stashing away memories

i'm a saver. not a hoarder, per se. but a saver. as in i save personal items. notes passed to me in junior high? i have them all. doodle laced notes from high school boyfriends? got 'em. movie stubs? concert tickets? prom corsages? i have them all. throwing such items aways feels wrong, as if i'm throwing away memories. so i store them away in shoe boxes, hat boxes, and drawers, just in case. just in case...

i recently read this article from slate. it made me think a lot about the day when i'll have to clear out my many boxes of junk, er, artifacts from my parent's home. i'd like to think i could keep all those tangible memories, but, realistically, there will come a time when i'll have to throw some of it away. but you know, maybe that's ok. maybe i don't need to remember everything. maybe i need to have faith in my brain, understanding that i'll remember what i do, and what i forget is meant to be.


but right now, as a large box sits under my bed that is full of everything from dive bar coasters to wristbands from sweaty summer festivals, i'm not ready to part with these things. and, to be honest, i'm going to keep saving until i have someone or some situation tell me i can't.

coconuts for president!

have you ever experienced the power of coconuts? no. i'm serious. they've saved my life.

a friend recently introduced me to the power and magic of raw coconut oil. a little goes a long way, but this stuff will make your skin glow like it hasn't glowed since the day you were born (ok. i've been studying too many poems with hyperbole...clearly). anyways. you can buy it online (obviously), or you can buy it at your local health foods store. put some on your face at night, and wake up to a lovely looking you! (i have clearly missed my calling as a saleswoman...).

the best part (besides the fact that it's all natural)? it's edible. so, if you find yourself getting hungry while slathering up your face, just take a bite (keep in mind it's pure oil though. i wouldn't recommend actually eating it. but you can cook with it!).

so go! support your local coconut grower. and by local, i mean not.

in praise of mysteries

sunday nights. i hate them. the day before the doom.

but not tonight. tonight i'm consumed with myself. and i don't feel bad about saying so.

my mind feels full to the brim. deciphering cryptic messages. making future plans that are too big to speak, because if i speak them, they might come true. making meaning of what she doesn't say. weighing my love for this place with a need to put on new glasses.

yes, tonight i'm making plans. well. that is. as many plans as one can make in one's mind.

shift

right now i'm teaching poetry. my house is littered with anthologies that have been loved by me and the people i bought them from. Billy Collins' 180 Poems. Garrison Keillor's Good Poems. they are nearer than friends some nights. especially on nights like this, when my brain is full and my heart feels abandoned. the poems pay the heart attention it needs. stanza. by. stanza.

Edward Hirsch writes:

I shall begin scouring the sky for signs
as if my whole future were constellated upon it.

I will walk home alone with the deep alone,
a disciple of shadows, in praise of mysteries.

***********************

I'm walking. My head is up. My eyes are open. And, little by little, I'm starting to like the mysteries.

life lessons from a 14 year-old little lady

i had my kids do the following journal entry: i am young. i am _____ years old. and this is what i know about life."

one of my faves wrote, "I know music can never hurt me."

how lovely teenage perspective is.