest concert that my buddy Garry Novikoff put together. I’m still figuring out how to post a video clip of it, so stay tuned in the next few days for that, because it will be your sneak peek at the title track of my upcoming CD In Color, and who doesn’t love sneak peeks? No one, that’s who!

So we’ve been having an interesting winter here on the East coast. Snow and ice, and snow and ice, and then some snow and ice. And as the temperatures turned frigid this week, our tree roots decided it was the perfect time to block drainage and send everything back into our house and all over the place, flooding it.

Well, you know me – Suzie Sunshine, trying to look on the bright side, even of dirty flood water. “What’s the lesson in this?” is always my question. Or “What’s the blessing in this?”

I’ll tell you right off the bat, two practical things – get rid of everything you can while it’s your own choice, and don’t leave anything you value greatly on low ground. Obvious things, I know, but still, they needed to be said.

We amass stuff in this country, and it seems like the smaller our dwelling, the more stuff we like to pack into it. But the truth is what we are attached to is a feeling, a memory, a moment in time. And those things we carry with us wherever we go. I’m not saying we don’t want to or shouldn’t keep physical mementos, but we don’t really need to save the piece of lint that was on the sweater that was under the jacket we wore when he kissed us. The kiss is still with us.

So as I watched a lot of waterlogged carpeting, furniture and assorted items going out the door, I began to think that the universe had a funny way of moving my life forward. But I asked for that, truthfully. I want to let go of anything that no longer serves me. I just didn’t realize it would a) be a lot all at once, and b) include chairs.

This is a strange time in my life and the lives of many that I know. It is one of transition, of growth, of moving forward into the unknown in ways we never have before. It requires both courage and faith, and it demands our trust in our own inner knowing and well being.

Valentine’s Day is a day where we can celebrate love – in all its various forms. It is a chance to acknowledge that no matter where our lives take us, or fate, or circumstance, or relationship, what is of value and eternal is love. It cannot be destroyed by floods, or distance, or changing times.

So as you partake of your chocolates, I wish you the sweetness of a happy heart filled with love, precious memories, and the promise of even greater joy ahead than you’ve known in the past.

A special note as I close out this very bizarre Valentine’s blog: Today is my friend and producer Tanya Leah’s birthday. I have written about her many times and at great length, but I cannot pass up another opportunity to say what a gift she is. Aside from being an insanely talented genius, she is a generous, loving, light-filled soul who makes this world a whole lot brighter because she’s here. Happy Birthday, my friend!!

And Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you! Thanks for stopping by. And please tell your friends.

xoxoxo

Ilene

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