A good thought for this week in my life.
sometimes you have
to stop trying to
put the square peg
into the round hole
to somehow turn
black into white
or to make a wrong
into a right
.
there are few things worse
than not knowing
when to say when
————————————————————–
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This poem was perfect for me today.
boil it down to what it really is
come to terms with what you feel
distill those tears to love or hate
distill that anger and find where it’s aimed
distill the darkness to find the light
distill that fear to its source
distill that knot in your stomach
it’s telling you more than you know
————————————————————–
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Yes…Grandma Karen screeched with delight when she heard the news. Grandson Ryan, age 15 and a freshman at Jesuit High School in Portland, Oregon, had been chosen along with 349 other students of all ages (thirteen and older) around the world to receive a scholarship to Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference to be held in San Francisco June 8 – 12.
His winning entry involved making an app about his three currently available apps:
StepIt, an innovative way to say anything in 3 simple steps and share it with your friends.
“…A really beautiful way to share messages with friends and family…” -AppPicker
“Great for quick notes…beautiful design.” -Appgevity
Space Bandit, a delightful game for children of any age. Follow Ripley the raccoon on an amazingly-fun journey across time and space! Choose your rocket-ship and get ready to blast off into space. With 20 levels and counting, this pizza-filled adventure is a blast.
BuzzIt to build crazy-fast reminders on your Apple Watch. BuzzIt taps your wrist, allowing for fast reminders, even on the go.
But Ryan’s entry into the world of computers, programming, and app development started much earlier. For Christmas of 2008, when he was eight years old, I gave him Lego’s programmable robot Mindstorms.
Within a few hours, on his own up in his room, he had assembled and programmed his new creation and then made a video of it.
But that wasn’t the end of it. What better to do with a robot than to get it to do your chores. In the ensuing years he taught it to fold laundry…
…and even type his homework.
Lest you think he is only one of those young genius computer nerds, his stellar grades in all subjects, his knack for writing (coming from an early love of reading), his participation in cross country and track, and even his love for his Faith class belie that. I’d like to think I started him on his way, but it is his entire family (younger brother, Sam, excelling on his own and about to achieve his Red Belt in martial arts, Dad at Intel and a volunteer firefighter, Mom a science teacher, his other grandparents, and the rest of his extended family) that have been the village to nurture this young man from his precarious entry into this world in a NICU for a week until today and into what will be a bright future.
I had an amazing experience this week. After a year of social media exploration, accumulating over a thousand Twitter @docflamingo followers the hard way (thanking them, not buying them!), I found myself receiving a sudden flood of Retweets, those very hard to come by Twitter accolades. Were they for my novels? Were they for my travels in France? Or even my classic car adventures?
No…they were for my poetry, specifically my poems about recovery. I discovered that there are some very needy souls out there in this way too impersonal social media world, hungry for words that comfort, challenge, and bring about change.
So I have established a special page on my website called POEMS FOR RECOVERY devoted to sharing my own experience, strength, and hope. I will add more as each day passes.
I have had an early morning practice for the past six years of keeping a daily diary of my own recovery journey. I read a page out of one of my Twelve Step daily readers, re-type it, and then journal as I am inspired by the experience, strength, and hope of others. I find that angry feelings, resentments, disappointments, and grief simply fade away as each entry progresses. Occasionally, I have turned those written thoughts into poetry. Now I see that doing this simple daily exercise in written meditation is not only a help to me but succor to others.
I would love to see these shared. We never know who might need to gobble up a crumb of truth and hope today. How special it would be for you, friends and strangers alike, to share your own recovery journey in return. Your voice may be a lifeline for a sinking soul.
do not cling
shrink wrap yourself
around something
not yours to have
not love
nor money
nor any object
of your desire
save endless
hours of emotional
wear and tear
avoid exercise in futility
you cannot stick
to Teflon dreams
that resist
the irresistible you
believe life gives
what is yours to have
let feelings linger
until dissolved
seek poetic companions
who inspire
pick author’s brains
who encourage
decide to be cheerful
just for today
A friend passed this on to me. Certainly food for thought:
What if for just one breath, I was enough?
That I didn’t have anything to gain or lose, to become or change.
That I, in this body, in this moment was enough?
How much more space would I create in my heart for happiness?
For contentment?
For love?
For just this one breath, I am enough.
In my Doc Flamingo persona, I am a licensed Psychologist in California and after a 40-year career as a therapist, am now serving as the Mental Health Clinical Director for a large health plan providing medical and mental health services to over 500,000 Medi-Cal recipients in 14 northern CA counties. In my Karen Stephen writer persona, I invite you to LIKE my AUTHOR FACEBOOK PAGE and tell me about yours.
My brother, daughter, and I at my Mother’s memorial service in 2005
Born Ava Margaret Kinnison in Willoughby Ohio in 1914, my mother led a remarkable life.
She left a sheltered life in a small Midwestern town at the age 18 and traveled across the country to attend the University of Arizona in Tucson. At that time the University was of the edge of the desert and she enjoyed riding her horse every day. In addition to being an accomplished horse woman, she was a concert level pianist and soprano soloist. She finished her college career at the University of Chicago with a degree in Political Science in 1937. She was the only woman on the all-male debate team (my Mom NEVER lost an argument!) and lived in the International House because of her devotion to equality for all.
I was her second child, born in 1943, and days after my birth, my father went off to World War II as a Navy Lieutenant on an LST. Sadly, he had told my Mom before he left that he would not return to her after the war. And so, she raised my brother and me as a single parent from 1943 until 1961 when she finally remarried. She had always wanted to be a City Manager but those positions were not open to women in her day, so she became the best medical secretary that ever existed.
In her sixties she and her third husband bought and ran a 400 acre cattle ranch near Oakhurst CA (just miles from Yosemite). I can still see her saddled up and chasing cows! She was dedicated throughout her life to her faith and to being a leader in her church. She even took a trip around the world to visit Presbyterian missions in dozens of countries.
Although we had our struggles as a single-parent family, she instilled a deep faith in me, was a wonderful grandmother to my children, and set an example of what women can accomplish and be in this world.
She would have turned 100 this past year. I hope that in my next decades of life I can have a tenth of her courage to face life as it is.
♥ ♥ ♥ BEFORE YOU LOOK UP THAT OLD COLLEGE FLAME ♥ ♥ ♥
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banish reluctance
pouty lip
acknowledge god-given gift
faculty to bear
what comes to pass
broad spectrum
fast acting post-emergent
depression-cide
water-soluable
mix with tears
guaranteed control
perennial fear
annual disappointments
graft new vein
on broken heart
plow garden-fresh furrow
into hard soil of resistant mind
plant hardy seed
anticipate growth
THE AMERICAN LIBRARY IN PARIS is pleased to confirm your nomination of MOTHER TONGUE for the 2015 Book Award.
We are in receipt of all requirements – nomination form, nomination fee, and 5 copies of your book. These have now been passed to the screening committee.
Thank you for your submission,
The American Library in Paris
10, rue du Général Camou
75007 Paris | France
t: +33 01.53.59.12.67
www.americanlibraryinparis.org
@alpbookaward
Dr. Karen Stephen aka Doc Flamingo 