LUGGAGE Lady

Contemplations about Life, Love, & the Pursuit of Meaningful Existence…

Archive for the category “Relationships”

An Unbreakable Circle

1974Aug

In Honor of My Mom’s Birthday…

No matter where I venture in this world

You travel with me

A secret strength embedded in my soul

An infinite friendship

Illuminating my path

Your tireless support

Elevates my spirit

Like a mesmerizing sunset stuns spectators to silence

While poets and artists struggle to capture the true essence

Standing back in wonderment

Hearts flooding with optimism

Our connection enhances my existence

In ways words and pictures cannot adequately depict

Boundlessly maternal

You gracefully care for all fortunate enough to cross your path

A gift to the universe

Mine by extraordinary fate

Intertwined for eternity

The enduring bond of love between mother and daughter

An unbreakable circle…

We Are One

 

We-Are-One-Luggage-Lady-Blog

I have

Dreamed into a universal sky

Rife with promise of a new day

I have

Dangled foot in waters connecting us

I have

Drawn sustaining breaths from an atmosphere without borders

And I have

Realized

We experience this world

Together

Whether buoyed by blissful joy

Or

Bruised by unimaginable tragedy

Nothing separates

Hearts overlapping

We are one…

Reeling with Gratitude

Blog of the Year Award banner 600

very-inspiring-blogger  sunshine-blogger-award-2

I confess: I’ve spent a lifetime playing it “safe.” Unless I could spy a clear-cut path to assured “success,” I shied away from “risky” opportunities. In regards to my writing, I surmised, better to be unread than to have my creativity slaughtered by critics!

Then, I met my husband and tried to wrap my mind around his life-story:

A high school oops given up for adoption…a ward of the state for seven months…adopted by a couple who would divorce by his seventh birthday…raised solely by his adoptive father who turned to the bottle to ease his solitude…beaten routinely…escaping to join the Air Force…only to return home and helplessly watch his only parent succumb to cancer…orphaned at twenty-three…after which he would track down biological parents who ultimately wanted nothing to do with him…

???!!……………………………………………………………….!!???

First off,  I could not fathom how a man forced to grow up with zero maternal love was capable of loving me so completely. Furthermore, how did a person raised under a banner of rejection and abuse achieve such sky-high dreams? I, a child blessed with a “Beaver Cleaver-type upbringing,” had known no such hardship. How could I begin to understand the anguish of not having a soul on this planet to call family?

I’m not qualified, I silently panicked! What could I offer — besides unwavering love?

I did the only other thing I felt capable of — I started writing a fictionalized version of his experience. What started out as an education about the lingering wounds of adoption, evolved into an endeavor that superseded fear. One I will never give up on until it is worthy of ALL who have walked — for whatever reason — in abandonment’s painful shoes.

Rehashing a manuscript, again and again, can leave one numb. Starting this blog inspired me to keep my writing fresh. Where I struggled in my fictional world, here I found salvation. But NEVER in my wildest dreams did I expect to find such an incredibly supportive community…

Reeling with gratitude, I can only bow my head and say — THANK YOU!

***

Special Thanks to:

Teacher as Transformer who nominated me for the Very Inspiring and Sunshine Blogger Awards. He is truly the teacher we all wished we had in our younger days. I am elated to have discovered him — better late than never!

Global Light Minds who nominated me for Blog of the Year. Wendy’s daily snippets are my number one inspirational indulgence. Follow her, you won’t be disappointed!

***

I wish to nominate the following blogs:

Eric M Vogt’s Blog — His intriguing background captured me from the git-go, but his amazing writing will change your world for the better…

Untetherednunbroken — Beautiful, eloquent, soul-stirring and so very real…

The Silent Muse — An incredibly prolific writer. My finger hurts from hitting the LIKE button so often…

Aarthi — I have no idea how she writes so consistently beautiful every single day…

MindRetrofit7 — Add another star already, Angel!

Global Light Minds — Add another star, Wendy!

Withering Words of Mind — Kent is new on the scene but certainly not new to the written word, what a magical find…

For all those I missed in this talented pool…or haven’t had the privilege of discovering yet, I can’t wait to read your delightful words!! XO

Lead Me to Forever

 

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I study the mirror

Doubt marring my reflection

When he says he loves me

Yesterday’s gullible girl swiftly discounts

Sentiments tumbling bravely in candlelit hours

Oft-forgotten by sunrise

When he adds that I’m beautiful

I thwart such flattery

Weary eyes mock

Witness to my journey

Naiveté

Hasty moves

False friends

Humiliation

Deep lines frame a sputtering twinkle

But flatness dominates

Harsh lessons reaping cynical eyes

Yet this weathered heart implores

Booming wildly

Just…Once…More

I paint on a smile

And turn out the light

Bracing for a final gamble

Trust versus eternal solitude

With trembling arms

I gather scraps of tattered faith

Praying he’ll prove different

Upstanding

Renew my belief in love

And lead me to forever…

Proof of Existence

 

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MotherhoodThe ultimate contribution to the universe.

