10/31/19 RMB Be Anything

RMB Be Anything

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

Another month has zoomed by. I’m catching it by the tail to wish you and everyone a Happy Halloween.

A Facebook post mentioned enjoying this day because it is a day where you can be anything you want to be.

In my recent studies of the brain, which includes behavior, habit, chemistry, you name it, the thing I’m most impressed by, is our ability to switch from sad to happy, to motivated, burdened, joyous, inspired, stressed, calm, impatient, kind... We are unlimited in our range of emotions and attitudes.

Switching from one to another happens, often from outer influences, yet the shift is within. Just knowing that, realizing it, seeing the mechanics if it, has helped me control my own switches, direct myself in a more pleasant direction.

Why walk barefoot over thorns, when a cool sandy beach with water lapping at your toes is a thought away? Because it’s not always easy to switch and it isn’t automatic. Sometimes it takes little effort, often it takes thought and intention, but it is there, that easy feeling of the sand between your toes and the light breeze on your face, waiting for a flip of the switch.

Today, and always, we have the opportunity to mentally put on our cowboy hat, our fireman’s jacket, our clown nose, or whatever suits our fancy and be anything.

Happy Halloween!

Loraine

9/30/19 RMB Clock Said 6:30

9/30/19 RMB Clock Said 6:30

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

I drove home my usual route determined to notice something, anything. It amazes me how many moments pass and how few of them we remember. I wanted something special to mark this day, the last day of September.

Stopped at a light I looked to my right at a row of houses I have seen hundreds of times, steady soldiers holding their ground as if they would remain there forever. But we know that’s not true, we who have seen houses grow old and then be replaced by a large apartment complex or completely cleared away for a new highway.

From one house hung a clock. It was over a foot in diameter, hanging from gold painted bars, looking for the world like an over-sized pocket watch. I thought it was just for decoration. It couldn’t be working, not out in the elements, even though it had a nice shiny glass covering its face.

I glanced at the hands and they clearly marked 6:30. The time was correct. In that moment, I was in another world, a place where giant clocks can hang and keep time while barely covered by the roof of a porch, where homes are forever and the setting sun waits for a solitary driver to acknowledge the day before it sets and takes the day away.

Remembering that moment,

Loraine