Current Events

it’s all just a little bit of history repeating

I wrote this in September during a trip to Colorado and felt called to share it now.

We just got back into town from the mountains. A beautiful weekend in nature by all accounts.

It was a several hour drive from the vacation spot to get back to my brother’s house – so at some point we decided to switch from music to a podcast.

I don’t really follow podcasts. Not that I don’t like the concept; I do. It’s just that it’s an overwhelming amount of content to begin with, let alone to keep up with. I don’t mind a curated podcast experience, though. I figure, if it was worth downloading for the trip, it is worth a listen. The rest of our caravan agreed.

“Okay, I have one on the Salem Witch Trials or some I downloaded from Freakanomics,” my sister-in-law offered.

“Nerd,” my brother jested. “Let’s do the witch one!”

We made it through three episodes by the time we got home.

“That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” he said.

“Hmmph.” I got out of the car feeling queasy.

No magic. No mystery. No witches.

Instead it was a story about men in high positions using women and children as pawns in their power play – all in the name of religion, of course.

Even the narrator softened some of the behavior to the times and circumstances.

But it’s always been “the times” and “just the way things are…”

It still is. Every century. Every decade. Something new, but the same. When will we choose a different way? When will we claim our power within and listen to our own inner stirring of truth? The way things are is never just the way things are. It is a choice.

“Whoa, do you see the ash?” my brother asked when we pulled into town. “There’s a big wildfire north of us,” reported my sister-in-law.

I helped unload the car and then took some time to sit on the back porch. A mother across the way in her backyard was explaining to her young son why it was raining ash and the sky was full of smoke.

How many mothers are constantly explaining to their children the smoke and ash that fills the air around them? There’s a fire north of us, sure, but there’s a fire all around us. Don’t you see the ash?

Growth

Note to Self

Friend,

A lot of things seem out of control right now.

As someone who has spent their life trying to control their environment, these times are especially hard. I’ve realized the only thing I’ve ever even remotely had control over was myself and that is true today and always.

To honor myself and what I can control, I’ve been using this time to do a lot of self-reflection and preparing myself for growth and whatever may be next. Part of that work has been assembling a care team through therapy, hypnotherapy, small group discussion and fellowship with aligned artists and truth seekers, and life coaching.

One of my exercises was to write a letter to my current self from my future self – who is living in the space where I want to end up. What advice or guidance does she have for me?

What follows is my letter.

Dearest Jen,

First of all, I want to thank you.

It was your drive, love, strength and compassion that brought us to where we are today. You should be so proud of all that you have accomplished.

You need to start believing that, while you have had an impressive start, that isn’t the end for you. You haven’t peaked; you’ve set the foundation for greater things to come. I know you feel stuck. I know you aren’t sure how everything is going to work out – but you know as well as I do that it does and it will. It always has.

So now, let’s marry our dreams and our reality so they become one. And let others help you along the way. Don’t just accept a hand; seek one. Guidance and mentorship have always been something you’ve valued and known to be critical for growth. That doesn’t stop once you are out of school and on a career path.

Please try to see yourself the way I do. Beautiful, confident, loved. Get rid of the old, negative scripts in your head that tell you you’re not good enough, attractive enough, smart enough, loved enough…they are all lies and projections others have given you that you’ve internalized. Let. It. Go.

When you look back at pictures of yourself you smile. You see the beauty that was always there. You remember the good things and realize you were way too hard on yourself. You were lovely just the way you were. That is what I’m trying to get you to realize about yourself now. You are not just “good enough” the way you are – you are magnificent.

You are your ancestors’ dreams realized. You are not letting anyone down. No one is looking at you with disappointment. They are all cheering you on. Everyone is rooting for you and is proud of you.

Sure, there are things you can do to grow and improve – and you are doing them and will continue to do them. Give yourself grace throughout the process. Your progress is not linear or an overnight sensation, but it is happening and it will happen exponentially when you let go of the things and thoughts that are no longer serving you.

We got this. Love you, babe!

I wanted to share this in hopes that it may resonate with you and encourage you to seek your own inner peace. You got this.

Sending you love on your journey,

Jen

Fun Stuff

Calling All Disney, Universal, and Theme Park Lovers – Safe Summer FUN

I’m a childless millennial who loves Disney.

The Tree of Life Giving Me Life

I celebrated my 30th birthday park hopping across all 4 parks in Orlando and ended the day where the love of Disney and alcohol intersect – Epcot.

Whether I could afford a full trip to Disney or just a hop over to the nearest Six Flags, I was definitely hoping for some theme park summer fun this year, but know it’s going to have to wait until it’s safer.

BUT – I recently discovered my trips down theme park memory lane can be actual rides down memory lane thanks to several YouTube channels with POV ride experiences for some of the best theme park rides around the world. Yes – POV ride porn, baby!

I’m talking:

Avatar Flight of Passage

The Haunted Mansion

Tower of Terror

Jurassic World The Ride – Universal Hollywood

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

Here’s just a bunch of rides – some that are especially good for kids (Frozen, etc.)

And, don’t forget the great theme park rides outside of the Disney/Universal realm. One of my ALL TIME FAVORITES is Millennium Force at Cedar Point.

My roomie/bff is afraid of roller coasters, but she agreed to ride these rides with me on YouTube. I turned to her during one of the rides and said excitedly, ‘Honestly, this is really what it’s like!’ Yeah, no shit. It’s a video of the ride. But, seriously, it’s a fun way to ‘get out of the house’ while staying in.

