BLACK EYE

I wrote this blog several weeks ago when I actually looked like this, but never got around to posting it:

There are logical reasons why people will look askew at a middle-aged woman with a real obvious black-eye - I don't appear to be a woman's prize-fighter or 50+ year old martial arts specialist. And the one I have is a real shiner - purple and green and yellow, oh, my!


But the thought which is going through their minds is, "Man, her husband must have done that!"

I had TWO black eyes back in the 80's after I had surgery on my nose, and my husband refused to go anywhere with me for several weeks because of the glares he got.

And he should be happy he is currently in Iraq, because I have another one, compliments of one of my horses, as well as 14 stitches on the right side of my skull.

But I am surprised and frankly quite disappointed that no one asks anything about my injuries.

And not just fellow-shoppers at WalMart - I'm talking about people at church, neighbors, friends. They stare, mind you, but that is all.

If I was being beaten up at home by my spouse/significant other, the last thing in the world I need is to be stared at but at the same time ignored.

So next time you see a woman bruised, torn, damaged, limping, be brave, and ASK her - "Are you okay?" (although she obviously isn't) and "Do you need any help?" and perhaps most importantly "DO YOU FEEL SAFE?"!

And if she isn't, does, and doesn't, GET HELP FOR HER.

GOD IS GOOGLE... OR IS GOOGLE GOD?

This morning I was driving to church and doing my normal talking-aloud-to-Heavenly-Father, sort of an informal-prayer that I normally hold while driving from my house until I get to the first curve by the Huachuca Mountains (I have no idea why that geographical landmark is important, but so be it).

And, in my normal okay-why-am-I-now-thinking-about-red-grapes random thought process, I was thinking of my old how-to-relate-the-Holy-Ghost-to-radio-waves analogy (and did you notice that I am using an incredible amount of this-is-tied-together-with-minus-sign-or-whatever-this-"-"-symbol-means... and I'm getting very tired of it).

Suddenly, I had a computer-age breakthrough (damn it, I went ahead and used another one, didn't I?).

Instead of a radio wave, now it's Google.

We can type in something like "American Revolution Turkey Stuffing Nasal Hair" and get 27,500 results in 0.18 seconds.

 So how can we possible debate that God can't hear the prayers
from every single person in the world?

I'M AFRAID

I'm not scared of a lot of things.

Heights, yes.

But I live - alone - a couple of miles from a popular drug/people smuggling corridor on the Mexican border.

My house was in danger of being burnt to the ground a couple of months ago.

I got 14 stitches on the right side of my head on Saturday.

I take care of eight horses.

So most of the time I think I'm pretty brave.

But not tonight.

We've had hail - serious hail that makes it sound like every single window in your house is going to break..

The temperature dropped almost twenty degrees in just an hour or so.

We've had insane lightning - not regular lightning that shows up with clouds and thunder, but the weird type to leaps from cloud to cloud even when the majority of the sky is clear and a full moon is shining down on you.

And when it breaks into horizontal bolts, it's the type of light that hurts your eyes and leaves the image on your retina for the next two minutes.

Yeah, I want a teddy bear, a blankie and someone to hug right now.

9/11

The tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack is this coming Sunday.

I don't think I can take it.

So I'm hoping that writing about it can help me get through this.

Yes, I remember 9/11. My husband woke me up, and said he had been called into work because "a plane crashed into the World Towers."

I got up immediately and turned on CNN. And watched as the second plane hit the second tower.

And yes, the world changed at that moment.

I never looked at a jet the same way again.

I spoke to more relatives in the next couple of weeks than I had in years.

My husband's job was suddenly much more important and his opinion a lot more valued.

I kept expecting 9/11 to happen again. And again. And again.

Our nation's innocence, if it can be called that, was taken away.

And I don't want to re-live it. I don't want to go over it again. I don't want to see the towers crash. I don't want to see the people running away, and jumping out the windows to their death, and the first responders racing in.

I don't think I'm a bad person. I just don't want to see it all again. I don't want to feel that pain - and that fear - and that pain.

IT'S NICE TO HAVE SOMEONE LOVE YOU

I feel so incredibly stupid tonight.

I was all ready to "wow!" someone with my hair-raising-tale and more-than-a-little-bit-of-bragging about handsome paramedics, a ride in an ambulance, multiple (14!) stitches with iPhone photos to prove it....

... and this lovely person burst into tears, and sobbed out, "But I like you, and I don't want to lose you yet!!"

How could you not feel loved?

IN GOD WE TRUST

I can't post this on Facebook without starting an uproar.

So I'll gripe about it here.

This video, In God We Trust, was posted on Facebook by several friends with the notation "The Song Most Radio Stations Are Banning" and "If you agree with this song, please repost."

I don't agree.

Yes, it's wonderful that a whole great big bunch of us believe in God.

But this nation was founded on a couple of extremely important premises.

One of them being the separation of church and state.


And another being the freedom of religion.

Yes, people can believe in God.

But people also have the right, and the freedom, to NOT believe in God. And they can believe in a God called Allah - or Elohim - or Parabrahman - or Waheguru - or Bahá - or Gitche Manitou.

And still be be strong, upright citizens.

They can worship Satan - they can worship frogs - they can worship Justin Bieber if they want.

U.S. citizens have the right to protest - to burn the American flag in protest - to believe in ways that we find ridiculous.

And if we don't protect that right, we are one step closer to having OUR right to worship OUR God taken away by someone else.




One of my MANY bumper stickers is "Freedom of Religion means ALL religions - not just the ones you may agree with."

We need to remember that, if we expect to be able to continue as Christians... or Jews... or Buddists...

Or frog-worshippers. ;-)