Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The First Ever Stand-Up Librarian Poem!


OK, this is cool.  Someone from my Palm Harbor event last month wrote a poem about me and it is so adorable that I had to share it.  Thanks Claudia - that was incredibly thoughtful & creative!!!!


Thursday, July 4, 2013

Celebrate Your Fireworks

Proudly walking in my town's Fourth of July parade
in my Fireworks ensemble.

Maybe you reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow
And when it's time you'll know
You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July…”
- "Firework" by Katy Perry

Not to quote an overplayed song by Katy Perry from 2010 but I just made an entire outfit out of fireworks fabric and it seemed an ideal time to play it.  It’s weird how you can hear a song hundreds of times but never actually listen to what the lyrics are.  Today, the words mentioned above caught my ear and seem to sum up the journey I have been on.

As I mentioned and wrote about last year (to read that blog post, click here), July 4th is the anniversary of my eliminating alcohol from my life.  It is crazy to think that it has been two whole years without a margarita or glass of Pinot Noir but in truth, it has been one of the easiest things in the world for me.  It really is true that “when it’s time, you’ll know” because I really don’t think about it at all except when I look for change in my wallet and find the two-month recovery chip that I got from attending an AA meeting in 2004.  I don’t really know why I hold on to the chip because in actuality it represents failure.

Now as I look at the big 2 stamped on the gold coin, I am reminded that two-months used to be all I could ever commit to before getting extremely bored.  Jobs, relationships, gym memberships, diets, you name it - so perhaps my problem was never with alcohol, it was in being bored with everything else!

On July 4, 2007 that all I changed when I met a person that I wanted to commit the rest of my life to, which resulted in me stupidly putting his dreams before my own.  Sadly, he ended up only wanting to devote a year and a half of his life to me.  One of the last things he gave me was a sterling silver heart pendant with our initials on one side and that July 4th date on the other.  While I wore the broken heart he gave me for years, I never once wore the pendant.

Two years ago, I intentionally chose July 4th as the date to quit drinking so I could prove to myself that I was worth committing to even if nobody else was willing to.  As I look back at that failed relationship and all of the other things in my life that didn’t work out, I now know the important lesson that when you commit to the health and well being of yourself first, all of the other things will soon follow. 

In addition to having an incredible year of over seventeen performances as the Stand-Up Librarian, my literary purses and headbands are still selling well, and I have a part-time job that offers me health benefits…for the first time in five years!!!  Did I mention that I am also a volunteer librarian at one of the most eccentric libraries on the planet?  Almost forgot to mention that I am finally a member of a gym…and actually go! 

Oh, life is pretty good when you “ignite the light” and while Prince Charming has yet to ride up in his bookmobile, the designer in me thinks that tarnished heart pendant could easily be made into something far more fabulous!  

Happy Fourth of July everyone!  Celebrate YOUR fireworks....

Due to the winds today,
that pinwheel on my hat is really spinning!
My 2-month AA sobriety coin &
heart pendant both represent past failures
that I have since overcome.