Thank you

When you do something nice for someone and they do not even bother to acknowledge the gesture it says something about both the giver and the receiver. I was raised to say thank you and I am wondering if it is a lost art.

I have had so many experiences regarding this simple fact it isn't even funny. How hard are those two little words to utter?

I know that once a gift is given it belongs to the giver, but come on! How long would it take to simply acknowledge it?

That's my rant for today. Enjoy your holiday weekend! 

Nice people can say no

While I was fixing dinner a teenager who lives next door to me knocked on my door and asked if I could take her to work. She gave me a story that her brother forgot to get gas. I said I was sorry, but no. I barely know this girl and she is not my responsibility. Plus, I was in the middle of getting dinner ready to put in the oven. She works in the next village and I didn't feel up to taking her there. I had been dealing with a sore foot all day.

When she left I at first felt guilty. Then I changed my mind when I realized it is perfectly alright for nice people to just say no!

Happy 40th birthday

Labor Day weekend, 40 years ago, I spent my time in labor, giving birth to my only daughter. Of course that makes her birthday tomorrow. Happy 40th birthday Christina Marie!

 
My then husband and I had been married nine years and I suddenly found myself pregnant at 42 years old. My sons from a previous marriage were 19 and 13. It took long enough to conjure up a girl! It just goes to prove if you wait long enough anything can happen.

My life as a spider

Hello, my name is Salvador. I am an orange spider who lives in Grants, NM. During the winter I hide in the leaf litter in the yard. My body has enough natural antifreeze to keep me warm. If I lived inside I would die from the heat, so I live outside.

I have only lived at this address for a year. I got a message from my brother, Jose, that this was a good place to live. He hangs out on the back porch and I chose the front porch. 

We spiders are known to be industrious and are survivors. It makes me laugh every time the house owner takes a broom and wipes out my web. It makes her fume when the next day I have constructed a new one. It’s a battle that goes on and on. I wish she could appreciate the beauty of my talent and the fact that I keep unwanted bugs from entering her house. Maybe someday we will be on the same page.

Just for the fun of it I recently allowed her to take an amazing night picture of me and my work. It was the least I could do for providing a great place to park my body.

 Inspired, she took the following picture of me in daylight.

And also one of my older brother, Jose.

Pride

As I look around I note that I am the eldest member of my biological family. I spent the first 60 years taking responsibility for other people’s problems. Some might say that made me a control freak. They would probably be right. Most of the people I tried to control are no longer living a human life, I didn’t do it I swear! Most of the ones who are still around choose to ignore the fact that I am still here too.
 

I have survived a very controlling mother, two husbands with negative addictions, previous years of panic attacks and cancer. All that does is verify the fact that I am a very strong person.

I think what I am most proud of is the last 20 years of my life. During that period I have accepted a conscious connection with unseen entities. My intuition is number one. I believe it is the voice of my soul and is directly connected to the Creator. Next is my guide, whom I call Richard. I will probably never know his real name and no doubt couldn’t pronounce it if I knew it. Since I began writing in 2000 he has been my ghost writer. I can picture him sitting on the edge of a cloud with a huge smile on his face when I tune in. There are also times when he is shaking his head in wonder when I don’t. 

I have also had a conscious connection with a couple of Archangels when their help was needed. The first was Jophiel, the bringer of joy and currently Raphael, the master healer.  Raphael has never ever let me down when I have asked for help with physical problems.

One of my most treasured compliments was offered by a man I once worked with at Wall-Mart. It was, “You see things that others do not see”. That could explain the spirits I see in the photographs I have taken since 2000. I believe it is my job to convince others that we never die. We just move to a different place.

What this all boils down to is I am most proud of my spiritual growth. Where it will lead I do not know, but I’m sure the journey will be one of personal evolvement.

Super powers

I have a gift that some would consider a super power. I see images of spirits in clouds and bodies of water. I didn’t ask for this to happen, it just did. It took a long time for me to figure out that I was supposed to use it to help others believe that we never die. We simply transition to another form and can communicate with those we leave behind.

On another note, a super power that I would love to have is to communicate with animals. Between 2000 and 2004 I wrote life stories, based on personal interviews, with local residents. I was somehow able to transfer the information to one page stories for the Cibola County Beacon. I believe the information gathered was exactly what the subjects wanted others to know about them. My stories were once referred to as “colorful”. 

What a gift it would be to be able to do the same thing with animals, especially dogs and cats who are locked behind bars at our local animal shelters. To know about the lives of these animals would be fascinating and I think helpful. 

My own dog is a rescue who apparently ran away from home when he was ten months old. I have no idea what his life was like before he came to live with me. If I could communicate with him in his own language I would know about his history from his own mouth, so to speak.

A super power of animal communication would help animals tell their story. It might make a great newspaper column.