These POV videos could also be a way to help get over fears of rides before you go to the park and stand in line for hours just to bow out at the end. Face your fears and have fun! 🙂

What are your favorite rides? I bet they’re on YouTube. Check them out and let me know what you think!

Love, Jen

Holiday Tips

Gabriel’s Message in a Bottle

Sting’s version of Gabriel’s Message is one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs.

One of my earliest vivid memories was riding around in my parent’s car at night listening to this song, and others, on the 1987 A Very Special Christmas cassette tape (the whole compilation is the best).

I always thought Sting’s voice was borderline ethereal. I mean, in this instance, he was the voice of an angel.

In addition to swooning over Sting’s sound, the song itself resonated with me.

I was raised Roman Catholic and (despite the struggles I’ve had with my faith) always felt a closeness to Mary.

She watched over the garden in my Italian grandmother’s backyard.

She was the saint I chose on my confirmation (go big or go home).

Her small statue, originally surrounded by holy water from Lourdes that has long since been evaporated, is my co-pilot wherever I drive.

Even as a kid, when I heard this song and what it meant I thought, “That’s a really big and scary ask.” But she stepped up.

When it comes to religion or faith, I don’t claim to know anything.

What I do believe to my core, however, is that we are all called to do great things. I’m not sure what my great contribution will be (and maybe it’ll be a bunch of small things that will add up), but I do hope that when I’m called, I’m brave enough to step up.

Christmas is a reflection on and celebration of the birth of Jesus. But, to me, it’s also a reflection on and a celebration of the birth of possibility in all of us.

Hoping you find peace and potential.

Memory Lane

Road Trip DJ

On sibling road trips, my brother usually takes over as  the car DJ. This is okay with me because, 1) I get veto power and 2) I usually find at least one new song or remix I love and play over and over after the trip is done.

This is the one from this past weekend:

I have loved Sting and The Police from a young age. I’ve always thought Sting’s singing voice is what a messenger angel’s would sound like. Maybe that’s because the first song of his I heard was Gabriel’s Message from A Very Special Christmas album.

Between that and being raised on Star Trek: The Next Generation, I’ve developed a special place in my heart balding old dudes.

This is the song I fell for on the last sibling DJ takeover:

I kind of see an atmospheric pattern emerging. Good thing I just changed my car’s wiper blades.

comedy

My First Joke

Growing up, I would often repeat jokes my father told. Most of them were inappropriate ones I overheard him tell adults. It is a shock I was never suspended from school.

Sometime between 3rd-5th grades, however, I wrote my first original joke.

I wrote the joke specifically for a contest with a grand prize of a trip to Disney World. I cannot exactly remember who sponsored the contest, but given the prize, I think it was Disney Adventures magazine (to which I was a loyal subscriber).

“I have to win this,” I thought to myself.  “The joke has to be clever, different, and not anything like that Laffy Taffy crap.”

I thought long and hard, but no joke I came up with seemed like a winner.

One Saturday morning before the deadline, my dad was putting on his clown makeup for a parade. Oh, did I mention my dad was a Shriner clown?

Anyway, he started to apply adhesive onto his clown nose.

“Is that rubber cement?” I asked.

“No, it’s called spirit gum.”

“Spirit gum, that’s strange. It’s like gum for ghosts. Gum for ghosts. What’s a ghost’s favorite gum flavor – spirit…MINT! Spiritmint!”

I ran to find my mom so we could enter the joke into the contest over the phone. She was talking to a neighbor outside. I thought I would test my material on someone outside of the family.

“I wrote a joke for a contest. What is a ghost’s favorite gum flavor?”

“Um, booberry?” my neighbor replied.

I scrunched my face with disgust. Booberry? That was just stupid. I hated it with a passion and did not know why until I learned with word ‘hack.’ Even before I knew the term ‘hack,’ as a kid, I knew ‘booberry’ was hack.

“No, it’s spiritmint.”

“I kind of like booberry. What if you change it to booberry?” said my HACK neighbor.

“Mom, we need to talk when you’re done here.”

My brother wanted to enter the contest, too. I gave him one of my B- jokes to enter. “What amusement park can you find the Tea Cup Ride? Dizzy World.”

Neither of us won the grand prize, but I did get an honorable mention, a t-shirt, and a passion for a field full of rejection.

UPDATE:

My brother just read this post and commented on Facebook with this update:
“Co[p]pertone was the sponsor. Dizzy world was gold, this dizzy little world just wasn’t ready for it.”

Just Eat It

#LiveMas

Taco Bell has a 1,200 word limit on their survey responses – so the part I actually submitted (on 03.14.14) is bolded, but so much more needed to be said.

–

Quite honestly, I have never had a bad experience at Taco Bell and our relationship has been a long one.

(via)

Growing up, my father was the cook in our family. My mother was an excellent baker and she could make a mean meatloaf, but beyond that she left the meal planning to my father. Dad was a Major in the Air Force and would occasionally go on TDY. Those times were difficult for all of us and when my mom was overwhelmed with two crazy kids, we would just go to Taco Bell for dinner. This was the ‘Yo Quiero Taco Bell’ era and we had stacks on stacks of Star Wars Episode 1 limited edition cups.

My brother’s awkward stage consisted of him eating Taco Bell sauce packets on the toilet. I knew this happened because I found empty packets in the trash. Upon opening the drawer next to the toilet, I discovered the El Dorado of sauce stashes. ‘Yo quiero,’ indeed.
Continue reading #LiveMas →

I am a human being from Earth.