Dancing Elle, and Other Interesting Things

Rosie performed with her dance team and studio at a local family festival this morning and had an amazing performance. It was her first time dancing as "Elle" in "Legally Blonde", and she was awesome. I cried. Actually, I cried again, since I had already shed a good number of tears while watching her and her two friends lead the adaptive dancers in "I Hope You Dance". Wow.

I'm in the middle of a huge photo upload right now. Nine albums (one for each dance, plus one for pre/post-performance). Four down, five to go.

My hormones are sucky the past couple of days. I shouldn't complain, considering it could be a lot worse at my age. Speaking of my age, I can't believe I'm going to be 47 next month. Makes me shudder. When did I get this old?

Heavy

Since last night I've been feeling a deep heaviness that I can't shake. Ironic, since for the first time in about five years I'm actually losing weight. It's deep, though, down in the depths of my heart. I wish I could explain it better. Maybe it's just shifting hormones. I hope so.

I broke my favorite coffee cup today. Of course I did.

Grappling

It isn't always easy grappling with the way other people behave. Steve and I were talking on our walk last night about how sometimes we have these "Allie McBeal" moments where we wish we could say what's really on our minds rather than the politically correct, polite, gentle, socially acceptable expectation. I know it's best to be quiet when my soul is railing against its bounds, but it isn't always easy. I'm praying extra hard right now for strength to keep myself in check.

More of Him, Less of Me

I've been blogging daily at More of Him, Less of Me. If anyone is interested in reading how God is growing me through some pretty interesting things, I invite you to check it out. It's actually fun becoming the real me again.

When Thoughts Flee

One thing that seriously vexes me is the way I can be out and about, doing life wherever, and I can think of a gazillion things to write about. The wording floats through my mind in nearly poetic form. I even think about sitting down to write about it, and it's just gone. Makes me crazy.

I was in Bath and Body Works once with my mother (I believe it was actually the last time we shopped together at the mall before she died) and came across an aromatherapy scent called "Breathe". Now, I normally don't like aromatherapy scents at all (no, seriously--they just plain stink!), but this one...well, this one reminded me of my childhood. I can't exactly explain why or how, but it did. Something like our school cafeteria (back when school lunches were actually pretty good) and the hallways in fourth grade heading to Mrs. Mills' classroom, mixed with a hundred or more other tiny scents of memory that awakened the nostalgia senses with a force that hit me rather unexpectedly. I wavered for a moment, but Mama (as was common with her) bought a small bottle of it for me.

I can't remember how many times I have used it for a memory nudge in blogging or life-story writing, and ironically I've even found it works with a measure of regularity for other people. It must just be one of those scents that hints of individual memories, making it a lovely tool for writers everywhere. Anyway, this isn't an ad for Bath and Body Works so much as a musing about how helpful that particular lotion was for piquing nostalgia and helping to unlock whatever it is that slams shut the moment I sit down to write. Maybe this would be a good time to dig out that lotion.