Mothers are creators and nurturers, rightfully referred to as “wonder women,” fulfilling an esteemed role.

But what of the woman who is either unable to deliver life — or who chooses a child-free existence?

What becomes of this tragic lady who will never know the unconditional love of a child reliant upon her for — everything? And what about those adorable intangibles: comparing dimples and eye shape, stubbornness and wit. Did the little one inherit that trait from her grandma or her auntie?

In failing to experience the true essence of what it means to be female, is she destined to be an outcast who lacked the foresight to fret over who would care for her in old age? Having missed her opportunity to be part of the “social norm,” how will this fruitless soul leave her mark?

Fortunately, she has nothing holding her back from lofty dreams. And, if this unencumbered road makes the stalls and failures more biting, it matters not. She’s privy to oodles of free time with the luxury of beginning anew again and again…

But can ensuing accomplishments ever equate?

Because in the end

Whether a consequence of fate or choice

A haunting question lingers:

Can one be considered a successful human being without leaving genetic proof that she existed at all?

Treasures Await

 

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Life is a Kaleidoscope through his eyes…

Vibrantly rich

Ever-changing surprise

Charmingly amusing

Laughter vanquishes sadness

Cooking becomes art

Foods burst across palates

Wine showers taste buds in her velvety bouquet

Music peppers a collage of memories

Each song composing another verse in an eternal melody

Every day a continuance of thrilling excursion

Routine moments intensify

With that rare someone who spies

Magic in the ordinary

A jolting thunderstorm turns into

Breathless candlelit moments

Tantalized by zigzags of electric energy

Punctuated by soul-stirring booms

Admiring stars as they poke through breaks in the clouds

Flaunting glows with zip in their strut

His arms swiftly encircle

Fingers intertwine

Onward

He gently guides

Around the bend

He gestures

Beaming

Treasures await…

Dancing on Clouds

 

Dancing-on-Clouds-Luggage-Lady-Blog

Love to me

Is mutually giving and earning respect

Caring so much

I cannot bestow enough

Dancing on clouds I never knew existed

Elevated by an impermeable cocoon

Knowing without a doubt

My search has ended

An enchanting whirlwind beckons

Time accelerates

Months blurring into years

Rallying against life’s curveballs

Strong arms encircle

Offering safe sanctuary

More profound than words

A collaborator in all dreams

A person who believes in me

To match my confidence in them

Commitment forged from trust

No walls

No facades

No games

Peace at last

An environment in which I can aspire to my very best

My today

And every tomorrow imaginable…

Unexpected Friend

 

Unexpected-Friend-Luggage-Lady-Blog

Through murky visibility

An unexpected comrade emerges

A friendship I’ve done nothing to earn

Yet a sturdy shoulder patiently awaits

Reaching toward me with such astonishing kindness

My burdens begin to dissipate into the clearing fog

I thank these earthly angels for teaching me the importance

Of maintaining an open heart in life’s tempestuous sea

Because that person with whom you share little in common

The one who seems so different

May well rescue your troubled spirit

Perhaps under the most harrowing conditions

Somewhere…

 

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Somewhere

A hand yearns to be held

A smile seeks a worthy recipient

An earnest glance scans the horizon for congenial eyes

Somewhere

A heart aches to hear

Words whispered with such compassion

That light returns to corners long obscured by rejection

Increasing the tempo of a beat diminished by too many goodbyes

Somewhere

A soul eagerly awaits

That extraordinary individual

Willing to plunge headfirst into crashing waves

Despite past failures

Who surfaces with uninhibited gusto

Emotional doors cast wide open

A spirited demeanor that creates a stir even among observers

Prompting them to reevaluate their own cynicism

Somewhere

Someone

Could it be you?

I Can’t Move the Sun

 

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I overheard a young boy and his mother conversing on the airplane the other day. The sun was hitting the wing, shooting blinding rays through the small window and causing the little one to screech that he couldn’t see.

“I can’t move the sun,” his mother wearily replied.

Such an obvious observation, yet how many of us invest a significant chunk of precious life trying to alter that which cannot be changed?

The passenger sitting by the window politely closed the shade, which triggered more questions. Does turning a blind eye on our issues make for a lighter load or do we exasperate the burdens by sweeping them beneath an already bulky rug?

Are we defined by our personal heritage, with every fear and doubt ever planted by a parent/friend/lover/acquaintance building like a rip current throughout our cells, capable of dragging us beneath raging seas? Is it pompous to think we can sort through the contents of our hearts, discarding the painful parts at our leisure?

In my optimistic moments, I spy a lifeboat waiting to whisk me away from every last problem. At other times, I worry the past is inescapably entrenched in each of us — no different from the air we breathe, spilling without conscious thought onto the face of every new encounter.

Perhaps there is a middle ground. One where we pull the shade halfway, sparing ourselves the retina burn while still harnessing the sun’s energy, helping us move forward  — a little brighter each time.

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